Chapter 432: Buffon's Visit
"Ranieri really has something. Quietly leading a mid-table team into the top three!"
"That's why they call him the Tinkerman."
"Ranieri's skills are undeniable. His biggest criticism is his inability to manage star players, but he's excellent at developing and coaching young talent. He takes teams with average records to new heights and then gets fired because he can't take them any further."
"Haha, that's so true! If you think about it, Ranieri's career has been a cycle of this."
Leicester City breaking into second place on the Premier League table grabbed significant attention and sparked discussions. Premier League fans were used to seeing the top spots dominated by the big five clubs, so seeing an unfamiliar team like Leicester was surprising.
Leicester City isn't a traditional Premier League team; they spent many years in the Championship and only got promoted to the Premier League last year. Seeing a second-year team perform so well was unexpected.
What they didn't know was that without Lin Quan's influence, Ranieri and his Foxes would have been the champions this season. However, with Lin Quan and Guardiola strengthening Manchester City, Leicester's quest for the title would be very challenging. Guardiola's teams are known for their consistency and minimal performance fluctuations.
After the first five rounds, BBC Sports invited football experts to evaluate the teams' performances and rate their strengths. All the experts rated Manchester City as an S-tier team, the only one in the Premier League.
"This season, Manchester City's attacking power remains terrifying, and what's even more frightening is their defensive ability!" said Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary Manchester United coach, who was invited to the event. He praised Guardiola's work at City: "Since joining Manchester City, Pep has spent considerable time restructuring their defense. Now, with Kompany, Van Dijk, Zabaleta, and Rüdiger, along with Kroos and Kante shielding the defense, they have an almost impenetrable wall in front of their goal. Sometimes, Guardiola even deploys three defensive midfielders by adding Fernandinho, making their midfield defensive line even stronger. This defensive setup is almost unbeatable in the Premier League."
Ferguson's praise wasn't an exaggeration. Since the season began, Manchester City had kept clean sheets in all five league matches, the only team in the top five leagues without conceding a goal. Their defensive prowess was evident.
"Does that mean Manchester City is unbeatable?" asked the host, and the guests turned serious. A dominant force isn't always good news, as seen with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. While City hadn't yet achieved absolute dominance in the Premier League, they were heading in that direction. If they won the title again this season, it would be their third consecutive Premier League title, something that hadn't been done since Manchester United achieved it in 2001, fifteen years ago.
"Of course not!" Ferguson smiled. "No team is unbeatable, not even Manchester City. If you find their weaknesses and develop strategies to counter them, along with a bit of luck, it's possible to defeat them."
Ferguson's words, while true, offered no concrete solution. He hadn't found a strategy to counter Manchester City either. Even if he had, a team would need both the strategy and the strength to challenge City. None of the current Premier League teams seemed capable of that.
However, what Premier League teams couldn't do, teams from other leagues might be able to. After this round of league matches, the Champions League group stage officially began. On September 16th, Manchester City would host Serie A champions Juventus. Juventus had won the Serie A title four times in a row, showing even greater dominance in their league than City. However, Juventus had struggled in European competitions. Last season, they reached the quarter-finals but were unlucky to face the defending champions Manchester City and were knocked out decisively.
This season, they were unlucky again, drawn into the same group as City and facing them in the first match. Juventus fans were pessimistic, with few believing their team could win at the Etihad. The best they hoped for was a draw. If they lost, they hoped it wouldn't be by too much to keep their goal difference manageable for a possible qualification.
With this mindset, Juventus arrived in Manchester. Like many teams visiting Manchester, they rented Manchester United's Carrington training ground. Teams visiting United often rented City's training ground and vice versa. Manchester City and Manchester United were the fiercest of rivals, always hoping the other would lose.
The two training grounds were close, but City and United players rarely visited each other due to their deep-seated rivalry. Even though teammates like De Gea and Mata were just a wall away, Lin Quan and David Silva never visited them, nor did De Gea visit City's training ground.
Juventus, however, had no such enmity with City. Upon arriving at Carrington, Buffon and Morata decided to visit City's new training ground.
"Is this your new base? It looks impressive!" Buffon and Morata were visibly impressed.
In 2014, City invested £260 million in building a new training ground, surpassing the facilities at Carrington. City players, once envious of Carrington, now felt sympathy for their United counterparts, whose training ground had fallen into disrepair. The Glazer family, United's owners, had taken plenty of money from the club but hadn't spent much on improving their facilities, leaving Carrington in poor condition.
