January 12, 2019.
Jeremy Ling finally met N'Golo Kante at the Carrington training ground—a player who appeared incredibly humble, quiet, and down-to-earth despite his massive reputation.
"I never imagined we'd become teammates," Ling stepped forward and extended his right hand warmly.
"I think you'll fit into the team quickly, just like Nemanja, Luiz, and Mahrez did."
"Thank you!" Kante flashed a bright, genuine smile and firmly shook Ling's hand.
In truth, Kante had already been constantly persuaded via text by his former teammate Matic, who kept saying how great the atmosphere at Manchester United was and how everyone was treated like family.
Why were they able to achieve miracles last season? Apart from Ling's extraordinary performances, it was also due to the ironclad unity in the dressing room.
Still, Kante had some minor concerns initially because of Mourinho's past tendencies—every few years at a club, the manager would famously start a "witch hunt" for internal dissenters (the infamous Mourinho third-season syndrome).
Later, when David Luiz transferred to Manchester United, he also kept trying to convince Kante over the phone.
"Now the boss treats us really well," Luiz had promised. "He's not as overbearing as before and even jokes around with us often. Besides, with Jeremy here as captain, what are you worried about? His relationship with the boss goes without saying! And didn't you partner well with Paul in the national team?"
Exactly!
The more Kante thought about it, the more it made perfect sense.
He and Pogba had partnered brilliantly in the French national team and won the World Cup together in Russia, so they would surely be even stronger at the club level playing every week.
Later, his old Leicester teammate Mahrez also joined the persuasion efforts, enthusiastically praising the benefits of Manchester United and using his own success as an example.
Of course, there was another very important reason that ultimately made Kante decide to join Manchester United.
That reason was Jeremy Ling.
As a purely defensive player who did the dirty work, his biggest worry was a team's lack of attacking prowess to finish the chances he helped create.
That was exactly the case with Chelsea this season—the defense was exhausted from overworking, while the forwards kept wasting golden opportunities up top.
It frustrated Kante to no end!
But with Ling up front, Kante knew that if he won the ball back, it was almost guaranteed to result in a goal.
Hearing Kante's heavy French accent, Ling's lips twitched uncontrollably.
Kante's pronunciation of "thank you" sounded hilariously like "fuck you", leaving the captain utterly speechless for a second before he realized.
Ling didn't correct Kante's pronunciation, thinking it was actually quite endearing this way.
"Come on, let me show you around Carrington Training Ground!" Ling said with a laugh, leading the way.
After a brief tour of the state-of-the-art facilities, the two arrived at the lively first-team dressing room.
Pogba immediately jumped up, stretched out his long arms, and gave Kante a tight, bear-like hug.
"N'Golo! I've missed you so much, brother!"
Although Pogba often acted like an oversized child and occasionally had conflicts with other players or the media, his bond with Kante was genuinely strong and built on deep mutual respect.
If one were to dig deeper into the reasons why they worked so well: Kante is humble, kind, deeply professional, never complains, and works diligently to cover ground.
With Kante sweeping up behind and covering for him, Pogba could focus entirely on attacking, creating, and showcasing his immense football talent without worrying about tracking back.
"I always said you're everywhere on the pitch, and you even pop up off it unexpectedly! I was right!" Pogba excitedly wrapped his massive arm around the much shorter Kante's shoulder.
"Come on, let me introduce you to everyone properly. Guys, this is my favorite person in football. But don't let his honest, innocent appearance fool you—he cheats every time we play cards on international duty!"
The locker room immediately erupted with warm laughter.
Kante, looking around at Matic and Luiz winking at him, felt an instant wave of comfort, as if he were still in the old, successful Chelsea locker room of 2017.
"Everyone, focus during today's joint training!" Ling shouted, clapping his hands vigorously to get their attention.
"Don't let N'Golo look down on our standards!"
...
Half an hour later, out on the freezing green training pitch.
Mahrez dribbled past Ashley Young during a scrimmage and was about to cut inside onto his favored left foot for a shot.
Suddenly, from his blind spot, a bald head darted out, cleanly and perfectly stealing the ball without a foul.
Kante.
He then immediately launched a crisp, forward pass to Pogba.
Pogba created space with a quick touch and drag, splitting the training defense with a precise through ball.
Ling, relying on his explosive speed, outpaced Maguire—who had just turned halfway—and calmly slotted the ball into the far corner past De Gea, who had spread himself in a desperate "K" shape block.
