Chapter 33 Southampton from the Stars

Shunjing Hot Spring Hotel, the fourth ring road of China's capital.

Ibrahimovic pushed open the door of the luxurious ambassador suite and walked in with a tired look on his face.

Behind me, the door closed automatically with a clang.

The tall and muscular Swede walked towards the living room, taking off his shirt as he walked, revealing his muscular body. He sat down on the soft fabric sofa and grabbed the TV remote control from the mahogany coffee table.

As soon as he pressed the button, the whole room was filled with a sound that he couldn't understand at all, Chinese.

He randomly selected channels, not knowing what he was watching because he couldn't understand any of them.

Lying on the sofa, listening to an incomprehensible language and watching the actors on TV, he had no idea what they were talking about at all.

But he still keeps it open because it makes it more lively.

Ever since he had a falling out with Guardiola half a year ago, he felt increasingly isolated in Barcelona. He didn't even have anyone to talk to and was always like a lone ranger.

It was like when Barcelona was arranging hotel rooms for their trip to China, all teammates were paired up in pairs, and in the end only Ibrahimovic was left alone. In order to avoid the media taking advantage of the opportunity to hype it up, Barcelona arranged for him the same special treatment as head coach Guardiola, a luxury ambassador suite.

On the surface, this seems to be special treatment for the Swedish center forward, but in fact, everyone knows that it is because no one wants to live in the same room with him, which shows how embarrassing his current position in Barcelona is.

On the first day of training for the new season, Ibrahimovic put on a stern face and took the initiative to find Guardiola to talk to him about the new season. As there are only a few teams interested in Ibrahimovic in the transfer market, the Swede humbly expressed his willingness to stay in Barcelona and actively cooperate with Guardiola.

He even promised that he would do his best to cooperate with Messi, including actively participating in defense.

But Guardiola only had one sentence from beginning to end.

"How do we proceed?"

He said this sentence four times in total. By the fourth time, Ibrahimovic finally couldn't bear it anymore. He was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood. He slammed the door and left Guardiola's office angrily.

Later, Barcelona announced the signing of David Villa, which almost blocked Ibrahimovic's hope of staying.

The Swedish center forward himself has made up his mind to leave the team. He does not want to stay in Barcelona for even one more minute.

if you can.

But things don't go as planned. Many things cannot be done just as you want.

Barcelona president Rosell told him very clearly that he could go anywhere except Madrid.

Because of the feud with Mancini in the past, Ibrahimovic was blocked from going to Manchester City.

The only remaining top league team is AC Milan.

Galliani is an old fox in transfer negotiations. He has been spreading rumors outside, but he has also repeatedly reiterated that the possibility of introducing Ibrahimovic is only 50% because Ibrahimovic's salary is too high.

AC Milan hopes to negotiate an annual salary of around 9 million euros to around 5 million euros, and as for the transfer fee, AC Milan certainly cannot afford the 40 million euros that Barcelona wants, they simply don't have the money.

Therefore, this transfer can only be delayed further.

No one knows how long it will take.

This kind of day is a torment for Ibrahimovic.

He stood up from the fabric sofa, without turning off the TV, and went up to the attic up the mahogany stairs.

This is a perk of the Grand Ambassador Suite, where the room is in the attic.

After entering the room, he lay down on the bed, turned on the laptop computer on the bedside table, and several messages popped up as soon as he connected to the Internet.

Ibrahimovic clicked on one of the news headlines, which read: The Saints' new owner is arrogant and narcissistic, and was drowned in saliva from netizens.

I clicked on it and found out it was a report about Southampton Saints.

Club chairman Yang Huan said in an exclusive interview with the Southern Echo reporter that he firmly believes that his team is the strongest team. At the same time, he is also ambitious to bring in the world's best scorer to make Southampton the strongest new football force in the UK and even Europe in the shortest time possible.

However, some of his remarks were mocked, ridiculed and mocked by the media and netizens.

For example, Yang Huan said that Southampton can compete with top teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea. This was ridiculed by many fans and media, who believed that it was arrogant. A League One team wanted to challenge traditional giants. Isn't this arrogant?

Ibrahimovic saw it and felt strange. Could it be that Yang Huan was wrong?

Does he have to say that we are a League One team and we are inherently inferior to Manchester United and Chelsea, and those Premier League teams?

Do we have to kneel down on the ground and seek the approval and sympathy of the general public in order to survive? Is this what humility means?

In Ibrahimovic's view, whether one is humble or not depends on one's heart, not on what one says or does.

