Chapter 591 Guardiola is particularly protective of his calf!

The seventeen-year-old Harland has not yet evolved to the stage of Majin Buu, and he probably doesn't eat children now.

So when he smiled, he looked a little naive, like a shy big boy, far less scary and abstract than he would later be.

Guardiola has always admired Haaland. Although the opponent is a high forward that he is not good at training and using, he has a high emotional intelligence, is very likable, and has good foot skills and excellent physical fitness. At first glance, he He is a good prospect for a top center.

Manchester City actually has shortcomings at the center position. Aguero is of course easy to use, but Aguero does not have the standing ability of a traditional center. This limits Manchester City's offensive options at certain times, allowing them to There is a lack of more options in positional warfare, especially in critical battles.

Forget it, if Haaland wants to stay, just keep him. Anyway, with Manchester City's strength, in the league and Champions League, they will definitely lead by a big score and the game will enter garbage time.

When the time comes, let him play and let him experience the intensity of the top league without the pressure of the game.

Although Haaland often kills everyone in the youth league, the level of the Premier League is not comparable to that of the youth league.

He had better prepare himself mentally in advance, otherwise, he may be tortured to tears by the opponent's defender when he debuts for the first time!

While Manchester City was buying people, many of the team's main players were robbed by other giants in the transfer market.

Because Lin Quan has renewed his contract with the team, not many people came to make offers this year.

But there are many pursuers of De Bruyne, Kanter and others.

De Bruyne can say that he will be wherever Lin Quan is and will never leave.

But Kanter seems to want to return to Ligue 1.

Paris Saint-Germain originally had no idea about him, but because of the purchase of Mbappe, they have done a lot of cleaning work in the team. At this time, they have freed up some salary space and can try to sign him.

As a French player, Kanter still has a lot of influence in France.

Bringing him back to Ligue 1 can better help the Qatari consortium gain acceptance and support from local fans.

Ever since Arsene Wenger coached Arsenal in the 1990s, the old man has liked to hunt for little monsters in Ligue 1, and has brought a lot of players there one after another.

It seems that they were inspired by Wenger. Some other teams, whether they are wealthy or civilian teams, have set their sights on the high-quality and low-priced Ligue 1.

This has led to a serious brain drain in Ligue 1 in recent years, with very few star players remaining on local teams.

For example, in the current French national team, the main center Benzema is in La Liga, the main midfielders Pogba and Kante are both in the Premier League, Griezmann is in La Liga, and Matuidi is in Serie A...

Among the 11 starting players, except for Payette, all others are playing in other leagues.

This ratio is not only higher than traditional football powers such as Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy, but also much higher than the Dutch team.

You must know that Ligue 1 is one of the five major leagues, and Eredivisie is a little lower than Ligue 1. However, there are no less than five players in the Dutch team who are from local leagues!

This can only mean one thing, Ligue 1 can't keep people at all!

This current situation makes the French very dissatisfied. They have long wanted to improve the enjoyment and competitiveness of their local league in order to revive the glory of Ligue 1.

At that time, Ligue 1 was divided among the other four major leagues because it was poor and had no top clubs to support its appearance.

But now that Ligue 1 has Paris Saint-Germain and a club like Monaco who are not short of money, they can try to keep local star players and prevent them from leaving their hometowns.

Therefore, Paris Saint-Germain's offer for Kante is not only from a competitive and commercial perspective, but also contains certain political considerations.

Kanter's problem is more troublesome. He has won a lot of honors at Manchester City, but he also shows signs of wanting to lie down and not want to improve so much.

This is not the case for Kante alone. In fact, this problem has arisen within the team since Manchester City won the Champions League for the first time.

The guys braved the risk of injury and fought fierce battles one after another in the rain. After finally winning all kinds of honors, they naturally wanted to take a break, strive for better treatment, and rest on their merits. Enjoy happiness.

No one likes to live so tiringly, and everyone wants to be more relaxed.

As the motivation of the players decreases, their performance on the field will naturally decrease as well.

