Although Manchester City's defense has a world-class central defender like Van Dijk, the full-backs on both sides have always been their weakness.
Zabaleta used to be very strong and could even compete for the world's best right-back, but as he got older, his condition began to decline and his performance last year was much worse than before.
So when Manchester City was negotiating with Tottenham regarding the transfer of Son Heung-min, they reached an agreement with Tottenham to bring in the opponent's right-back Kyle Walker from Tottenham for 52 million euros.
Walker is very famous and has good ability. He was selected into the best team of the Premier League last season.
But what he is most talked about is the penultimate round of last season, when Tottenham played against Manchester United, he used a strange free kick to beat Manchester United, allowing Tottenham to win the fourth place in the league and breaking the myth that Arsenal had to be in the top four.
Many Tottenham fans believe that it was this shot that tore Arsenal apart, caused Wenger to resign, and caused Arsenal to lose their place in the Champions League...
Tottenham and Arsenal are sworn enemies. Of course they are very happy to see their opponents so unlucky and end up like this.
So, after learning about Walker's transfer, Tottenham fans felt very reluctant, but when they thought about the 52 million euros he received in exchange, this reluctance was diluted a lot.
Levi, this old fox, really won't do business at a loss.
They spent 50 million euros to buy Son Heung-min from Manchester City, but quietly sold the team's right back at a high price, and made a net profit of 2 million euros. This deal is amazing! However, Levy did not seem to consider that if he sold such a good player like Walker, where would he find a replacement? And selling it to Manchester City, which has shortcomings in the back line, is it not making the game more difficult for himself?
After dealing with the right back, the remaining target is the left back.
Kolarov is 32 years old this year. Due to his declining form, he did not make many appearances last season, so it is difficult to have high hopes for him.
As for Clichy, although he made more appearances than Kolarov last season, he is the same age as Kolarov, 32 years old. Both of them may leave Manchester City this summer.
Therefore, Manchester City needs to find a qualified left-back again.
But a suitable left-back is not so easy to find. Guardiola has always wanted Bayern's left-back Alaba, but Bayern is unwilling to give in and is determined not to sell Alaba to Manchester City.
Guardiola had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and offer Chelsea 30 million pounds to bring Spanish international Azpilicueta to the Etihad Stadium.
But unfortunately, the Blues are unwilling to let him go.
A lot of people have left Chelsea this summer, even the old captain Terry has left the team.
After Conte completed the appropriate personnel cleansing, he did not plan to make too many adjustments to the team's main lineup. Instead, he began to strengthen each position.
The unexpected departure of Matic has put the Blues in a very passive position. Under Conte's strong request, the Blues are unlikely to give up any main players this summer.
After two consecutive failed bids, Guardiola had to take a step back and set his sights on Monaco's left-back Benjamin Mendy.
Monaco has done a lot of business with Manchester City in recent years, and the two sides are old acquaintances.
Since they are acquaintances, Monaco was naturally not polite and asked for 60 million euros at the first shot! This number shocked Guardiola! Monaco is really bold. When buying Mbappe and B Silva before, Manchester City didn't spend so much money!
Compared with these two, Mendy is far inferior to them in both strength and fame. Is Monaco crazy? How dare they ask for such a high price?
Although Manchester City is not short of money, Guardiola does not want to be a sucker and will not spend money that should not be spent!
Monaco seemed to have their eyes set on Manchester City and was unwilling to give in at all, so the negotiations between the two sides reached a deadlock.
In desperation, Guardiola could only choose to renew Clichy's contract for one year and then look for another job.
Fortunately, he plans to make major adjustments to the team's tactics in the new season, focusing on the three-back formation and tactical play, and the importance of full-backs has decreased.
When necessary, the midfielders can play a cameo! Since we are going to play with three defenders, the team's central defender reserve must be strengthened.
Van Dijk and Stones worked well together last season and could occupy two main spots.
If the old captain Kompany recovers from his injury, he can be a main rotation player and should have no problem playing around 20 games a season.
Rudiger can be rotated in the remaining half of the game. With these four players, there shouldn't be any problems.
However, one or two substitutes will need to be prepared in case of emergency.
At Lin Quan's suggestion, Guardiola bought the 20-year-old Ruben Dias from the Benfica youth team for 20 million euros to serve as the team's substitute central defender.
Because the amount of this transaction was relatively small and the target was a 20-year-old young player, it did not attract much attention from the outside world. Only Benfica felt complicated after completing the deal.
There is a complex feeling of both making a profit and losing money.
Ruben Dias is a player from Benfica's youth training camp and has been with the team for ten years. As a player with a good family background, Benfica still attaches great importance to and is optimistic about him.
Originally, if Manchester City had not intervened, they planned to promote Diaz to the first team this summer and let him test the waters in the Portuguese Super League.
But after receiving Manchester City's offer, Benfica's plans were completely disrupted.
20 million euros is not a small amount, especially for a 20-year-old young player who has never experienced the baptism of major competitions and has not even accumulated experience in the top leagues. It is simply a sky-high price.
Selling Ruben Dias at this price would not be a loss for Benfica at this time, and it would even make a profit. After all, it is hard to say whether talent can be realized.
After all, Ruben Dias has never played in the Portuguese Super League, so Benfica is not sure whether he can adapt to the top league.
Maybe he can adapt and even continue to grow, and then you can sell him for more money.
But there is also the possibility that they will not be able to adapt to the rhythm of the Portuguese Super League, causing them to miss the opportunity to earn 20 million.
Moreover, Manchester City's offer was well-timed, just a little above their bottom line.
If Manchester City offers 15 million euros, they might not be willing to sell the player.
But 20 million euros made it difficult for them to refuse.
Ruben Dias himself is not only not averse to playing for Manchester City, but is very excited.
