Chapter 1015: A Big Fight

The news that Southampton had successfully defended the Club World Cup by sweeping Argentina's River Plate in Yokohama, Japan, with an invincible momentum, quickly swept the globe, causing amazement among fans around the world.

In the past two years, the Saints have won almost all the championships that can be won. They are worthy of being called the most successful team in the world, and are not even inferior to the Dream Team III during Guardiola's era.

Not only that, the Saints' current momentum remains quite strong.

In the Champions League, Southampton advanced as the first in the group, and in the Premier League, 17 consecutive victories have allowed the Saints to firmly control the position of the league leader, leading the second-placed Tottenham Hotspur by 13 points. It can be said that there is almost no suspense about who will win the league championship.

In addition, in the League Cup, the Saints once again reached the semi-finals thanks to the outstanding performance of their young players.

Although the competitor this time is Liverpool, everyone believes that as long as the Saints take this event seriously enough, they are fully capable of defeating their opponents, reaching the finals, and even winning the championship.

It can be said that the Saints have achieved extraordinary results so far this season.

Because of this, when the Saints returned to Southampton with the Club World Cup trophy, thousands of Saints fans flocked to the airport to welcome the team's triumphant return.

The fans lined the streets to welcome the team and even followed the team bus all the way back to the Stadium of Honor, where they witnessed captain Neuer, club CEO Ron Gourlay, and executive chairman Nicola Cortes present the Club World Cup to the club's Hall of Honor.

Although this place is still very empty, and although the Saints have won very few honors compared to those giant teams, everyone believes that the Saints are still young and have just started. It won't be long before the Saints will be able to catch up with those giants.

When all the fans and reporters who heard the news focused their attention on the Glory Stadium, Yang Huan quietly appeared at the Saints' Home on the Royal Pier side.

Sitting in front of him were Peter Kenyon, who had just come from Monaco, and Marcelo Bielsa, Jorge Bernardo Griffa and La Madoni, who were invited after receiving a call from Yang Huan.

If Peter Kenyon and Bielsa are considered to be in their prime, then Griffa and Madoni are already gray-haired and old.

However, these two old men are undoubted youth training experts. They have dedicated most of their lives to Argentine football, especially Boca Juniors. The current youth training system of Southampton is also their work.

However, with Ancelotti taking office and Guardiola taking over next season, Bielsa and other older people will definitely have to step down, because the consensus reached between the Saints and Guardiola is not just coaching the first team.

That's for ordinary head coaches, but for Guardiola, he is just like Bielsa.

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Therefore, this time, the agreement reached between the Saints and Guardiola is a package solution from the first team to youth training. He even has considerable decision-making power in the introduction of players and transfer operations.

This is also the reason why Yang Huan had to communicate with Guardiola before deciding to buy Messi.

In fact, Southampton has already started preparing.

For example, the main reason for introducing the goalkeeper coach of Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga was that Bielsa was not satisfied with the goalkeeper coach. Neuer strongly recommended him, and then he talked to Guardiola and finally decided to introduce him.

Later, the Dutchman Jung came to the youth training camp.

Many people's impression of Juncker should be from the period when Van Gaal coached Bayern Munich. After Van Gaal was dismissed, Juncker came to the rescue for a short period of time, which made people remember him.

But in fact, Jonker is quite famous in European professional football. Even when Van Gaal coached Barcelona, ​​Jonker was already Van Gaal's right-hand man, and he was in charge of youth training at that time.

You know, the reason why Barcelona's youth training can achieve its current success and stars such as Xavi, Iniesta, Valdes, Fabregas and others can continue to emerge is precisely because Van Gaal vigorously promoted youth training during his time in Barcelona.

At that time, Cruyff was developing youth training in Barcelona, ​​so Van Gaal, who had achieved amazing success at Ajax, received an invitation from Cruyff and came to Barcelona.

When Van Gaal arrived in Spain, he not only brought his coaching team, but also the essence of Ajax's youth training.

It was precisely because of Van Gaal's promotion of youth training during his time at Barcelona, ​​based on Cruyff's work, that Barcelona's Dream Team III and the success of today's La Masia youth training camp came about.

Because of this, Juncker, who was working under Van Gaal at the time, was the head of both the Dutch youth training and the Barcelona youth training. He emphasized the concept of speed and pressure in the attack, which was also very modern and very much in line with the requirements of Bielsa and Guardiola.

Therefore, Southampton introduced Junker not only because Griffin is old, but also to prepare for Guardiola.

Now that Jonker has arrived and English youth training expert Les Reid is the technical director, the scouting system is becoming more and more mature and operating stably, so Griffa and Madoni have gradually retreated behind the scenes in Southampton.

As for Bielsa, he is a consultant in name only, but in fact, he does not hold a position in the club. He is more engaged in research and exploration of his tactical ideas.

Over the past six months or so, they have been living an extremely comfortable life.

But now that Young Master Huan had invited them, they immediately knew that there must be a place where they could be of use again.

Yang Huan didn't say much. As soon as Bielsa and his two companions arrived, he got straight to the point.

