Chapter 889: Transformation Maniac
When the outside world targeted Manchester City's recruitment targets on top stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Aguero, no one expected that Manchester City would suddenly announce a major transfer without any notice.
Manchester City officially announced that it had introduced midfielder Javi Martinez from Athletic Bilbao of La Liga for a high price of 25 million pounds. Athletic Bilbao officials also quickly issued a statement confirming the deal.
This quickly attracted strong attention from media around the world.
Javi Martinez?
Is Javi Martinez not worth the price?
Actually, it’s not.
Although Javi Martinez is only 22 years old, he has been a starter for the Basque Lions for five full seasons, and his performance is getting better and better. He was also shortlisted for Spain's 2010 World Cup squad and was the youngest player in the Spanish national team at the time.
In the past season, Javi Martinez was also the best performing midfielder in Athletic Bilbao. With his outstanding performance, he attracted the attention of La Liga giants such as Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Manchester United has also been suffering from the problem of defensive midfielder recently. After spending a lot of money to introduce Hargreaves from Bayern, he has not been able to recover from injuries and has not shown satisfactory form. Therefore, Ferguson has also been paying attention to Javi Martinez for a long time.
It can be said that Javi Martinez has attracted the attention of many wealthy clubs.
Who would have thought that such a popular commodity would be picked up by Manchester City quietly.
After the news came out, the entire European football world was shocked.
There is no need to say much about Manchester City's midfield strength. The two massive wins last season are the best proof.
Whether it is Manchester United or Arsenal, they are basically unable to show their strength under Manchester City's passing and control system and can only passively defend.
Even Arsenal, which is good at passing and controlling the ball, only had a possession rate of over 30% against Manchester City, and Manchester United had a possession rate of less than 30%.
There is no need to say much about the other teams, they basically just passively took the beating.
In this situation, it is really surprising that Guardiola also introduced Javi Martinez.
Could it be that Manchester City's midfield still has weaknesses? ...
Su Dong, who was far away in China, received the news from the club earlier than the media.
He is the captain of the team and will be more knowledgeable in this regard.
He called Javi Martinez as soon as possible and expressed his welcome to him joining Manchester City on behalf of the locker room. He also introduced him to the situation of Manchester City and said that he would personally introduce his teammates to him when the time comes.
Finally, Su Dong assured Javi Martinez that he would not lack playing opportunities in Manchester City.
This is actually information asymmetry.
Not to mention that the outside media didn't know, Javi Martinez himself didn't know, and even many players and employees within Manchester City didn't know. Only the senior management and core members of the technical team knew that introducing Javi Martinez was a forced choice.
Guardiola advocates offensive full-backs and he likes to use full-backs like Marcelo, but Zabaleta on the right is diligent and has strong offensive ability, but he is not that strong either and can only be considered barely usable.
Manchester City has already used this style of play last season and has been studied by opponents for a long time. It is estimated that many teams have studied it thoroughly. They may not be able to restrain it, but it is inevitable to cause some trouble for Manchester City.
In this situation, standing still is not an option and one can only boldly seek breakthroughs.
Guardiola's earliest plan was to introduce a strong right-back, such as Daniel Alves, Maicon and Lahm, but Lahm was obviously not good enough, Maicon's form declined sharply, and Alves was in Barcelona and refused to let him go.
If introducing a right-back doesn't work, Guardiola will have no choice but to change his mind.
So, he wanted to try changing the formation.
From the current 4-3-3, the formation will be changed to a 3-4-3 with the traditions of Barcelona and the Netherlands.
The biggest difference between 343 and 433 lies in the starting point of the attack.
In the 4-3-3 tactics, the wingers are more likely to guard the flanks, and the starting point of the attack is more likely to be on the flanks. However, although the wingers in the 3-4-3 are also on the flanks, there is one more person in the midfield, the combination of the flanks and the center will be more frequent, and the starting point of the attack actually becomes the ribs.
This is actually the adjustment that Guardiola has always wanted to make. After all, the 4-3-3 formation consumes too much energy on the center forward.
Even with a powerful weapon like Su Dong, the offensive efficiency is still low.
But flank penetration is different. It not only fits the technical characteristics of Manchester City's current players, but can also create more problems for opponents, which will definitely make everyone's eyes light up.
But at this time we will encounter a problem, that is, who will be the one to fall behind among the three defenders?
You know, it's not just about excellent defense, and the defense of the central defender is not even the main consideration. Instead, it's his overall view, ability to read the game, and his passing ability. These are the most important abilities of the central defender in the three-man defense. In Manchester City, no matter Pepe, Kompany, David Luiz or Jerome Boateng have such abilities.
There is another way, which is to let Busquets fall back, but in this case, one person is needed in the midfielder's falling back position.
