Before this, Chen Hero had never mentioned his retirement in public. When he was thirty-two years old, he signed a four-year extension with the club, and many media outlets confidently predicted that it would be Chen Hero's last professional contract. After all, Chen Hero would be thirty-six years old when the contract expired, and that was about the right time to retire.

As it turned out, when Chen Hero was thirty-four years old, he signed another four-year contract with the club, and the previous contract was voided. Chen Hero's contract would expire when he was thirty-eight years old.

The media continued to confidently declare that Chen Hero would definitely retire after his contract expired, completely ignoring the lessons of the past.

They felt that last time, his contract expired at thirty-six, but now there were many players who continued to play even at thirty-six, so it wasn't unbelievable that Chen Hero wouldn't retire at thirty-six.

But this time was completely different. The contract was expiring, he was thirty-eight years old, and in two more years he would be forty. At this point, many players would choose to retire, and even those who didn't were a small minority. And it also depended on their playing style.

For example, Inzaghi didn't retire until he was thirty-nine.

But Inzaghi was a forward who didn't rely on physicality to play. His goals mainly relied on his sense of smell. His range of motion on the field wasn't large, and the distance wasn't long. He didn't need to dribble and sprint often, and he didn't dribble past people much. He just needed to appear in the most crucial place at the most crucial time, and then shoot and score. This required very little of his body and wasn't a burden.

Therefore, he could play until he was thirty-nine. If AC Milan hadn't decided not to renew his contract, he could have continued to play.

But Chen Hero was different. He was a player who made his name with his physicality. In his younger years, his goals were full of unreasonable power, using his body to forcefully break through three defenders, leaping to head the ball under layers of obstruction, constantly fighting with defenders for physicality and strength…

These were his magic weapons, but could these magic weapons still be used when he was thirty-eight years old?

Everyone thought it was impossible.

Chen Hero's physical qualities would inevitably decline with age.

And in fact, that was the case. After the age of thirty-six, Chen Hero's physical qualities showed a marked decline.

This could be seen from the number of times he fell to the ground on the field due to opponents' fouls.

Therefore, the media were even more convinced that Chen Hero would retire when his contract expired. Some media even thought that Chen Hero might announce his retirement before he turned thirty-eight.

Because when a player who made his name with his physicality suddenly discovered that one day, his most proficient ability was gone, he would lose the courage and strength to continue fighting.

But this time, everyone was wrong again.

When Chen Hero was thirty-seven years old, Liverpool once again announced that they had reached an agreement with Chen Hero's agent, Dekura, to extend Chen Hero's contract for three years, extending the date of Chen Hero's contract expiration to the age of forty!

This time, the whole world was shocked.

At the time, some media criticized Liverpool for doing something very irrational, giving a three-year contract to a thirty-seven-year-old guy, which was simply crazy and risky.

It should be noted that this three-year contract was not the kind of harsh contract that Arsenal had. Liverpool still gave their captain the highest salary in the team. Liverpool's investment in Chen Hero was considerable.

The media questioned whether Liverpool could recoup their investment, and if Chen Hero was frequently injured, all their money would be wasted.

But Liverpool turned a deaf ear.

Once again, they showed their unconditional and unlimited trust in Chen Hero.

And their trust was rewarded.

Until this season, Chen Hero was the Premier League's top scorer, and until last season, Liverpool benefited from Chen Hero's goals, winning consecutive league titles.

Chen Hero proved to the world his undiminished super ability.

He made a gorgeous turnaround in front of fans and media around the world.

He transformed from a heavy tank that relied on physical strength to charge and break through, into an opportunist who relied on his nose for goals in front of the goal.

In this way, the decline in his physical qualities would not affect his scoring.

After everyone analyzed it, they felt that according to this trend, as long as Liverpool was willing to continue giving Chen Hero a contract, Chen Hero might really be able to continue playing.

At this time, Chen Hero encountered a ban storm.

At this time, Liverpool did indeed offer a new contract. However, the contract term had decreased from the previous four years and three years, to two years.

Maybe this was a signal.

But no one thought that Chen Hero would make the decision to retire so early. He refused to accept Liverpool's new contract and decided to retire after fulfilling his existing contract.

This decision was made so suddenly that it caught fans and media around the world off guard.

Before, everyone was thinking, "This time you should retire, right?" But when Chen Hero really announced his retirement, the first reaction was surprise—"Is this guy really going to retire?" They had a sense of unreality, as if they were still in a dream, or Chen Hero was teasing them.

