Chapter 599 Are You Sure?

The air in Manchester is terrible!

Kevin Stroman walked out of his home in south Manchester, looked up at the gray sky, and thought with a sigh in his heart.

At this moment, for some reason, he thought of the blue sea and sky of Southampton.

And there is the fresh air that rushes towards you every morning when you wake up and open the door.

Compared to an old industrial city like Manchester, Southampton is indeed a very suitable place to live.

But what can we do?

As a professional player, he can only follow the club's transfer arrangements, and Manchester City offered him a generous salary.

With his outstanding performance in Manchester City this season, the team has begun to prepare to negotiate with him about contract renewal and salary increase.

Once the new contract is negotiated, even if he returns to Southampton, I'm afraid the Saints won't be able to accommodate him.

Unless he is willing to take a pay cut to join!

Thinking of this, Kevin Stroman couldn't help but shake his head and laugh, feeling deeply sad.

Looking back two years ago, I was just an unknown figure in the Dutch Eredivisie. Who could have thought that two years later, I would have become one of the most famous midfielders in European football?

All this depends on Southampton and the Premier League!

Just yesterday, his team finished the 38th round of the Premier League.

With no hope of winning the championship and no need to worry about losing the top four in the league, Manchester City lost 2-3 to Norwich at home very cleanly. Strootman, who has been in great form recently, scored twice, scoring both of Manchester City's goals.

Now, Manchester City has no games left.

I'm afraid that today, even if we just go to the training base for a walk, the team will start to disband!

Stroman thought to himself and walked towards the garage with his head down.

But just as he opened the garage door with the remote control and was about to walk in, he heard the sound of a car outside the door.

Then he heard someone outside, shouting at him, "Excuse me, is this Kevin Stroman?"

Stroman turned around and saw a British man in his thirties wearing a courier company uniform and holding a blue courier document bag in his hand.

The meaning is very clear, have your own courier!

"Yes!" Stroman immediately walked over quickly, opened the door and walked out.

"Please sign for the express delivery from last night!"

The courier pointed to a spot on the package and asked Stroman to sign.

Stroman took the pen readily and signed his name.

"Uh, Mr. Stroman, can I trouble you with something else?" The courier asked Stroman with a smile.

He seemed a little nervous, as if afraid of being rejected.

"Um?"

"Our whole family are Manchester City fans!" As if afraid that Stroman wouldn't believe him, the courier opened his uniform to reveal the Manchester City sky blue jersey underneath.

"My son likes you very much. His birthday is coming soon. Could you please take a photo with me and sign your name? I plan to give it to him as a birthday present."

Stroman was stunned for a moment, then he smiled and nodded, "Of course, no problem!"

The courier was immediately overjoyed, hurriedly took out his mobile phone and walked to Stroman.

"It's okay, you can get closer, just like a good friend!" Stroman encouraged with a smile.

The courier was immediately flattered and came over, almost hugging Stroman, and then started taking a selfie.

"Um, Mr. Stroman, could you please make the eggplant sign again?"

"Eggplant?" Stroman smiled bitterly, but still fulfilled the wish of this good father.

A selfie was quickly completed.

Then the courier took out the autograph book and handed it to Stroman.

The Dutchman picked up the pen and thought for a moment, "By the way, what is your son's name?"

"Billy! Billy Jones!"

"oh!"

Stroman immediately scribbled three lines on it.

"Billy, happy birthday to you! Kevin Stroman!"

The courier immediately took it as if he had found a treasure, kept thanking the man, and was very polite before leaving.

Stroman smiled, shook his head, turned around and walked back home.

As I walked, I took a look at the express bag and found that it was from St. Mary's Stadium in Southampton.

This time, Stroman took it very seriously. He quickly opened the express bag and found two game tickets and a piece of white paper with a few lines of words written on it.

"Thank you for your service to Southampton, Kevin!"

“May 22 is a special day. We sincerely invite you to come to St. Mary’s Stadium and witness this legendary and great moment with us!”

“Thank you forever!”

"Yang Huan!"

I don't know why, but after reading this letter, Kevin Stroman's eyes became wet.

Master Huan wrote him a letter?

And it looks like it was written by hand, which shows the sincerity!

He even knew he had a new girlfriend, so surprising!

All the things that happened in Southampton in the past suddenly came to Kevin Stroman's mind.

Although he has left Southampton, it does not prevent him from going to St. Mary's Stadium in person to cheer for Southampton in such a crucial battle!

In the 38th round of the Premier League, Southampton defeated Sunderland 2-0 away.

League leader Manchester United defeated West Bromwich Albion away and continued to maintain a two-point advantage over Southampton.

But the situation has completely reversed!

Although Southampton lost two points, they have one game less.

In other words, as long as Southampton beats Stoke City at home in the last game, which is the 37th round of the Premier League, they will be able to complete the reversal against Manchester United and win the Premier League championship trophy with a one-point advantage!

This will be Southampton’s first top league championship trophy in its more than 100-year history!

That’s why Young Master Huan said in the letter that this was a legendary and great moment!

