Chapter 109 Maël's Godlike Speed! Isabella's Sportswear is Selling! The next day, Maël and Gilbert arrived at Sheffield United's training base, wanting to test their maximum running speed.
Most of their familiar teammates and coaches had already left the club, but through contacts, they managed to find two football data analysts working overtime.
"What's the point of testing this?"
Gilbert couldn't understand Maël's curiosity, shaking his head and complaining all the way, "Your Speed is excellent, mine is above average, isn't that enough to know?"
Maël looked at him and chuckled, "We've been training for almost half a year, what if I've improved again?"
Actually, he mainly wanted to have a clear understanding of his current Speed ability before returning to Arsenal.
To see where a level 4 Speed stands in the world of football.
Unlike Long Shot and other abilities that cannot be measured precisely, Speed can be absolutely quantified.
Maël often saw media reports about data networks, stating how much a certain star's maximum running speed was in km/h.
If he remembered correctly, the fastest players in football, like Bale and French Supercar Mbappé, had reached a maximum running speed of around 37.5 km/h.
This Speed is infinitely close to Bolt's average Speed when he ran 9.58 seconds.
Of course, Bolt's maximum Speed between 80-90 meters is around 44.5 km/h, so football players still have some distance to cover.
Maximum Speed is not average Speed, it's just the fastest Speed that bursts out in an instant, captured during a short sprint.
"What if again?"
Gilbert heard Maël say this and shut his mouth. Whenever Maël said this, he really did improve again and again, which was quite depressing.
The two arrived at the club's training ground and saw that the two data analysts were already waiting for them.
"Hello."
One of them walked up to greet them, smiling, "I heard from Mr. Joelson that you want to test your Speed ability?"
"Yes."
Maël didn't know if the club had similar equipment, so he asked, "Do you have equipment that can capture a player's maximum running speed?"
"Just purchased before the end of the season."
The data analyst had a proud look on his face, seemingly fond of the equipment, "We are equipped with the most advanced Amisco Football Analysis System, which can analyze and calculate the maximum Speed.
"The Sun reported the fastest Speed in the Premier League this season, which was also measured using this analysis system, very accurate."
"That's good." Maël sighed inwardly at the investment of English teams in hardware facilities, and led Gilbert to the sidelines to warm up.
After warming up, the two of them came to the vicinity of the center circle, waiting to start.
The two data analysts then walked to the sidelines, fiddling with the camera equipmentpropped up on the railing. After debugging all eight capture devices, they signaled that the two could start.
"Just run around randomly."
One of them made a circle with his hand, shouting with a smile, "Run in circles, run as long as you want! In any case, we can capture and calculate your Speed at your peak."
Maël nodded, he lifted his legs high a few more times, and took the lead in rushing in one direction.
*"Thump, thump, thump!"*
He put on his cleats, imitating the feeling of running on the field, pushing off the ground to explode and start, kicking up a cloud of grass clippings and dirt.
A powerful force erupted from his whole body, supporting him to constantly increase the Speed of his arm swings, constantly increasing the Speed of lifting his legs and striding, his toes lightly and violently touching the ground before bouncing up again quickly.
The breeze hit his face, pouring into his collar and ears, causing his hearing to weaken briefly.
"What the..."
Gilbert opened his mouth slightly behind him, seeing Maël approaching the baseline at an extremely fast Speed, he couldn't help but exclaim, "No, are you kidding me?"
"*#%&#~!" Maël could hear what Gilbert was saying behind him, but he couldn't hear clearly, it sounded more like a string of garbled code.
Seeing that he was approaching the baseline, he exerted all his strength to accelerate again, gritting his teeth and rushing towards the finish line!
When he slowly decelerated and gradually stopped, he turned his head to look, Gilbert and the two data analysts were already stunned.
"No wonder you wanted to test."
Gilbert was numb, he was often hit by Maël like this, and he had a faint sense of death of 'already used to it'.
He had originally thought that since Maël was faster than him anyway, and his own results would just be used for comparison, he wouldn't bother running.
But now that he thought about it, since the gap was already so large, he might as well experience the new equipment and test his own Speed.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
He quickly pushed off the ground and sprinted, running one lap after another, hoping to achieve his best performance.
The two of them did more than ten anaerobic sprints in total. Feeling somewhat fatigued, they went to the sidelines to check the data.
"Come with me."
Two data analysts packed up their recording equipment and led them to a room, asking them to wait for a while. "It'll be ready in twenty minutes."
