Chapter 552 Kroos transfers and leaves, shocking the football world

"Kompany is getting older and needs to buy a substitute!"

On the beach in Majorca, Guardiola, who was on vacation, said to Lin Quan.

"If Kompany continues to suffer from frequent injuries in the new season, I plan to pair Stones with Van Dijk."

Lin Quan nodded slightly after hearing this and was not in a hurry to express his opinion.

Kompany's attendance rate has not been high in recent seasons, especially last season.

Several injuries at the beginning and middle of the season caused Kompany's attendance rate to drop significantly. Throughout the season, Kompany only played 22 games, including 14 league games and 8 cup games. Among them, 7 were... Played as a substitute.

Last season, Manchester City played a total of 74 games in the league and cup games, and Kompany's attendance rate could not even reach 30%.

According to Manchester City's internal statistics, since Kompany joined Manchester City in 2008, he has missed more than 80 games due to injury.

Among all the main players, his absence time and number of games tops the list.

The center back is different from other positions. This position tests the tacit understanding between teammates, especially the cooperation with another center back.

Kompany's constant injuries have a great impact on Manchester City's defense.

This is why Guardiola had the urge to buy Otamendi during the winter break last season.

In the end, the deal failed to be reached due to Otamendi's height and Valencia's too high offer, but Manchester City's demand for a central defender did not change.

Although Stones is not a well-known player, he is very strong. Under Lin Quan's suggestion, Guardiola has been inspecting him for a long time.

After observing for a period of time, Guardiola is very satisfied with Stones.

Although the price is a bit expensive, considering that he has a local household registration in England, the price is still within the acceptable range.

Furthermore, Stones' skills are very comprehensive and he is not too old. He has a lot of room for growth in the future and can be slowly trained and transformed by Guardiola.

Last season, Manchester City's three-back system only lasted less than half a season. The main reason was that there was a shortage of people at the center back position, and they had to give up in the end.

But after buying Stones, they can pick up this style of play again.

Guardiola intends to take advantage of Stones' versatility and transform him into a versatile player in the backcourt who can play both as a defender and as a midfielder, thereby releasing the two players in the midfielder position so that they can boldly Participate in the attack and further increase Manchester City's frontcourt attack power.

Due to Manchester City's brilliant record in the past few seasons, they have become the public enemy in the Premier League.

No matter what team they are, they are particularly excited when they encounter Manchester City. Everyone is proud to stop Manchester City.

This has led to Manchester City often encountering the opponent's iron barrel array in the league, which puts Manchester City's offensive pressure under great pressure.

After all, once they are tied by these weak teams, they are likely to be widened by other giants in the standings.

Therefore, Guardiola has been thinking about how to break the opponent's dense defense during this period.

The best way he thought of was to increase the number of attackers in the frontcourt, further increase the opponent's defensive pressure, and wait until the opponent makes a mistake while busy to seize the opportunity to complete a fatal blow.

Therefore, buying Stones is not just as simple as buying a defender. It represents a huge change in Manchester City's style of play in the new season.

"Cross might be leaving!"

After talking about Stones, Guardiola sighed and said to Lin Quan.

Lin Quan was stunned for a moment and asked subconsciously: "Is he going to Real Madrid?"

Guardiola was a little surprised. Did Cross talk to Lin Quan about this before?

Otherwise, why was his guess so accurate?

"Well, Cross's agent talked to me and they are more inclined to Real Madrid, unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless the club can give him a significant salary increase!"

Lin Quan frowned when he heard Guardiola's words.

Kroos originally broke up with Bayern mainly because of salary reasons.

At that time, his salary at Bayern was very low, less than half of team boss Franck Ribery.

Even after signing a new contract and receiving a salary increase, it is only two-fifths of Ribery's.

Cross felt that this salary could not match his status and contribution to the team, so he had the idea of ​​​​leaving.

Among the teams that were in contact with Kroos at that time was Real Madrid, and the two sides were almost at an agreement. If Manchester City hadn't stepped in and used a sky-high transfer fee of 50 million to cut him off, Kroos would have been a Real Madrid player. .

