Chapter 324: The crazy arms race in the Premier League, is Manchester City going to give up?

"The competition in the Premier League this season is very fierce!"

On a beach somewhere in Catalonia, under a huge parasol, Lin Quan and Guardiola were lying on lounge chairs enjoying the sea breeze.

Guardiola was holding a newspaper in his hand, reading it with great interest.

"Yeah?"

Lin Quan asked casually.

Guardiola is a workaholic. Although he is on vacation now, he is still very concerned about football affairs. He even remotely operated Bayern's transfer operation and sold the disobedient Mandzukic.

"Yes, the big clubs in the Premier League have been making a lot of moves in the transfer market, especially your neighbor Manchester United, who have been buying players like crazy recently!"

Lin Quan remembers that after Moyes was fired, it was the Dutchman Van Gaal who took over as coach of the Red Devils.

This guy seems to have spent a lot of money while in office, and most of it was wasted money.

Lin Quan took a look at the newspaper and found that Manchester United had made some big moves this summer.

As soon as the transfer market opened, they couldn't wait to buy Luke Shaw from Southampton for 33 million pounds.

He then spent £31 million to buy midfielder Herrera from Athletic Bilbao, £60 million to buy Di Maria from Real Madrid, and £20 million to take defender Rojo from Benfica.

In addition, they also loaned Falcao from Monaco for £6 million a year.

Manchester United spent 180 million euros in the transfer market this summer, making it the biggest spender in Europe.

Although Barcelona's transfer investment is also high, it has recovered 70 to 80 million euros by selling players.

Although Manchester United lost a lot of players this summer, the funds recovered from the sales were only 43 million euros.

In other words, their net investment is as high as 140 million euros! Van Gaal is really good at spending money! However, if Van Gaal spends money like this, it would be fine if he succeeds, but if he fails, he will probably be scolded!

However, Lin Quan checked online and found that Manchester United fans seemed to be applauding Van Gaal's big-money signings. There were opponents, but their voices were very small.

The vast majority of fans are happy and looking forward to the club's ambitious signings!

"Haha, the club has invested so much this season, it looks like they are preparing to do something big!"

"Hehe, I look forward to revenge on Manchester City in the league!"

"Manchester City's lineup hasn't changed much, and they also have Lin. Can we really beat them in the new season?"

Some people are not sure. Although Manchester City is a nouveau riche, they are the Champions League champions last season. Manchester City's strength should not be underestimated! Last season, Manchester United was defeated by Manchester City at home and away, and the loss was a big loss.

The scene of Lin Quan scoring a hat trick at Old Trafford and celebrating in Cantona's king-like way still deeply hurts the hearts of the Red Devils fans and has even become a nightmare in their hearts.

"Don't worry, we have a lot of top stars in the team this season, including Van Persie, Rooney, Falcao, Mata, Di Maria, etc. With this lineup, how can we lose?"

"That's right. This team is basically destined to win the Premier League title this season, and will definitely make it to the top four in the Champions League!"

"As expected, money is a good thing. A country like Manchester City can get good results by spending money. Our Red Devils have a stronger foundation. We have invested so much this season, so we will beat the shit out of Manchester City next season!"

The Red Devils fans are very confident about the team's performance in the new season and are now just looking forward to the new season starting soon!

Seeing the Manchester United fans so expectant, Lin Quan couldn't help but want to laugh.

Van Gaal is good at spending money, but his team performance...

In addition to Manchester United, the Blues Chelsea also spent a lot of money and were the first club to take action.

On May 24, the Premier League had just ended and before the World Cup began, Chelsea was eager to reach a transfer agreement with the French Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.

The Blues sold their main central defender David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain for £50 million.

This price broke the world record held by another Paris Saint-Germain central defender Thiago Silva.

David Luiz has also become the most expensive central defender in the world so far.

Interestingly, Thiago Silva and David Luiz were both Brazil’s main central defenders in this World Cup.

Paris Saint-Germain probably tasted the sweetness after buying Thiago Silva, and thought that David Luiz, as the main central defender of Brazil, was as strong as his brother-in-law.

Moreover, these two are teammates in the national team, so there will definitely be no problem with their tacit understanding. It won't take too long for him to integrate into the team, so even if it costs a little more, it is worthwhile.

I have to say that Paris Saint-Germain’s calculations were very good.

