After finalizing Podolski's transfer, Li Shiguang opened the system and began to calculate the costs.
Leeds United now has €17 million in cash on hand.
Firstly, regarding income, based on normal development, there should be around 3 million euros in income this month, and then there's Chiellini's 10 million euro transfer fee.
Then, regarding the expenditure on player acquisitions, Rivaldo's transfer fee was eventually negotiated at 4 million euros, and with Podolski and Alonso, the total came to 15 million euros.
By the end of December, Li Shiguang would have 15 million euros in liquid funds.
According to Li Shiguang's considerations, the team currently only has Ribery and Deisler as their true right wingers, but Deisler is about to leave the team.
Although Milner can fill in, it is necessary to bring in another right winger for rotation, preferably one who can play as a right winger, because once Alonso's signing is confirmed, Li Shiguang wants to change the team's style of play in the second half of the season and try out a 4-3-3 formation more often.
However, since there is no clear goal yet, Li Shiguang has temporarily put aside his thoughts and is seriously preparing for the match against Liverpool.
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At Melwood training base, Benitez, who had just finished training, was walking angrily toward Morse's office.
Benitez has been in a bad mood these past few days, especially after seeing Alonso deliver another beautiful through ball during training, only for Morientes to receive the ball and shoot high and wide.
Liverpool's narrow 1-0 away win against Manchester City in the last round should have been a cause for celebration. However, a small victory cannot mask the team's current predicament. After the match, some media outlets seized on Liverpool's lack of attacking prowess in recent months and criticized them, saying that even against a mid-table team like Manchester City, they could only score one goal, and if they don't strengthen their squad in the winter transfer window, they might end up with nothing this season. These news reports have already added to Benitez's frustration.
However, as soon as he arrived at the Melwood training ground on Tuesday, owner Morse called him into his office and told him about the plan to exchange Alonso for Leeds United's Deisler. This made Benitez, who had always regarded Alonso as the cornerstone of his team, very upset. After thinking about it for a few days, he couldn't help but decide to talk to Morse again after training today.
He couldn't understand why they had to change clubs. Couldn't they just buy them with money? Leeds United is a small club, and they're short of cash right now, aren't they?
After knocking on the office door, seeing that Morse didn't have much to do, Benitez didn't stand on ceremony and went straight to the point: "David, I don't agree to trading Alonso for Deisler. Deisler is very good, and I've been following his performance. Um... I mean, why don't we just buy him? I don't think it would cost too much to buy him directly, right?"
After listening to Benitez's words, Morse shook his head and replied, "Raphael, do you think I didn't think about it? My initial proposal was to buy him, but Li Shiguang disagreed. He only accepted the deal in exchange for Alonso."
"But... Alonso, I've always been grooming him as the core of Liverpool, and with him..."
"No buts." Before Benitez could finish speaking, Morse interrupted him, picking up a newspaper and throwing it in front of him. "Rafael, Liverpool only has one core player, and that's Steven. You know very well that what we need right now is an attacker who can orchestrate attacks and score goals. Look at these newspapers; even when we win, we're still being criticized, aren't we?"
Benitez blushed. He didn't know how to refute Morse. After a long silence, Benitez could only nod helplessly and leave Morse's office.
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Sunday arrived quickly, and the entire Leeds United team had already arrived in Liverpool yesterday. Unlike the previous match, almost all the media outlets were more optimistic that Leeds United would be able to take a victory away from home.
After the last round's draw against Arsenal, Li Shiguang checked the system and found that the entire Leeds United team had triggered the morale-boosting temporary event, and all players' data now had a 5-point bonus. Therefore, Li Shiguang believed that they could win this game today.
In the locker room, he was giving the players a pep talk: "You've all been in great form lately, I've seen it all, and I believe we can definitely take a win today. But I still want to remind you, this is Anfield, after all, with over 40,000 fans cheering for our opponents. Liverpool isn't a pushover either, so I hope you won't be distracted by outside noise! Play the game we train for. If we can score before our opponents, we've already won 80% of the game!"
Ten minutes later, the players from both sides marched into Anfield Stadium to the stirring strains of "You'll Never Walk Alone." More than 40,000 passionate fans gathered in a magnificent sea of red, dressed in Liverpool jerseys, singing their team anthem in a wave of cheers and overflowing with passion.
Meanwhile, in the south stands, a colossal TIFO brought the entire scene to a fever pitch. This meticulously designed image seemed to proclaim to the world: this is Liverpool's holy ground!
Standing on the sidelines, Li Shiguang was deeply awestruck by what he saw. Feeling the unparalleled atmosphere, a powerful surge of emotion welled up within him. Looking at this magnificent and captivating stadium, and comparing it to his own team's rather shabby Elland Road stadium, he secretly made a firm resolution: he must work doubly hard to earn money and achieve the goal of expanding Elland Road as soon as possible, so that his team could also enjoy such a breathtaking home advantage!
Because Leeds United will play a total of 6 games in December, which places high demands on the players' physical fitness, Li Shiguang made a slight adjustment to the starting lineup today.
Today he fielded a 4-3-3 formation, with Deisler positioned as a right winger, Falcao and Berbatov as the two forwards, Modric and Javi Garcia as the double pivot, Yaya Touré as the central midfielder, and Chiellini playing as a makeshift right-back due to Maicon's suspension for a red card, while Silva and Kompany were the center-backs.
For Liverpool, Benitez used the same lineup that won the previous game, which was a source of frustration for him. After winning the Champions League last season, Liverpool did make some signings, but the attackers they brought in, led by Crouch, were not as effective as Cissé and Morientes. That's why he eventually agreed to Morse's plan to bring in Deisler.
Perfect timing! Deisler is starting in today's game, so I can see his performance live. If I'm not satisfied, I can ask Morse to reconsider...
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