Chapter 47 Negotiations break down, signs of internal unrest

Chapter 47 Negotiations break down, signs of internal unrest

Chapter 47 Negotiations break down, signs of internal unrest
"We must win this game against Manchester United! If we lose again, we might be squeezed out of the top four by Arsenal or Tottenham!"

"Want to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford? If we all hold this idea, then we will definitely face a heavy blow. Can we be more pragmatic?"

"Damn it, it would be better if we didn't make it to the Champions League semi-finals. Now we can't play in the Champions League or the league. If we keep holding on, our performance might really collapse!"

"Don't worry about it. Our players and coach haven't given up yet. Why are we talking about this here? Don't hold the team back, just support the team!"

……

Before the key battle with Manchester United, Chelsea fans seemed very anxious.

Manchester United's "letting go" of Arsenal is really pushing Chelsea into a desperate situation!
They drew 2-2 with Liverpool at home in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final four days ago.

The main players have not had enough time to rest and adjust, as they will soon face a head-on confrontation with Manchester United.

Such a fierce war of attrition really made the Blues fans worried!

But as many Blues fans have said, they have already reached the semi-finals of this season's Champions League. It is impossible for them to give up at this point, right?

The temptation of defending the Champions League title is so great that every Chelsea player and Tuchel have decided to grit their teeth and fight to the end in the league and the Champions League!
So in the 5th round of the Premier League on the afternoon of May 1st, all Chelsea players rushed to Old Trafford with a tragic mood.

They are ready to face Manchester United's aggressive offensive.

But when the game officially started, Manchester United showed an attitude of focusing on controlling the game.

This sudden "surprise" made Chelsea's starting players and Tuchel breathe a sigh of relief.

At this moment, Li Chen, who was sitting in the coaching seat and calculating the number of injured players in his hands, also sighed in his heart.

In fact, he was really prepared to defeat Chelsea, whose physical reserves had been exhausted, at home and completely consolidate Manchester United's third position in the league.

The preparations before the game have also been completed.

But who would have thought that just two days before the game, Matic and Luke Shaw were injured in training, and Martial also suffered from hamstring discomfort again.

Three main generals were injured at once!

No matter how brave Li Chen was, he knew that now was not the right time to fight a bayonet battle with the Blue Army.

Therefore, he could only settle for the second best and use the home advantage to gain more possession of the ball, focusing on controlling the game and consolidating the defense.

Anyway, there is no deep hatred between Manchester United and Chelsea. After all, Chelsea is his old club. If he is not sure of a complete victory, there is no need to offend them.

It's a pity that Manchester United rotated most of their main players in the game against Arsenal.

If we had known that Luke Shaw, Matic and Martial would get injured in training, we would have gritted our teeth and used our main players to defeat Arsenal.

It can only be said that people’s calculations are not as good as God’s calculations.

Manchester United is lucky that the main players have only been injured until now...

Li Chen's withdrawal allowed Chelsea to finally escape unscathed from Old Trafford.

With their moods fluctuating greatly, Chelsea supporters now no longer express only blame and resentment when they mention Manchester United and Li Chen.

Some Chelsea fans even spoke well of Li Chen, thinking that he just stuck to the previous rotation strategy at the critical moment.

It was just that they happened to run into Arsenal during the rotation, so they were kind to Chelsea.

After the game, Li Chen naturally also saw the comments of these Chelsea fans on him through the Internet.

He himself privately called the change in Chelsea fans' perception of him a "beautiful misunderstanding."

Of course, he did not clarify the news.

To be honest, he has feelings for Chelsea. After all, he and Mourinho won the Premier League championship with Chelsea.

But his feelings are certainly not as deep and complex as Lao Mu's.

Logically speaking, he now doesn't have to worry about whether the Blues fans think of him well or badly.

But when Todbury, who is about to become the new leader of Chelsea, approached Mendes and expressed his interest in working with Li Chen, Li Chen had to pay attention to his impression in the hearts of the Blues fans.

Replace Tuchel, who has been put on the cleaning list by Burley, as the coach of Chelsea?
This is a great temptation for Li Chen.

As he has still not reached a contract extension with Manchester United and wants to continue coaching in the Premier League next season, switching to Chelsea is undoubtedly a good choice.

The lineup structure is relatively complete, several core players are relatively young, and more importantly, the new consortium that took over Chelsea does not lack funds for signings.

This means that Li Chen does not need to clean up everything and start over again, and then spend one or two seasons rebuilding the team.

If Burley is willing to give him greater support in recruiting players, he is even confident that after a complete pre-season preparation period, he can directly embark on the road to compete for the championship with Manchester City and Liverpool!

