Chapter 50 "Royal Newcastle", set sail!
Chapter 50 "Royal Newcastle", set sail!
The news that the three veteran defenders collectively joined Newcastle has indeed made the Newcastle club quickly become the focus of football.
After all, fans are now waiting for Newcastle to spend a lot of money and make big purchases in the transfer market.
As a result, after holding it in for a week or two, this is what happened when the summer transfer window officially opened?
Pepe is 39, Ramos is 36, Marcelo is 34…
The combined age of the three of them is almost 110 years old. Are they here to play in the Premier League or to retire? !
Even many Newcastle fans are feeling mixed emotions regarding the club's transfer news.
The team is really popular now, and the whole world has started discussing Newcastle's next signing.
But most of them are complaints and ridicule.
Some Newcastle fans even suspected that Li Chen deliberately arranged for his old friends to come to Newcastle to earn high salaries for retirement.
"It is undeniable that Lee's use of veterans at Manchester United last season was very reasonable and successful, but if you want to build a brand new team from scratch and have the right to choose, shouldn't you consider younger star players?"
"Perhaps because he failed to get the support of the top management for signings twice in a row after taking over as an independent coach, Li has become accustomed to the frugal way of building a team.
But his current team is obviously richer and more ambitious. I think Lee should adjust his team-building policy. Newcastle has sufficient salary space and margin of error to support him to show his talents. "
Some so-called industry experts did not miss the opportunity to ride on the popularity and jumped out to talk.
The implicit meaning of his words is to ask Li Chen to change his stingy mentality. The boss is rich, not you, so why should you save money for the boss?
Instead, Newcastle's biggest star Alan Shearer was interviewed at this time and said that fans should not care about the outside public opinion and should first fully support Li Chen.
"I still don't agree with the club's decision to fire Eddie, he is a very good team player and can help the team to rise steadily.
But now that things have come to this, we can only look forward. Lee is also an excellent young coach. I think he can succeed in Newcastle, so we need to give him more patience and support, just like we firmly supported Eddie in the second half of last season! ”
The boss' timely words made Newcastle fans become much calmer.
Several Newcastle legends came out one after another to express their support for Li Chen, which immediately helped Li Chen win back a point in the public opinion field.
However, at this moment, Li Chen was not annoyed by the complaints and criticisms from the outside world. He was really too busy and had almost no time to surf the Internet.
"He almost perfectly meets our requirements for a center forward in the new tactical system. He has an excellent sense of smell in front of the goal, delicate footwork, a tall stature, and is willing to cooperate with teammates, but..."
"His ability to fight is still a little lacking, and he needs time to adapt to the rhythm of the Premier League. Another problem is his physical health."
After listening to the analysis and suggestions from Carrick and the club's chief scout, Li Chen also felt a little embarrassed.
Although he now has the power to recruit players for the team, the Newcastle management team still has a good vision, and Li Chen is also willing to listen to more people's opinions.
So after arranging the transfer of the three veteran defenders, Li Chen sent someone to contact the agent of the young player he had his eyes on.
At the same time, they adjusted their purchase plan according to the recruitment list that Newcastle's management team had almost drawn up at the end of last season.
Among the players that Newcastle's management team originally had their eyes on, the one that deserves Li Chen's most attention is of course Real Sociedad center Isaac.
Isaac, who has already played for Real Sociedad, is a real talent. The title of "Little Ibrahimovic" is enough to show that La Liga fans are optimistic about his future growth.
Li Chen also likes this type of center forward, who has shooting skills, footwork, good passing vision, and likes to cooperate with teammates.
However, his lack of confrontation and potential injuries made Li Chen hesitate.
It is easy to deal with this problem. It can be solved slowly. Give Isaac a scientific weight gain plan and let him adjust his playing habits. There will be a lot of improvement after one season.
But if the body is not strong enough, it will affect the preparation work of the entire coaching team.
In Li Chen's team tactical plan for the new season, the center position is one of the core operations of the team's frontcourt offense.
If players in other positions are injured, Li Chen can adjust the tactical details to make up for the losses, but if the main center is injured, the offensive tactical structure of the frontcourt must be changed!
"If we push for Isaac, what level of attendance will he maintain in the next two seasons? Is there any assessment?"
"It's hard to say about the second season. In the first season, if there is no major injury, it is unlikely that he will start more than 25 league games."
"Okay, then I understand."
The advice Carrick received from Newcastle's medical team prompted Li Chen to make up his mind.
