Chapter 968 There is no other way
Yang Huan didn't know that Manchester United was determined to poach his players, and he wasn't interested in knowing.
After announcing Messi's joining, he dealt with some aftermath in Southampton and then returned to China for vacation.
Once a person has worked for a long time, even a machine has to stop and change the oil. Isn't it better to clean the oil line?
It was not until a tearful phone call from Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes that Master Huan was pulled back into the vortex of European football.
There is no way. As a secular person, how can I ignore worldly affairs?
Jorge Mendes's crying is not completely unreasonable. He worked hard to seduce Barcelona, and finally persuaded Barcelona to pay 35 million euros and decided to buy Monaco's Argentine midfielder Biglia.
But it turned out that Monaco's CEO Michael Bolingbroke had already reached an agreement with Manchester United to sell Biglia to Old Trafford for 45 million euros.
Doesn't this make all the efforts Jorge Mendes made so far go to waste?
Yang Huan had no choice but to appease him with kind words and promise to find Mendes for the next big deal.
The Portuguese simply wanted to ask for a favor from Master Huan, so they decided to stop while they were ahead and agreed readily.
Yang Huan sighed, shook his head and smiled secretly in his heart.
Michael Bolingbroke is making money for himself. He earned 15 million euros for no reason. Isn't he happy? It's hard to find such a good subordinate.
After hanging up the phone with Mendes, Yang Huan felt that his vacation was almost over, so he set off for the United States.
One of the important reasons why Southampton arranged to train in China this summer was the Premier League Carnival held on WeChat Video, which included Southampton’s championship trophy exhibition.
As a European champion with three consecutive Premier League titles and two consecutive Champions League titles, and with the background of Chinese investors, the Saints have quickly become the most popular European giant among domestic fans in recent years.
With the help of Miracle Media, Southampton's first warm-up match after the summer training camp was arranged in Longhai, China. The opponent was Tottenham Hotspur, which had just introduced Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.
This game caused a huge response in the country, and the whole country was paying attention to it.
Messi versus Cristiano Ronaldo, such a gimmick is definitely attractive.
However, it is regrettable that Cristiano Ronaldo played the entire game in this warm-up match, but Messi only played half the game and was then replaced by Sanchez.
But even so, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice and Messi also scored a goal.
The game ended with Southampton defeating Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 and winning their first victory in the warm-up match.
This peak showdown between the Premier League giants and the world's top superstars quickly ignited the entire summer warm-up match.
After this game, Southampton headed to the United States, where the two major divisions of the International Champions Cup also began in full swing.
The Saints once again proved their strong appeal in North America.
Southampton's first International Champions Cup match in North America was scheduled to be held at CenturyLink Field in Seattle on the west coast.
This is the home stadium of the Seattle Seahawks, with a capacity of 67,000 people, but more than 70,000 fans flocked to this game.
As a result, with the witness of the fans on the scene, the Saints narrowly defeated Manchester City 3-1.
Although Manchester City's two new players Aboubakar and De Bruyne both played, and Messi, who Southampton spent 150 million euros to introduce, did not even make the roster, the Saints still proved their strength with a dominant performance.
Judging from the two games against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, the media is relatively satisfied with Ancelotti's coaching.
The Italian coach basically inherited Bielsa's tactical system and did not make any major changes overall.
Even the lineup basically follows Bielsa's main players from last season.
The goalkeeper is Neuer, the defense line is Luke Shaw, Laporte, Varane and Chambers, the midfielder is Toni Kroos, Pogba and Fabregas are in the front position, and the trident is Hazard, Suarez and Sanchez.
Superstar Messi only played half of Longhai's Premier League match, and was not even included in the squad for the International Champions Cup against Manchester City.
It’s not that Messi is injured, but that the team doctors gave these suggestions after conducting a detailed examination of Messi’s body.
Southampton has given extended vacations to several players who participated in the America's Cup this summer, such as Danilo, Oscar and Di Maria, so that they can have a good rest.
Although Messi was stimulated by the America's Cup and was unwilling to continue his vacation, the team doctors were reluctant to let him participate in high-intensity training and competitions too early. Instead, they specially developed a targeted recovery training plan for him.
This is the only solution.
You know, Messi has been overused in the past few years, especially in the last two years, and his body is already quite tired. It can even be said that if he doesn't adjust and recover well, Messi will continue to suffer injuries.
Therefore, for protection reasons, Southampton will not arrange Messi to participate in the game too early.
After defeating Manchester City in the first game, the Saints continued to move south along the west coast and soon defeated Juventus 3-0 and Bayern Munich 2-1, winning three consecutive victories in the International Champions Cup group stage.
Later in the semi-final knockout match, the Saints defeated Atletico Madrid 2-0 and successfully entered the final.
This time, the final was scheduled to be held in New York, with Southampton and Real Madrid facing off.
