Seventeen-year-old Harland has not yet evolved to the stage of Majin Buu, and he probably doesn't eat children now.

So when he smiled, he looked a little silly, like a shy big boy, not as scary and abstract as he became later.

Guardiola has always admired Haaland. Although he is not the kind of center forward that he is good at coaching and using, he has high emotional intelligence, is very likable, has good footwork and excellent physical fitness. At first glance, he is a good candidate to be a top center forward.

Manchester City actually has a weakness in the center position. Aguero is certainly useful, but Aguero does not have the kind of standing ability of a traditional center. This limits Manchester City's offensive options at times, making them lack more options in positional battles, especially in offensive battles.

Well, if Haaland is willing to stay, then let him stay. Anyway, with Manchester City's strength, they will definitely be leading by a large margin in the league and the Champions League, and the game will enter garbage time.

When the time comes, send him on the field, without the pressure of the game, so that he can experience the intensity of the top league.

Although Haaland often dominates the youth league, the level of the Premier League is not comparable to that of the youth league.

He'd better prepare himself mentally in advance, otherwise, he will probably be beaten to tears by the opponent's defender in his first appearance!

While Manchester City was buying players, many of the team's main players were snatched up by other giants in the transfer market.

Because Lin Quan has already renewed his contract with the team, not many people came to make offers this year.

But De Bruyne, Kante and others have many admirers.

De Bruyne is a little easier to deal with. He will stay wherever Lin Quan is and he will definitely not leave.

But Kante seems to want to return to Ligue 1.

Paris Saint-Germain had no idea about him originally, but because of the desire to buy Mbappé, they did a lot of cleaning work within the team, and now they have freed up some salary space, so they can try to recruit players.

As a French player, Kante has a considerable influence in France.

Bringing him back to Ligue 1 will better help the Qatari consortium gain acceptance and support from local fans.

Since Wenger started coaching Arsenal in the 1990s, the old man has liked to recruit young players from Ligue 1 and has brought a large number of players over from Ligue 1.

Seemingly inspired by Wenger, some other teams, whether they are wealthy or small, have turned their attention to the cost-effective French Ligue 1.

This has led to a serious loss of talent in Ligue 1 in recent years, with very few star players remaining in local teams.

For example, in the current French national team, the main center forward Benzema is in La Liga, the main midfielders Pogba and Kante are in the Premier League, Griezmann is in La Liga, and Matuidi is in Serie A...

Of the 11 starting players, except Payet, all others play in other leagues.

This ratio is not only higher than that of traditional football powerhouses such as Spain, Britain, Germany and Italy, but is even much higher than that of the Netherlands.

You know, Ligue 1 is one of the top five leagues, and the Eredivisie is a little lower than Ligue 1, but there are no less than five players from the Dutch team who came from the local league! This can only mean one thing, Ligue 1 can't keep players! This situation makes the French very dissatisfied. They have long wanted to improve the viewing and competitiveness of the local league to revive the glory of Ligue 1.

Back then, Ligue 1 was divided up by the other four major leagues because it was poor and had no top-level clubs to support it.

But now, Ligue 1 has Paris Saint-Germain and wealthy clubs like Monaco, so they can try to keep their local star players and not let them leave their hometowns.

Therefore, Paris Saint-Germain's offer for Kante is not only based on competitive and commercial perspectives, but also includes certain political considerations.

Kante's problem is more troublesome. Although he has won many honors in Manchester City, he has also shown signs of wanting to take a break and is not so eager to make progress.

This is not just a problem for Kante. In fact, this problem has appeared within the team since Manchester City won the Champions League for the first time.

Everyone risked injury, fought one fierce battle after another in the rain, and finally won all kinds of honors. Naturally, they wanted to take a break, strive for better treatment, and enjoy the benefits of their achievements.

No one likes to live such a tiring life, everyone wants to live a more relaxed life.

As the players' motivation declines, their performance on the field will naturally decline.

And the more championships you win, the more serious this situation will become.