Newcastle's transfer department continued to operate at full speed. After receiving another intention to recruit players from Li Chen, it immediately sent a negotiation team to contact the target club and players.
After making the decision to give up on introducing Isaac, Li Chen felt relieved. He gave the entire scout system two days off and took Carrick to Croatia.
In Zagreb, he met with the 20-year-old Gvardiol with his pre-planned tactical framework for the new season and long-term training plan.
Of course, Gwadior’s parents were also present at this meeting.
Li Chen had no plans to travel to Croatia in the near future. He originally thought that after the club and RB Leipzig reached an agreement, he would be able to successfully introduce Gvardiol.
Unexpectedly, this precocious boy did not want to join Newcastle, and told Leipzig executives that he did not put money first in his career pursuits.
"Moving from a Bundesliga team that can play in the Champions League to a team that finished ninth in the Premier League last season is a step backwards!"
Gvardiol's persistence left Leipzig's top management scratching their heads.
They really want to earn the 5000 million euro transfer fee offered by Newcastle, but if the player himself does not agree to the transfer, they can't force him.
In desperation, Leipzig could only ask Newcastle to try again to persuade the young central defender.
After learning about the situation, Li Chen decisively decided to make the trip himself.
His visit also caught Gvadior off guard.
"It is true that the team ranked ninth in the league last season, and it is true that we will not play in European competitions in the new season, but we are a team with long-term plans and ambitious goals, Joshko.
The reason I finally chose Newcastle was not because of the high salary. I came to this club to do something big, and you are one of the most important players in my team-building plan!
I can assure you, Josh, that the team's goal for the new season is to win the championship! We will take the initiative to compete with Manchester City and Liverpool, and you will not lack playing time in my team.
Besides, don’t you want to learn and grow with Pepe and Sergio?
They can only play for two or three more seasons before retiring. Once you miss this opportunity, it will be difficult for you to partner with historical defenders again..."
Li Chen tempted the young Gvardiol with his own team building plan and the conditions of playing with Pepe Ramos and others.
At the same time, he signaled Carrick to tell the boy's parents the amount of salary the club intended to offer to Gvardiol.
With the help of Gvardior's agent who came and tried to earn commission, Li Chen managed to lure the young Croatian central defender onto his ship within a day.
"Fortunately, the talks with Wolfsburg went more smoothly... But Li, isn't it a bit too risky for us to spend 7000 million euros to buy two young central defenders?"
After catching the plane back to England, Carrick asked Li Chen nervously.
When Li Chen planned to introduce three veteran defenders, Carrick had different opinions.
But now Li Chen has asked the club to spend money to buy young talented defenders, as he feels that these two defenders are too young.
Leipzig asked for 5000 million euros and Wolfsburg asked for 2000 million euros. Li Chen agreed to the offer without even blinking an eye.
If this doesn't work out in the new season, Newcastle fans might think that Li Chen took kickbacks in the transfer.
"Don't worry, Michael, Gvardiol and Van der Ven are both good talents worth our money and patience to cultivate.
Today we spent 7000 million to buy them, but what the team will gain is a worry-free defense for the next 10 years."
When Carrick saw that Li Chen was so confident, he stopped giving him further reminders.
Anyway, he still admired Li Chen's perspective on people.
Even if the performance of these two central defenders in the new season does not meet the expectations of the coaching staff, maybe Li Chen can make his money back by coaching them for one or two more seasons?
Carrick kept comforting himself in his heart, but Li Chen had already started thinking about the next signing target.
However, not everything will always go smoothly.
Even if Newcastle waved its money and became the popular financial target of most clubs in the transfer market.
But there are some clubs that are very tough and stubborn. You want to do business with them, but they are too stubborn to negotiate any conditions.
Newcastle was rejected in Naples.
After Li Chen gave up Isaac, he signaled the club to pursue Osimhen with all its strength.
Osimhen and his agent, Calenda, are very satisfied with the salary terms and transfer commission offered by Newcastle.
But the boss of Napoli, De Gea, doesn't want to let Osimhen leave the team.
The German didn't even look at the 8500 million euro transfer offer from Newcastle.
If he is willing to talk, it is very likely that Newcastle will offer 9000 million euros.
But the official response Newcastle finally received was that they either pay 1.2 million euros to take Osimhen away, or stop making any more offers!
1.2 million is not a big problem for Newcastle.
Newcastle is in the process of a major cleanup and has not spent much on the previous few signings, so the signing of Osimhen will not affect the financial health on the books.
