Chapter 468: Winter break transfer begins, Barcelona offers Reus 100 million euros

Lin Quan's second goal was the turning point of the game. After he scored this goal, Leicester City's morale was completely shattered.

In the subsequent games, they never launched any decent offensive.

On the contrary, it was Manchester City's side. At the end of the game, Lin Quan assisted Aguero and scored the third goal of the game, completely killing the suspense.

After completing this assist, Lin Quan was replaced.

Because this was an away game, this did not allow him to leave the game early to enjoy the applause of the fans.

It's just that Guardiola saw that the overall situation was decided and carried out normal rotation.

However, what is surprising is that when Lin Quan left the field, in addition to the Manchester City fans who came to the away game to cheer for the team, some fans wearing Leicester City jerseys also stood up and gave him a toast. got applause.

In this game, Lin Quan performed very well, and all three goals were related to him.

Even Leicester City fans were impressed.

In the commentary box, the two commentators were very surprised to see the Fox City fans applauding Lin Quan:

"It seems that there is no need to choose the MVP of this game anymore. The fans of the home team have already helped us find it!"

"Haha, the home fans applauded the visiting team players. This is the most elegant game I have seen recently!"

"There is no grudge between these two teams, otherwise Leicester City fans would never do this!"

This battle for the top spot did not turn out the way everyone expected. The process and result of the game were more one-sided.

This has made many fans realize that no one will be able to shake Manchester City's dominance in the Premier League in a short time.

After this game, the headline on BBC Sports' front page was -

"The birth of a dynasty, a dynasty belonging to Manchester City!"

…

Guardiola was very happy to have defeated his biggest competitor for the championship. After praising the players in the locker room, he announced the news of a three-day holiday.

This decision drew cheers from all the players, who excitedly lifted Guardiola up and threw him into the sky.

These three days of vacation may not be a big deal to players in other leagues who have nearly a month of vacation, but for players in the Premier League, it is a valuable period of vacation.

Many people want to take this opportunity to spend a good New Year with their families to make up for the regrets of the previous Christmas.

Guardiola and Lin Quan also discussed returning to Catalonia to celebrate the New Year with Serra and the others.

The climate in Manchester City is really terrible. It's rainy, wet, and cold. In this kind of weather, even on vacation, I can only stay at home and not go anywhere.

Rather than being stuck at home and getting moldy here, it's better to go back to Catalonia and enjoy the sunshine and beaches there.

Before making this decision, Lin Quan discussed it with Collins.

She didn't like the weather in Manchester either, so she readily agreed and said she would just treat it like a holiday.

"Everywhere in the Premier League is good, but the weather is really terrible!"

As soon as I got off the plane, I felt the warm climate and bright sunshine in Barcelona.

This was in stark contrast to Manchester, and Guardiola couldn't help but start complaining again.

When he went to Germany to coach, Serra and several children were always with him.

But only this year, after several children went on winter vacation, Serra couldn't wait to take them back to Catalonia. It seemed that he didn't want to stay in Manchester for a second longer, as if this place was some kind of hell on earth.

His wife and children are gone. If it weren't for Lin Quan's company, Guardiola would almost become an empty nester. This feeling would not be pleasant.

"To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that boss Mansour treated us and his son with such courtesy and kindness, I really wouldn't want to continue to coach at Manchester City!"

Lin Quan glanced at Guardiola, why did this guy talk so much today?

Or is this what it looks like after all the pressure and defenses are removed?

"Your tactics are not very good in weak teams. You need to coach a wealthy team. There are not many wealthy teams in today's football that can fully support you. To sum up, Manchester City is the best choice."

Lin Quan poured cold water on Guardiola and made him recognize the reality.

Although he complained repeatedly about the weather in Manchester, he really couldn't leave, even if he wanted to.

Although the world is big, there are not many teams that can accommodate Guardiola.

"It really is……"

Guardiola did not refute harshly, because what Lin Quan said was indeed the truth.

The climate in the UK has always been cold and humid.

Of course, because of Manchester's geographical location, the climate here is worse than in places such as London.

