Chapter 754: Su Dong's Waterloo
As the new season approaches, Manchester City's transfer and signings are gradually gaining momentum.
First, they brought in Portuguese center back Pepe from Bayern Munich for 30 million euros, followed by 10 million euros to bring in Portuguese international Moutinho from Sporting Lisbon, and then signed Brazilian left back Marcelo from Bayern Munich for 25 million euros.
Three transfers cost 65 million euros. Manchester City spent money like water without even blinking an eye.
What is even more striking is that the agent behind these three transfers is Mendes.
Suddenly, the Portuguese agent was once again pushed to the forefront.
This is not the first time.
In recent years, Mendes has been a hot figure in the transfer market almost every summer.
Last year’s Cristiano Ronaldo and this year’s big moves have continued. The Portuguese agent is a big name in European football and everyone can feel his influence.
Among these three transfers, one was to Su Dong’s junior fellow student at Sporting Lisbon, and two were to Su Dong’s close friends at Bayern Munich. This immediately made the media around the world excited again.
The news that Su Dong will transfer to Manchester City has been circulating for a long time. Neither Manchester City nor Bayern has come out to refute the rumor, but German media revealed that Bayern is close to signing Stuttgart center Mario Gomez.
Why sign Gomez?
The answer is self-evident.
Now everyone knows that Su Dong is leaving the team, all that’s left is the official announcement.
The transfer of a superstar like Su Dong is often a lengthy soap opera, but this time it has indeed dragged on for too long.
Since 2008, when the Abu Dhabi consortium acquired Manchester City, Manchester City has been linked with Su Dong in every transfer period. Every time the rumors were very detailed and everyone thought Su Dong would join Manchester City, but every time it ended in vain.
This time, the news was relatively more true, after all, even Su Dong’s mansion was revealed.
Especially in mid-July, the pervasive British media even dug up an admission letter from the Oxford University Law School.
Su Dong’s girlfriend Wang Chuqing was officially admitted to the Law School of Oxford University!
The Sun even asserted with certainty that Su Dong would go to the Premier League to play football for his girlfriend!
All of a sudden, the entire transfer market was in turmoil.
…
As Manchester City continues to make big signings, the arms race in the European transfer market is also in full swing.
After missing out on the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, Barcelona decided to gamble on the Champions League again.
The core battle between Ibrahimovic and Messi ended with Messi's contract renewal. The Swedish center announced that he would be loaned to Serie A's AC Milan. A year later, the Rossoneri were able to buy out Ibrahimovic at an ultra-low price of 24 million euros.
This is tantamount to selling at a low price.
In addition, Zielinski was also sold back to Shakhtar Donetsk at a low price.
Both deals ended in failure, and Barcelona's recruitment results are really quite touching.
After dealing with two failed deals, Barcelona signed David Villa from Valencia for 40 million euros. This deal exceeded Pepe's 30 million euros and became the new record holder in the summer transfer market.
Mascherano also chose to join Barcelona between Real Madrid and Barcelona, partnering with his national team teammate Messi. The transfer fee was as high as 30 million euros, plus Sevilla's Brazilian defender Adriano cost Barcelona 10 million euros.
This summer, Barcelona spent a total of 80 million euros, which is a huge investment.
After selling Mascherano, Bayern immediately announced the signing of Gustavo from Hoffenheim and subsequently renewed the contract with Modric.
This series of transactions made Toni Kroos feel that his position in the club was not valued, especially his request for contract renewal. Bayern could not meet Toni Kroos's requirements in terms of salary and role positioning.
So, after Toni Kroos renewed Modric's contract with Bayern, he publicly stated that he was considering invitations from other teams.
Before this, Toni Kroos made a special call to Su Dong. After understanding the situation, he resolutely chose Manchester City.
Three days later, Manchester City officially announced that it had signed Toni Kroos from Bayern Munich for 15 million euros.
This is the second midfielder signed by Manchester City this summer.
But like Moutinho, Toni Kroos has also failed to fully prove his strength in the top league.
At least, he has never really been able to take charge of things on his own.
Signing three players from Bayern at once surprised the media all over the world.
Is it because Bayern's players are good value for money and fit Guardiola's position? Or is it to accommodate Su Dong? The media's interpretations vary. The Sun revealed that Mendes was behind all four of Manchester City's signings this summer.
Toni Kroos' agent is not Mendes, but the deal was negotiated by Mendes on behalf of Manchester City.
"According to the information obtained by the reporter, Toni Kroos had a close relationship with Su Dong during his time at Bayern, and was also the player that Su Dong recommended to Guardiola."