Even if they overspend on signings, Newcastle has ways to smooth over the trouble behind the scenes.
But Li Chen didn't want to be the scapegoat.
The outside world will always know that he is in control of Newcastle's signings this season.
If they really spend 1.2 million to buy Osimhen, then the current fans will mock Newcastle for being a sucker, and they will mock Li Chen with the same intensity in the future!
Besides, Li Chen really thinks Osimhen is not worth the price. Let alone 1.2 million, he doesn't even want to pay 9000 million!
Taking into account the current shortage of center forwards in football and the premium in the transfer market, Li Chen feels that Osimhen is worth at most 8000 million.
Paying an extra cent on top of this price is just a waste of money!
The German dared to give such a deliberately embarrassing offer response. Li Chen was also a tough person and directly asked the club to withdraw all contacts with Naples and Osimhen.
Now it was Osimhen and his agent's turn to engage in a war of words with the German, while Li Chen turned his attention back to the Premier League market.
However, he does not want to buy any other English center forwards except Kane.
The scoring ability of those centers may meet his bottom line requirements, but their running and footwork skills are not very good.
Kane is a little older, but he is still very capable and almost perfectly meets Li Chen's tactical requirements.
However, Li Chen, who had just been disgusted by the German, certainly didn't want to kiss Levi's cold butt again.
So his search scope was quickly narrowed down to Premier League center forwards who were not registered in England.
Among these "center forwards", the only one who best meets his goal is the German player Havertz.
After a little consideration, Li Chen directly called Boli...
In late June, Newcastle, which attracted much attention from the media and fans, released a series of major signings.
First, they spent a huge sum of 7000 million euros to buy two young central defenders, Gvardiol and Van der Ven, from the Bundesliga.
Just when fans were curious about the origins of these two central defenders born in the 00s, Newcastle announced the signing of English midfielder Maddison from Leicester City.
According to informed reporters, the transfer amount is approximately between 4700 and 5000 million euros.
Leicester City was reluctant to let go of its core midfielder.
But Newcastle chose to pay in cash, and it was a one-time payment.
Leicester City asked Newcastle to discuss personal terms directly with Maddison without saying anything.
More than 100 million in transfer fees were spent, and Newcastle finally showed the media how wealthy they are.
But that's not all. Just two days after the official announcement of the introduction of Maddison from Leicester City, Newcastle announced the introduction of Ward-Prowse and Palinha from Southampton and Sporting CP respectively. The transfer prices of the latter two were not very high, and the British media quickly dug out the transfer fees.
Ward-Prowse cost Newcastle €3200 million, while Palinha cost €2700 million.
It still seems a little overpriced. If other teams buy these two midfielders, they might save a few million.
But for Newcastle, buying this kind of midfielder is completely "rational consumption".
Many fans even said that Newcastle's uniform team is quite pragmatic and does not spend lavishly on buying famous stars.
But shortly after they praised Newcastle's management team for their pragmatism, several sports newspapers in London suddenly broke the news that Newcastle was making every effort to introduce Havertz.
The leaked transfer offer was as high as 6500 million Euros!
This made countless fans change the subject and say that Newcastle's transfer department was out of control.
Otherwise, why would they spend such a huge amount of money to try to bring in a useless player like Havertz?
If Newcastle United had spent 6500 million euros to buy Havertz two years ago, all the fans would have praised the Newcastle management for their strong negotiating skills.
But things are different now. Havertz, who has grown taller, can no longer play well in his original midfield position.
Last season, under Tuchel's coaching, Havertz, who was frequently pushed to the number nine position, had a significant increase in his goal tally and also performed well in several games in the sprint stage of the season.
But considering that he came to Chelsea with a transfer fee of 8000 million euros, he will not be able to convince the fans just by performing decently.
When many Chelsea fans saw the news that Newcastle was willing to spend more than 60 million to introduce Havertz, their first feeling was not reluctance, but rather happiness.
Havertz did help the team score the only winning goal in the Champions League final, and they are quite grateful, but Havertz also struggled for two seasons at Chelsea.
Just endure it, it will be uncomfortable for both sides.
Havertz still has ambition, but his performance of only scoring 12 league goals in two seasons has indeed made the Blues fans lose hope in him.
While Havertz can still be sold at a high price, Blues fans are more inclined to sell him.
It would be best to sell Lukaku, who cannot integrate into the team system, and the useless Werner!
Then use the money from selling the player to buy a reliable young center and train him well.