"So advanced."
Gilbert watched their backs and smiled. "It feels like visiting a hospital."
"Haha..." Maël laughed. He indeed felt something similar.
The current equipment wasn't even considered advanced yet. The next few years would be the time when technology truly developed rapidly.
Thinking of this, he realized that after the first season, he had become more and more accepting of this body and this era, often thinking from the current perspective.
Only when some information stimulated his memory would he think of his previous life.
"Please come in!" A data analyst opened the door and invited them in, his eyes showing obvious astonishment as he looked at Maël.
Maël wasn't surprised. He patted Gilbert's shoulder. "Let's go, time for the consultation."
Gilbert smiled and followed Maël in, arriving in front of a computer. The two of them looked down and saw a data table.
[Gilbert:
NO.1: 19.9 miles/hour
NO.2: 19.4 miles/hour
NO.3: 19.1 miles/hour]
"Not bad."
Gilbert smiled. He knew these were his fastest speeds captured. After giving up the idea of comparing himself to Maël, his mentality had become more open.
Maël looked at his data, feeling somewhat confused. He still needed to convert it.
He definitely couldn't view these units of measurement, used since childhood, from the current perspective. This was a deeply ingrained habit, and he couldn't be sensitive to miles.
"The fastest is about 32 kilometers."
He got an answer in his mind. The conversion between miles and kilometers was roughly 1 to 1.6.
"This way." A data analyst pointed to the side with a wry smile, signaling them to look at another computer, which displayed Maël's various data.
[Maël:
NO.1: 23.8 miles/hour
NO.2: 23.6 miles/hour
NO.3: 23.5 miles/hour]
"Close to 24?"
Gilbert swore he had prepared himself mentally, but he still didn't expect Maël's running Speed to reach this level. He couldn't quite accept it. "Bolt?!"
"Top Speed."
Maël smiled, took out his phone, and started calculating while explaining. He couldn't do this in his head. "It's not like I can run this fast all the time."
He quickly calculated his average kilometer per hour Speed: 38.4!
In other words, when running against French Supercar Mbappé and Bale, he could win with a slight advantage! Premier League defenders?
Before Kyle Walker developed, there was a high probability that no one could keep up with him!
And this was only lv4!
Maël was increasingly eager to know if lv5 Lightning Speed would allow him to run with Bolt... or even surpass him.
"Unheard of."
One of the data analysts exclaimed. He shook his head and spread his hands. "We initially thought there was a calculation error. We used the Amisco Football Analysis System to analyze it several times before realizing it was correct.
"I can't just distrust the Amisco system, so the truth is that Maël's Speed almost surpasses all football players."
The other data analyst didn't speak, but just sized up Maël's body, as if trying to see what it was made of.
Maël and Gilbert walked out of the training base and headed towards their home on Cherry Street, as if to take one last look at the city streets.
Along the way, they encountered many fans who asked for photos and autographs, and they readily agreed.
It didn't cause any major commotion; most of the fans who deeply loved them just stood at a distance to take pictures, without coming up to disturb them.
As they walked, the two arrived at the most bustling streets in the city center, and saw long queues in front of many shops.
"What's going on?"
Gilbert seemed eager to join in the fun, and moved closer to the crowd.
Maël remembered the chaotic scenes from his previous life of people blindly queuing to buy milk tea and luxury goods, and advised, "Let's not go, it might cause a commotion that would be difficult to handle."
"What's so good about joining in this kind of excitement? It's just that everyone is free on the weekend and has nothing to do."
"Primacy?"
Gilbert saw the logos of these shops clearly, and it seemed to be a new brand, somewhat familiar.
He suddenly turned his head, looked at Maël and said, "Isn't this the one you're endorsing?"
"Huh?"
Maël quickened his pace and moved towards the lively crowd. When he saw that most people were holding collaboration short sleeves related to him, his attitude made a 180-degree turn.
"Haha..." He put one hand on Gilbert's shoulder and said with a smile, "Let's go, let's buy a couple too, these people have good taste."
Gilbert followed Maël forward with a slightly speechless expression, and joined the queue, which did cause a stir.
Many fans who bought the collaboration clothes held up their jerseys next to Maël, asking their family members to take pictures of them, and some even pulled Gilbert in for a photo.
Gilbert was quite happy at first, but gradually became tired of dealing with it.
Especially when he realized that he was just a freebie for these people to take photos with Maël and his collaboration short sleeves; that he was just a part of their play, his mentality slowly began to crack.
