Chapter 647 Let's Make Do With It
"Hello, welcome to La Tilby, Master Huan!"
On the hillside behind the city of Monaco, Monaco's training base La Tilbi welcomed the team's behind-the-scenes boss.
Head coach Martino led his coaching team to greet Yang Huan who got out of the car downstairs of the newly completed training building.
He was accompanied by two core executives of the club, Michael Bolingbroke and Jean-Luc Bissin.
"Hello, Gerardo!" Yang smiled and shook hands with Martino.
If Yang Huan remembered correctly, this Argentine head coach should have taken over Barcelona in his previous life.
But now, he is coaching Monaco, and doing a pretty good job.
The new season of the French Ligue 1 has only been played for three rounds so far, and Monaco has won three consecutive victories.
Not only that, after defeating Bordeaux 2-0 away in the first round thanks to goals from Depay and Mitrovic, they returned to the Stade Louis II in the second round and immediately defeated Montpellier 4-1, with Mitrovic scoring a hat trick.
In the third round that followed, they once again defeated Toulouse 3-0 at home, with Depay, Aubameyang and Thauvin scoring one goal each.
In three rounds of the league, Monaco scored nine goals and conceded only one goal, ranking first in the French Ligue 1. As a newly promoted team, its popularity immediately shocked the entire French Ligue 1.
Especially the main lineup of this team, most of them are a group of young players born in the 1990s, all of them are talented, which makes all the Ligue 1 teams envious and jealous!
Behind the team's outstanding performance, Martino's coaching team also deserves great credit.
Of course, the generous bonus given by Master Huan is also quite tempting.
Last season, Monaco successfully won promotion from the French Ligue 2, and Yang Huan gave out more than 4 million euros in promotion bonus in one go.
This amount of money is not much when distributed to each player, but in the French Ligue 1, it is much higher than the championship bonus of other teams. Even the prize money of the winning Paris Saint-Germain may not be so generous.
Therefore, each and every player is gathering their strength to make a great effort in the new season.
Accompanied by Martino and others, Yang Huan met with the players one by one, exchanged a few polite words, cheered them up, and after giving them a lot of encouragement, he allowed the players to continue training while he and his group returned to the training building.
It was when he sat down in the office chair in the conference room that a light bulb went off in Yang Huan's mind.
It is said that one of the important reasons why Martino coached Barcelona in his previous life was Messi's recommendation.
After watching Martino's performance as coach of Newell's Old Boys, the latter recommended him to coach Barcelona.
But now it is obviously different. Martino's coaching in Monaco is indeed very good. He has also played pleasing offensive football for this French team, but it has not attracted much attention from the outside world.
First of all, there are no big-name stars, and the team relies on a group of young players to play the game.
Secondly, the French Ligue 1 is not a top league and does not receive much attention.
However, this is actually a good thing for Yang Huan.
"Gerardo, let's get straight to the point. We are all very satisfied with the team's current performance!"
Yang Huan's words were immediately nodded in agreement by Michael Bolingbroke and Jean-Luc Bussin.
As a newly promoted team, Monaco is able to rank first in Ligue 1 after three rounds, which is not an easy thing.
"I have talked to them. We all hope that the team can maintain the current momentum. We hope that the team can be in the top three of the league at the end of the season. What do you think?"
According to the French Ligue 1's Champions League points, a total of three teams can participate in the Champions League, and the third place will have to participate in the qualifiers.
Therefore, Yang Huan and the management team’s goal for the new season is to strive for the top three.
After listening to Yang Huan's words, Martino exchanged glances with his assistants Jorge Pautasso, Adrian Coria and others. The latter two obviously felt that this goal was a bit stressful.
This is not surprising. Although Monaco has a lot of talented players, the players are generally young. It is also a newly promoted team. This summer, it introduced Martial from Lyon and Embolo from Basel in Switzerland, but both players were born after 1995.
This is obviously not the age to achieve results!
"It's okay, talk about the team's problems, just speak freely!" Yang Huan encouraged.
In his opinion, reaching the top three in the league is more important than anything else!
"Master Huan, with the current team lineup, we are still quite competitive in the French Ligue 1. In addition, Mitrovic has been in very good form this season, scoring four goals in three games. He also cooperates well with the trident formed by Depay and Aubameyang, showing a sharp attacking power!"
The amazing start of this season's league is inseparable from the outstanding performance of the trident.
At least, these three players scored eight of Monaco's nine goals, and only one came from young player Thauvin.
From this point, it is not difficult to see the importance of the outstanding performance of the trident to Monaco.
"In addition to the trident, we also have young players such as Tovan, Fekir and Benzia, who are all good at attacking, so our frontcourt attack has almost no big problems!"
"The defense is not a big problem, but the midfield is. I think if we want to finish in the top three, we need to at least continue to introduce more mature and stable defensive players in their prime in the midfield."
When Yang Huan heard this, he also felt that it made sense.
Verratti and Kondogbia were the team's main midfielders last season. Germain, Mendy and Esseric were rotation players in the midfield. As for Rabiot, a young player who Martino is very optimistic about, although he has received many opportunities to play, he is only eighteen years old and cannot stand on his own for the time being.
