"Lin, thank you for joining us on this Sky Sports special."
"According to renowned transfer journalist Romano, we understand that your new contract includes a weekly wage of £120,000, along with a number of substantial bonus clauses."
"Are you satisfied with how quickly Liverpool moved to offer you this new deal?"
At 4:00 PM the following afternoon, the Sky Sports special program went live, with Leo Lin appearing as the featured guest.
After a brief introduction, Gerrard went straight to the point.
"Of course," Leo Lin replied with a bright smile.
"What I mean is, Liverpool truly values its players. The club is willing to reward players who perform well, and they've given us tremendous support and help."
In the live chat, some fans were already aware of the contract details, while others had only just learned that Leo Lin's weekly wage was £120,000.
"My god… how much? £120,000… a week???"
"Wait, if I understand this correctly, weekly wage means he gets paid every week?!"
"£120,000 a week… that's £480,000 a month, over £6 million a year!"
"Bro above me, your math teacher would be ashamed."
"Let's analyze this rationally. There are two potential problems with this contract. First, giving such a high salary to such a young player might reduce the drive of young players.
Second, contracts like this could push other players to demand higher wages when they renew, which could destabilize the team's wage structure."
Some more level-headed fans quickly pointed out the potential impact the deal could have on Liverpool's wage hierarchy.
"We can see that many fans in the chat have questions about this contract."
After noticing the comments, Gerrard addressed them.
"First of all, this is a four-year contract. Liverpool will always evaluate a player's contract level based on their performance each season."
"At the moment, the squad maintains a very balanced wage structure, and Liverpool's overall salary level in the Premier League is by no means excessive."
"And Lin's performances this season absolutely justify the value of this contract. That's the main reason Liverpool were willing to offer him this deal."
The two continued discussing the details of the contract while the audience listened with great interest.
Finally, Gerrard moved on to the real purpose of the segment.
As a Liverpool legend, Mike had asked him to address the rumors recently spread by The Sun.
"One final question, Lin."
Gerrard exchanged a glance with Leo Lin.
"Recently, The Sun published a front-page story claiming that Emre Can and Wijnaldum got into a physical fight, even injuring each other. Is there any truth to that?"
Leo Lin pulled out his phone and opened yesterday's front-page story from The Sun. The accompanying photo showed the two players leaving the club separately in their cars.
"The Sun claims that Emre Can's left eye was swollen from the fight. But if you look at the photo they published — and remember, this was taken secretly by them —"
"Emre Can's left eye shows absolutely no sign of injury. In other words, when The Sun fabricated this story, they didn't even consider whether it would contradict the photos they themselves had taken."
"Everything they reported is false. It was just a very normal training-ground clash. The two have already made up, and this incident will have absolutely no impact on Liverpool internally."
"And here, I want to assure all our supporters: Liverpool will push for the championship with even greater unity. We are firmly on the right path!"
Gerrard stood up and wrapped up the show.
The special interview was a complete success.
Sky Sports were thrilled. They knew that through this collaboration, their standing with Leo Lin and Liverpool had undoubtedly risen again.
As expected, after Leo Lin's public accusation, The Sun issued another apology, admitting that the claims about the two players fighting and injuring each other had been fabricated by the newspaper itself.
But Liverpool fans weren't buying it.
Countless supporters flooded The Sun's official website. Some hackers even broke in and replaced every headline and image on the homepage with pictures of clowns.
Soon afterward, The Sun announced it would suspend updates to its homepage, remove all front-page content, and carry out a full overhaul of its online platform.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Mike immediately hired a team to begin attacking The Sun's internal systems from the backend, targeting the private computers of the paper's senior executives and department heads.
Especially the chief editor responsible for fabricating and distorting the story — Mike intended to dig up everything on them.
He refused to believe that people who made a living by inventing lies for traffic had spotless private lives.
Once Mike found leverage, Liverpool would launch a full-scale counterattack against The Sun.
After the truth came out, most Liverpool fans were finally reassured.
As long as the club wasn't shaken internally, the team could continue its push toward the Premier League title.
...
A few days later, Premier League Matchweek 32 was about to begin.
Liverpool would face another major opponent in the final nine rounds — and also the team currently most eager to stop Liverpool from winning the title: Manchester United.
In the pre-match tactical analysis room, Gerrard and Carragher couldn't help but laugh when discussing Manchester United's current situation.
"Honestly, I don't really care where Manchester United are in the table."
"What makes me laugh the most is that the teams currently sitting first and second in the Premier League are United's arch-rival Liverpool and their city rival Manchester City."
"So if United beat Liverpool, they'll be handing top spot to their city rivals."
"But if they lose to Liverpool, they'll help their greatest enemy take another step toward the Premier League title."
"No matter whether they win or lose, it's basically a scenario where only Manchester United ends up suffering."
Both Gerrard and Carragher were dripping with sarcasm.
Football talk shows in Europe aren't exactly restrained. As Liverpool legends, Gerrard and Carragher naturally backed their former club wholeheartedly while seizing the chance to mock their arch-rivals Manchester United.
Their comments quickly reached Manchester United manager José Mourinho.
On April 11, at the pre-match press conference, Mourinho entered the room visibly angry.
He ignored the reporters' questions, adjusted the microphone, and finally voiced what he had been holding back.
"Carragher and Gerrard are nothing but clowns!"
"I will never allow Liverpool to win the title. Tomorrow, we will drag Liverpool down from the top of the table!"
"We won't make any special defensive arrangements, because there isn't a single player in Liverpool's squad worth our attention."
A reporter immediately asked another question.
"Liverpool recently gave a record-breaking new contract to one of their young players. What do you think about that?"
Mourinho scoffed, his face full of disdain.
"A stupid decision. A stupid contract."
"I'll say it again — we have the best young player in world football today, Rashford."
"And we also have a young powerhouse striker, Lukaku!"
"I don't pay attention to players from other teams. That's the reality."