Maybe he won't win the Premier League in the first season, but Li Chen is at least confident that he can lead the team to the top three in the Premier League and win a domestic cup in England.

After the team's bench depth reached his requirements, he dared to issue a military order to seize the position of Premier League overlord!

Li Chen, who felt more and more that there was a chance the more he thought about it, had originally planned to communicate further with Burley about Chelsea's reinforcements for next season.

However, the American businessman did not seem very enthusiastic about this, and during the phone calls he always revealed that he wanted to carry out a major cleanup of the team first.

Li Chen understood what Boli wanted to do and his mind calmed down immediately.

When the new owner took over the club, he wanted to quickly clean out the previous owner's trusted players and direct management and remove the previous owner's inherent imprint.

These are all right.

But if you do some things too hastily, it will affect your main business!
Li Chen was also unwilling to act as a knife in Burley's hands and do things that would offend Chelsea's veteran players and fans.

By the time the time comes, he has done the dirty work, and the fans don't buy it, and they want to put the blame on him for the new team's fluctuating performance, then he will really have nowhere to vent his grievances!
After calming down, Li Chen did not communicate much with Boli.

Burley didn't take it seriously. In his opinion, there are still many excellent head coaches on the market, and he didn't expect Chelsea to achieve results quickly in the past two seasons.

Therefore, the new head coach must first be obedient enough, and secondly, not cause trouble off the court. Ability comes third.

Li Chen is a good candidate for team building. If he is willing to accept the necessary conditions of the management, then there is certainly no problem in hiring him.

But now it seems that Li Chen is also a character who doesn't obey, which makes Boli a little disappointed in him...

The contact between the two sides started quickly and ended quickly enough.

Because of Burley's attitude, Li Chen decisively excluded Chelsea from the list of clubs he wanted to transfer to next season.

After this bad experience, he doesn't want to contact other clubs in a hurry at this stage.

On the afternoon of May 5, Li Chen led the team to an away game to challenge Brighton, the Seagulls who are currently ranked ninth in the Premier League standings.

Although Matic and Martial are still recovering from injuries, Luke Shaw's timely return from injury has given Li Chen the confidence to play against Brighton away from home.

In the match that day, Li Chen once again deployed a variant of the 433 formation that could best unleash Manchester United's current offensive firepower.

Cavani and Matic started the game in place of Martial and Matic.

However, considering McTominay's positioning problem on the defensive end, Li Chen did not start Maguire today, but instead let Varane and Bailly form a double central defender.

To put it bluntly, we have to rely on the more flexible bodies of these two central defenders to clean up the mess of today's unstable defensive midfield.

McTominay is positioned as a defensive midfielder, but the playing style designed for him by Li Chen is very aggressive, giving him the tactical authority to frequently join in the attack.

So as soon as the game started, Brighton and Manchester United started to fight against each other vigorously.

Compared to Brighton's more ground-based offensive style, Manchester United used both land and air, relying on McTominay and Cavani, the two midfield fulcrums, to radiate the advancement on both wings.

Sancho and B Fee can therefore focus more on holding the ball and facing Brighton's defenders, saving many organizational steps for advancing with the ball.

Sancho's connection in the right half and Bruno Fernandes' threatening pass gave Ronaldo and Cavani more chances to score when they attacked Brighton's penalty area.

Although Brighton's multi-point ground attack efficiency was also considerable, they were ultimately unable to score before Manchester United's two star forwards got into their best form!

The "Portuguese connection" between B Fee and C Ronaldo once again helped Manchester United open up the offensive situation.

This time, Ronaldo showed his big heart by volleying the ball into the goal following a long arc pass from B Fee!

1-0!

Ronaldo's goal helped Manchester United establish a lead in the 19th minute of the first half.

Seven minutes later, Sancho, who received Cavani's header, faked a shot and dribbled past Cucurella, who played as a left center back today. He then used his pace and eyes to deceive Brighton goalkeeper Sanchez and pushed the ball into the near corner of the goal!
Manchester United, withstanding tremendous defensive pressure, bet heavily on the offensive end, and after this goal was scored, Manchester United's harvest moment arrived ahead of schedule!

Brighton, who were not fully staffed, became more and more anxious as the game went on.

But with Cucurella playing as a central defender and Trossard playing as a wing, their offensive threat was far from what it was when they last played against Manchester United.

What’s even more infuriating is that after Manchester United scored their second goal, Li Chen decisively adjusted the formation and directly changed the starting variant 2 formation to 433.

Fred retreated from the central midfielder position and played as a defensive midfielder. In this way, McTominay's positioning problems were compensated a lot. At least Fred could use his running to help him with more defense.