Not only did the players lose their hunger for the championship, but they were also suffering from the continuous high-intensity, multi-line combat rhythm.

The main reason why Manchester City's form declined so much last season, apart from the impact of Kroos' departure, is this.

This is very obvious in both new and old players. The performance of the young players who joined the team last season was obviously better than that of the veterans in the team.

They are more motivated and motivated, and are more willing to fight hard on the court in order to get promoted and become famous.

If it weren't for these young players and Lin Quan's continued outstanding performance, Manchester City would never have made it to the Champions League final last season.

Guardiola does not want to give up Kante easily because his role in midfield is irreplaceable.

So he found Kante himself, had an in-depth and frank conversation with him, and finally persuaded Kante to stay and not return to Ligue 1.

The matter was resolved smoothly, and it seemed to be a happy thing for everyone.

But Lin Quan could not see any excitement or joy on Guardiola's face, only deep worry and undisguised fatigue.

"What's wrong? Didn't Kante renew his contract with the team? Why do you still look so gloomy?"

Lin Quan poured Guardiola a cup of tea, sat down on the sofa opposite him, and asked.

"Kante will most likely leave the team next summer!"

Guardiola sighed deeply and spoke.

"Um?"

Lin Quan was a little surprised. Since Kante had already made up his mind to leave, why did he renew his contract with the club? Wouldn't this make it more difficult for him to transfer? "Kante is not the kind of person who doesn't repay a favor. He chose to renew his contract with the club. On the one hand, he wanted to stabilize the morale of his teammates and reassure them so as not to affect the team's preparations for the new season. On the other hand, he wanted to leave a sum of money to compensate the club when he left!"

The longer the player's contract is, the stronger the club holding the player will be during negotiations and the easier it will be to bargain.

"If that's the case, then the defensive midfielder position needs to be prepared in advance!"

The position of defensive midfielder is very important. Manchester City is not without backup candidates now. Fernandinho is Manchester City's substitute in the defensive midfielder position.

But there is still a big gap between his strength and Kante. He cannot completely replace Kante. In addition, Fernandinho is very old and can't play for a few more years, so Manchester City must start preparing in advance.

Either promote new players from the bench and youth team, or buy players at high prices in the transfer market.

"What do you think of Kimmich playing as a defensive midfielder?"

Guardiola thought of a person, the newcomer introduced from the Bundesliga - Joshua Kimmich! Kimmich was loaned out for a year and has made considerable progress.

Although he plays most of the time as a full-back, Guardiola feels that he has the potential to play in midfield and can try to transition him in that direction.

Moreover, Manchester City's tactics for the new season are very friendly to players like them who can play in multiple positions in the midfield and backcourt. In addition, Kimmich is very young and has great potential to be tapped.

Cultivating young talents is not only Wenger's favorite, Guardiola is also very interested.

"Well……"

After hearing Guardiola's words, Lin Quan didn't know how to comment for a moment.

Is Kimmich suitable to play as a defensive midfielder?

This issue remains controversial even in later generations.

There are quite a few fans who agree and disagree. Those who oppose think that Kimmich's performance as a defensive midfielder is too bad. The double failure of Bayern and the German team has proved that he is not suitable to play as a defensive midfielder.

But those who agree believe that Kimmich performed very well as a full-back, defensive midfielder and even center back during Guardiola's coaching, which shows that he is fully capable of playing the defensive midfielder position.

The current poor performance is related to the coaching of the head coach and the tactical changes of the team, not because Kimmich is not good enough.

Lin Quan feels that both statements make sense. It is not that Kimmich is completely incapable of playing as a defensive midfielder, but he cannot be asked to do so in the same way as Xabi Alonso or Schweinsteiger.

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Simply put, you can't ask too much of him because he may not be able to meet the requirements.

Guardiola himself is a coach who started out as a defensive midfielder and is very good at coaching midfielders. Kimmich was originally transformed into a defensive midfielder under him, and his performance was indeed acceptable, so Lin Quan had no choice but to object.

