Chapter 364 Lin Quan Guardiola personally stepped in to sign Kante, Manchester City made an offer for Salah

. On January 24, Rennes, the second largest city in northwestern France.

At Parc Roazon, the 22nd round of the French Ligue 1 is underway.

The two teams in this game are Rennes, ranked 10th in Ligue 1, and Caen, ranked third from the bottom.

Since neither team is a star team, and the attention paid to Ligue 1 is not high.

So no one should have paid much attention to this game.

However, when the cameras on the scene found Guardiola wearing a black tweed coat in the stands, and the new Ballon d'Or winner Lin Quan sitting next to him, the fans at the scene instantly became excited.

"Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City? What is he doing here?"

"Could it be that you have taken a fancy to our Rennes players?"

This is Rennes' home ground, so Rennes fans subconsciously thought that Guardiola was coming for their players.

However, in fact, Guardiola did not like Rennes' players. He was interested in the visiting team's midfielder, N'Golo Kante, who was wearing the No. 17 jersey.

After seeing his own image appear on the big screen, Guardiola was stunned for a moment, as if he did not expect to be discovered so quickly.

But after he came to his senses, he immediately smiled and waved at the camera, greeting the fans at the scene.

When the camera was aimed at Lin Quan, Lin Quan clenched his right hand and made a cheering gesture, as if to encourage players from both sides to play well.

The arrival of the two made the players of both teams very excited. Lin Quan is an idol in the eyes of many young players.

They all hope to become famous with one goal like Lin Quan one day! As for Guardiola, he is a world-class coach. If he can take a fancy to them, many players will have the opportunity to play in a top club.

As a result, players from both teams vied to show themselves on the court in an attempt to attract Guardiola's attention.

Guardiola has always been picky. Being chosen by him is itself a recognition of one's own strength. This recognition is very valuable for ordinary players playing in mid- and lower-level teams.

Since Guardiola likes to buy midfielders the most, Andre, the main defensive midfielder of Rennes, subconsciously thought that the opponent was coming for him.

This made him particularly excited on the court. He frequently waved for the ball, wanting to better display his talent.

His efforts paid off as Andre scored a goal in the 15th minute of the first half.

After scoring the goal, Andre was very excited and couldn't help thinking: My outstanding performance should have impressed Coach Guardiola, right? Thinking of this, he did not immediately celebrate with his teammates, but looked towards the stands with expectation, wanting to see Guardiola's reaction.

In the stands, Guardiola and Lin Quan gave applause out of respect after seeing the goal.

This encouraged Andre and he felt that he had caught Guardiola's eye. Otherwise, the other party would not have applauded him.

Therefore, in the next game, his desire to perform became stronger.

However, doing so not only failed to achieve good results, but also backfired.

It was because of his mistake that Rennes was counterattacked by Caen, and Caen equalized the score before the end of the first half.

When the second half started, Andre's performance not only did not improve, but became even more lost.

Affected by this, Rennes' performance became even sluggish. On the contrary, Caen completely recovered in the second half, scoring three goals in the first half and eventually defeating the opponent 4:1.

The big loss at home was hard to accept for the Rennes fans who came to the scene.

Before the game, they were more favored by everyone. After all, they were regular visitors to Ligue 1, and their opponents were just a newly promoted team from Ligue 2.

But the result of the game was so unexpected that they were very angry.

As the biggest contributor to the loss, Andre was criticized from all sides.

Everyone thinks that Guardiola made a mistake this time. With Andre's performance, how could Guardiola be so fond of him?

Compared to Andre, people think that Julian, who contributed one shot and three assists in the game and performed superbly, has more prospects. The latter was also named MVP of the game after the game.

However, Guardiola came neither for Andre nor for Julian.

During this game, his eyes almost never left the short black player wearing the No. 17 jersey of the Caen team.

Anyone who can really understand the game will be impressed by this guy.

So does Guardiola!

"How was it? What do you think of his performance?"

After the game, Lin Quan asked.

“It’s really good, it really has potential!”

Guardiola's eyes lit up and he said, "Let's go and get in touch with this guy!"

He can't wait to bring Kante back to the Etihad Stadium! …

Kante was very surprised. Although he knew that Guardiola had come to the stadium during the game, he never thought that Guardiola was here to observe him.

So when Kante received a call from his agent after the game and learned that Guardiola wanted to meet him in person, he was completely stunned.

Today is not April Fools' Day, right?

But when he actually saw Guardiola and Lin Quan in the cafe, Kante was convinced that it was all true! "Sit down, N'Golo, don't be shy!"

Seeing that Kante was a little apprehensive and nervous, Guardiola smiled and spoke.

"What would you like to drink? I'll order it for you!"

Lin Quan, who was sitting nearby, also spoke.

Kante quickly waved his hand to indicate that it was not necessary.

What a joke, asking the Golden Globe winner to order coffee for him, does he have such a big face?

After Kante calmed down a little, Guardiola did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point:

"N'Golo, I want to take you to Manchester City to play, are you willing?"

Guardiola's words made Kante doubt his ears for a moment. I actually got an invitation from Manchester City, and it was an olive branch extended by Guardiola himself.

Could it be that Mr. Guardiola came all the way here just to invite him? For a moment, he was surrounded by great joy. Without thinking, he nodded quickly: "I do!"

For a grassroots player like Kante, it is almost unthinkable to receive an invitation from a Premier League giant.

Unlike players who come from the youth training of professional teams, Kante is a grassroots player.

When he was a child, he also tried out for professional teams' youth training camps, but failed every time.

Until he was 19, he played for an amateur club called Suresnes, where his salary was so low that he had difficulty supporting himself.

In 2010, Kante was spotted by a French Ligue 2 team and finally started to make a living as a professional player.

