Chapter 549: Chapter 548: I, Ronaldo, Join!
"Adriano Bids Tearful Farewell to Milan City: ’I Will Play Well at Manchester City and Strive to Become the Next Ronaldo!’"
With Sá’s joining!
Manchester City as if aided by the gods.
Finally, at the end of the transfer period, they sealed a deal that was quite difficult to secure.
"Manchester City’s Record Signing Emerges! Michael Essien Joins Manchester City for a Transfer Fee of 7 Million Euros!"
"Essien’s Transfer Action Sparks Controversy! Ligue 1 Relegation Strugglers Bastia Reveal Pressured Pricing by Manchester City!"
"Immoral! Bastia Asked for 11 Million Euros! Following Maxa’s Persuasion of Essien, Club had to Reduce Asking Price to 7 Million Euros!"
"Maxa: ’I Only Said on ’Understanding Football Emperor’ that I Think Essien Could Be Manchester City’s Vieira, What’s Wrong with That?’"
"Essien: ’No One Can Refuse Maxa, He’s the Coach Who Understands Players the Most!’"
For a moment, the completion of two "big deals" felt like a breath of fresh spring to Deng Kai fans.
With this lineup, if managed well, wouldn’t it be possible to win championships within three years?
At the very least, multiply by three in your hearts!
Feng Te: "0 X 3 = 0?"
Deng Kai: "Anyone who thinks we’ll have zero championships in three years is a hater, and as haters, you can calculate however you like!"
Of course, the outside world had another view of the destitute Manchester City.
"Honestly, I have never seen such a destitute Premier League team!"
"It’s disgraceful! Either free transfers or low-cost signings."
"Can you believe Manchester City’s record signing is actually Essien, the defensive midfielder from a Ligue 1 relegation side? A measly 7 million can become the club’s record signing!"
"No, in terms of transfer fee, Adriano is the record signing. 5 million for half, that’s basically 10 million!"
"Look at Manchester United, 46 million and 35 million!"
"Let me tell you a funny fact. Apart from Essien and Adriano, Manchester City doesn’t have any player whose transfer fee reached 5 million!"
"Including the players they sold at the beginning of the window, their total investment this transfer window hasn’t even reached 20 million euros!"
"For League One, that must be a big investment. But sorry, this is the Premier League! You can’t get truly outstanding players for less than 30 million!"
"Mansour’s penny-pinching might ruin him; come the end of this season, Manchester City should be heading back to play League One!"
"No, it’s the Championship. Next season, the second tier of English football will be the Championship."
"I know, what I mean is, Manchester City will eventually have to play in League One!"
And with that, Manchester City’s transfer window was all wrapped up...
Wait a second!
No one cares about Manchester City’s small deals anymore.
Because Real Madrid has captured everyone’s attention.
On one hand, Real Madrid signed Ronaldo, becoming one of the two most lavish clubs this summer.
The other is Manchester United.
On the other hand, there was an internal conflict at Real Madrid!
After losing the Champions League final last season, Hierro voiced objections to Real Madrid’s transfer strategy.
His proposal was correct.
But the timing was wrong.
This became ammunition in the hands of high-ranking officials opposed to Florentino.
In order to maintain his rule, Florentino naturally needed to cut the chaos swiftly.
Florentino: "I have never said that defense isn’t important; our defense indeed has problems because Hierro is getting old. He made too many mistakes last season, and that’s the real reason we didn’t win the league or the Champions League!"
"But we certainly don’t need to bring in the likes of Nesta, Ferdinand, Maldini... because we have Pavon!"
"Zidane + Pavon! That’s the correct path for Real Madrid!"
"Our attack has superstars, our defense has homegrown talent! The best mature players and young players in the world are all at Real Madrid, this is the best Real Madrid!"
Florentino executed a boundary-pushing strategy, satisfying both the factions who adored superstars and those who championed local talents.
The slogan "Zidane+Pavon" started from this moment and officially became another iconic label on the Galacticos’ battleship!
While this policy was in full swing, Hierro, with no turning back, became the sacrificial pawn in the struggle.
Bosque helplessly told Hierro that there would be no place for him at Real Madrid in the coming season.
Hierro tried to resist.
But soon, news like "Hierro demands high salary for renewal, Real Madrid encounters a bloodsucker" began to spread.
Florentino made his move.
For a club to let one of its own players be discredited was not too difficult.
And the media power the two sides wielded was clearly not on the same level.
Real Madrid simply needed to imply that any media outlets that spoke well of Hierro wouldn’t get interviews with Ronaldo, Zidane, Figo, Raul... Those media would then no longer dare to speak up for Hierro.
Because Hierro was just "one of their many stories," while Real Madrid was everything.
The media interviewed Zidane, asking his opinion of the "Zidane+Pavon" policy.
What could Zidane say?
"It’s interesting, sounds very good. I’m willing to be part of this policy and will give my all for Real Madrid... Pavon is a nice young man, I never doubt that he will become a world-class central defender, he has unlimited potential!"
Zidane’s reply was a model answer.
It gave Florentino plenty of face.
But those who knew Zidane could tell that he didn’t actually appraise Pavon’s current abilities.
Not commenting meant no good comment to make.
"Unlimited potential" meant he wasn’t up to par at the moment.
"Sounds very good" meant it wasn’t practical in reality.
As Hierro’s fate drew near, Zidane, to save himself, could only comply with Florentino’s directive.
In fact, not just Zidane, everyone at Real Madrid had to comply with Florentino.
Otherwise, you would be the next C, damn it... the next Hierro.
Labelled by some clueless fans as "blinded by money," Hierro kept thinking of ways to turn the situation around.
But he saw no hope of winning.
Because Real Madrid had played their trump card!
"Real Madrid is willing to release Hierro from his contract, which has a year left, allowing him to pursue the high salary he greedily asks for! But I fear no club would offer Hierro the price he wants, unless it’s a team from the Turkish Super League."
See that? Real Madrid was even forcing Hierro out.
Because they didn’t even bother to try to sell Hierro who only had a year left on his contract.
And such actions made even more fans slowly believe that the situation escalated to this point because of Hierro’s insistence on demanding a high salary from the club.
Thus, Hierro began to consider retirement.
Although he was thirty-four that year, with his condition, he could easily play for around three more years.
If the defensive system of the team was suitable, those three years could be at a high level.
And even without a suitable defensive system, at the least, Hierro going to the Turkish Super League to make a fortune would be no issue.
But the impact of this incident was great, and he was very disappointed in the fans.
Beep beep beep!
Hierro’s phone rang.
He looked at it and saw that it was his national team mate Guardiola.
Although they played for rival teams, Hierro and Guardiola had a pretty good personal relationship.