"You can give it a try, but I think we must carefully look for a proper defensive midfielder!"

"Well, what you said makes sense!"

Guardiola agrees with this deeply. It is still a big question whether Kimmich can play as a defensive midfielder. He cannot put all his eggs in one basket.

So buying people is essential! But who should we buy? …

On July 20, Manchester City set off for North America and started their pre-match training plan.

In this year's International Champions Cup, Manchester City met its old rival Real Madrid and its city rival Manchester United.

Manchester City lost first and then won, losing to Manchester United 0:2 in the first game, winning 4:1 against Real Madrid in the second game, and 3:0 against Roma in the final game, achieving a record of 2 wins and 1 loss.

No one takes a match of this nature too seriously, and many teams even put all their players on the field, giving no respect at all to the tens of thousands of fans watching the game.

Manchester City at least tried to show some respect and put on an act. Lin Quan and Mbappe, who were the most popular players before the game, all appeared on the field and scored goals, which was considered a good performance by the audience.

In the match against Real Madrid, Kroos finally found an opportunity to chat with his old teammates.

Although Real Madrid was defeated by Manchester City 4:1 in this game, the whole team did not take it seriously. The players who did not play were even talking and laughing on the bench, showing the composure of the champions.

The temperament of this Real Madrid has indeed changed and is quite different from before.

Sure enough, the championship can elevate the temperament of a team!

Manchester City, on the other hand, was a bit ruthless. Although they did not have many main players, the players obviously came to play against Real Madrid with a lot of anger and were particularly ruthless on the field.

In the second half, Guardiola sent Foden and Haaland into the game, and the two of them teamed up to score a goal.

The scene of Foden celebrating by riding on Haaland's back after scoring the goal was captured and became a classic photo that many fans talked about later.

The relationship between Zidane and Guardiola is actually pretty good. Although the two had an argument on the field during the Champions League final last season, the game was over and no one held a grudge.

After the game started, the two of them got together and talked about something, no one knew what they were talking about, but they kept talking.

Guardiola said he was tired, so he found a storage box and sat down, continuing to gesture to Zidane with saliva flying all over his body.

Zidane put his hands in his pockets, wearing a neat suit, and listened to Guardiola's explanation seriously, just like a teacher giving a lecture to his students.

This scene was also recorded by the fans and reporters at the scene and became a topic of conversation among the fans after dinner.

Although Zidane was much more famous than Guardiola when they were players, Guardiola is the senior in the coaching industry and his skills are much deeper than Zidane.

Although Zidane led his team to win the Champions League last season, which symbolizes the club's highest honor, he is well aware of the gap between himself and top coaches, so he has been cramming various knowledge, enriching himself, and making himself and the team stronger!

As for the score on the field, the two of them didn't care.

It was only after Foden assisted Haaland to score that the two of them looked at each other.

"That kid number 47 looks a bit like Lin Quan!"

Zidane said casually.

Now in the football world, the way to praise a player has changed from "he plays like Messi" to "he plays like Lin Quan".

Fans are also very realistic. In recent years, Lin Quan has been very popular and completely overshadowed Messi. Therefore, later fans only know Lin Quan, and fewer people know Messi. Many people who might have become Messi fans have been attracted away by Lin Quan.

"He looks like Lin Quan? Not really!"

Guardiola shook his head, Foden is far inferior to Lin Quan.

When Lin Quan was 16 years old, he was already able to lead Werder Bremen to compete with the Bundesliga giants Bayern, and even humiliated Bayern several times.

Can Foden do it?

You can't do it!

Because of the special relationship between him and Lin Quan, Guardiola has a special protective mentality towards Lin Quan.

He never says that someone is like Lin Quan, and even gets angry when he hears others say such things: Does XXX deserve it, given his ugly appearance?

Zidane was only attracted by Foden for a second, and he had no interest in even taking another look at Haaland.

At this time, Haaland really did not do anything outstanding.

But after a few years, everyone will probably know how powerful Demon Puou is! (End of this chapter)