Lin Quan didn't ask Guardiola how much annual salary Kroos wanted, but he estimated that it should be quite a lot. Otherwise, given the importance Guardiola attaches to Kroos, there is no reason to let him go.

A player's salary is not only related to the player himself, but also directly affects the entire team's salary system.

Although Manchester City is not short of money, they dare not touch things like the salary system that are related to the stability of the team easily.

Cross's salary in the Manchester City team is actually not low, with an annual salary of 12 million euros, second only to Lin Quan and Aguero.

Compared with him, De Bruyne, who has an annual salary of only 5.5 million, and Kanter, who has an annual salary of only 3.5 million, need a salary increase more.

Manchester City is actually under great financial pressure right now. On the one hand, Lin Quan's contract renewal has not yet been negotiated. On the other hand, many players in the team are facing contract renewal issues.

Kanter, who performed well last season, must have his contract re-signed. Otherwise, with his current annual salary, it would be easy for other teams to lure him away with high salaries.

Kanter's role in the Manchester City team is irreplaceable. If he loses him, the defensive intensity of Manchester City's midfield will drop a notch.

Chelsea, the Blues, have long been coveting Kante, and Abramovich has even said that he is willing to buy Kante for 60 million euros.

To be honest, for a midfielder and a defensive midfielder, the price of 60 million is simply ridiculously expensive.

But who likes Abu?

Rich, willful, and helpless.

As for De Bruyne, his offensive talent is beyond doubt.

De Bruyne provided a total of 32 assists in all competitions last season, breaking the single-season assist record in Manchester City's history.

His extremely creative and penetrating passing is Manchester City's only magic weapon to tear apart the opponent's defense and attack the opponent's goal.

Once he leaves the team, it will greatly affect Manchester City's offensive firepower.

There are many teams that are interested in De Bruyne, including Bayern in the Bundesliga, Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga, and even Liverpool are joining in the fun.

Among them, the one with the most sincerity is Real Madrid, who plan to take away Manchester City's midfield duo.

But De Bruyne does not have the so-called dream of being a son, and prefers to stay in the Premier League and play alongside his friends.

Therefore, the risk of him being poached is not great, but this does not mean that Manchester City can rest easy.

It is one thing for the opponent to be loyal to the team, and the club cannot fail to express it.

Therefore, this season, the Manchester City club plans to provide the two with a large contract, a substantial salary increase, an extension of the contract period, and a liquidated damages clause to prevent them from being poached by other teams with high salaries.

In fact, there are far more players in the Manchester City team who are being targeted. As Manchester City kills everyone in the Champions League, they win consecutive championships.

Many players in their team became famous and their values ​​soared, and then unsurprisingly, they were targeted by many wealthy clubs.

For example, Van Dijk, the anchor of the defense, was spotted by Liverpool coach Klopp.

There are rumors that Klopp has said that he is willing to spend 70 million to introduce Van Dijk.

Note that the currency unit for this is pounds, not euros!

If this deal can really be concluded, Van Dijk will break the record for the highest transfer fee for a defender in world football and become the most expensive defender in history.

Moreover, this price will also set a new record in the history of Liverpool and become Liverpool's highest bid.

Others may sneer when they hear this news, but few will believe it. After all, it is incredible to spend such a high price on a defender.

But Lin Quan knew very well that if Manchester City was willing to sell, Klopp would really dare to buy it.

After all, in another dimension, when Liverpool took Van Dijk away from Southampton, they spent a full 75 million pounds!

What's more, Van Dijk plays for Manchester City and has already won two Champions League trophies with the team!

Although Manchester City seems to have unlimited scenery on the surface, it actually has an undercurrent.

…

While Guardiola was chatting with Lin Quan, Kroos made the final decision after discussing it in detail with his agent in a manor in Germany.

He has won all the honors he wanted in Manchester City, and it is time for him to change to a new environment and start a new challenge.