And the more championships you win, the more serious this situation will be.

Not only did the players lose their hunger for the championship, they were also made miserable by this rhythm of continuous high-intensity, multi-line combat.

Why Manchester City's form declined so much last season, apart from the impact of Kroos leaving the team, the main reason is this.

This is very obvious in the new and old players. The performance of the young players who joined the team last season was obviously better than the veterans in the team.

They are more energetic, more fighting spirit, and more willing to work hard on the court in order to gain the upper hand and become famous.

If it weren't for the consistent outstanding performance of these young players and Lin Quan, Manchester City would never have reached the Champions League final last season.

Guardiola does not want to give up Kante easily, because Kante's role in the midfield is irreplaceable.

So he found Kanter himself, had an in-depth and candid conversation with him, and finally persuaded Kanter to stay and not return to Ligue 1.

The matter was resolved smoothly, which seemed to be a happy thing for everyone.

But Lin Quan couldn't see any excitement or joy on Guardiola's face, only deep worry and unconcealable exhaustion.

"What's wrong? Didn't Kanter renew his contract with the team? Why is he still looking so worried?"

Lin Quan poured Guardiola a cup of tea, sat down on the sofa opposite him, and asked.

"Kante will most likely leave the team next summer!"

Guardiola took a deep breath and said.

"Um?"

Lin Quan was a little surprised. Since Kanter had already made up his mind to leave, why did he need to renew his contract with the club?

Doesn't this make your transfer more difficult?

"Kante is not the kind of person who refuses to repay a favor. He chose to renew his contract with the club. On the one hand, it is to stabilize the morale of the army and reassure his teammates so as not to affect the team's preparations for the new season. On the other hand, it is because he wants to leave after leaving. When the time comes, I can leave a fund to compensate the club!”

The longer the player's contract, the stronger the club that owns the player during negotiations and the easier it is to bargain.

"If this is the case, then the position of the midfielder needs to be prepared in advance!"

The defensive midfielder position is very important. Manchester City does not have no backup candidates now. Fernandinho is Manchester City's substitute in the defensive midfielder position.

But there is still a big gap between his strength and Kanter. He cannot completely replace Kanter. In addition, Fernandinho is too old and cannot play for a few years, so Manchester City must start preparing in advance now.

Either promote new players from the bench and youth team, or buy them at a high price from the transfer market.

"What do you think about Kimmich playing as a defensive midfielder?"

Guardiola thought of one person, the newcomer introduced from the Bundesliga - Joshua Kimmich!

Kimmich was loaned out for a year to practice and has made considerable progress.

Although he plays most as a full-back, Guardiola feels that he has the potential to play in the midfield and can try to transform him in this direction.

Moreover, Manchester City's tactics for the new season are very friendly to players like them who can play multiple positions in the midfield and backfield. In addition, Kimmich is very young and has great potential that can be tapped.

Cultivating little demons is not only Wenger's favorite, Guardiola is also very interested.

"Well……"

After hearing Guardiola's words, Lin Quan didn't know how to evaluate it for a while.

Is Kimmich suitable to play as a defensive midfielder?

This issue is still highly controversial even in later generations.

There are many fans who agree and disagree. Those who oppose believe that Kimmich's performance in the midfielder position is too bad. The double failures of Bayern and the German team have proven that he is not suitable for playing as a midfielder.

But those who agree believe that Kimmich performed very well at full-back, midfielder and even central defender during Guardiola's coaching, which shows that he is fully qualified for the midfielder position.

The reason for the current poor performance is related to the head coach's training and the team's tactical changes. It is not that Kimmich is not good at it.

Lin Quan feels that both statements are reasonable. Kimmich is not saying that he cannot play as a defensive midfielder at all, but he cannot be asked to do the same as Xavi Alonso or Bastian Schweinsteiger.

To put it simply, you can't give him too high or too many requirements, otherwise his abilities will not be met.

Guardiola himself is a defensive midfielder and is very good at training midfielders. Kimmich was originally transformed into a midfielder under him, and his performance was indeed acceptable, so Lin Quan could not object.

