Chapter 566: Can You Still Catch Up?

Bring in another striker?

This was indeed put on the table for discussion by the Liverpool board, but there was a problem.

money!

In the list of players recommended by Liverpool's scouting team, Aston Villa's Belgian center forward Benteke ranks at the top. The player ranks fifth in the Premier League scorer list this season, behind Ibrahimovic, Suarez, Van Persie and Gareth Bale.

More importantly, although Benteke still has a long contract with Aston Villa, his weekly salary is very low, only 20,000 pounds, which is not worthy of the Belgian center's current outstanding performance. Therefore, news of Benteke's transfer has been circulating in the transfer market.

But to convince Aston Villa to let him go, it would cost at least 20 million pounds!

In addition, Liverpool scouts also recommended Bayern Munich's Swiss international Shaqiri, believing that the latter can effectively enhance the Red Army's frontcourt attack and ball advancement capabilities, but this player is worth at least 15 million pounds.

Ian Ayre knew in his heart that it was simply impossible to ask the boss to spend another 35 million pounds to recruit players!

Therefore, if Liverpool wants to sign Benteke and Shaqiri, there is only one way, sell Suarez to cash in!

But this makes people feel somewhat dissatisfied!

After all, Suarez is the only top-level star in Liverpool.

To put it bluntly, players like Suarez are strategically positioned in any team.

If Liverpool sells Suarez, they can forget about competing for the league title in the short term!

Yang Huan was always keeping an eye on Ian El, watching his expression change from time to time, and he knew what was going on.

It would be difficult for anyone to make such a bold decision.

But sometimes, only in this way can the team have a future!

"Ian!" Yang looked at the general manager of Liverpool with a smile.

"If you, the Reds, are willing to sell Suarez, please remember to let me know. I am very interested!"

After the end of this season, Drogba may go to Monaco to retire. By that time, the forward line will rely on Ibrahimovic and Sturridge, which is seriously insufficient.

So, if we can bring in Suarez, it would be perfect!

More importantly, Suarez is not only strong, he is also very comprehensive.

With his joining, Southampton can even try to learn from Liverpool in the past and form a double striker combination of Suarez and Sturridge to bring more tactical changes to Southampton.

And with Suarez, Neymar, Gareth Bale, Ibrahimovic, Hazard, Southampton's entire midfield and frontcourt players have really strong individual abilities.

By that time, let alone the entire Premier League, who can stop them even in the European arena?

Thinking of this, Yang Huan really had an urge to keep Neymar.

But he soon gave up this tempting idea.

Because he knows that forcing Neymar to stay will do more harm than good to Southampton!

Ian Ayre is obviously reluctant to talk more about Suarez, because he knows very well that the Uruguayan is now a core player of Liverpool and has attracted the attention of many European giants. If it is not handled properly, things will be troublesome.

"Master Huan, I heard that the team that will be added to the International Champions Cup next year will be selected from the teams in the Asian Challenge Tournament, is that right?"

Yang Huan nodded and said frankly, "Yes, if nothing unexpected happens, it should be so."

From the current signs, it is imperative to expand the International Champions Cup next year.

The reason is simple: the market response was too enthusiastic.

First, many countries and regions in Asia extended olive branches to Miracle Media, and then Australia in Oceania was also very interested. In order to attract the International Champions Cup, Melbourne even offered a high government subsidy of 10 million pounds.

If the semi-finals and finals can be held in Melbourne, the government subsidy will be even higher.

In addition to Australia, Qatar in the Middle East is also very enthusiastic.

The conditions they offered were even more generous than those of Australia. If the International Champions Cup was willing to be held in Qatar, not only would all expenses be covered, the Qatari government would also be willing to pay the team's appearance fees and provide high government subsidies.

All these factors have made Miracle Media clearly realize that the International Champions Cup has great potential and expansion is imperative!

It was because Ian Eyre heard these rumors that he was very interested.

Liverpool's owner is from the United States and its sponsor is Brave Sports, a subsidiary of New Balance. In this case, if Liverpool can participate in the International Champions Cup, especially the International Champions Cup held in the United States, it will be of great help to the Red Army.

Besides, everyone in European football knows that whoever participates in the International Champions Cup will make a lot of money!

"Master Huan, I wonder if we in Liverpool will have a chance to become an official member?"

Yang Huan looked at Ian Ayre and smiled. "Regarding the issue of expanding the army, we are still studying it. The specific number of players has not yet been determined. Liverpool is also one of our key considerations, but the specific situation still depends on the company's research results."

Ian El was a little disappointed after hearing this. He knew very well that this was Yang Huan's Tai Chi Push Hands.

What company research findings?

To put it bluntly, whoever Miracle Media wants to choose can participate.

The International Champions Cup is so popular, with media attention, fans' support, and an excellent match schedule. As long as the participating teams are not too unlucky and not too weak, it doesn't matter who participates.

If we really talk about strength, can Arsenal be better than Chelsea?

How could there be only one Juventus in Serie A?

But Ian El didn't dare to ask any more questions about this matter.