Although his Manchester City teammates made him very reluctant to leave, the bad weather and even worse food made him suffer.

In the two and a half years he has been playing for Manchester City, Kroos has lost count of how many games he has played in cold, wet and rainy weather.

The weather in Manchester is as fickle as a woman's mood. It will be sunny and rainy, and the rain will fall at any time without any warning.

Fighting in the rain is a very painful thing for the players, especially in winter.

However, there is no winter break in the Premier League, which is even more painful.

As a player who has won four Champions League trophies, Chris has no regrets in terms of club honors.

In this case, you need to think carefully about how to make yourself more comfortable.

Moreover, Real Madrid itself is not weak, and its reputation and historical background are also greater. If he goes to Real Madrid, he can not only continue to gain honors, but also gain greater fame and more benefits.

That being the case, what's there to hesitate about?

After the player himself has made his decision, the only remaining obstacle is Manchester City.

Considering that the player himself has made outstanding contributions to the team, Guardiola finally chose to fulfill the opponent after repeatedly trying to retain him to no avail.

As a result, Real Madrid began to make an offer to Manchester City.

After Real Madrid got the players, they didn't want to spend too much money. After all, in their view, Kroos was already in their pocket.

As a result, Real Madrid's first offer was only 30 million euros.

This offer was too outrageous. Even if Manchester City took care of meritorious players, it was impossible to do a loss-making business, so they directly rejected Real Madrid's offer.

After being rejected, Real Madrid didn't care too much. Of course, the other side wouldn't accept the price of 30 million. After all, when Manchester City bought Kroos, they spent a full 50 million.

As long as Real Madrid's offer is lower than this number, it will most likely be rejected.

Based on the idea that it would be a fool not to take advantage of it, Real Madrid's second offer was based on the bottom line of 50 million, with a slight increase, raising the offer to 52 million euros.

Not surprisingly, this offer was also rejected!

Real Madrid is not a small, humble club. You are a Galactico, the top club with the strongest historical foundation in Europe!

Is the price of 52 million a joke?

Manchester City didn't want to tangle with the other party, so they just said, don't talk about it if it's less than 70 million.

Asking for a price all over the sky and paying back the money on the ground. Since the other party has made a price, Real Madrid will naturally have to bargain.

After many negotiations, the two parties finally reached an agreement that Cross would transfer to Real Madrid for 65 million.

In fact, this price is somewhat dissatisfying to Manchester City. When Kroos' contract only had the last year and a half left, they spent 50 million to buy him. Now Kroos' contract has two and a half years left. According to market conditions, , the transfer fee cannot be lower than 70 million no matter what!

Besides, Real Madrid has a lot of money. It cost 85 million to buy Ronaldo. Cros is so much better than Ronaldo, but he is actually cheaper than Ronaldo. How can this be justified?

But there is no way, who told the other party to get the players in advance?

Moreover, Manchester City is not Tottenham. They cannot do the same thing as Tottenham, which would turn against them without paying them. Even if the players go on strike from training and games, they still want to force Bell to stay.

Neither Manchester City nor Guardiola wanted to get things done, so even if they suffered a small loss, they let Cross go for the sake of his face.

After successfully winning Kroos, Real Madrid was overjoyed.

On July 19, Real Madrid held a press conference to publicly announce another transfer reached by the club.

When Cross appeared at the press conference, it directly detonated the whole audience, making all the reporters present shout surprise.

The deal between Real Madrid and Manchester City was carried out very quickly, and there was no news at all in advance. So when the deal was concluded, many people felt that it was unreal and suspected that it was a dream.

Unsurprisingly, after the news came out, this transfer quickly shocked the entire football world.

It's not that the transfer fee shocked everyone, Kroos definitely deserves the price of 65 million.

What shocked everyone was that Manchester City would actually sell their core midfielder.

Does this mean that Manchester City, the player supermarket, is about to open?

Thinking of this, the major giants couldn't sit still and immediately made bids for their favorite players in Manchester City, for fear that they would be snatched away by others one second too late!