Wang Tao handed Pellegrini a list of players, and the top of the list clearly read: Kylian Mbappe, 16 years old, Monaco youth training.
"He'll be the next Henry, and we'll need less than a million."
Pellegrini dismissed it: "This name has never been mentioned in our scouting system."
A week later, Wang Tao showed the entire team the list of football superstars predicted by the "exclusive data analysis model" in the next five years via an internal email.
The next day, Chief Mansour's personal phone call went directly to Wang Tao's office: "Does that Norwegian kid named Haaland really only need 40,000 pounds?"
Wang Tao looked at the rain in Manchester outside the window and said softly: "Yes, but we must act immediately."