However, Kante was unlucky. In the year he was promoted to the first team, the team finished at the bottom of the league and was relegated to the French Ligue 3.

Kante has only played one league game for the team this season, and was almost the water dispenser manager throughout the game.

In the 2012-13 season, after the team was relegated and a large number of players left the team, Kante finally got the chance to play.

This season, Kante has made 37 appearances for the team in the French Ligue 3 and scored 3 goals.

His outstanding performance attracted the attention of another French Ligue 2 team, which invited him.

So, in the summer of 2013, Kante joined Caen as a free agent and returned to the French Ligue 2.

Kante's performance has undergone a qualitative change this season. He played in all 38 league games and, together with his teammates, he entered Ligue 1 with a good result of third place in Ligue 2.

However, Caen is weak after all. Halfway through this season, Caen is at the bottom of the Ligue 1 standings and is on the verge of being relegated back to Ligue 2.

Kante, born in 1991, is about to turn 24 years old.

If they continue to stay in the lower-level leagues for a few more years, the peak period of professional players will be exhausted.

Therefore, for Kante, the invitation sent by Guardiola on behalf of Manchester City was like a life-saving straw handed to him when he was drowning.

Not to mention Manchester City, even if a mid- to lower-level Premier League team like Leicester City made an invitation, he would gladly accept it.

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Guardiola didn't expect to deal with Kante so easily. He thought it would take some time!

In order to avoid any further complications and to provide some compensation to Caen, Manchester City made an offer of £8 million.

After bargaining, the final price was set at 9 million pounds, equivalent to 11 million euros.

On January 25, Manchester City announced the transfer on the team's official club website.

The transfer was carried out very quickly and the outside world did not receive any news about it beforehand. It was only after seeing Manchester City’s official announcement that people realized that Manchester City had bought another player.

However, they were completely clueless about this guy named Kant and had no idea who he was.

After learning about Kante's background and his game record in the league, they became even more confused.

When did Manchester City’s selection standards become so low?

Can you also look down on a player who comes from a grassroots background and has been playing in low-level leagues for a long time?

Aren't there a lot of players like this in the top five leagues? Guardiola doesn't care about the outside world's evaluation. After dealing with Kante, he set his sights on defenders and forwards.

…

In a hospital in Stuttgart, a tall black player was lying on the hospital bed, looking at the ceiling above his head with boredom.

Because of a meniscus injury in the league a month ago, Rudiger was ruled out for the season and had to undergo knee surgery.

Serious injuries and surgeries in the knee area mean great risks for a young player like him who is less than 22 years old.

As a result, he may lose the starting position he has worked so hard to win in Stuttgart.

Not only that, those clubs that had offered high prices to Stuttgart during the summer transfer window, hoping to take him away, also backed off because of his serious knee injury.

Overnight, he went from being a rising star in the football world to being ignored by everyone.

The huge contrast between the past and the present, as well as the anxiety and fear about the future, made Rudiger discouraged.

"Hey, Antonio, you gotta cheer up!"

Just when Rudiger was feeling down, his agent Sefer Ruby walked in and said loudly: "What you need to do now is to rest and recover as soon as possible. As for the club's affairs, leave it to me to handle. Don't worry!"

Rudiger was very moved after hearing this. He thought that it was better to provide timely help than to add icing on the cake. The agent did not abandon him when he was in a low point, but considered him in every way. This made him trust Ruby even more.

"I have discussed with Stuttgart. After you recover from your injury, we will see if you can return to the team's starting lineup. If not, we will loan you out.

Your age is the key to growth, and you need a lot of game accumulation, so you can't sit on the bench for too long. We need to go to a team that can let us play more games. "

Rudiger nodded in agreement. He will soon turn 22 years old.

For a player who has been selected for the German national team, it may be a bit difficult for him to start in a top team at this age.

However, he still has great hope of competing for a starting position in mid- and lower-level teams. If he had not been affected by injuries, there would have been no problem with his starting position in the team.

"If I go out on loan, where will I play? In the Bundesliga or abroad?"

"I have been in contact with Roma in Serie A. They have shown interest in you. As long as your injury recovers, we can go to Roma to play!"

Roma? This is a team with a strong foundation. Although it is not a top team, it is also a top-ranked team in Serie A and is very competitive.

Moreover, Italy's defense has always been strong. As a defender, Rudiger may be able to learn a lot of useful things by training here.

But just when he was about to nod and agree to the agent's arrangement.

The agent's phone suddenly rang.

After Ruby hung up the phone, Rudiger saw that the other party's face was full of smiles, as if he had eaten honey.

“Good news!”

"We don't have to go out on loan anymore because a big club has invited us!"

"Wealthy? Who?"

When Rudiger heard the word "rich club", his eyes suddenly lit up.

For any player, being able to play for a top team is a very attractive thing.

“Manchester City!”

…

On January 26, shortly after Manchester City announced their second transfer during the winter break, they announced their third transfer news.

Stuttgart's main central defender Rudiger transferred to Manchester City for 10 million euros.

Last summer, a team offered 15 million euros for Rudiger, but Stuttgart did not sell him.

As a result, a serious injury to Rudiger caused his value to depreciate by one third.

Stuttgart was afraid that his injury would have an irreversible impact on his condition, so when they received Manchester City's offer, they hardly bargained and accepted it very readily.

They are worried that Rudiger will be in poor form after being injured. If that happens, they might not get a penny, let alone 10 million euros.

After introducing two defenders and a midfielder in succession, Guardiola's recruitment of players in the team's midfield and backcourt has basically ended.

At this time, there are only a few days left before the closing of the winter transfer window, and Manchester City only has the striker position left to recruit.

On January 27, The Sun first revealed that Manchester City offered Salah to Chelsea for £12 million.

(End of this chapter)