Chapter 301: The Old Master Regrets, Should Have Spent a Billion on Lin Quan!
"Coach, what brings you here?" Lin Quan was somewhat surprised to see Pellegrini.
"I came to see you, and also to ask about your thoughts on the team's signings this summer," Pellegrini said. He didn't directly ask if Lin Quan was planning to transfer but instead approached the topic indirectly to gauge his thoughts.
"The club should follow its own recruitment plan; I don't have any special thoughts!" Lin Quan didn't know much about the team's transfer affairs and preferred not to get involved to avoid giving the impression that he was overreaching.
As a player, his primary duty was to play football well. Overly interfering in the club's transfer activities was not ideal, as later exemplified by Mbappe.
"No worries, feel free to speak your mind. Oh, and let me introduce you to our recruitment strategy for this summer," Pellegrini patiently explained the players that Manchester City might need to bring in.
Strengthening the defense was necessary, as Lescott's contract had expired and he had not accepted the club's renewal offer. He tweeted: "Winning the Champions League was incredibly exciting and joyful. I am grateful to everyone at the club for this wonderful period in my career and life." Although he didn't explicitly state he wanted to leave, his refusal to sign the renewal contract suggested his intentions.
Lescott had been with Manchester City for five years, but in the last two seasons, he had gradually become a substitute, not appearing many times during the season, which he found dissatisfying.
Now that his contract had expired, leaving Manchester City to join another team for free could get him a favorable contract.
Pellegrini saw Lescott as an important rotation player, not promising him a starting position, so it was tough to keep him. If he wanted to leave, it was better to let him go. Manchester City was not a club without compassion.
In addition to Lescott, the substitute goalkeeper Pantilimon also wanted to leave due to a lack of opportunities. Although his contract hadn't expired, Pellegrini planned to let him go for free.
Pantilimon's skills did not meet Manchester City's standards, and his mentality was not stable enough. With Pellegrini planning to buy a new main goalkeeper, keeping him on the team was not beneficial for either party.
"I plan to bring in either Navas or Bravo for the goalkeeper position. Bravo seems to have nearly reached an agreement with Barca, making it difficult to acquire him, so Navas is the most likely option."
"For midfield, Javi Garcia also wants to leave. Being left out of the Spanish national team has hit him hard, and he wants to go to another team to compete for a starting spot to make a push for the national team!"
Javi Garcia was not an absolute starter but an important rotation player. However, unlike other players, he and Lin Quan both came from Spain and were part of the Spanish contingent. If the club decided to sell him, they would have to notify Lin Quan, the leader of the Spanish contingent, in advance to avoid misunderstandings.
Lin Quan nodded; Garcia had already approached him about this at the end of the season. He understood and respected Garcia's decision, so he would not harbor any resentment toward the club for selling him.
"Cough, Negredo also wants to leave..." Pellegrini added after discussing Garcia's transfer.
This news genuinely surprised Lin Quan. Negredo's appearances for Manchester City were not few, and he had performed well in the league and Champions League.
Lin Quan thought he would continue at Manchester City, but unexpectedly, Negredo wanted to leave and hadn't informed him of this decision.
"Where does he want to go?"
Last season, Negredo played 47 times for Manchester City, scoring 23 goals. His scoring efficiency was quite good.
His departure would greatly impact Manchester City's forward line.
"He wants to return to La Liga. According to him, it seems he can't stand Manchester's cold, damp weather." Pellegrini said with a wry smile. Hearing this, Lin Quan, who had planned to call and persuade Negredo, completely abandoned the idea.
Ah, Manchester's terrible weather is really too much for a Spanish player.
Spain is warm and dry, while England is cold and damp. Coming from Iberia to England, Spanish players generally find it hard to adapt.
Negredo only joined Manchester City a year ago and already wanted to leave. While there are certainly other factors, the weather is definitely a significant influence.
Forget it, if he wants to leave, let him go!
This summer, up to seven or eight players will be leaving Manchester City. With so many departures, the team naturally needs to bring in reinforcements.