The Sun concluded that in order to invite Su Dong, Manchester City even recruited all his friends from Bayern and Valencia into the team, with the aim of giving Su Dong a more comfortable playing environment in Manchester City.
"In Mansour's mind, Su Dong is like a flawless goddess, and Manchester City is a humble pursuer. In order to make Su Dong willingly join Manchester City, Mansour used all the means he could!"
…
Amid the economic crisis, the purchasing power of the entire European football world has dropped significantly.
As the richest league in the world, the Premier League is also affected by the economic crisis.
The four traditional families all began to tighten their purse strings. Manchester United spent less than 10 million euros to introduce Hernandez. Arsenal finally signed Chamakh as they wished, but as a free transfer.
The Bordeaux center forward had basically reached an agreement with Arsenal as early as last summer, so it is not surprising that he is now on a free transfer.
Not to mention Liverpool. The Reds have always been the representative of frugality. They spent 11 million pounds to sign Meireles from Porto, which is also considered a cost-effective signing.
Not only that, the Reds also signed Joe Cole from Chelsea on a free transfer.
Joe Cole's free status made him pursued by teams such as Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. In the end, Joe Cole chose Liverpool, which made Tottenham Hotspur, which had been pursuing him for a long time, very depressed.
Head coach Harry Redknapp publicly expressed his disappointment with Joe Cole joining Liverpool.
"I had always thought he would choose Tottenham, but he went to Liverpool."
Redknapp was disappointed for not being able to recruit Joe Cole, but he still ambitiously stated that after signing Brazilian midfielder Sandro and French center back Gallas, Tottenham Hotspur will have a chance to challenge for the Premier League title in the new season.
No wonder Redknapp is so confident.
In last season's Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur finally reversed Liverpool, climbed to fourth place in the league, and obtained the precious qualification for the Champions League, which brought great confidence to Tottenham Hotspur.
Redknapp said that the new season of the Premier League will be more exciting than ever before.
"In the past few years, the Premier League has been dominated by Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and even Liverpool. These four teams always top the league, but last season, this tradition was broken."
What Redknapp meant was that Tottenham Hotspur would become a spoiler of the Premier League title.
Perhaps feeling that what he said was a bit too much, Redknapp brought Manchester City in again.
The Tottenham coach said that Manchester City's strength has greatly increased in the new season, and the forward line has become the team's biggest weakness.
"But as far as I know, they have already secured the most formidable scorer in the world. Manchester City's biggest weakness last season will become their sharpest weapon in the new season!"
Redknapp's words were interpreted by the media as a revelation that Su Dong will join Manchester City!
However, there are still many media expressing doubts about Manchester City and Su Dong.
The reason is simple. Guardiola has never proved his coaching level, especially last season.
With Manchester City's investment, they only finished sixth, which is undoubtedly unsatisfactory.
Although Manchester City's management has repeatedly emphasized its support and trust in Guardiola, many media have said that the current head coach has become one of Manchester City's weakest links.
Especially after the rumors that Su Dong would join Manchester City, the head coach was not worthy of Manchester City.
Many media are also questioning whether Su Dong can adapt to the Premier League and whether he can lead Manchester City?
You know, Robinho also joined Manchester City ambitiously back then, but what was the result?
Less than half a year into the game, the Brazilian started to disappear, and his value plummeted after he transferred to AC Milan.
Many British media have stated that if Su Dong joins Manchester City, he may suffer a Waterloo and fall from the throne of the world's number one football player.
"He can't adapt to the Premier League, let alone lead a mercenary team like Manchester City without stars to success!"
Such remarks not only exist, but are also numerous.
There have always been rumors that Su Dong cannot adapt to the Premier League, and this has been with him for many years.
As for Manchester City today, it goes without saying that the head coach is a rookie. The biggest name in the team is David Silva.
Pepe and Toni Kroos are both rotation players for the national team. Marcelo was also controversial during his time at Bayern, mainly because his offense was sharp, but his defense was so poor that he could explode at any minute.
Such a lineup is inferior to the ones Su Dong had in the past, whether in Valencia, Barcelona, or Bayern Munich, and Manchester City does not have enough attraction to attract superstars like Ribery and Robben to join.
Didn't Kaka reject Manchester City's money temptation and resolutely choose Real Madrid? Can Su Dong lead such a team to success? It was in such doubts and with fans all over the world eagerly waiting, Manchester City finally officially announced Su Dong's transfer.
Just like Su Dong joined Bayern from Barcelona, it was a free transfer.
(End of this chapter)
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