If you don't consider the Premier League, then there are only a few teams that Guardiola can go to, and he can only kill two: Barcelona and Paris.

Barcelona is his former club and has always welcomed his return to the team. If Guardiola wants to come back, Barcelona will definitely open the door to him, not to mention the relationship between current Barcelona chairman Laporta and Guardiola. The relationship is good.

When he comes to the team, he should be able to get strong support from Laporta, and his work will be relatively easy.

Apart from Barcelona, ​​the only other option left is Paris Saint-Germain.

Like Manchester City, this is also a team with a Middle Eastern conglomerate background, and the three words "not short of money" are written all over its face.

To meet Guardiola's tactical requirements, the team must have enough financial resources to introduce high-level players and form the lineup he envisioned.

Passing and controlling this system is really difficult to play without money. Paris Saint-Germain meets the requirements in this area.

However, PSG is also famous in football for its unprofessionalism and eagerness for quick success.

In terms of the club's development plan, they are far behind the Abu Dhabi consortium behind Manchester City.

In addition, Paris also has a political mission - to build momentum for the World Cup in Qatar.

Therefore, it may be difficult for Guardiola to get the same support in Paris as he did in Manchester City.

"Barcelona will look at their results this year. If this year's results are no longer good, they will tear down and rebuild."

When thinking of Barcelona, ​​Guardiola's feelings are still very complicated.

As a legendary player and coach of Barcelona, ​​he still hopes that Barcelona can become better, but Barcelona's current situation does not seem to be very good.

"Barcelona has a huge problem right now. Even if you return to Barcelona, ​​you can't save them. At most, you will be led into perdition by them!"

Guardiola nodded. Barcelona's aging lineup is becoming more and more serious year by year, and not everyone can see this.

Many of the meritorious veterans from the Meng III era have now retired or left.

Old captain Puyol, midfielder Xavi and others are no longer in the team.

Iniesta will soon be 32 years old, and his condition has begun to decline.

Even Messi, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see him perform crazy breakthroughs and extraordinary performances on the court.

A big reason for Barcelona's lack of success is the decline of youth training. Since Bojan, few players produced by La Masia's youth training camp have been able to gain a foothold in the first team.

To make matters worse, after Messi, the only piece of talent in La Masia's youth training camp was abandoned by Barcelona themselves.

Although the reputation of La Masia's youth training camp is growing, its player output in recent years has been very poor, and it has long lost its former glory.

And without excellent youth training talents, you have to spend a lot of money to buy people from outside.

Barcelona originally bought Neymar with unique vision, and Neymar's strength and performance also met expectations.

But the problem is, Neymar was abducted by Paris Saint-Germain!

Although a large amount of money was left to Barcelona, ​​the damage caused by Neymar's departure cannot be compensated by this money.

At the beginning of this season, affected by Neymar's departure and Messi's injury, Barcelona struggled in the league and Champions League.

Although after Messi returned from injury, Barcelona ushered in a winning streak and successfully qualified first in the Champions League.

However, after losing Neymar, Barcelona's offensive system is somewhat lame.

Without Neymar to share the pressure on the wing, the burden assigned to Messi is getting heavier and heavier.

Barcelona's opponents have also seen Messi's huge role in Barcelona, ​​so they have taken measures to limit Messi in response to mistakes.

This makes Messi's game much harder and more consuming than last year.

In the second half, the league championship begins, and the Champions League is a tense knockout stage. The intensity and pressure of the competition on both sides are very high.

This makes people have to worry about Messi's physical fitness and injuries. If he misses another period of time due to injury at this time, Barcelona may collapse.

Therefore, during this winter break, Barcelona is waving money all over the world, trying to buy Neymar's replacement.

Dortmund's Reus, Atletico Madrid's Griezmann, Liverpool's Coutinho, Paris Saint-Germain's Angel Di Maria and even Real Madrid's Rodriguez, Barcelona are interested.

It can be seen from Barcelona's selection that they need young players with strong immediate combat ability, not the kind of little monster with high potential.

The players they fancy all have one characteristic - they are expensive!