Compared with the Portuguese Super League, the Premier League is obviously a bigger and higher level stage.
Manchester City is also a true giant that far surpasses Benfica in terms of strength, influence and financial resources.
For young players, few would say no to an invitation from such a top club.
So Ruben Dias excitedly packed his things and went to the club to report as soon as possible.
Diaz's excitement didn't last long, and he began to doubt his life because of the constant abuse.
This is terrifying. Are all the
players in Manchester City a monster? How come they are all so good at dribbling past the defense?
It would be fine if we couldn't defend against Boss Lin, after all, no one in the entire football world has the confidence to defend against his attack.
But what about the others? The 18-year-old French kid, who had great explosive power, could beat him with one move, and it never failed.
As for the other older guy with a fluffy head, he is very fast, has strong dribbling skills and good footwork, but his dribbling moves are not fancy at all. He will overtake by force when he can use his speed, and he doesn't bother with fancy moves like bicycle kicking.
It doesn't matter if he is beaten by these main or semi-main players. After all, their strength is indeed stronger than Diaz at this time, and it is not shameful to lose to them.
However, after being abused by these people, Ruben Dias was abused by three 17-year-old kids from the youth team, which made him doubt his life.
Who am I, where am I, what am I doing? Why are the people here so perverted? Mom, I want to go home...
…
Guardiola stood in his office and couldn't help laughing after seeing what happened on the training ground.
The growth rate of these young players in the team made him feel a little surprised and a little worried.
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Although Sancho, Foden and Haaland are only 17 years old this year, the youth team league can no longer provide any help for their growth.
They need to train on a higher level stage, but it is difficult for the first team to provide them with such abundant playing time for training.
After all, the main goal of Manchester City's first team is to win the championship. The league title and the Champions League title are both what they are pursuing this year.
To achieve these goals, they will have to fight one fierce battle after another, and these games are not suitable for training young players.
Therefore, renting these people out is obviously the best option.
"Sancho was born in March, he is the oldest and the strongest of the three. It shouldn't be a problem for him to become a starter in a weaker team in the top five leagues. If that's not possible, the rental fee can be lower."
Guardiola first confirmed the loan arrangement for Sancho. He has excellent speed, strong dribbling, shooting, passing and other abilities, and balanced left and right feet. He is more like a midfielder than a winger.
Such a player may not be effective in Manchester City's first team, but in a weak team, he may be able to carry the team.
Guardiola originally planned to loan Sancho to play in La Liga, as he has some connections there.
But Dortmund did not know when they took a fancy to Sancho. After hearing that Manchester City planned to rent Sancho, they took the initiative to approach Manchester City, hoping to sign a loan contract with a priority buyout clause.
Generally speaking, a wealthy club like the Hornets rarely loan players from other teams.
They must have some ulterior motive since they took the initiative to come to us and seek cooperation.
In fact, the answer is very simple. Dortmund is indeed optimistic about Sancho's development, and they also feel that the competition on both sides of Manchester City is too fierce, and there may not be a place for Sancho in the team.
Therefore, as long as we get the players there first, there is a high possibility of buying them out in the future.
After tasting the sweetness of Dembele, Dortmund discovered the benefits of being a black shop.
Now they have begun to change their operational thinking, starting to recruit more young talents from all walks of life, making use of and training them, and then hoping that they will make more money for the team after they grow up.
Anyway, the Bundesliga is Bayern's world. The Hornets know that they are unable to challenge the opponent's dominance, so they just lie down.
With the attitude of win-win cooperation, Guardiola agreed to Dortmund's loan request and signed a 1+1 loan contract with Dortmund.
Dortmund will loan Sancho for one year and can choose to renew the lease in the second year depending on the situation. However, if Dortmund activates the renewal clause, Dortmund will have the initiative to buy out the player after Sancho has played for Dortmund for two years.
This contract is quite satisfactory for both parties. If there is a vacancy in Manchester City next year, they can choose not to renew the contract and recall Sancho.
Dortmund only needs to rent for two years, and then they will have the initiative to decide whether to buy out the player, so it won't be a waste of time and effort.
After loaning Sancho out, Guardiola's attention turned to Haaland and Foden.
Foden is two months older than Haaland, but he has a baby face and is short, so he looks younger than his actual age, which makes Guardiola a little hesitant.
Would anyone really want to loan such a young player who looks so fragile?
Even some weak teams would probably be discouraged, right?
So he put aside the idea of loaning Foden out and gave priority to dealing with Haaland's matter.
"Haaland, do you want to stay in the team as a substitute and wait for the opportunity, or do you want to play on loan?"
After discussing with Lin Quan, Guardiola listened to Lin Quan's advice and decided to consult the players' own wishes.
Haaland has always been a very opinionated person, and his father, Haaland Sr., has been providing him with various advice, which has been of great help in his career.
Haaland was a little hesitant after hearing what Guardiola said, not sure whether to stay in the team or be loaned out.
He said he needed to go home and discuss it with his family before making a decision.
Guardiola nodded, leaving Haaland enough time to discuss the matter.
"Coach, I want to stay in the team!"
The final result surprised Guardiola a little. Haaland did not even think about being loaned out to get more playing time, but chose to stay in the team and wait for opportunities.
To be honest, this decision was a bit unexpected to Guardiola and Lin Quan. They both thought that under the advice of Haaland Sr., Haaland Jr. would most likely choose to be loaned out, because he just turned seventeen and is now in a critical stage of growth and needs more game opportunities to improve his abilities.
If he stays in Manchester City, it will be difficult to get so much playing time.
"Have you thought about it?"
Guardiola confirmed it again and again.
"Well, my father suggested that I do this. I also want to continue to stay in the team and learn more from you, the coach, and Brother Lin!"
Guardiola said with a silly smile. (End of this chapter)