Ancelotti met his old club again, but he showed no mercy. He took advantage of the fact that Benítez's team was not yet fully formed and defeated Real Madrid 4-0 cleanly, winning the International Champions Cup North America championship.
Suarez was named the top scorer in the North American division with six goals in five games.
But surprisingly, it was Saints midfielder Paul Pogba who was voted the best player.
After Di Maria's return was delayed due to the America's Cup, Pogba played as the team's midfielder. As a result, the French midfield star surprisingly performed well, scoring four goals and making five assists in five games.
Especially in the final, Pogba scored one goal and assisted twice, and was selected as the best player of the final.
This also made everyone sigh at the Saints' strong bench strength, and also made people curious about Southampton's lineup for the new season. With Pogba's outstanding performance, he definitely deserves a starting position.
However, Di Maria's performance last season was equally impressive. Who should be the next in line?
Some people also believe that Fabregas, who performed mediocrely in the International Champions Cup, should be replaced by Pogba to partner with Di Maria.
The front trident combination is also very exciting.
Perhaps stimulated by Messi's joining, Sanchez performed quite vigorously in the International Champions Cup, showing a determination and courage to defend his main position to the death even against Messi.
Since Messi will definitely occupy one of the positions, it becomes a big suspense who Ancelotti will choose.
Atletico Madrid also finished third in the North American division.
Simeone's team has only made one signing this season, which is Brazilian player Willian from Tottenham Hotspur.
But for the Colchoneros, this is more like strengthening the bench strength.
However, judging from their performance in the International Champions Cup, the four midfielders of Isco, Krychowiak, Illarramendi and Koke performed very steadily, and their overall strength has been steadily improved compared to last season.
The North American division is extremely popular, and the Asian division is equally exciting.
In particular, Inter Milan, which introduced the strong midfielder Pjanic, won five consecutive victories in one go, defeating top teams such as Barcelona and Manchester United and won the Asian championship.
Klopp's lineup was not surprising. The defense line basically continued the configuration of last season, and the main changes were in the midfield and frontcourt.
Pjanic played the role of midfield organizer. He partnered with Khedira and Nainggolan successively, and the results were very good.
In the attacking midfielder position, Dybala undoubtedly suppressed Jovetic and took the lead.
On the front line, Aubameyang is the main force, with Felipe Anderson on the left and Cuadrado on the right.
Inter Milan's forward combination is very powerful in attack. In the five games of the International Champions Cup, they scored 15 goals, which is quite fierce. The defense is also very solid, and they only conceded three goals.
This also makes people full of expectations for Klopp's team's performance in the new season.
On the contrary, Monaco, which performed brilliantly last season, was eliminated in the group stage this season.
After sending away players such as Biglia, Turan and Capoue, Koeman's team ushered in a round of metabolism.
The addition of Schneiderlin, Sanson and Wanyama has made the competition in midfield very fierce.
Coman tried several different combinations, but the results were not very satisfactory.
Judging from the performance in the International Champions Cup, Koeman still has a long way to go if Monaco wants to continue its outstanding performance last season.
However, on the front line, although the newly joined Hernandez is a newcomer, he has shown an aggressive spirit from the very beginning, and is ready to compete with Mitrovic for the number one striker. His performance in the International Champions Cup even surpassed that of Warcraft II.
As the International Champions Cup has no plans to expand in the near future and there is a shortage of places for the competition, teams such as Hamburg and Ajax were unable to participate in the International Champions Cup, but they all participated in the North American Challenge and Asian Invitational organized by Miracle Media.
Worth mentioning is the burger.
With Tuchel's strong recommendation, Hamburg signed German midfielder Geis from Mainz this summer, and spent 30 million euros to introduce Gotze from Bayern Munich. These two players and Weigl formed Hamburg's midfield lineup for the new season.
On the defensive line, Ginter replaced Dickmayer as right back, Dante and Emre Can formed a central defender combination, Kolasinac was the left back, and with goalkeeper Oblak, Hamburg's lineup can be said to be strong.
Judging from the performance in the warm-up match, Tuchel's team is also worth looking forward to.
At least, with Hamburg's current situation, the possibility of competing for the league championship is still relatively small, but retaining the Champions League qualification should not be a big problem.
This is also in line with Yang Huan's positioning of the Hamburg team.
At least in the next two or three years, Hamburg will focus more on accumulation.
It may not be a good thing for Hamburg to give up the championship with Bayern Munich too early.
Of course, Hamburg will not set winning the championship as their goal, but if there is a chance, they will definitely try it.
After all, the Bundesliga's northern king hasn't seen a championship trophy for decades. It would definitely be a good thing if he could win one and excite the fans.
As soon as the International Champions Cup came to an end, time entered August.
Southampton returned to the UK from the United States to begin preparations for the Community Shield match against Arsenal.
Yang Huan also encountered a major event.
That is the Premier League Chairman’s Summit held every March.
This time, it was obviously different from usual.