Whether it is Royce, Coutinho, Di Maria or Ronaldo, to win them, the transfer price will probably not be less than 80 million euros.

The only cheaper one here may be Atletico Madrid's Ge Zi. Ge Zi is currently performing very well at Atletico Madrid. He also won the La Liga championship with his teammates last year, which made his value increase significantly.

However, considering that when Atletico Madrid sold the team's top shooter Diego Costa before, the bid was only 50 million pounds, which was the price after bundling full-back Felipe.

So if Barcelona really wants to buy it, they have a chance to get Griezmann for around 60-70 million.

Of course, Atletico Madrid is ambitious this season, and Simeone may not be willing to sell.

As for the player himself, Griezmann is said to have been a Barcelona fan since he was a child and has longed for Barcelona.

If Barcelona extends an olive branch to him, he will probably accept it.

Guardiola frowned and thought:

If you were the current head coach of Barcelona, ​​how would you complete the rebuilding of the team?

Rebuilding is a difficult thing, especially for a wealthy club.

How to arrange some of the meritorious veterans in the team, how to take over the newcomers, how to build a new lineup and tactical system, and how to ensure the team's performance during the reconstruction period?

These are tough questions!

Moreover, teams in the rebuilding period will not perform very well.

But for top clubs like Barcelona, ​​even in the rebuilding period, fans still have high demands on them.

At least it must have the strength to compete with its arch-rival Real Madrid for the league title and Copa del Rey in the league.

In the Champions League, we also have to qualify from the group!

Because this is the minimum standard to maintain their exposure and commercial value. Once they fail to advance to the Champions League, or fail to qualify in the Champions League group stage, Barcelona will suffer a huge loss in commercial income every year. This will be a huge loss for Barcelona who urgently need more money to buy people. For Barcelona, ​​it can be said to be even worse.

But in this era, when the value of players has been sky-high, how easy is it to buy the players you like?

Neymar's transfer price has been speculated to such an extent by Paris Saint-Germain, which means that the next transfer price in football will exceed 100 million, which will be the new normal.

And a team like Barcelona, ​​which almost has the word "taken advantage of" written on its face, will definitely be beaten by others once it takes action.

Therefore, we still have to work hard on our own youth training.

Guardiola was suddenly a little curious. La Masia's youth training camp has become so famous in recent years, with so many good prospects coming from all over the world.

Is there really nothing left to create?

It's impossible. When he was at Barcelona, ​​he set a record in which all the players on the field came from La Masia's youth training.

At that time, La Masia was far less famous than it is today, and the pool of talent was much smaller than it is now. Logically speaking, the current La Masia youth training camp should not have no talent to follow.

Thinking of this, Guardiola had the idea of ​​​​visiting the La Masia youth training camp.

However, now that he is the coach of Manchester City, if he goes to the La Masia youth training camp, he will feel like poaching Barcelona. Even if Laporta has a good relationship with him, I am afraid he will not agree!

Forget it, if you're not in your position and don't want to do what you want, don't worry about Barcelona.

If you have this time, you might as well think about what players Manchester City wants during the winter break.

…

On January 1, 2016, the first day of the new year, the winter break in football officially kicked off.

As expected by the outside world, after the winter break started, Barcelona, ​​which had no time to buy anyone in the summer window, was eager to take action.

And their first offer was jaw-dropping.

Barcelona offers Dortmund 80 million for Reus.

Royce's strength no longer needs to be proven. Barcelona now needs powerful players like him to share the pressure on Messi.

However, Reus was loyal to the Hornets and was unwilling to leave the team at this time, so Barcelona's offer was rejected instantly by the Hornets:

Want to buy the number one player in our team? There are no doors!

Seeing that the other party's attitude was very determined, Barcelona changed its direction and made an offer to Paris Saint-Germain for 75 million euros for Paris Saint-Germain's Di Maria.

When Paris bought Di Maria from Manchester United in the summer, they only spent 65 million, and they could earn 10 million from the sale. This transaction was not a loss for them.

However, the Qatar consortium lacks this money?

Of course there is no shortage, so Barcelona’s offer was rejected again!