Pellegrini plans to buy a substitute forward, a substitute midfielder, and a main goalkeeper. If Joe Hart isn't willing to stay, then he'll be put up for sale, and another substitute goalkeeper will be bought.
Pellegrini didn't need to go into such detail about these transfers, but out of respect for Lin Quan, he shared everything he knew or planned.
"For defense, we plan to buy a taller, younger defender to solve the team's problem with aerial balls!"
Navas isn't tall enough, which makes Pellegrini worried about opponents bombarding them with high balls next season.
Hearing Pellegrini's requirements, Lin Quan immediately thought of someone—a tough guy who almost stole the Ballon d'Or from Messi as a defender!
"Celtic has a young defender named Van Dijk who should meet your requirements!"
"Celtic, huh? I'll take a look when I have time!"
Pellegrini hadn't heard of Van Dijk before, but since Lin Quan recommended him, he would definitely check him out.
"Lin, the team's goal for the new season is to defend the Premier League and Champions League titles, but achieving these two goals will be very difficult, so we need to maintain the stability of the main lineup as much as possible, don't we?"
In the end, Pellegrini couldn't hold back any longer.
Lin Quan looked up at him and smiled, saying:
"Coach, you're not asking if I'm going to leave Manchester City, are you?"
Seeing that Lin Quan had brought the topic into the open, Pellegrini no longer beat around the bush.
"Yes, you are very important to the team. If you're not with us, then our goals for next season definitely cannot be achieved."
With Manchester City's current tactical style, Pellegrini couldn't imagine what the team would be like without Lin Quan.
Seeing Pellegrini's honest attitude, Lin Quan didn't beat around the bush either.
He straightforwardly told him: "Then you and the club can go back and prepare for the new season with peace of mind. I won't leave Manchester City this summer!"
Pellegrini breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving Lin Quan's promise.
But he soon became anxious again. The other party only said he wouldn't leave this summer; what about next year?
After sending Pellegrini off, Lin Quan thought for a moment and decided to make a statement on social media to completely quell this transfer rumor:
"I woke up to find my inbox exploded. Many friends are asking where I am going next season?
Do you even have to ask? Of course, I'm staying at Manchester City!
Next season, at the Etihad Stadium, see you there!"
He also posted a photo of himself scoring at the Etihad Stadium, enjoying the collective cheers of the fans, to show how much he enjoyed his days at Manchester City.
The successive denials and statements by the club and Lin Quan himself put Manchester City fans' minds at ease.
"I knew it, Emperor Lin wouldn't leave Manchester City!"
"That's right, shameless media, they'd do anything for traffic!"
"Phew, now I can finally relax!"
Paris Saint-Germain's offer of 200 million euros really made many Manchester City fans very anxious. There's no helping it; the offer was just too good!
Lin Quan's denial disappointed many clubs closely following this transfer.
Spain, Madrid.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez sighed after hearing the news:
"Paris Saint-Germain threw two billion and couldn't buy Lin Quan. We probably won't be able to get him any time soon!"
The Old Master's chief assistant Manuel Redondo nodded:
"Manchester City's reluctance to let him go is one thing, but the key is that the player himself doesn't want to leave, making it difficult for any team to poach him!"
Florentino's headache lay here, watching Lin Quan dominate the World Cup with Spain, completely overshadowing Ronaldo and Messi.
His value soared, and more and more clubs coveted him, making him increasingly difficult to acquire.
It can be said that as much as the big clubs coveted Messi before, now they covet Lin Quan even more.
And because Lin Quan is younger, even more clubs covet him than those that coveted Messi back then.
Florentino was no exception!
When Lin Quan was at Werder Bremen, he had admired him greatly.
Last season, Lin Quan's performance at Manchester City was perfect, even directly shattering Real Madrid's Champions League dreams.
This made the Old Master hate Lin Quan even while admiring him tremendously and also filled him with immense regret.