It is also very clear that Manchester United will switch to a counter-attacking style.

Porter was extremely depressed by Li Chen's quick tactical adjustments.

But to be honest, he would do the same if he were in his shoes.

We are already two goals ahead, why are we still trying to play offensive football? Why not just hit the opponent's defense from behind and use the frisbee tactic?
It's a pity that we are playing at home today, otherwise Porter would definitely have to shrink the formation and not give Manchester United the opportunity to continue to expand their lead.

But the meaning of home court is different after all, and with the cheers of Brighton supporters at the scene, Porter had no choice but to choose to attack to the end.

Li Chen was also amused when he saw it, and directly asked Rashford and Greenwood on the bench to warm up.

However, after a long attack, Brighton did get some good opportunities.

Trossard's clever follow-up shot in the 42nd minute of the first half almost broke through Manchester United's goal.

However, De Gea, who was in great form today, obviously did not want to lose his shutout bonus, and he used his toes to block Trossard's shot!
Having lost this great scoring opportunity, Brighton obviously became more impetuous.

After the half-time break, as soon as the second half of the game started, the entire Brighton team rushed forward, trying to attack instead of defend and crush Manchester United's defense.

At this time, Li Chen replaced Cavani and Sancho with Greenwood and Rashford.

Manchester United's frisbee counterattack tactics also increased the threat to the extreme at this moment!

Ronaldo, who was pushed to the No. 9 position, did not provide much fulcrum for his teammates on the two wings. In fact, Li Chen did not need him to do things that he was not good at.

He just needs Ronaldo to stand in front of the opponent's penalty area and suppress several of the opponent's central defenders so that they dare not actively attack and intercept, that's all!
The long counterattack pass that B Fee sent in the midfield was not aimed at Ronaldo, but at Rashford and Greenwood who were full of energy and physical strength!
In this simple, direct and quick counterattack, Rashford and Greenwood were seamlessly integrated into the tactical system and did not need Li Chen to remind them any further.

At this moment, Brighton, who was pressing forward in a big way, was soon stabbed in the heart by the two sharp knives that Li Chen replaced!
In the 56th minute of the second half, Greenwood received a counterattack pass from B Fee and advanced along the sideline before cutting inside decisively. He finally broke through Sanchez's defense with a stunning shot!

In the 62nd minute, Manchester United's counterattack came back. This time, Ronaldo took the initiative to hold the ball to the side, attracted the defensive attention of two Brighton defenders, and then passed the ball to the middle of the penalty area!

Bruno Fernandes followed up with a powerful shot which went slightly wide of the post, making all the Brighton players break out in a cold sweat!
However, after Manchester United's counterattack, Cucurella received instructions from Porter and began to move forward to participate in the attack.

It was his joining that created offensive variables for Brighton.

In the 69th minute of the second half, Welbeck received a cross from Cucurella and completed a threatening header!
However, De Gea, who was very focused, still made a great save and kept Brighton's sure goal out!
The mentality of the entire Brighton team was a little broken after failing to attack again.

Why is it so difficult for Manchester United to score a goal no matter how hard they counterattack? !

Both sure goals were saved by De Gea. It's like the Spanish goalkeeper is cheating. This is so unfair!
The Brighton players, who were filled with resentment, further reduced their morale.

Manchester United continued to seize counterattack opportunities without mercy, and finally in the 77th minute of the second half, Rashford passed the ball back to the penalty area after going down the bottom line, helping Ronaldo to score his second goal!

4-0, such a bloody scoreline silenced the Seagull fans at the scene.

Manchester United returned to their home ground with the joy of this great victory and faced the crucial 33rd round of league make-up match.

Facing Norwich, who are now ranked last in the league and have already been relegated, Manchester United, with all their main players, did not give their opponents any chance to counterattack.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been in hot form recently, did not score a goal in this purely bullying game, but he did assist Rashford and B Fee to score.

Manchester United eventually beat Norwich 3-1 at home, and after completing the makeshift match, their points reached 75.

With only two rounds left in the league, Manchester United is 7 points ahead of Arsenal, who are currently ranked fifth in the standings, and 6 points ahead of Chelsea, who are ranked fourth, and has secured qualification for next season's Champions League!
As the battle for the top four progresses, Manchester United fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

In the last two rounds of the league, Manchester United's opponents are Brentford and Crystal Palace respectively, and the game pressure is not too great.

If nothing unexpected happens, Manchester United's final ranking this season should be third in the league.

If it were at the beginning of this season, Manchester United fans would definitely be dissatisfied with such ranking predictions.

Under Solskjaer's leadership, Manchester United has reached the top four of the league for two consecutive seasons.