He saw that Maël was quite happy, patiently and orderly queuing for a long time, even refusing when others offered him a place.
"Aren't you against joining in the fun?" Gilbert finally couldn't help but ask, pursing his lips.
"What fun?"
Maël had already forgotten what he had said, and smiled, "Don't you think the material of this shirt is very good? It's top quality, and the design is very stylish. I bet it will sell all over England."
"Look at this lively atmosphere, the enthusiastic crowd, it all proves that my choice to endorse this brand was the right one."
Gilbert: "..."
So buying other things is just blindly joining in the fun, but buying what you endorse is a lively atmosphere and an enthusiastic crowd.
"The endorsement company will definitely give you a few, right?" he asked patiently.
"Probably."
Maël was enjoying himself, pointing around and saying, "But I haven't seen this kind of excitement for a long time, let's experience the feeling of a buying frenzy."
Gilbert was completely speechless, and gave him a thumbs up: "Okay, okay, okay."
After lingering for more than half an hour, the two who finally 'snatched' two short sleeves picked up the clothes and found that there was actually a Sheffield United logo on them.
"This endorsement company has something." Gilbert said with a look of surprise, and sighed, "Not only did they get the endorsement of Sheffield United's star player from last season, but they also got the team's authorization."
"Indeed."
Maël's mood was the same as his, he didn't expect Isabella to have so much energy, which could be considered remarkable at her age.
He just wondered if the promised red envelope would materialize. Back home, Maël calmed down, took out his notebook, and started making his future training plan.
After the surge in Speed ability, he had another super strong ability, which could be considered the first lv5 ability! Next, he had to choose other abilities to train.
"Strength and Coordination."
He didn't forget his previous plan, and wrote these two into his training plan first. This was not only a comprehensive improvement of his various qualities, but also two important abilities to reduce his risk of injury.
He didn't want to be injury-prone... After having Speed surpassing Adama Traore, he also wanted to have Adama Traore's physical confrontation, and Zlatan Ibrahimović's flexibility! "Weak Foot."
This was the second one he wrote down. This ability had just been raised to lv3 some time ago, and he also clearly knew that lv4 was to improve Weak Foot accuracy.
If he trained this ability to lv4, presumably the difference between his left and right feet would not be great.
Next season, the ratio of goals to assists should reach a healthier 1:2 or even 1:1.5!
It's not about trading right-foot data, but about increasing the efficiency of the left foot, bringing it closer to the right!
"The off-season isn't busy, so I can practice properly."
Maël cheered himself on, eager to put up impressive numbers as soon as he landed in the Premier League, rather than lying low and slowly climbing up.
Next, he began to think about his current weaknesses.
He certainly didn't lack shooting and passing ability. He had two lv4 skills in these areas! It could be said that as long as his Weak Foot was trained, it would stand out even among Premier League stars! The only thing lacking might be the 'dribbling' and 'stopping' aspects of receiving, passing, dribbling, and shooting.
His two dribbling abilities were only at lv3, and he didn't have a single ball control skill. He had almost no ability to get rid of defenders with his first touch.
In the EFL Championship, he lost possession mostly because he didn't control the ball well, and the defenders came up and directly stole it.
The Premier League defenders obviously had a higher level of skill, and they wouldn't give him any time to slowly bring the ball under control.
"I must have this ability."
Maël made a decision. He planned to go back to London and drag Gilbert to practice first touch and other ball control skills with him, to see what kind of skill he could develop.
"And dribbling."
He focused his mind on the last weak point. The importance of dribbling for a winger was self-evident. A winger without dribbling skills couldn't put on a brilliant performance.
His lv3 Bicycle Kick and lv3 step-overs could still fool EFL Championship defenders, and with his Speed and Strength, he had decent dribbling stats.
Going to the Premier League, facing more experienced defenders with stronger abilities in all aspects, it might be difficult.
Of course, in situations with enough space, he could directly use his explosive Speed to solve the problem.
But... with such a strong skill proficiency panel, wouldn't it be a waste not to practice some agile breakthrough skills to make his play more dashing and dynamic? Various twists and turns, dribbling past several people, all kinds of fancy moves, it's better to have some early on.
Not just to play stylishly, but also to have a stronger performance and create more opportunities.
"I'll think about this at the training ground."
Maël didn't make a decision now, but marked dribbling practice as a top priority, and then closed his notebook.
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