"Great defense!" Ling shouted, pointing back.
"Great pass!" Pogba yelled.
"Great finish!" Kante smiled.
Ling, Kante, and Pogba high-fived each other, praising one another's seamless combination.
Mahrez, picking himself up from the grass, sighed dramatically. "Compared to our time winning the league at Leicester City, N'Golo, we've both improved a lot."
"You've improved? Did I see wrong? Weren't you just easily dispossessed?!" Rashford joked from the sideline, laughing.
"Get out of here!" Mahrez retorted playfully.
The Manchester United players immediately started roughhousing, the banter instantly bringing the new signing much closer to the group.
On the sidelines, Faria, who was recording sprint data on his tablet, excitedly turned to the manager.
"Boss, Kante covers a massive area! He completely makes up for the lack of lateral mobility in McTominay and Matic. This 4-3-1-2 formation really works with him in the side!"
"There are many tactical variations now," Mourinho nodded, looking immensely satisfied with his new toy.
"For example, when we face Liverpool and Manchester City again, we can play both Kante and Herrera together. Both are incredibly tenacious and good at handling quick, agile possession players."
Manchester United's current squad was nearly perfect, and with Mourinho's meticulously prepared tactics, it could be said that there were basically no glaring weaknesses left.
Of course, how effective it truly is still needed to be tested in the crucible of real Premier League matches.
Didn't Real Madrid also assemble the original Galactic Battleship? That squad was truly luxurious with Figo, Zidane, and Ronaldo, but didn't they get knocked out in the Champions League round of 16 every year?
So, Mourinho wouldn't underestimate his opponents just because his squad looked great on paper.
"Let's use the match against Tottenham on January 14th as a true litmus test!" Mourinho muttered to himself.
...
After the day's training ended, Ling boarded a private flight to Paris, accompanied by Mourinho, Pogba, Kante, and a few club officials.
They were heading to attend an annual global football extravaganza: The 2018 Ballon d'Or awards ceremony!
When Ling arrived at the grand venue in Paris wearing a sharp custom-tailored suit, reporters swarmed around him like sharks smelling blood in the water.
"Jeremy, who do you think will win the Ballon d'Or tonight?!"
"Are you confident in yourself winning it?!"
"Will you stay at Manchester United next season?!"
"Sorry, before the results are announced, any predictions are meaningless," Ling politely but firmly declined to answer the reporters' baiting questions as he walked the red carpet.
After all, he knew deep down he had very little hope of taking home the main prize tonight.
Winning the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award was already a staggering achievement.
But trying to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or in a World Cup year without having played in the tournament was probably harder than reaching the sky.
Entering the opulent venue, he saw many familiar faces. Ling greeted them respectfully, exchanging pleasantries for a while.
Thinking back to the previous Ballon d'Or ceremony just a year ago, he hadn't even had the qualification to attend and could only watch enviously from his TV in Manchester.
But now...
Ling walked to the very front of the venue and took his assigned seat in the prestigious first row, right next to global football superstars like Kylian Mbappe and Luka Modric.
As for why Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi weren't there? Since they both likely knew through leaked information that they wouldn't win the award this year, they had canceled their plans to attend the ceremony.
'I'm a big shot now too,' Ling thought to himself, unable to help but smile at his rapid ascent.
After the dull and lengthy prelude speeches, the awards ceremony finally began in earnest.
This year's Ballon d'Or ceremony followed the usual dramatic order, proceeding from the lowest ranking (30th) to the highest ranking, with other minor awards interspersed throughout the long process to build tension.
An impassioned melody echoed through the venue as photos of the world's best players appeared on the giant screen.
Thirtieth place: Hugo Lloris! Then followed names like Isco, Diego Godin, Alisson Becker, Mario Mandžukić, Jan Oblak...
As each name was announced, the suspense gradually unfolded.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the final moments.
However, the organizers knew how to build suspense, pausing the countdown to present the Women's Ballon d'Or and the newly created Kopa Trophy.
The former was awarded to Ada Hegerberg, who had brilliantly led Lyon to three consecutive UEFA Women's Champions League titles, lifting the inaugural Women's Ballon d'Or to a standing ovation.
The latter award... was presented to Jeremy Ling.
The Kopa Trophy was a newly established award by France Football magazine, aimed at rewarding the best player under the age of 21 for the calendar year, similar in prestige and purpose to the European Golden Boy award he had just won in Turin.