Another piece of news that was widely criticized was that Yang Huan announced that he would bring in the world's best scorer. This immediately spread on the Internet, especially on Weibo, where people tagged him one after another, and many of them tagged Ibrahimovic's Weibo.

"Messi, Messi, I heard you are going to Southampton, is that true?" This is Gerard Pique's Weibo.

"What? Messi, you are going to the legendary Southampton, are you crazy? Is that a team you can go to?" This was Puyol's Weibo.

"Oh my God, Messi, you actually have the opportunity to go to the legendary Southampton? So lucky!" This is a nobody.

"(A raised-hand emoticon) Excuse me, which national league is Southampton from? I've looked through the standings of all major leagues in Europe, but haven't seen this team? Could it be a cosmic team from the stars?" I don't know who is being cute here.

"Haha, if you scroll down to the English League, you can find Southampton in the parking lot on the second floor basement of the Premier League!" Gerard Pique replied again with a thank you expression.

“Oh, can they play in the Champions League?”

"cannot!"

"Europa League?"

“No!”

“The Premier League is always okay, right?”

"Sorry, still no."

"Are they going to play in the Championship?"

"Wrong, they don't know it will take several years to get promoted to the Championship."

"Could it be... (a shocked and sweaty expression), they are the legendary world's number one league, the English Football League One?"

"Congratulations, you got it right!"

"Messi, go ahead. Playing in the English League One is the dream of all professional players, not to mention playing for Southampton, a top club in the English League One. It is an incredible honor. You should go, you must go."

Gerard Pique then replied: "Yeah, I dream of playing in the English League One, but Southampton doesn't want me."

"That's so pitiful. I feel for you, buddy!"

Ibrahimovic got angry when he saw Barcelona players mocking and ridiculing Southampton on Weibo.

He knew in his heart that the world's strongest attacker that Southampton owner Yang Huan was talking about was himself, not anyone else.

Is it true that, in the eyes of these people, there is only Messi?

He had a bad impression of Barcelona players to begin with and always felt excluded by them. Now when he heard their sarcastic tone towards Southampton, it was as if they were looking down on others, stepping on others' heads and pointing fingers at others. What right did they have to do so?

Just because they have won the so-called six championships? Just because they are a super rich club?

A sentence from Yang Huan suddenly popped up in Ibrahimovic's mind. There is nothing for the wealthy teams to be proud of, because they also started out as small teams, and they may even be beaten back to their original form at any time.

There is no need for small teams to feel inferior. As long as they have backbone, determination and fighting spirit, they will surely rise one day.

"I believe that in the near future, I will make Southampton trample all the top teams under their feet!"

These words resonated in Ibrahimovic's heart.

As early as his time at Ajax, he made a vow to surpass all football players and become the best top star in the world, and he has been working hard towards this goal.

Everyone only pays attention to how much he said, but few people pay attention to how much he did silently behind the scenes and how much hard work and sweat he put in.

Without these, how could there be the Ibrahimovic of today?

Just like now, no one else knows what Southampton did, but Ibrahimovic knows.

After Yang Huan took over this English League One team, he showed great courage and introduced players such as Benatia, Varane, James Rodriguez, David Alaba, Carvajal and Strootman from teams in France, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries.

According to Raiola, although these players are not famous, they all have one thing in common: they are young.

Judging from the vision and quality of Southampton’s scouting network in the past, it is clear that these players are quite good, and for this reason the English League One team has already spent more than 10 million euros in transfer fees.

At present, Southampton is still actively operating a number of players. Among them, Ibrahimovic knows that Neymar, the top star from Santos in Brazil. Santos just scared away Chelsea with a transfer fee of 35 million euros, but Southampton made an offer of 30 million euros.

Now we have to wait for the response from Santos and Neymar's owners.

There is no doubt that this is a team with great courage.

Coupled with the arrival of world-famous coach Bielsa, Ibrahimovic has no doubt about Southampton's future prospects.

Thinking of this, Ibrahimovic couldn't help but feel a strong desire in his heart, just like when Maradona decided to transfer from Barcelona to Naples.

Aren't you all saying that I'm not good enough? Aren't you all saying that Southampton is not good enough?

Well then, I will go to a team that all of you look down upon, and I will lead this team to become strong!

I just want to prove to all of you that missing out on Barcelona is not a loss for me, Ibrahimovic.

On the contrary, missing out on me, Ibrahimovic, will be your biggest loss for Barcelona!

Thinking of this, Ibrahimovic grabbed the phone, dialed a number and called his agent.

He has decided!

Football Giants