Chapter 542: Chapter 541: The Biggest Blunder in Transfer History
Wenger: "This isn’t fair, this deal shouldn’t go through, Deng Kai can’t join Manchester United, how are we supposed to play if he does this?"
"Salary caps or financial fair play, whatever, the Premier League and UEFA should start restricting Manchester United. Otherwise, I suggest we might as well hand over next season’s Premier League Championship Trophy to Manchester United right now!"
Bild: "The Galacticos welcome their real challengers for next season, facing a Manchester United composed of Triple Crown winners, Real Madrid are not favoured!"
Kicker: "Manchester United top the Champions League title odds! Real Madrid’s formidable line-up only comes in second!"
Milan Sport Newspaper: "The city of Milan made every effort, but none were successful in bringing Deng Kai to Serie A!"
France Football: "Manchester United have started a new era of football!"
Record Report: "Manchester United finally have the official announcement, thrilled to welcome one of the greatest players in club history Deng Kai! Will your arrival turn Manchester’s sky a deep shade of blue?"
"This rhetoric, seems a bit off, doesn’t it? Even if Ronaldo and Zidane came to Manchester United, they couldn’t possibly become the club’s greatest stars on day one. After all, this is Manchester United we’re talking about!"
"Wait, this... what the hell, is it Manchester City?"
Yes.
Indeed, it’s front-page headline news.
You can imagine how shocked the editor-in-chief of the Record Report must have been at that moment.
Within five minutes.
After repeated confirmation.
All the major media were bewildered.
Deng Kai indeed brought his talent to Manchester, but... not entirely for Manchester United fans.
Because Deng Kai joined... Manchester City!
Dongqiudi: "Manchester City official announcement! Welcome Deng Kai to the team, you will become the greatest player in the history of Manchester City!"
Bild: "To correct, Deng Kai has joined Manchester City, not Manchester United."
Kicker: "A false alarm! With Deng Kai joining Manchester City, European football still has a game to play!"
The Times: "Wenger says Manchester City have saved the Premier League! In return, the Premier League should allow Manchester City to avoid relegation next season!"
France Football: "Manchester, let the change of color begin! Red or blue, more to be revealed next time!"
Torino Sport Newspaper: "Ferguson, feeling unwell, is hospitalized for treatment."
The Sun Newspaper: "Ronaldo practices shooting all night long, with the Sporting Lisbon number ten jersey hung in front of the goal!"
Echo Report: "Sold out! Sold out! Manchester City announces that Deng Kai will wear the number ten jersey next season! Jerseys sold out overnight by fans!"
At this moment, Manchester United became the saddest people in the world.
Not coming is one thing.
But you insisted on coming, to the rival door.
You say this...
In the end, Ferguson, confined to his sickbed, gave an interview: "I don’t know what Deng Kai was thinking, I think he made a wrong decision."
Ferguson’s opinion was that of most people.
Because Manchester City was just a newly promoted team.
And visibly, their foundation was weak.
When they were promoted to the Premier League two years ago, their squad had already been raided by the other Premier League giants.
This summer, their players were all too eager to leave early and head their own way.
At the moment, the team is practically full of washed-up players.
Do you know Sun Jihai?
He’s considered a key player for Manchester City now!
Many media outlets have stated that Manchester City’s current level would only be mid-table even in League One.
Deng Kai’s move is, as always, akin to a career suicide.
The then Barcelona president Gaspart commented on Deng Kai’s action: "He’s a bad player because his choices are too poor. Midfielders need the most wisdom, and from Deng Kai’s experience, he doesn’t have it."
"I won’t deny that he performed well for a certain period, but he can’t last long, he lacks vision, and his takeoff is only because he happened to stand at the right place at the right time."
"His contentment with a simple life is too much in line with the characteristics of Easterners."
"He’s afraid of competition, he doesn’t dare to go to Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or Barcelona, the top teams in the world. He’s afraid of being exposed."
Many media outlets quoted these remarks.
They generally believed that Manchester City’s current owner, Mansour, didn’t understand football.
They thought the team’s director of football was a fool.
Wait... the team doesn’t have a director of football?
So who is in charge of the transfers?
...
"Kai, this is the current progress of the team’s transfer work," Mansour handed the document to Deng Kai.
Because of Deng Kai’s busy schedule recently, Manchester City’s recruitment work had hardly progressed.
But the players that needed to be sold had almost all been sold off.
Of course, hardly progressed doesn’t mean there was no progress at all.
For instance, a major deal was about to be concluded.
This deal had been rated as an S-tier by Mansour’s team.
S, the best kind of deal.
"Hold off on this deal," Deng Kai shook his head, rejecting the S-tier deal.
"Ah?" Mansour was a bit stunned.
"Indeed, the deal is not bad, although Anelka’s performance at Liverpool wasn’t good, his ability is beyond doubt," Deng Kai said, "Twenty million euros, the price is fair."
"Liverpool is not trying to rip us off, we can maintain a good market relationship with them."
"But... twenty million euros, for Manchester City right now, is too much."
"If we buy Anelka, we won’t have much money left, right?"
Mansour nodded, "Yes, Kai. I know, it’s my problem; I’ll have a hard time raising more money this summer. But you shouldn’t worry too much about this issue, we shouldn’t buy some mediocre players just because we’re afraid we’re short on money."
"If we want to stay in the Premier League, we need to buy genuinely talented players."
"As for the money, I’ll solve it, I can try to borrow some..."
Mansour was afraid that Deng Kai’s excessive thriftiness might lead to the team’s relegation.
That would be a loss too great to accept.
"There’s no need to go out and borrow," Deng Kai stopped Mansour, "You came out to make something of yourself, now borrowing money would mean not finishing what you started."
"Promoting the team to the Premier League has proved your good judgment. But it doesn’t fully prove your abilities and your ideas... I won’t let my partner suffer losses."
"Mansour, rest assured and leave everything to me."
Beep Beep Beep!
Deng Kai’s phone rang.
Mansour gestured for him to take the call.
"Hey, Young Master Kai, you’re at Manchester City now?" Feng Te sounded anxious on the other end of the phone, "Can you get in touch with Manchester City’s director of football? I want to transfer over."
"What?" Mansour was a bit happy.
Of course, he knew who Feng Te was.
A backup central defender for a mega club in the Portuguese league.
Does that sound a bit weak?
But a backup central defender for a team that won eight trophies in two years?
Such a Feng Te might be far from playing for Manchester United, but joining Manchester City... he might even have a chance to be in the starting lineup!
