Chapter 538 Don’t Take Chelsea for a Rich Man
"Master Huan!"
"Hello, Master Huan!"
When Yang Huan pushed open the door of the conference room and walked in with big strides, everyone in the conference room stood up immediately.
All those who are meeting here today are Southampton’s core senior executives.
Including Staplewood's head coach Bielsa, chief assistant coach Luis Borini, Ramon Madoni from the scouting department, youth training consultant Jorge Griffa, and head of the youth training department Les Reid, etc.
The executive office of St. Mary's Stadium includes Executive Chairman Nicola Cortes, CEO Peter Kenyon, COO Ron Gourlay, and the heads of other core departments of the office.
There are also core executives from the medical and analytical departments, such as Marcus du Satoy and Howard Hamilton, who are now vital members of Southampton.
Judging from the personnel configuration alone, Southampton is not inferior to any top team in continental Europe.
When Yang Huan walked into the conference room, he had a bright smile on his face and waved to everyone who stood up, "Everyone, sit down!"
He walked to the empty seat at the top and sat down directly.
After taking a quick glance and seeing that everyone present was seated, Young Master Huan spoke with a smile.
"Okay, let's start the meeting!"
At Yang Huan's command, Nicola Cortes, as the host of the meeting, took the lead in speaking on the meeting agenda.
Immediately afterwards, Peter Kenyon introduced the club's operations in the past month, and Luis Borini from the coaching staff also introduced the team's game situation.
Originally, Bielsa was supposed to be in charge of the competitive aspects, but everyone knows that the Argentine madman doesn't like to talk much. Even the speeches in the locker room are usually done by Luis Borini, so the reporting work is usually given to Borini.
Overall, everything seems to be going smoothly for Southampton, which is quite good.
Whether in team management or game results, Southampton is very satisfactory, even though it has recently caused quite a bit of controversy.
After listening to the reports from all sides, Yang Huan immediately raised his own questions.
"The team's performance has declined recently, Marcus, what do you think?"
Marcus Du Satoy was also well prepared. "Master Huan, we have been actively cooperating with the coaching staff since December last year to adjust the players' training. The goal is to enable the team to fight in a better and more outstanding state in the second half of the season. To this end, we have also fully learned from the practices of many teams including Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and others in the past decade."
Yang Huan nodded, "Will it work?"
"Well, of course!" Professor Satoy nodded very confidently.
"We have to analyze each player individually, but the overall situation of the team is within our plan."
"Good, very good!" Yang Huan nodded in praise.
This one sentence is equivalent to affirming the achievements of Professor Satoy and his team.
There are many aspects involved here, and it requires very professional knowledge to figure it out.
Yang Huan knew he didn't have the ability, so he didn't want to know more. He just wanted to know whether the team could cope with it.
Since there is no problem with Bielsa as the head coach and Professor Satoy is so confident, then there must be no problem.
"Marcelo!" Yang Huan looked at Bielsa, "Varane's situation has not been very good recently. What do you think?"
After being named, Bielsa nodded and said: "Yes, from the own goal that led to the team being eliminated from the League Cup to the two goals conceded against Manchester United, Varane's situation is indeed quite bad, but I believe he can overcome it."
Varane is recognized within the team as the future core player of the Saints' central defender.
Near-perfect physical fitness, quite good footwork, excellent overall view, calm and mature personality, all these have made Varane's indisputable bright future.
In fact, if it weren't for the own goal incident and frequent mistakes against Manchester United, Varane would have been dubbed a world-class central defender by many fans and media.
However, the series of mistakes in recent times have reminded everyone that he is only nineteen years old!
"What can the team do?" Yang Huan asked again.
Bielsa thought about it and shook his head: "This is a psychological problem. He needs to overcome it by himself. I will talk to him more and arrange for him to rest for a few games. I believe he can get out of it."
"What about the contract renewal?" Yang asked with a smile.
"Renewal?" Bielsa was a little surprised.
"Yes, I think Varane has performed well and stably this season. He should start to renew his contract. This is the reward he deserves. Moreover, renewing his contract at this time can be regarded as our affirmation and encouragement to him!"
After hearing what Young Master Huan said, everyone present nodded continuously.
This boss is great and reliable!
The owners of other teams have to rely on their players’ agents to make a fuss in order to get a chance to renew their contracts.
But our boss is not like that. Instead, he sees your outstanding performance and actively seeks to renew your contract. How rare is that?
"It's settled, Ron. Find someone to negotiate with his agent and agree on a contract extension before the end of the season!"
After a pause, Yang Huan added, "Remember, he will be the core of our defense for the next ten years!"
This sentence has established Varane's core position in the Southampton team.
How many players are so valued by Master Huan?
Neuer, Toni Kroos, Ibrahimovic, who else?
It seems like it’s gone!
"Master Huan, since you want to renew Varane's contract, how do you solve the problem of Gary Cahill?" Ron Gourlay also raised his own question.
So far this season, Gary Cahill has clearly fallen behind Varane and even Nastasic in the order of central defender appearances, which makes Gary Cahill very dissatisfied.