"It's alright, not much different from other training facilities."
"Alright? Are you serious?"
Morata had a look that said, "Don't try to fool me."
Buffon nodded in agreement, his eyes caught by the two new buildings within the Manchester City training facility.
"What's that?"
"One's a stadium and the other is a comprehensive service center. It has a gym, a recovery center, and even a pool for relaxation after training."
"Wow!"
Hearing that Manchester City's training center even had a pool, Morata couldn't help but exclaim. Those oil barons sure know how to enjoy themselves!
"No way, unless you show me that pool with my own eyes!"
"Sure thing!"
Lin Quan was planning to take a dip anyway, so he led the two of them to the pool. As they walked through the comprehensive service center, the various high-end equipment left them both stunned. The equipment looked expensive, and the sheer variety and completeness were impressive.
When passing by the recovery center, they saw several players getting muscle relaxation and rehabilitation treatments. Some had just finished training and were getting massages to reduce fatigue, while others were injured players undergoing rehab.
In Italy, clubs also place a high emphasis on medical and health care, like the famous Milan Lab. However, in terms of scale and professionalism, it still might not compare to what Manchester City had. Not only did City purchase a lot of expensive medical equipment, but they also hired numerous sports science and rehabilitation experts at high salaries.
No wonder Lin Quan mentioned that the new City facility cost £260 million. They had wondered where all that money went, but now it was clear. Besides the stadium and various buildings, the rest of the money was spent on these comprehensive facilities and human resources. This showed that the City Football Group was serious about their ambitions, not just playing around.
After their bath, they heard cheers coming from the nearby stadium. Buffon looked curiously at the stadium and asked, "Is there a match going on? Where are the cheers coming from?"
"Yeah, there's a U15 match today."
"Wanna go check it out?"
Hearing there was a match, Buffon got interested. First, he wanted to see the inside of this new stadium, and second, he was curious about the quality of City's youth academy.
"Alright."
Lin Quan sometimes watched matches there to relax. Morata, not interested in the game, stayed back to continue his bath. Lin Quan led Buffon to the stadium and found a seat. Although the stadium wasn't large, it was fully equipped. About a third of the 7,000 seats were empty, so around 4,500 people were there.
Given that U15 matches didn't attract much attention, especially on a workday and without big-name stars, this turnout was pretty good. City's U15 team was playing against Chelsea's U15, a strong team with a history of winning at this age level. Compared to them, City's youth team was less experienced and weaker.
As expected, the score was 1-0 in Chelsea's favor. However, the match wasn't as one-sided as expected. City's counterattacks were sharp, frequently troubling Chelsea. After watching for a while, Buffon and Lin Quan were drawn to a few young players on the pitch.
"That number 7 seems much better than his teammates. What's his name?"
Lin Quan glanced at the player Buffon was referring to. "His name is Sancho. He's one of the most talented youngsters in the U15, already on the first team coach's radar."
Being noticed by Guardiola meant that this kid's talent and skill were indeed impressive.
"What about the other one?"
"That's Foden. He's in the same year as Sancho, and his talent is also quite good."
Lin Quan didn't mention Guardiola, which indicated that Foden hadn't caught his attention yet. Perhaps his talent and skill, limited by age, hadn't fully manifested. However, with Buffon's experience, he believed that Foden would shine in time. After all, judging talent wasn't difficult for seasoned players, especially with so many young players to compare against.
"What do you think?"
City ended up losing the match, but both Foden and Sancho scored. The problem was that their teammates couldn't keep up, dragging them down. However, in youth matches, the process is more important than the result. What mattered was training and improving their skills; victories and defeats would be more crucial when they reached the top leagues.
"Pretty good. Your club's youth training quality is better than I expected."
Buffon nodded. City was not a well-known club before Abu Dhabi's investment, only recently having the funds to develop their youth academy. Their foundation was still building, not yet comparable to other top clubs. For example, Barcelona's La Masia, established by Cruyff in 1989, took over a decade to produce stars like Xavi, Messi, and Iniesta. City's youth academy was just starting; it might take another decade to yield similar results.
These things have no shortcuts and can only be achieved over time. However, as City's reputation and influence grew, along with their focus on youth training, attracting more young talent for trials would be easier. So, the time to see results might come sooner than expected.