As the team entered Ligue 1 this season, the opponents they faced are getting stronger and stronger, so it is natural to introduce a strong midfielder.
Although this means that Yang Huan will definitely have to pay for this transfer deal out of his own pocket, but considering that if the team can successfully make it into the top three of the league and enter the Champions League, it will definitely bring the team greater benefits.
Thinking of this, Yang Huan had an idea in his mind and knew what to choose.
"The European transfer market is almost over. So far, there are not many defensive midfielders. Do you have any targets?"
Yang asked with a smile, and then he took out his mobile phone, logged into Southampton's official app, accessed the database, selected a few filter items, and directly checked the transfer information of the searched players.
After checking, a long list quickly popped up.
Martino didn't know what Master Huan was investigating, but he nodded after hearing the question.
"Well, we do have a few targets that we think are good."
Yang Huan nodded towards him and said, "Tell me about it."
"Toulouse's core defensive midfielder, Etienne Capoue, is 25 years old, in his prime, and a French player. He has good footwork and awareness, and can also play as a central defender."
As soon as he said that, Yang Huan immediately found clues about Capoue in the mobile app.
Not to mention, Tottenham Hotspur had targeted him before, but after the Qatari tycoon took over, the standard of the players they introduced was obviously raised a lot, and they eventually gave up on Capoue, but the scout system still had a very high evaluation of him.
"Another target is the defensive midfielder Toulalan of Malaga in La Liga. He is now 29 years old and is considered a famous European star. His strength is unquestionable. He has been injured since April and has two years left on his contract with Malaga. But the transfer fee will not be too high, and he also has the intention to return to his country to play."
This Turan is a famous European football star, otherwise, the then La Liga rich team Malaga would not have taken a fancy to him.
Although he has missed out on the French national team due to internal strife during the 2010 World Cup, Toulalan still has considerable fame and influence in France, and in terms of strength, he deserves to be a national team player.
"Another candidate is Lucas Biglia, an Argentine international who currently plays for Anderlecht in Belgium."
"Argentine international?" Yang Huan was stunned for a moment, obviously surprised.
When did the Argentine national team recruit a player who plays for a Belgian First Division team?
"Yes, I've noticed him for a long time!" Martino said with a smile.
It was not difficult for Yang Huan to see from the expression on Martino's face that he admired the player.
Could it be that this is another case of a pearl covered in dust?
"What are the worth of these three players?" Yang Huan asked again.
Jean-Luc Bissin thought for a moment and replied, "We are now entering the final stages of the transfer market. Some players have even played a few games. If you want to recruit players, you must be quick. It will be difficult to negotiate a price."
"You say!" Yang Huan knows the rules of the transfer market better than anyone else.
"Toulouse has been hit by a debt crisis recently. The media has previously reported that Toulouse will have to sell off several high-quality players including Capoue to cash in, but Tottenham Hotspur, which was the closest to them, suddenly chose other targets, while Arsenal, after introducing Ozil and Higuain, chose Flamini on a free transfer."
"In the end, Capoue was out of the question. If we were to sell him, the price would be around 10 million euros!"
Seeing Master Huan nod, Jean-Luc Bussin was encouraged and continued speaking.
"The problem with Turan is that we don't know if he can recover from his injury, and his salary is a bit high. As for the transfer fee, Malaga has already set a price of 5 million euros to take him away."
"As for Lucas Biglia, it's a bit difficult. He has received offers from many teams including AC Milan, Napoli, Lazio, West Ham United, etc. If we want to sign him, I'm afraid..."
Given Monaco's current situation, it would undoubtedly be extremely difficult for them to compete with top league teams for players.
Yang Huan used a mobile app to look through Biglia's profile and found that the scout system's evaluation of him was quite good.
During his seven years at Anderlecht, he brought the Belgian team five league titles and two league runner-ups, and he was always the core player, which shows that this player's strength is quite stable.
Capoue and Toulalan each have their own advantages. The former is a popular rookie in Ligue 1 and is in his prime, while the latter is a famous French star and is at his peak. For Monaco, which is currently relatively young, they are definitely a powerful supplement.
"Master Huan, as long as we can take down one of these three players, we will be more confident in reaching the top three in the league!"
Martino said expectantly.
In fact, the weakness of the midfield has become a major hidden danger for Monaco.
Before Yang Huan came, the management had no money and could not make decisions on many issues.
Now that Young Master Huan is here, the problem is on the table. Just listen to Young Master Huan’s instructions on what to do!
Jean-Luc Bussin, who was standing by, immediately took over after hearing what Martino said.
"Master Huan, I think Capoue is the most likely to win. If you think it's appropriate, I'll call Toulouse. It shouldn't be a problem!"
From what he said, it seems that he has a good relationship with Toulouse.
After listening to this, Yang Huan nodded and said, "Okay, call Toulouse and bring in Capoue!"
When Martino heard this, he felt somewhat regretful.
He does appreciate Biglia more, and the worst is Toulalan. As for Capoue, he is also good, but compared with the previous two players, he is still a little bit worse.
But since Master Huan said so, and the transfer period is so tight, something is better than nothing, so just make do with it!
But at this moment, Master Huan made a strange move.