If he hadn't bought Bale back then but had decisively brought Lin Quan back to the Bernabeu, Real Madrid wouldn't have to worry about the core of the team for the next dozen years.
Unfortunately, considering Ronaldo's feelings at the time and worrying that Lin Quan wouldn't want to join Real Madrid because of Barcelona, although they contacted Lin Quan and his agent, their attitude wasn't proactive enough, and their sincerity wasn't sufficient, ultimately failing to reach an agreement.
If they could have shown the sincerity that Manchester City did in bringing in Lin Quan, then with Real Madrid's status and influence in football, the chances of attracting Lin Quan to join would have been very high!
Although Ronaldo is strong, he is getting older. Born in 1985, he will turn 30 next year.
After thirty, a player's form starts to decline, meaning that two or three years later, Real Madrid will have to consider who will replace Ronaldo.
Players like Ronaldo and Messi are truly hard to find.
There are very few players in football capable of reaching this level, and among the current young players, aside from Lin Quan, everyone else is far behind.
And these players are almost all spoken for—Neymar is at Barcelona, untouchable; Gotze is at Bayern and won't leave easily; Hazard is considered a treasure by Chelsea, priceless.
Only James Rodriguez might compete, but the clubs eyeing Rodriguez are numerous.
Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus, and other teams have all joined the fray.
Even if Real Madrid managed to secure Rodriguez, it would cost them dearly.
Honestly, spending a billion euros on a player far less capable than Lin Quan isn't worth it; they'd rather decisively spend two billion to bring Lin Quan back.
Unfortunately, Paris Saint-Germain tried this method, and it didn't work.
Thinking this, Florentino sighed.
Buying Bale was mainly because of his immediate combat power, hoping to seize the opportunity to lift Real Madrid's tenth Champions League trophy.
But in reality, the results were not so good.
Even in terms of immediate combat power, Lin Quan completely overshadowed Bale, and the two weren't even on the same level.
Previously worried that Lin Quan was too young and lacked immediate combat power, and his future was full of uncertainties, it now seems that these concerns were completely unnecessary.
If given another chance, they would definitely not hesitate to choose Lin Quan!
Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in this world.
"I wonder if there's a release clause in Lin Quan's contract with Manchester City; if there is, maybe next time we could try activating the release clause!"
Real Madrid's sports manager Padilla was not so pessimistic. Lin Quan doesn't want to leave now, but that doesn't mean he won't want to leave in the future.
And his contract with Manchester City will expire one day; as long as they can convince him to join Real Madrid before he renews with Manchester City, then Real Madrid still has a chance to bring him to the Bernabeu.
"It seems not; Lin Quan's contract with Manchester City is for five years, expiring in 2018!"
"2018?"
Florentino heard this year and was startled, asking subconsciously:
"Is our contract with Ronaldo also up in 2018?"
"Yes!"
Real Madrid and Ronaldo completed a renewal last year, signing a five-year contract expiring in June 2018.
Ronaldo and Lin Quan's contracts expiring in the same year, does that mean they can...
…
After Lin Quan made a clear statement, the speculation about his transfer gradually died down.
People's attention returned to the World Cup and the transfer news about James Rodriguez.
After Colombia eliminated Uruguay, the French team also played cleanly and defeated Nigeria 2:0, becoming the second European team to advance to the quarterfinals.
Next up was France's neighbor, Germany, considered one of the favorites to win this World Cup. Everyone thought Germany should easily beat Algeria before the match.
However, the game turned out to be unexpectedly tough, with Germany performing poorly, while Algeria played quite well.
After 90 minutes of regular play, the score was still 0:0, with Algeria stubbornly drawing with Germany.
After watching this game, German fans were worried.
And those who had been optimistic about Germany before the match began reassessing Germany's strength. Could they go far in the knockout stages with their current form?
Not everyone was worried, though. Fans of the host, Brazil, were pleasantly surprised after watching this game.
Brazil and Germany were in the same half of the draw. If they both made it through the next round, the two teams would meet in the semi-finals.