But when the Brazilian team was defeated 7:1 by the German team in the World Cup, they could no longer laugh.

The Blues fans, on the other hand, were beaming with joy, as if they had found the culprit for the team's loss last season: "Thanks to the Middle Eastern tycoon for helping me clear the mines!"

"Selling a defensive bomb for 50 million pounds, making a killing!"

"No wonder my team had such a bad record last season, it turns out there was a time bomb in the back line!"

Of course, not all Blues fans think so. Some people still speak up for David Luiz:

"David Luiz is quite strong, but his positional sense is a little poor. Every time I see him make a defensive mistake, it's when he's trying to steal the ball."

"You're right. This guy likes to steal the ball too much to expand his defensive area. Once he fails to steal the ball, it will be very conspicuous, which makes him look like a defensive bomb."

"This kind of defender is not suitable to be a commander on the back line, but is more suitable to be a general who charges into battle. They will be very useful if someone is in charge!"

These fans really understand football. In fact, after the game where Brazil lost to Germany, many professionals believed that the suspension of Thiago Silva, the commander of the back line, had a far greater impact on the Brazilian team than Neymar's suspension.

Marcelo and David Luiz are both players who like to leave their positions, and the German team took the lead right from the start.

Brazil was anxious to catch up and played too rashly, which led to the opponent's defense being blown up. This does not mean that the gap in strength between the two teams is really that big! Of course, to say that David Luiz is worth 50 million pounds is definitely a lie.

So Chelsea must have made a lot of money from this deal.

If this transfer had happened after the World Cup, it would have been worth a maximum of £30 million.

After the Blues sold David Luiz, they raised enough transfer funds and were finally able to buy the striker they wanted.

As the champion of this World Cup, Spanish striker Diego Costa has been spotted by many top clubs.

The Blues, who suffered from a lack of strikers last season, have long been fond of Diego Costa, a striker who performed well in the Champions League and the World Cup.

So, before the end of the World Cup, they offered Atletico Madrid a price of 35 million pounds, hoping to take Diego Costa away.

Chelsea was still very cunning. When they made an offer to Atletico Madrid, Diego Costa was injured in the World Cup group match and could not play.

At that time, Diego Costa missed the Champions League final and the World Cup due to injuries, which led to the outside world suspecting that Diego Costa was a glass man, which greatly affected his transfer value.

Atletico Madrid had the same concerns, so they started transfer negotiations with Chelsea.

However, as the talks went on, Spain won the championship, and Diego Costa returned from injury in the final.

Although he failed to score a goal, his performance in the final was not bad. It was just that Lin Quan's brilliance was too strong and overshadowed him.

Seeing that Diego Costa's injury was not a problem, Atletico Madrid was more confident in the negotiations and was determined not to agree to a price reduction.

Chelsea made 50 million pounds by selling David Luiz. Would you have the nerve to buy a World Cup champion striker like Diego Costa for less than 50 million pounds?

This offer obviously made Chelsea very uncomfortable, as they are not rich people from the Middle East who are not short of money.

Even if you are really rich, you can't be taken advantage of!

Is it worth spending 50 million to buy Diego Costa?

If the opponent is not injured and can fit in perfectly with Chelsea, this price is not too outrageous.

However, if they really spend so much money on buying players, their transfer budget may not be enough.

The loss to Manchester City last season made the Blues very angry. This season they are ready to make a big signing and arm themselves to the teeth in order to take revenge on Manchester City.

Therefore, in addition to forwards, they also took a fancy to players in other positions, such as Atletico Madrid's left-back Felipe, Barcelona's midfielder Fabregas and others.

Read the error-free version on 6Ⅹ9Ⅹ bookⅩ bar! 6Ⅹ9 book bar first publishes a novel.

To buy these stars, 50 million is probably not enough.

So Chelsea had no choice but to continue negotiations with Atletico Madrid.

After arduous negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement. Chelsea sent Torres away and brought Felipe and Diego Costa to Stamford Bridge for £50 million.

For Chelsea, they exchanged a Spanish striker whose strength was declining for another younger Spanish striker who was at his peak.

In addition, they also got a left-back with great potential and cleared the salary space in the team. This deal is definitely not a loss! For Atletico, after sending Diego Costa away, they also need to introduce a high-level striker. Torres is a Spanish player who came from Atletico's youth training. Bringing him back to Atletico is a good choice.