Yang Huan saw everything and he knew what was going on.

In Yang Huan's opinion, with Ferguson's retirement, Manchester United will inevitably enter a period of adjustment; Manchester City's poor performance this season will definitely usher in a period of turmoil; Chelsea's metabolism is only halfway through, and even if Mourinho returns next season, the prospects are unlikely to bring surprises.

In this way, Southampton will have a godsend opportunity.

Even if they fail to win the championship this season, Yang Huan will lead Southampton to gamble on winning a league title in the next season, and at the same time make a difference in the Champions League!

But this is just a short-term strategy!

So, what is the Saints' long-term strategy?

It's very simple, that is to run the Premier League as the Saints' back garden!

The La Liga has Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​the Bundesliga has Bayern Munich, and in the future, the Premier League will belong to Southampton!

To achieve this, it is useless to just have money.

Therefore, in the past, Yang Huan supported the English Football Association in promoting the Glorious Revolution youth training reform, actively played a role within the Premier League, worked hard to maintain good relations with other Premier League teams, and so on.

Even when Southampton participate in the League Cup and FA Cup, if the team they meet is from a lower-level league, the Saints will not take a penny of the ticket revenue and will give it all to the opponent.

Some teams with poor stadium conditions or poor attendance will take the initiative to propose to arrange their matches at St. Mary's Stadium, because in this way they can earn at least hundreds of thousands of pounds for each game.

Think about it, for those teams in the lower leagues, hundreds of thousands of pounds is an astronomical figure.

But for Southampton, hundreds of thousands of pounds are indeed not cheap. But from another perspective, the fans enjoy low ticket prices, the team has the advantage of home court, the hope of advancing is greater, and they can also win praise and gratitude from their opponents.

So, Southampton’s reputation in the Premier League is now off the charts!

In addition, Yang Huan also actively sought out some alliances with different interests.

For example, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. To be frank, these two teams are Southampton's strongest allies in the Premier League, and Southampton follows their lead.

The relationship between Manchester United, Arsenal and Southampton is also growing day by day, after all, they have common interests.

The only exceptions are Chelsea and Newcastle, both of which have a deep hatred for Southampton and have very bad relations.

But with Southampton being praised by everyone in the Premier League and even English football, the negative reviews of one or two teams will not affect the overall situation at all.

In Yang Huan’s own words, the nine-word secret for the Saints to conquer the Premier League is: build high walls, store up food, and slowly claim the throne!

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In the 30th round of the Premier League, Southampton finally defeated Liverpool 3-1 at home at St. Mary's Stadium with three goals from Toni Kroos, Gareth Bale and Ibrahimovic.

In the second half, Suarez relied on his personal ability to dig a goal out of Southampton's iron defense.

This also made Yang Huan, who was watching the game in the stands, feel amazed, and his determination to poach Liverpool players became even greater.

But Ian Ayre's attitude remains clear and he refuses to give in on Suarez's transfer.

Yang Huan also reciprocated the favor and was ambiguous about Liverpool's participation in the International Champions Cup.

Because Manchester United defeated Reading the day before, even though Southampton defeated Liverpool and won everyone's praise and affirmation, they still failed to narrow the points gap between them and Manchester United.

The gap between the two teams is still eight points!

After beating Liverpool, Southampton followed up with a 2-0 win over Basel of Switzerland at home.

Drogba and Gareth Bale scored for Southampton.

At the weekend, Southampton travelled north to Liverpool to take part in the FA Cup quarter-finals, away to Everton.

In the end, thanks to goals from Varane, Vidal and Sturridge, Southampton beat Everton 3-0 away.

Although Moyes' team played at home, they were ultimately unable to stop the ferocious Southampton and ultimately had to lose at home and were eliminated from the FA Cup.

In the middle of the week, the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 was played, with Southampton winning 1-0 away against Basel.

It was Neymar who scored the crucial goal for Southampton.

In the end, with a total score of 3-0 and an excellent record of double kills in two rounds, they successfully eliminated Basel and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Europa League.

In the draw for the quarter-finals, Southampton drew Lazio of Serie A.

This weekend, the 31st round of the Premier League was ushered in.

Manchester United's away challenge to Sunderland was held one day earlier than Southampton. As a result, Ferguson's team defeated Martin O'Neill's Black Cats Sunderland away with an own goal given by the opponent.

This also made the entire English media feel fortunate for Manchester United.

If we simply look at the course of the game, a 0-0 draw is a relatively reasonable score, as Manchester United did not create many good scoring opportunities throughout the game.

But who would have thought that an own goal would help Manchester United get three points again.

At the post-match press conference, Ferguson's old face was smiling like a pig, and he couldn't close his mouth. He kept saying that Manchester United had won three valuable points and achieved a crucial victory.

Not to mention that Southampton’s opponent in this round of the league is Chelsea.

Even if the Saints really beat Chelsea and got three points, can they catch up with the eight-point gap after seven league games?

Anyway, fewer and fewer people believe that Southampton will create a miracle! r1148