However, in this battle, Southampton’s opponent is the tough Stoke City team. Are they sure of winning?

But no matter what, Stroman decided to go south to watch the fight!

…………

…………

"Madhi, did you receive the delivery?"

Adam Lallana ran into his old teammate Benatia head-on as he walked into Chelsea's Colney training base.

The former captain of the Saints immediately chased forward and asked with concern.

"Yes, I got it!"

Benatia is a man of few words. He is the type of person who does more and talks less.

But this kind of personality is also a disadvantage, especially in the current Chelsea. Benatia's performance is sometimes good and sometimes bad, which is more due to his partners and his own injuries, but Benatia never defends himself.

This led to doubts about him throughout Chelsea.

There are even rumors that after Benítez is sacked and Mourinho takes over the Blues, he will sell Benatia to cash in.

A large part of this is due to Benatia’s personality.

If he had spoken more and defended himself, the situation might have been different.

Adam Lallana felt very sympathetic towards Benatia's situation, but he didn't say anything on the surface.

"So are you planning on going?"

Benatia didn't think much about it and nodded: "Well, after the disbandment, we may stay in London for a few more days, so..."

Adam Lallana gets it.

"What about you?" asked the Moroccan star.

Adam Lallana chuckled, "I will definitely go. I heard that Master Huan's seven-star underwater hotel is about to open. I plan to go and take a look and take a vacation at the same time."

The construction of the seven-star underwater hotel has been underway for three years and has been incredibly expensive, but has also caused a huge response.

Especially with the entire Southampton old town renovation project, Southampton has completely become a shining pearl on the south coast of England, attracting the attention of countless people.

At the very least, it's one of the most livable cities in England.

In the past, the old town was dilapidated and did not attract many people. But now it is different. As soon as the renovation project started, the seven-star underwater hotel project and Southampton’s new stadium project have entered the final stage.

The two iconic buildings and the massive project of renovating the old town are proving to everyone that Southampton will be built into an emerging livable port and tourist city in the UK.

Faced with a city like this, anyone with a little foresight and some money knows that they have to buy a house.

"So do you think the team can be confident?"

Benatia asked worriedly.

Although Stoke City is currently ranked 13th, you have to know that this team definitely has the strength to be in the top ten.

Tony Pulis is also a rare talent in English football.

He obtained his English coaching license at the age of 19 and his European coaching license at the age of 21, making him one of the oldest head coaches. Since then, he has been coaching in lower-level leagues, accumulating more than 20 years of rich coaching experience.

He has coached Stoke City twice, from 2002 to 2005, and from 2006 to present.

When he returned to the club for the second time, he brought Stoke City from a relegation team in the Championship to the Premier League, where they gained a firm foothold.

Tony Pulis is known as the best head coach in English football at organizing defense. All the teams he has coached have very solid defense.

While the entire Premier League was gradually pursuing continental tactics and teams with possession-based and offensive football styles such as Southampton, Arsenal, Swansea and Liverpool began to emerge, Tony Pulis completely abandoned possession-based tactics.

What he is best at is defeating opponents with very little ball possession, and he believes in Capello's one-to-zero doctrine.

But this is more or less also has a lot to do with his lack of skill in offensive attack.

Just like Stoke City this season, they ranked seventh in the Premier League in terms of goals conceded, but ranked last in terms of goals scored, only four more than Queens Park Rangers, which had already been relegated.

So, Tony Pulis has the ability, and his strengths and weaknesses are equally obvious.

Being good at defense but not good at offense, such a head coach can only work in mid- and lower-level teams and is hardly valued by mid- and upper-level teams because top teams focus more on offense.

At the very least, there must be a balance between offense and defense!

There are even reports that Tony Pulis will be sacked after the end of this season.

Stoke City, which has established a firm foothold in the Premier League for several consecutive seasons, has also begun to feel dissatisfied with its meritorious head coach. The management hopes that the team can play more beautifully and be more offensive.

There is no doubt that Tony Pulis is not good at this.

Therefore, the final battle against Southampton will undoubtedly be Tony Pulis' battle of self-redemption.

Even if he couldn't keep his position as Stoke City coach, at least he had demonstrated his coaching ability to the world.

By that time, when you are famous, why would you still be afraid that no team will come knocking on your door?

As for Southampton, they advocate offensive football and are known for their crazy attacks full of passion.

This kind of team is often what Tony Pulis is best at dealing with.

Because if we hold on, the counterattack will be very deadly!

Therefore, the outside world is full of worries and suspense about this game.

After a season of fighting, especially the hard pursuit in the past six months, Southampton finally caught up with Manchester United.

The gain or loss of the league championship is no longer determined by Manchester United, but is firmly in their own hands.

It all depends on whether the saints can catch it and hold on to it firmly!

Although Adam Lallana knew that Stoke City was a tough team, he appeared very confident.

"Never underestimate the Saints' desire for the league title!"

The former Saints captain looked at the blue sky in the distance, as if immersed in some very sacred and inviolable memories.

"We have been waiting for this for over a hundred years!"

"This time, I will never pass it by again!" r1148