The main central defender of the British Empire and a national team player can only sit on the bench in Southampton?
Moreover, he is the bench among the benches?
So, during the winter break, Gary Cahill's agent began contacting buyers.
It’s true, this connection came out immediately.
Chelsea!
According to The Sun, Abramovich has decided to invite Mourinho, who was recently sacked as Real Madrid coach, to return to Stamford Bridge next season, and the Portuguese has asked for a central defender, with Gary Cahill reportedly being the first choice.
"Does Abramovich really want it?" Yang asked with a smile.
Ron Gourlay nodded. “Yes, Granovskia called me personally to inquire about Gary Cahill’s transfer fee. I could tell they really wanted him, and they were said to have had contact with the player.”
Yang Huan did not comment. With Varane maturing quickly and becoming the backbone of the team's defense and Nastasic also growing rapidly, Gary Cahill was obviously not valued by Bielsa in Southampton, so the transfer was just a transfer, no big deal.
"Then tell Chelsea that they can forget about buying our Southampton players for less than 20 million pounds!"
"Twenty million?"
When Yang Huan said this, everyone in the conference room was shocked.
Twenty million pounds?
Are you kidding?
If Gary Cahill was worth this price last summer, it would be possible, but now he has become a substitute. Who would be so stupid as to spend 20 million pounds to buy someone else's substitute?
"Master Huan, I'm afraid Abramovich is not so generous?" Ron Gourlay said with a wry smile.
Yang Huan laughed, "Who said there is no money? You just don't know. We Abramovich have plenty of money. He spent 60 million pounds to buy Toni Kroos without blinking an eye and gave it to us directly. 20 million to buy Gary Cahill is a piece of cake. If you offer too little, Chelsea will be unhappy and think you don't treat them as rich people!"
Everyone knew the whole story, so when they heard Young Master Huan say this, they all burst into laughter.
If Abramovich heard that Young Master Huan was making fun of him, he would probably be so angry that he would vomit three liters of blood.
“Also, tell Chelsea that if they want to buy, they can buy. If they don’t want to buy, forget it. Anyway, Gary Cahill has no shortage of interested buyers!”
Are you kidding? How could there be no team interested in an England international center back?
It’s just a matter of price!
Peter Kenyon felt that what Master Huan said seemed to be nonsense, but in fact it made a lot of sense.
Gary Cahill is just not suitable for Southampton's tactical style transformation, which does not mean that he is incapable.
Let me ask you, if an England international has no ability, can he become a main player in the national team? Can he partner with Terry?
Since they have the ability, the best option for Southampton is to transfer abroad, or to a mid- or lower-level team, so as not to strengthen their competitors.
If Chelsea insists, then you have to pay a higher transfer fee than others!
Otherwise, just send him back to Bolton. Gary Cahill is not opposed to his old club anyway.
"I understand, Master Huan, we will come to an agreement!" Peter Kenyon's eyes flashed with a gleam and he nodded in agreement.
Only then did Yang Huan give the bald man an appreciative smile. It was much easier to talk to smart people.
"Okay, next one!"
Following Master Huan's order, topics one after another began to be discussed in the conference room.
For example, the R&D department recently proposed a new training program, including improving the team's diet, adjusting the team's training programs and other measures, which are said to be able to enhance and improve the players' physical fitness, including improving physical fitness and reducing injuries.
A very important part of the training program is related to Huang Wenying's traditional Chinese medicine massage group.
This undoubtedly aroused Yang Huan's great interest.
After investing so much money every year, we are finally seeing some results. How can we not be happy?
Moreover, it can also promote traditional Chinese medicine, killing two birds with one stone!
So, everyone present was there, so they just laid it out and talked about it.
After all, this concerns the team, so people from all departments must participate in the discussion.
Bielsa, as the top player in the sport, believes that from a prudent point of view, it should be done during the summer preparations.
Now is a critical moment in the league. If anything goes wrong, all the efforts of everyone in the team throughout the season will be wasted.
It can be arranged during the summer preparation period, the risks can be controlled, scientific researchers and analysis teams can keep an eye on the team at all times, and once a problem occurs, adjustments can be made immediately, and the impact on the new season will not be significant.
If it is really effective, then promote it and it will also benefit the team.
In the end, Bielsa's proposal was recognized by everyone, and the matter was settled.
As we enter February, many things begin to need planning.
For example, Southampton is preparing for the summer. Because they still have to go to the United States to participate in the second International Champions Cup, Southampton still chooses the United States as the training location.
With the experience of last year, this year's operation was much smoother. Many things had been prepared in advance, so there were no major problems. The administrative department simply drew up a plan, discussed it, and then announced it as implemented.
There is another issue that is also very important and needs to be determined as soon as possible.
That is how Southampton plan to operate in the summer transfer market.
As early as after the match between Southampton and Arsenal, Yang Huan had discussed these issues in depth with Bielsa at St. Mary's Stadium. In the following month, both Staplewood and St. Mary's also studied these issues.
Now, it is undoubtedly time to make a decision!