Manchester United made a number of major signings in the summer window, so there is no reason for them to be lingering in third place.

But after a tumultuous first half of the season, United supporters are now content with their side's third place finish in the Premier League.

Fans of other Premier League powerhouses began to complain about Manchester United's luck.

They were clearly looking for a fire-fighting coach, but they ended up finding an outstanding young coach with strong team-building abilities.

This time, as long as Manchester United's top management does not do anything stupid and gives Li Chen the support he deserves, Manchester United, which has completed its renewal in one or two seasons, may really have a chance to challenge Manchester City's dominant position!
Many neutral fans have also become interested in Manchester United, or Li Chen's recruitment plan during this offseason.

After all, without any support from signings in the winter window, Li Chen was able to lead the team to a good record relying on the existing Manchester United players at hand.

He even promoted two Manchester United youth players to the first team.

Due to physical development reasons, Diallo cannot play too many games at this stage, and his future development prospects remain to be seen.

But Elanga almost played well, and his performance was quite good under Li Chen's tactical design.

Even if his talent is a little lower and he will not be able to reach the level of a top winger in football in the future.

But if the hardworking Elanga gets a rotation position in a strong team, or makes a name for himself as a wing-back, his value could be worth 3000 million, right?

Li Chen's ability to adapt the dishes to the dishes and use new players has initially impressed the fans who follow him.

Everyone now wants to know whether Li Chen will be able to achieve better results in a multi-line combat environment if he gets more financial support.

For many clubs, the problem of recruiting players does not exist for Manchester United.

Compared with the financial strength of the consortium behind it, Manchester United may not rank high in the football world.

But when it comes to the money-making ability of the club's commercial operations and the amount of investment in the transfer market every year, Manchester United is really not afraid of anyone!
Judging from the results that Li Chen achieved as the team in the second half of the season, he should have at least some say in the team's recruitment of players, right?
Many neutral fans think so, and they are also worried that Manchester United will poach young talents in their team in the next summer window.

But in fact, Li Chen has indeed received more so-called support from Glazer through his recent outstanding performance as a team leader.

However, the level of support is still far from what he expected, and the core conflict between the two sides is still over the allocation of the power to recruit players.

Li Chen doesn't care about the game between the Glazer family and other conglomerates that want to join Manchester United, or how much management power Sandezi still holds.

Given the current chaos at Manchester United, if he and Rangnick are not given the power to take charge of team building, his attitude is that there will be no contract renewal.

Rangnick is on the same front as Li Chen in this regard.

In other words, if Manchester United's top management agreed to Li Chen's request, he would stay with Li Chen.

If Li Chen eventually leaves the team, he will basically have to find a way to terminate his contract with Manchester United and return to Germany.

The negotiation tug-of-war between the two sides lasted for some time.

Previously, in order not to affect the team's pursuit of the top four, Sandezi and Li Chen tacitly chose to ignore this matter for the time being.

But now that Manchester United has firmly secured its place in the top four of the league and has qualified for the Champions League, Sander immediately accelerated the negotiations with Mendes' team, hoping to strike while the iron is hot and convince Li Chen to sign a new contract as soon as possible.

Manchester United is very generous in terms of annual salary, and can be said to be very sincere. If Li Chen is willing to talk, a very high salary can be negotiated quickly.

But now Li Chen values ​​the progress of his career far more than money.

San Dezi's emotional card doesn't work either. Li Chen even retorted that the players on his side kicked Mu and himself out of the team.

This made Sandezi very angry.

At this time, no one knew who gave Sandezi, the boss, a bad idea.

The Manchester United club officials actually took the initiative to spread the rumor that it was difficult to renew the contract with Li Chen, trying to put pressure on Li Chen through public opinion and force him to stand up and promise Manchester United fans that he would choose to stay with the team.

As a result, Manchester United, which had just been stirring up trouble in public opinion, received news that Li Chen's team had unilaterally withdrawn its intention to negotiate a contract extension!
The major mainstream media in England did not get the first-hand information from Li Chen and Mendes about the breakdown of their negotiations with Manchester United.

But a certain staff member within Manchester United would not miss such an opportunity and once again boasted about revealing the club's secrets to the media.

So there was no doubt that the news that Li Chen might leave Manchester United after the end of this season spread throughout the football world!
Before the summer transfer window officially opened, the news that Li Chen’s contract renewal negotiations with Manchester United had broken down was like dropping a depth bomb in the calm public opinion field!
Just as the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Manchester City was about to begin, Manchester United was in turmoil!

　I sent a few friends off in the provincial capital today, which delayed me a lot. I am still writing more articles at this moment. I will update again after midnight tonight. Those who can't wait can read it tomorrow morning.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)