Chapter 897: Rich Spending Money
Why does Yang Huan have such strong self-confidence?
Of course, p doesn't happen for no reason.
The reason why he is so confident is that the outstanding performance of the teams under Miracle Football Group in the European arena this season has given him a great surprise and also given him enough self-confidence.
In the Champions League group stage, although Atletico Madrid was in the same group with Juventus, Olympiacos and Malmö, Simeone's team managed to win first place in the group and advance to the round of 16.
Southampton played without any major fuss, winning four games in a row in the first four rounds of the group stage and qualifying as the group leader in advance. Then they played with an all-substitute lineup but still managed one win and one draw.
Not only that, but Southampton was the team with the best offense and the strongest defense in the group stage.
In the six group matches, they only conceded one goal but scored 21 goals, making them the team with the most goals in the group stage, winning unanimous praise and recognition from everyone.
Even many professional commentators believe that after selling the core of the defense Javi Martinez and Azpilicueta, Southampton was able to build such a defensive system with the help of new generation players such as Varane, Nastasic, Laporte, Luke Shaw, David Alaba, Chambers and Danilo, which is enough to prove the rigor and maturity of the Saints' entire tactical system.
The progress of this new generation of players makes people marvel at Southampton’s training capabilities.
However, what is somewhat surprising is that in the group stage, there was another team that also conceded only one goal in six games.
But it is not Real Madrid, nor Barcelona, nor Juventus, but Monaco led by Koeman.
The French Ligue 1 giants have never come down from the top spot since defeating Paris Saint-Germain to take the top spot in this season's league.
Not only that, Koeman's team's performance in the Champions League was very impressive.
They scored seven goals in six group matches, which is not an outstanding offensive ability, but they only conceded one goal, which is an amazing defensive ability. The amazing record of six wins also allowed Monaco to securely advance to the round of 16 as the group leader.
It can be said that Koeman's team is the biggest dark horse in this season's Champions League group stage.
And you have to know that although Porto, Leverkusen and Zenit St. Petersburg are not top teams, their strength is not weak at all. Monaco can stand out from the competition among these three teams, and its strength is convincing.
On the contrary, as a well-known black shop in Europe, Porto performed poorly in the Champions League this season, with one win, two draws and three losses in six games, ranking last in points. It was eliminated from the Champions League early and could not even participate in the Europa League.
But what surprised Yang Huan the most was Basel from Switzerland.
Basel met Real Madrid and Liverpool in the group stage, and the strength of these two teams is not bad at all.
But surprisingly, Basel beat Rogers' Liverpool in the group stage, finished second in the group, and secured the qualification for the round of 16 of the Champions League, eliminating Liverpool.
This was something Yang Huan could never imagine.
In addition, Monaco's young player Embolo, who was on loan to Basel, performed quite well in the Champions League group stage. Although he was not the team's main player, he still scored two goals and provided an assist, which was quite dazzling.
Portuguese Super League team Benfica also performed well in the Champions League group stage, winning four and drawing two in six games, and safely advanced as first in the group.
As for Ajax, they also achieved the plan made before the game, which was to get third place in the group under the strong shadow of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain and move on to the Europa League.
Belgian powerhouse Anderlecht also finished third in the group under the pressure of Dortmund and Arsenal and moved on to the Europa League.
The only team that failed to continue competing in the European arena was Sparta Prague of the Czech Republic, which ranked last in the group stage and was eventually eliminated.
Eight teams participated in the Champions League group stage, five teams advanced from the group stage to the round of 16, two teams moved on to the Europa League, and one team was eliminated. This record is nothing short of outstanding.
Not only in the Champions League, but also in the Europa League, Inter Milan won five games and drew one in the group stage, remained unbeaten, and won the first place in the group to qualify, and its performance was also quite outstanding.
By the way, in the Europa League draw ceremony, Inter Milan drew Celtic from the Scottish Premier League, Ajax drew Legia Warsaw from Poland, and Anderlecht drew Dynamo Moscow from the Russian Premier League.
Judging from the current situation, except for Anderlecht which is a bit suspenseful, Inter Milan and Ajax are very likely to advance smoothly.
As for the draw for the Champions League round of 16, Southampton drew Paris Saint-Germain of the French Ligue 1.
The Saints obviously failed to continue their luck in the draw during the group stage, as they met the strongest team among the eight second-placed teams in the group, so this game also attracted much attention.
It's not just because of the Saints and Paris Saint-Germain, but also because Ibrahimovic meets his old club again.
Basel drew with Benfica, a rival team from the same team. Although it was tragic, at least one team was able to successfully advance to the quarterfinals. Monaco faced Arsenal, and Atletico Madrid faced Leverkusen.
Judging from the draw situation, these games will be tough battles, especially for Monaco. It will be difficult for them to get any advantage from Wenger, but in any case, Koeman's team has been surprising enough.
Yang Huan is extremely satisfied with the outstanding performance of these teams this season. Naturally, he is full of strong confidence in the future development of Miracle Football Group.
But because of their outstanding performance in European competitions, players from these teams have been poached.