"You can give it a try, but I think we must look carefully for a serious defensive midfielder!"

"Well, what you said makes sense!"

Guardiola deeply believes that there is a big question mark over whether Kimmich is qualified as a defensive midfielder. He cannot put all his eggs into one basket.

So buying people is essential!

But who to buy?

…

On July 20, Manchester City set off for North America and started its own pre-match training plan.

In this year's International Champions Cup, Manchester City met its old rival Real Madrid and its city rival Manchester United.

Manchester City lost first and then won, losing to Manchester United 0:2 in the first game, beating Real Madrid 4:1 in the second game, and 3:0 Roma in the final game, achieving a record of 2 wins and one loss.

No one takes a game of this nature too seriously. Many teams even use full substitutes, which does not give any face to the tens of thousands of fans watching the game.

Manchester City tried their best to show off that Lin Quan and Mbappe, who were the most vocal before the game, all played and scored goals, so they were worthy of the audience.

In the game against Real Madrid, Kroos finally found a chance to chat with his old teammates.

Although Real Madrid was beaten 4:1 by Manchester City in this game, the entire team did not take it seriously. The players who did not play were even talking and laughing on the bench, showing the calmness of a champion.

The temperament of this Real Madrid team has indeed changed, it's not the same as before.

Sure enough, a championship can sublimate a team's temperament!

On the contrary, Manchester City was a bit harsh. Although they did not have many main players, the players obviously came to play against Real Madrid with a lot of anger, and they were particularly ruthless on the court.

In the second half, Guardiola put Foden and Haaland on the field, and the two teamed up to score a goal.

The scene of Foden riding on Haaland's back to celebrate after scoring was captured and became a classic photo that many fans later talked about.

The relationship between Zidane and Guardiola is actually not bad. Although the two had a quarrel on the court during the Champions League final last season, the game was over and no one held any grudges.

After the game started, the two of them got together. They didn't know what they were talking to each other, but they kept talking anyway.

Guardiola said he was tired, found a storage box and sat down, continuing to make gestures with Zidane while spitting.

Zidane put his hands in his pockets, wore a crisp suit, and listened carefully to Guardiola's explanation, like a teacher lecturing to his students.

This scene was also recorded by the fans and reporters at the scene, and became a topic of conversation among the fans after dinner.

Although Zidane was much more famous than Guardiola when they were players, in the coaching industry, Guardiola is the senior and has much more skill than Zidane.

Although Zidane led the team to win the Champions League, which symbolizes the club's highest honor, last season, he is well aware of the gap between himself and top coaches, so he has been supplementing all kinds of knowledge to enrich himself and make himself and the team better. Stronger!

As for the score on the field, the two of them didn't care.

It was after Foden assisted Haaland for the goal that the two took a look.

"That guy No. 47 looks a bit like Lin Quan!"

Zidane said casually.

Nowadays, when praising a player in football, he changes from playing like Messi to playing like Lin Quan.

Fans are also very realistic. In recent years, Lin Quan has been in the limelight and completely overshadowed Messi. Therefore, later fans almost only know Lin Quan and know less about Messi. Many of them might have become Messi. The fans were all attracted by Lin Quan.

"He looks like Lin Quan? Not really!"

Guardiola shook his head, Foden was far behind Lin Quan.

When Lin Quan was 16 years old, he was already able to lead Werder Bremen to compete with the Bundesliga giant Bayern, and even made Bayern disgraced several times.

Can Foden do it?

You can't do it!

Because of Lin Quan's special relationship with him, Guardiola has a special protective mentality towards Lin Quan.

He never said that someone was like Lin Quan, and he would even get a little angry when he heard others say such things:

With XXX's bearish look, is he worthy?

Zidane was attracted to Foden for just a second. He was not even interested in taking another look at Haaland.

At this time, Harland really has nothing outstanding.

But the power of Demon Pu'u will be heard by everyone in a few years! (End of chapter)