It's a good opportunity for Havertz to change his environment. Maybe he can excel in other positions?
If a tree is moved, it will die; if a person is moved, he will live. It would be miserable for both sides if they continue to endure the situation. It is better to break up amicably.
The Blues' supporters seem to be looking forward to and are optimistic about the deal.
And gradually clearing out the meritorious players of the "predecessor" during the second Champions League win happens to be an important plan of Chelsea's new management.
As a result, the negotiations between the two clubs went very quickly and smoothly, even though Chelsea's current head coach Tuchel explicitly opposed the sale of Havertz.
Havertz, who was seriously hurt by the top management's quick decision to sell him, received timely comfort from Li Chen.
At this time, Li Chen's promise to ensure that he would have a starting position in Newcastle next season became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Havertz is very grateful for Li Chen's optimism and trust.
With a nod of his head, the last problem in the transfer negotiations was solved.
On the morning of July 7st, both clubs announced at the same time that they had reached an agreement on Havertz's transfer.
Havertz will wear the No. 11 jersey to fight for Newcastle in the new season (Newcastle's former No. 11 player Ritchie has left the team).
According to informed media, the transfer amount is not much different from the 6500 million euros that was initially reported, and the contract period is five years.
In other words, Li Chen must make use of Havertz in the next few seasons and pray that the German player can "wake up" in the striker position as soon as possible.
Otherwise, the sunk cost of Newcastle's transfer would be so high that it would be laughed at by fans for several years.
Some uninformed neutral fans now feel sorry for Li Chen, believing that Newcastle's uniform team's signings will cause trouble for Li Chen's preparations for the new season.
However, little did they know that at this moment Li Chen only had "happy troubles".
Because he has so many outstanding young players who meet his tactical requirements. The situation is many times better than when he took over Manchester United last year!
At the same time, the newly hired coach Ten Hag, who is regarded as the "next Li Chen" by the Manchester United management, remained silent as he looked at Manchester United's first-team player list for the new season.
If he were to rebuild according to his habits of employing players, most of the players in Manchester United's first team would have to be abandoned and cleared out by him.
Including Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored nearly 40 goals for Manchester United last season.
Fortunately, Manchester United's management now has great trust in him and has promised him that they will try their best to bring in the players he wants.
This made him feel more at ease even though he was dissatisfied with the player configuration of Manchester United's first team.
However, before the team's summer training officially begins, he cannot just sit there and do nothing. At least, he must first establish his prestige in the team's locker room.
Ten Hag began to design various plans to establish his authority in his empty head, and in the end, he chose the most risky plan, but also the one that would allow him to take control of the team the fastest if successful!
……
C Ronaldo is extremely angry!
Because he felt betrayed!
If it weren't for the hint from the top management, how could the new bald coach dare to say that he would be a substitute in the new season during his first phone call with him?
It’s not that he can’t accept the arrangement of more rotation and rest. He has behaved very well under Zidane and Li Chen.
Even though Solskjaer arranged for him to take a rest, he had no complaints. It was just that the outside media kept making trouble, which made the old man finally stand up and put pressure on Solskjaer.
But he stood by Solskjaer during that turbulent period, but in the end he just couldn't score as fast as his teammates conceded...
If he needs to take a rest to save more energy to play in the Champions League and important domestic cup games, OK, that's no problem. Communicate with him well and he will understand.
But if you come up and directly tell Ronaldo that he is old and can't meet your tactical requirements, then Ronaldo will just think that you don't respect him and are talking nonsense!
Whether you have the ability and can achieve your tactical requirements on the field is a result that can only be obtained through training and actual competitions.
If Ronaldo really feels that his abilities are not up to par and he can no longer score goals to help the team, then you don't need to say anything, he will take the initiative to ask to leave.
So in Ronaldo's logic, Ten Hag, who has not yet communicated with him and directly concluded that Ronaldo's ability will decline in the new season, is just like Allegri who wanted to make him a substitute from the beginning of last season.
They don't respect him!
What made him even more angry was that Allegri had already proven himself to be a serious football coach in the four major leagues.
But are you Ten Hag?
Do the top brass at Manchester United think that hiring a new head coach will make him bow down and surrender? !
The straightforward Ronaldo immediately asked for a dialogue with Manchester United's top management.
But the new CEO's vague answer disappointed him greatly.
After calming down a little, Ronaldo, who originally wanted to endure for a while and communicate with Ten Hag until the summer training officially started, became more and more angry on the way home!
He quickly made up his mind and called Mendes.