Yang Huan’s attitude towards this is as calm as ever, that is, there is nothing that is not for sale as long as you are willing to pay.
That's why Yang Huan so readily agreed to Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, expressing his willingness to sell Blind, De Bruyne and Aboubakar, because to be honest, Inter Milan and Hamburg can't keep anyone.
Instead of forcing them to stay, it would be better to sell them early at a high price to cash in, stabilize other players in the team, and then use the transfer income to strengthen the team's recruitment and steadily improve the team's competitiveness.
For example, if Inter Milan sells Blind, they must keep De Vrij because the Dutch central defender is so important.
As for De Bruyne and Aboubakar, it was expected that they could not be kept, but after selling them, Yang Huan was determined to do something big, which was to further upgrade the lineups of Hamburg and Inter Milan.
This is not surprising at all.
Just like Inter Milan, why does Klopp always choose Khedira to partner with Allan or Nainggolan?
But when playing against Juventus, why did they choose Blind to play as the defensive midfielder?
In fact, the answer is very simple, that is to choose the first combination, which has strong defensive ability but weak organizational and passing abilities.
Blind can be chosen to play as a defensive midfielder. Although he has organizational and passing abilities, he is poor in mobility and running coverage.
Therefore, Inter Milan is always faced with a dilemma when it comes to midfield configuration.
However, if De Bruyne is sold, the team will have ample funds to retain this group of players in the team while strengthening the recruitment of players in the organizing midfield position. At the very least, a player who can stand on his own should be introduced to take Inter Milan's midfield to the next level.
Everyone knows that such a player is not cheap at all, starting at at least 30 million euros.
The same thing happened with hamburgers.
Abubakar is certainly outstanding, but he is not irreplaceable.
On the contrary, in the forward position, there are many options for players who can fill Abubakar's position.
However, the team needs to strengthen its midfield.
Krasi and Badelj have indeed performed well this season. Among them, Krasi is still young and has great potential in the future, but Badelj has reached his ceiling and his strength level is just that.
After defeating Bayern Munich, Hamburg took the top spot in the Bundesliga for the first time in many years.
However, Hamburg only stayed in this position for two weeks.
Before the winter break, Hamburg's performance fluctuated and now it has fallen to second place in the Bundesliga.
However, the team is still quite confident about maintaining the top four in the league.
In other words, Hamburg will play in the Champions League next season.
Through the performance over the past period of time, it is difficult to see that the midfield combination of Krassi, Badelj and Weigl is indeed impressive, but mainly in terms of potential, that is, the combat effectiveness is not outstanding.
One point that needs to be taken into consideration in particular is that the better Hamburg performs, the more teams will adopt defensive strategies when facing Hamburg. At this time, positional warfare and strong offense are needed.
However, Hamburg's strengths are on the two wings in the frontcourt, but they are lacking in the central midfield.
In other words, Hamburg is now overly dependent on the two wings. If they want to further strengthen the team's strength, they have to invest in the middle.
Tuchel tried to use Januzaj to play in the center of the midfield, but the effect was mediocre. The Belgian is talented, but in Tuchel's tactics, it is not very suitable for him to play in the center.
Therefore, if Abubakar can be sold and a strong offensive player can be introduced in the central midfield, it will definitely be an upgrade for the Hamburg team as a whole.
Moreover, both Yang Huan and the Saints scout team believe that Hamburg's defense currently needs an experienced veteran to lead the team. Therefore, Yang Huan's intention is to sell Alderweireld and bring in an experienced veteran to lead Jedvaj and Tah.
These two players, and Emre Can, are the future of Hamburg's defense!
Sometimes, running a football team is like this, changing strategies all the time.
When Hamburg's goal was still to be in the top four of the league, Krassi and Badelj met the team's needs.
However, with such impressive performances this season, the team has to adjust its goals. Next season, on the one hand, it has to maintain its top four position in the league, but also play in the Champions League. Fighting on two fronts requires further strengthening of the team and the introduction of higher-level players.
Otherwise, how can the team improve its strength?
There is also a team like Monaco, which played so well in the group stage, entirely relying on its unbreakable defense, but the team's offense was a mess, with only Mitrovic on the front line.
When the Serbian center is fighting on multiple fronts, is tired, or is in poor condition, the team's offense is in trouble.
Head coach Ronald Koeman has completely lost confidence in Benzema. The team will loan Brazilian striker Kennedy from Southampton to save the day after the winter transfer market opens, and has decided to introduce young player Ponce from Argentina and Serbian young player Luka Jovic.
But during the summer transfer window, Monaco will definitely have to bring in a strong striker to further strengthen the team.
Whether it is Monaco, Hamburg, Inter Milan, or even Southampton and Atletico Madrid, the first and most important thing when they want to recruit players is money.
The money-spending style of rich teams like Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur is obviously not the path that Young Master Huan wants to take.
Living within one's means is the most pragmatic approach.
Therefore, if you want to buy, you must first sell, which is in line with the team’s positioning.
The difference lies in whether the players bought can improve the team's competitiveness.
Yang Huan is very confident about this.
Because he has already set his sights on several players in the transfer market.