"I recently bought a football team in China. I have discussed with Peter, Ron, Les and others. We have decided to let the Saints cooperate with Beijing Guoan in youth training and jointly set up a youth training camp.

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Yang Huan only recently discovered that Beijing Guo’en’s youth training base is very outstanding.

Not to mention in China, it is second to none in Asia and even in the world.

As long as the Saints provide support in Guoan's weaknesses, such as youth training concepts, equipment and coaching resources, Beijing Guoan's youth training camp will definitely be able to make rapid progress in a short period of time.

Therefore, Yang Huan’s current plan is that now that the Saints have Capital One, there is no need for them to set up a youth training camp again. Instead, they can cooperate directly and let Southampton help Capital One improve the level of youth training.

In this way, not only can a lot of fees and expenses be saved, but also the plan can be implemented as soon as possible.

"Master Huan, do you mean that you want us to go to China?" Griffa and Madoni were both smart people and understood what was said immediately.

Yang Huan nodded and said, "You have been responsible for the selection of young players to study abroad before, so you have some understanding of domestic football. Besides, you are all youth training experts. I hope you can go to Beijing and take full charge of the youth training camp."

The youth training capabilities of these two players have been verified in Boca Juniors and Saints youth training camps, and are absolutely genuine.

More importantly, they are not the kind of young people who are just starting out. They have very rich experience in youth training and are more familiar with dealing with many problems.

Both of them had worked for Yang Huan for more than five years. They knew Young Master Huan very well and knew that they would not suffer any loss if they went to China, so after thinking about it, they agreed.

"Marcelo, I hope you will go to China too."

"To coach?" Bielsa frowned. When Master Huan invited him, he knew that his good days were over.

In fact, he is grateful to Young Master Huan from the bottom of his heart, because without Young Master Huan, how could he have such a high status in football now?

But if he were to go to China to coach a club, that would really be...

Of course, if Young Master Huan really asked for it, it would be difficult for him to refuse.

“No, no, no!” Yang Huan quickly shook his head, “You misunderstood, Marcelo.”

"My idea is that you will be the technical director, responsible for the overall planning from the first team to the youth team. I hope to build a team that is more in line with the modern tactical style. At the same time, you can also help me train more coaches and players."

After Bielsa heard this, he frowned and said, “But I don’t understand how transfers work, and there are other things, this…”

Peter Kenyon, who had been sitting on the sidelines and had remained silent, chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Marcelo. Master Huan has already thought about what you're worried about. We will arrange for someone to take charge of it when the time comes."

After a pause, Peter Kenyon continued, "Of course, considering the special environment of Chinese football, we may use some local Chinese professionals. I hope you can cooperate well at that time."

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Yang Huan knew Bielsa's temper, but he was also well aware of the domestic football environment. There would definitely be problems and conflicts were inevitable.

Therefore, Yang Huan planned to go back and take charge personally this time, which means that he would have to travel back and forth between China and Europe in the future.

There was no choice. He had promised Grandpa Yang and his father. He heard that the Zhuang family was also urging Yang Huan and Zhuang Ziqing to have a baby as soon as possible, so Yang Huan lived in Beijing. This became a tough task for him.

Besides, having finally entered the Chinese football scene, Yang Huan was determined to do a good job. At the very least, he wanted to run Beijing Guo'en into a domestic benchmark, drive the development of the domestic football industry, and let other teams learn from it.

When Bielsa heard that Young Master Huan was personally in charge, he no longer had anything to worry about.

After thinking about it, I agreed.

Yang Huan was confident that he could convince them, so after they agreed, the topic of discussion quickly turned to specific matters, such as the selection of head coach or foreign aid.

When it comes to foreign aid, Yang Huan can be said to be very ambitious.

He had said before that domestic teams were not spending enough money and the level of foreign players they brought in was not enough to stimulate the domestic football market, so this time he selected the world's top superstars.

Although it is a bit out of fashion in Europe, at least its strength is still there.

It is worth mentioning that a striker originally selected by Master Huan was rejected by Bielsa because of his poor form.

After changing his mind temporarily, Yang Huan decided to challenge a bigger star.

As for the candidate for the head coach, Master Huan decided to invite a head coach whom he has always admired and who is very outstanding in both coaching ability and the ability to train and cultivate players.

More importantly, to Bielsa's taste.

So, when the Argentine madman heard about it, he immediately agreed, saying that if he could be invited, he would definitely be better than those so-called world champion coaches.

This is also in line with Yang Huan's idea.

Whether it is Lippi or Scolari, their football philosophies are somewhat outdated.

Nowadays, the head coaches who represent the world's advanced tactical concepts are all in Europe. The more famous ones, such as Guardiola, Klopp, Simeone, Tuchel, and even Rogers, have no shortage of coaching opportunities and it is impossible for them to go to China.

The coach that Yang Huan has his eyes on is extremely talented and capable. In the past, whenever Yang Huan's team needed to recruit a coach, he would definitely be one of the candidates, but he never got the chance.

This time, Master Huan decided to invite him to China to do something big.