Mendes, who failed to appease Ronaldo, tried to call Li Chen again ten minutes later...
So before the pre-season training of the Premier League teams officially started, Newcastle made another transfer offer to Manchester United.
To be more precise, it was a plan involving the exchange of three players from two teams plus monetary compensation.
"They plan to exchange Saint-Maximin for Ronaldo + Elanga and a transfer fee of 2000 million euros?"
After receiving the notice from the top management, Ten Hag immediately became interested.
Saint-Maximin, who played at the peak of his Premier League career at Newcastle last season, is currently valued in the German transfer market at between 3500 million and 4000 million euros.
If we ignore the market value, using 3500 million euros to introduce this breakthrough maniac is still very cost-effective, at least for Ten Hag.
If he were to make the decision now, he would not spend 1500 million euros to bring in Ronaldo and Elanga.
So from this perspective, the player exchange plan offered by Newcastle is still quite conscientious.
Not only did he take on Ronaldo's toxic contract with an annual salary that was too high, he bought Elanga, who seemed mediocre to Ten Hag, and gave Manchester United a mature and outstanding winger.
"Promise them that we'll make this deal! I need players like Saint-Maximin to strengthen the team's offensive capabilities!"
Ten Hag gave his answer quite confidently.
After receiving orders from the top, Manchester United's uniform team went straight into negotiations.
However, it is called a negotiation, and it is just a process if both parties are willing.
Ronaldo's commercial value is what Manchester United's top executives are most reluctant to give up.
But considering his age and the huge salary offered when he was signed, plus Ten Hag's attitude.
No matter how reluctant they were, Manchester United's top management still chose to let go of Ronaldo.
To put it bluntly, there is not enough confidence in the ability of older players to maintain their form, even for superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo.
Signing a one-year contract with an old player always carries huge risks. Ronaldo performed very well last season, but who can guarantee that he won’t fall off a cliff this season?
Ten Hag succeeded in getting rid of Ronaldo, who now has a high status in the Manchester United locker room.
The Manchester United first-team players who learned the news in advance were all shocked!
They thought that Ten Hag would start a major purge and did not dare to speak out for Ronaldo.
After all, this bald head coach doesn't seem to be such a "rule-abiding" person.
If I really offend him, what will I do if he keeps me on the bench and I have no games to play?
They had to keep silent for the time being about their future at Manchester United.
But the Red Devils fans don't have this concern.
When the two teams quickly completed the negotiations and then officially announced three transfer information related to each other, the devastated Manchester United fans immediately went crazy!
In the end, it was only after Manchester United took the initiative to spread the word that they would introduce De Jong, De Ligt and more young talented players as soon as possible that the anger of Manchester United fans was slightly calmed.
Ten Hag also stood up in a high-profile manner and said in an interview that he was very satisfied with the club's introduction of Saint-Maximin.
Then he proudly told reporters a lot of his ideas for building the team for the new season, as well as his ideas for the new tactics that the team will use in the future.
For a while, many Manchester United fans really believed what Ten Hag said, thinking that he would lead Manchester United to follow the tactical development trend in football.
While Ten Hag was continuing with his "great cause of change", Li Chen had already rushed to Manchester in person to pack up and prepare to move with Ronaldo, who had only planned to come back temporarily.
He was accompanied by Master Pei and Marcelo.
With the persuasion and company of several old friends, Ronaldo's depression was relieved a lot. Finally, he patted Li Chen's shoulder with gratitude. Everything was said without words.
"Let's go, go back and prepare early. The coaching staff has prepared some devilish physical training for this summer training. You old guys, don't let it get to you."
Li Chen changed the subject and provoked the three people with a smile, which resulted in the veterans' unyielding verbal counterattack.
"What kind of devilish physical training have we not seen? Didn't Pintus train us enough back then? I want to see how intense your devilish training is."
"Don't brag too much, or Sergio will laugh at you."
"Hey, I'm almost 40, please take care of me when the time comes. If you train me badly before the season, I'll just be getting paid for nothing during the season."
The three of them joked with each other, and finally smiled at each other and started their return journey.
On the morning of July 7, the Newcastle team, which had assembled a few days earlier than other Premier League powerhouses, started the first training session of the new season at the training base.
And looking at the training photos of Ronaldo, Pepe, Ramos and Marcelo released by Newcastle’s official Twitter.
Real Madrid fans couldn't help but make jokes.
“Royal Newcastle is about to sail!”
(End of this chapter)