If Algeria could eliminate Germany, then Brazil's chances of advancing to the semi-finals would greatly increase.
Even if Germany lucked into the quarter-finals, with their current form, wouldn't they just be slaughtered by Brazil in the semi-finals?
Although Brazil's path to the quarter-finals was also very difficult, they defeated the last World Cup's runner-up, the Netherlands, while Germany faced Algeria, who had never before made it to the knockout stages.
The gap in strength between the two was too great, making Brazilians feel that Germany wasn't much after all.
Dragged into overtime, Germany seemed to wake up.
Their attack became sharper, and in the 2nd minute of overtime, Schurrle, substituting for Gotze, scored a goal, giving Germany the lead.
18 minutes later, Ozil scored another goal, securing the victory for Germany.
Although Algeria scored a goal in the last minute of overtime, it couldn't change the outcome of the match.
In the end, thanks to two goals in overtime, Germany laboriously advanced to the knockout stages.
Although they won the match, their poor performance during the game led to a reduction in their odds of winning the championship.
After Germany, the other teams that played seemed to be affected by Germany's sluggish state.
Argentina, also a favorite to win the championship, faced Switzerland, not a particularly strong team, and was also held to a 0:0 draw.
If not for Di Maria scoring a crucial goal in the 118th minute of overtime, Argentina would have been dragged into a penalty shootout.
Messi's performance in this game was very poor, with almost no bright moments.
And Argentina's two key forwards still couldn't score, continuing their embarrassing record of 0 goals.
Compared to Argentina and Germany, Belgium, the European Red Devils, performed a bit better.
Facing the not-so-strong USA, they launched a fierce attack from the start, taking a total of 37 shots during the game, 27 of which were on target.
With so many shots, the score of this game should be quite exaggerated, right?
But after 90 minutes, the score was still 0:0; neither team managed to score a single goal.
This score was too outrageous, with the audience watching both teams continuously attack and shoot, but unable to score.
The USA's goalkeeper, Howard, is known as a hot-and-cold player.
When he's bad, he's awful to watch, but when he's good, he can be unbeatable.
Just like a certain top-lane player rolling dice, rolling a 9 makes him invincible.
In this game, Howard was on fire, contributing 19 brilliant saves, completely frustrating Belgium's shooters.
Under Klinsmann's coaching, this relatively mediocre USA team relied on teamwork and discipline to hold their own against Belgium.
Throughout the game, the USA had several great opportunities, but all were wasted.
In the 90th minute, Belgium made a key substitution.
They brought on Lukaku, who had performed well at Everton, and this substitution became the final straw that broke the USA's defense.
In the overtime phase, the USA hit a physical bottleneck, and after Lukaku came on, their defense line finally couldn't hold.
Facing the physically fit and strong Lukaku, the USA's defenders simply couldn't handle him.
In the 93rd minute, Lukaku sprinted down the flank with the ball. After being bumped by an opposing defender and not moving an inch, it was the American defender who fell.
Lukaku seized the opportunity to quickly carry the ball into the box. Faced with the opposing defenders' block, he smartly passed the ball to De Bruyne.
There were four defenders in the box, but only two Belgian players.
But De Bruyne, receiving Lukaku's pass in the box, didn't rush his shot. Instead, he calmly turned to shake off the defenders, adjusted his position, and then aimed for the far corner of the goal.
Howard had no way to stop this shot, which sealed the fate of the USA team.
Ten minutes later, it was De Bruyne again. He delivered a deadly pass, assisting Lukaku to score another goal.
Although the USA team scored a goal in the 107th minute, it still couldn't change their fate of being knocked out.
In the end, thanks to these two goals, Belgium smoothly advanced to the quarter-finals.
And De Bruyne was thus awarded the MVP of the game.
The twin stars of Werder Bremen, still shining on the World Cup stage!
A mistake occurred; I misread the schedule for Brazil and Germany; their encounter is in the semi-finals, not the quarter-finals, already corrected.
(End of this chapter)
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