Based on the performances of young players last season, only two were truly eligible to win it: Jeremy Ling and Kylian Mbappe.
Their vote counts from the jury were reportedly extremely close.
Although Mbappe had won the World Cup with France and the Ligue 1 title with PSG, the overall prestige and difficulty of Ligue 1 were perceived to be lower than that of the Premier League.
Moreover, while excellent, Mbappe's World Cup performance wasn't entirely dominant enough to overshadow Ling's club feats.
In contrast, Ling had scored a breathtaking hat-trick in the Champions League final against Real Madrid and had shattered the long-standing, seemingly impossible Premier League single-season goal-scoring record.
Thus, it was no surprise to the footballing world when he was announced as the winner of the Kopa Trophy.
Truthfully, Ling didn't pay too much emotional attention to the Kopa Trophy.
After all, it had just been established and lacked the deep historical influence of the other awards, falling slightly short of both the Golden Boy and his UEFA Best Player award.
At most, it was just the shiny icing on the cake of an incredible year.
Ling buttoned his suit jacket, strode quickly to the podium, accepted the trophy with a smile, and delivered his humble, pre-prepared acceptance speech.
Then, amid enthusiastic applause from his peers, he stepped down and returned to his seat.
Finally, the main event began.
The final suspense was about to be revealed, and the entire venue erupted in a buzz of excitement!
The big screen flashed once again, counting down the top five players in the world!
Fifth place: Cristiano Ronaldo!
Fourth place: Kylian Mbappe!
Third place: Jeremy Ling!
Second place: Paul Pogba!
First place: Luka Modric!
Pogba's eyes instantly filled with crushing disappointment as his name was read second.
He slumped weakly into his chair, trying to maintain a brave face for the cameras.
In fact, he had won more major team honors last season than anyone else—the Premier League, the Champions League, and the ultimate prize, the World Cup—so theoretically, many felt he should have been the favorite to win the Ballon d'Or.
But in reality, before the dominant era of the "Two Legends" (Messi and Ronaldo), aside from Kaká in 2007, the Ballon d'Or winners for over a decade did not necessarily come from the Champions League-winning teams.
This showed that there is no absolute guaranteed connection between winning the Champions League and winning the Ballon d'Or.
And even during the era of the Two Legends, didn't incredible players like Wesley Sneijder (2010) and Franck Ribéry (2013), who won massive "Trebles" of league, Champions League, and domestic cups, also controversially fail to win the Ballon d'Or?
Modric's first-place ranking was largely due to his emotional World Cup runner-up finish with underdog Croatia (where he won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player) and his Champions League runner-up finish (where he was Real Madrid's highest-rated and most influential midfielder).
Additionally, the French national team players—Pogba, Mbappe, Raphael Varane, and Griezmann—split the French voting heavily among journalists, resulting in none of them receiving enough concentrated votes to win.
As for why Ling ranked an incredible third place at just 20 years old? Even though he had no World Cup boost to his resume last season, his club achievements were simply too dazzling and historic to ignore, earning him the massive favor of many international judges.
If it hadn't been a World Cup year, many pundits agreed he would have had a very high chance of winning the Ballon d'Or outright.
But unfortunately, the timing wasn't right.
However, precisely because of his incredible club form, Ling also split many votes away from the World Cup winners.
Thus, Modric essentially seized the perfect opportunity to claim the crown.
Luka Modric excitedly walked toward the podium, officially breaking the decade-long monopoly of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the 2018 Ballon d'Or!
Ling sincerely offered his applause from the front row.
He didn't have too many negative thoughts about finishing third.
After all, upon closer objective examination, Modric was also well-deserving for his performances carrying Croatia.
'Next year,' Ling thought.
'This year, without the World Cup or European Championship to distract the voters, the Ballon d'Or is my ultimate goal!'
The journey ahead would undoubtedly be extremely challenging, but wouldn't it also be incredibly interesting to conquer?
Ling gazed at the gleaming golden globe trophy on the stage, instantly feeling a massive surge of renewed motivation course through his veins.
After the awards ceremony concluded, Ling, Mourinho, and the others skipped the lavish after-party banquet, rushing back to Manchester on a private jet overnight.
Because the highly anticipated 22nd round of the Premier League was about to kick off!
Tottenham Hotspur versus Manchester United!
...
Ballon d'or was a mess ngl, what kind of awards depends on journalist voters, some bias journalist will voted for their favorites player over and over again each year! Tbf this shit happen irl too even tho pogba literally win everything this year.