Because the news was released by Chen Hero's spokesperson, Ms. Vera, the reporters still had doubts. They had to get his personal admission from Chen Hero before they dared to confirm it.

And some people could finally rest assured.

So media from all over the world flocked to Liverpool, flocked to Liverpool Football Club, and flocked to Chen Hero's home.

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In fact, before Vera announced the news, Liverpool Football Club had already received Chen Hero's answer. He refused to renew his contract, not because he was dissatisfied with Liverpool only giving him a two-year contract. In fact, Liverpool Football Club said that how long the renewal would be completely depended on Chen Hero's opinion. He wanted two years or four years, no problem.

He refused to renew his contract entirely because there was no need to renew it anymore.

As he said to Gerrard, the only purpose for him to constantly break the experts' glasses, renew his contract with Liverpool again and again, and drag it out to the age of forty without retiring, was to help Liverpool surpass Manchester United's Premier League title record.

Manchester United's record was fourteen titles. Liverpool started from scratch, chased one by one, chased to the fourteenth, and tied Manchester United's record. Then, as long as they won another title, they could surpass Manchester United and become unique.

Who would have thought that it would be ruined by a ban in the end?

Fifteen consecutive titles could not only break Manchester United's record, but also create a world football consecutive title record that had never been seen before or since.

Now that he was only one title away from breaking the record, Chen Hero was confident that even if he was absent for half a season next season, he could lead the team to win the title.

Naturally, there was no need to renew the contract.

Originally, if he broke the record this season, he planned to just play casually in the last season.

Liverpool Football Club had tried to persuade Chen Hero to stay, but Chen Hero's attitude was very firm. His career lasted from 2006 to 2029, a long twenty-three years.

He had also won all the titles he could win, and he really couldn't think of any reason for him to continue playing.

Now he had long surpassed Messi, who retired at the age of thirty-six, in terms of personal honors, and became the player who had won the most awards in the history of world football.

Messi's most tragic thing was that since Chen Hero began to exert his strength, he could only win awards in La Liga. He didn't have a share in the European range…

But he was still Chen Hero's most valued opponent, and the only opponent.

After Messi, who was one year older than Chen Hero, retired, Chen Hero suddenly fell into a state of "looking around blankly with his sword," because he had no opponents. The only motivation that supported him to continue playing was the competition with Manchester United.

Under his leadership, Liverpool had completely suppressed Manchester United in the past ten years. Even if Manchester United hired Mourinho as the team's head coach, they could not break Liverpool's monopoly. Even if they were very close to this goal, Liverpool still won in the end. So after four seasons, Mourinho also left Manchester United.

Since then, the Premier League has completely become Liverpool's world.

Thinking that Chen Hero had indeed won so many titles and personal honors, and had dedicated seventeen years to Liverpool, neither Chen Xing nor Niang could ask him to continue staying.

They could only helplessly agree to Chen Hero's request.

They would no longer renew his contract, but agreed to let him retire.

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Niang faced the many reporters, who were all there to ask him one question.

That was whether Chen Hero really intended to retire.

There was nothing that couldn't be said about this question. Niang nodded, "Of course we want to renew his contract, but we also respect his personal wishes. For him, he has nothing to pursue or strive for, so he intends to retire after his contract expires."

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At the same time, Chen Hero was also blocked by reporters at his doorstep.

The questions they asked were the same.

Chen Hero's answer was no different from Niang's.

Because there was nothing to pursue, he decided to retire.

He didn't say that he was retiring because he was old, but that he was retiring because there was nothing to pursue.

This was not an unintentional move. It showed Chen Hero's own confidence. The subtext was, "If it wasn't for the fact that there was nothing to pursue, I wouldn't retire!"

But some people in the media still seized on a question.

"I remember you once said that you wanted to break Manchester United's Premier League title record. Now you've only tied it. You're about to announce your retirement, isn't there still a goal to pursue?"

Chen Hero glanced at the reporter who asked the question.

"Don't I still have one season left on my contract?"

"But you'll be banned for half a season next season…"

"Half a season is enough." Chen Hero directly interrupted the reporter and replied domineeringly.

When he said this, many reporters saw a kind of "undiminished" aura from him.

Even at the age of forty, his confidence was no different from when he was young!

It even gave the reporters the illusion that "this person can actually continue playing, right? As long as he wants to, he can keep playing like this, right?"

A player who is forty years old and can still give people this feeling, is this person really old?