Thiago is capable of doing the job, but he is not mature enough and needs time to gain experience and polish his skills.
Toni Kroos is OK, but not ideal either.
After several rounds of negotiations and communications, Guardiola, Sudon, Begiristain and others decided to introduce a central defender.
But looking around the world, this type of central defender is basically unseen.
After several choices, Guardiola finally chose Athletic Bilbao midfielder Javi Martinez.
The reason is actually very simple. He is 1.92 meters tall, has a strong body, and has strong aerial ability. But at the same time, he is a midfielder, has outstanding passing ability, and has no problem with his overall view and ability to read the game.
Guardiola's idea is to transform him into a central defender version of Busquets.
After identifying the target, Manchester City's technical team took immediate action and immediately organized an investigation around Javi Martinez. The transfer department also acted quickly and finally, without alerting other top teams, they acted quickly and dealt with Athletic Bilbao and Javi Martinez.
The transfer fee of 25 million pounds is indeed not cheap, but if it can really bring about a successful formation change for Manchester City, it will definitely be worth it.
433 is Manchester City's basic formation, and it has been run-in, but if there is one more 343 formation, Manchester City's ability to deal with different opponents will be greatly improved, which is something that money cannot buy.
Su Dong watched the entire process of this transaction from beginning to end, from research to scope definition, to target determination, and then to signings. On the one hand, he was impressed by the efficiency brought by Manchester City's wealth, and on the other hand, he was impressed that Guardiola's perspective on thinking was indeed different from others.
Many head coaches actually do this to transform players, but Guardiola's perspective is obviously different.
It's just like when he asked Su Dong to withdraw from center and play as a libero. It's actually the same principle.
Sometimes Su Dong even wondered whether Guardiola had ever considered transforming himself into a central defender or even a goalkeeper?
The more Su Dong thought about it, the more he felt that this transformation maniac was quite evil.
Cruyff didn’t transform him like this back then!
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Javi Martinez's transfer to Manchester City set off the European transfer market.
With the rise of Manchester City and now Paris Saint-Germain being acquired by a Qatari consortium, the competition for players among Europe's top teams is becoming increasingly fierce, especially for high-quality players.
After the Qatari consortium acquired Paris Saint-Germain, it immediately announced a major transfer, bringing in the Argentine talented midfielder Pastore from Palermo of Serie A for a sky-high price of 45 million euros.
The new Kaka has been placed with high hopes by the entire European football world due to his outstanding performance and has attracted the attention of many top teams. Unexpectedly, the wealthy Paris Saint-Germain came up with a powerful strike at the first try.
First, Manchester City signed Javi Martinez, and then Paris Saint-Germain introduced Pastore. Both were players coveted by traditional giants. This also surprised everyone to find that the entire European football landscape has undergone earth-shaking changes.
When talking about transfers in the past, everyone focused on the top teams, but this is obviously not the case now.
Whether it is Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, both have strong economic strength and are not stingy in investment.
Just when the shock brought by the transfers of Javi Martinez and Pastore had not completely dissipated, the Italian media once again broke the news that Anzhi from the Russian Super League signed the cheetah Eto'o from Inter Milan for a high price of 26 million euros.
If it were just that, it wouldn't be a big deal. Although Eto'o is already 30 years old, he is worth the price.
The problem is that Anzhi offered Eto'o a whopping annual salary of 20 million euros, making him the second highest paid player in the world after the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
This was definitely like a blockbuster bomb that hit the European transfer market and once again detonated the whole world.
Everyone was surprised to find that the landscape of European football had completely changed.
Especially after La Liga's Malaga announced that it was acquired by Qatari members, it received capital injection and introduced European stars such as Van Nistelrooy, Toulalan, Joaquin and so on, and its strength skyrocketed.
After the new boss took office, Roma also introduced a large number of strong reinforcements, including Bojan, Lamela, Gago and other famous players, who all joined the Red Wolves one after another.
For a time, the entire European football scene underwent earth-shaking changes.
The whole world is shocked by the strong rise of these upstarts and the decline of traditional giants.
It is called rational investment, but isn't it also a result of financial constraints?
Just like Real Madrid, after making huge investments in 2009, it has now begun to tighten its monetary policy.
Barcelona has been pursuing Fabregas for many years, but has not yet signed the Arsenal captain. What is the reason?
After all, it’s because Barcelona didn’t pay enough.
As for the Premier League, the traditional four major families, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, also have no plans to increase their investment.
Only Chelsea almost lost the top four in the league last season, which made the Blues feel a sense of crisis. After firing Ancelotti, they welcomed Villas-Boas and the team will also start a vigorous round of youth reforms.
(End of this chapter)
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