The key point is that Torres' transfer price is only 5 million euros, which is almost the same as giving it away for free!

For Torres, he has struggled greatly in the past few seasons at Chelsea.

Rather than continuing to be marginalized at Chelsea, it is better to change the environment and find his form again.

Moreover, he made his debut in Atletico Madrid. He entered Atletico Madrid's youth training at the age of 11 and transferred away only after he became famous.

Now, returning to his parent team after seven years can be regarded as a return to his roots for Torres.

After the transfer was completed, Chelsea began to contact Barcelona with all their strength, preparing to introduce Fabregas to complete their last piece of the puzzle.

Barcelona didn't really want to let Fabregas go, but because they wanted to buy Suarez and compete with Real Madrid for James Rodriguez, they had to sell players to raise funds.

So, after some negotiations with Chelsea, the two teams finally reached a deal for 33 million euros.

Chelsea spent 110 million euros on signings this summer.

However, after selling players such as David Luiz and Lukaku, they recovered 100 million euros.

All in all, the total cost was less than 10 million euros, barely breaking even.

In fact, for Chelsea, which lacks high-quality strikers, Lukaku, who performed well at Everton, should not be sold.

However, the relationship between Abramovich and Mourinho was tense, and he did not provide him with large sums of money for transfer operations. Mourinho could only raise funds by selling players.

Lukaku is good, but selling him can bring the team a budget of 40 million euros, so it’s better to sell him. Chelsea is worried that his performance will be short-lived and may depreciate in the future.

However, this decision laid the groundwork for Lukaku to go in and out of Chelsea three times later...

Manchester United and Chelsea both spend big on signings, so Liverpool naturally doesn't want to be left behind.

This summer, after selling Suarez, Liverpool became very wealthy, so they bought a large number of players including Emre Can, Lallana, Markovic, Lovren, Origi, Moreno and Balotelli in one go.

The value of these players is generally not high. The most valuable one is Adam Lallana, a midfielder with a local household registration, but his value is only 31 million euros.

The transfer fees of players like Markovic, Lovren and Balotelli are all around 20 million euros.

Although the transfer fee for a single player is not high, there are so many players! The Reds spent a total of 150 million euros to buy these players, which broke the Reds' single-season transfer fee record.

However, although a lot of people were bought, among these players, except Balotelli, the others did not have the taste of stars at all.

And Balotelli is a famous problematic player...

As a result, a very strange phenomenon emerged. Although the team spent the highest transfer budget in its 131-year history, the Red Army fans were still worried.

I always feel that the players bought with so much money are not as useful as Suarez alone!

But Suarez is often banned for biting people. The ban from FIFA and the FA adds up to 19 games!

Who can withstand a half-season suspension?

Among the four traditional Premier League giants, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have all spent more than 100 million euros on buying players, so Arsenal naturally cannot sit back and take action.

Since spending £45 million to buy Ozil last summer, the professor has become willing to spend money.

This summer, Arsenal also showed some toughness.

They first bought Sanchez from Barcelona for 42.5 million euros, and then spent 20 million euros to buy Manchester United's striker Welbeck from them.

The professor then spent 35 million euros on two defenders and another 4 million euros on a backup goalkeeper.

All in all, Arsenal spent a total of 100 million euros this season. After deducting the income from selling players, the net investment reached 80 million euros, which is definitely a big loss! It seems that the arms race in the Premier League does have a great impact.

Even someone like Wenger, who has always been frugal, was forced to make lavish purchases!

As the initiator of the arms race, Manchester City has made very little move this summer.

They spent 15 million euros to buy Navas, the best goalkeeper in La Liga who performed well in the World Cup, from Levante.

Then he bought Porto midfielder Francisco and defender Mangala for 15 million and 30 million euros respectively.

That's it! Manchester City's total transfer investment in buying players is only 60 million euros, far less than the four giants!

Not only that, this summer, Manchester City let go of a large number of players including Xabi Garcia, Negredo, Rodwell, etc., and recovered 65 million euros through sales.

When you calculate it this way, their total investment is actually negative!

Where is the promised money-driven football?

How can this be regarded as money-driven football?

With such little transfer investment, the outside world can't help but start to question, is Manchester City going to start to rot? (End of this chapter)