Chapter 628: Chapter 627: Wenger, if little Fabregas can’t handle it, let Uncle Ke take on all of this.
"Manchester City signs Javier Mascherano from River Plate’s youth team for two million euros; this player is likely to be Essien’s backup!"
"Who is Mascherano? Three years ago, Ajax had hoped to sign the player, but international transfers of players under the age of eighteen are strictly forbidden by FIFA, and the deal fell through!"
"Defensive spearhead! Energetic runner! Without his dense head of hair, he would look just like Makélélé!"
"Manchester City continues to strengthen its midfield mainly with youth players, a strategy that might not satisfy Deng Kai or the fans!"
People paid attention to these two transfers mainly because the team they joined was Manchester City.
As for who Fabregas is or how Mascherano fares, the public didn’t care much.
That is, until the end of this Toulon Cup!
On June 21, the Toulon Cup concluded all of its matches.
Portugal’s U-21 team defeated Italy’s U-21 team 5-1 to claim the championship.
In this tournament, they ended all their matches with victories, conceding only one goal in total.
It wasn’t so much that their defense was extraordinary but rather that their offense was so strong it left no room for the opposition to attack.
Deng Kai and Ronaldo didn’t drop the ball or become stepping stones for other players.
It was mainly because they didn’t allow it.
Ronaldo won the Golden Boot at the event and was awarded the Toulon Cup Silver Ball.
Deng Kai was honored with the Toulon Cup Golden Ball for best player, top assist provider, and the Bronze Boot.
The two joined forces again after signing with the Manchester clubs and achieved impressive results.
What’s more interesting is that several players stood out in this edition of the Toulon Cup.
Apart from Deng Kai and Ronaldo, the best performances came just from Fabregas and Mascherano.
The former won the event’s Silver Boot.
Some even started calling Fabregas the "youth version of Deng Kai" because of his goal-scoring ability from the midfield, reminiscent of Deng Kai’s dominance throughout the season.
Mascherano, meanwhile, won the event’s Bronze Ball.
Just judging from this Toulon Cup, Manchester City’s signings were already a success.
As mentioned before, outstanding players from the Toulon Cup are actually at a level where they could join national teams.
This is indeed a high standard.
So theoretically, Fabregas joining Barcelona’s first team and Mascherano joining River Plate’s first team should pose no problem.
Therefore, their market values would definitely be more than just three million euros and two million euros.
More than double, in fact.
Manchester City’s transfer strategy clearly bought at the right time.
It was like getting ahead of the "property market surge."
It could be called metaphysics.
...
However, since we’ve started talking about transfers, we can’t overlook Chelsea this summer.
On June 17, Abramovich became the owner of Chelsea for the staggering price of 550 million pounds!
The world of football officially entered the era of money-driven football!
This year was still one of economic downturn.
The top transfers did not exceed forty million euros.
But... this year was also the one that laid the groundwork for the global structure of football in the future.
Chelsea’s total investment this summer surpassed the combined total of the other nineteen Premier League clubs!
The next club to spend lavishly like this would be Paris Saint-Germain.
But all that happened fourteen years later, in the summer.
Chelsea took Argentine striker Crespo from Inter Milan for twenty-six million euros.
For twenty-three million euros they took defensive midfielder Makélélé from the proud Galacticos of Real Madrid.
For twenty-four and a half million euros, they snagged Da Fu from Blackburn.
Twenty-one million eight hundred thousand euros took the lost "White Witch" Veron from Manchester United.
Nineteen million took the "Poisonous Snake" Mutu from the Milk Legion, Parma.
Fourteen million five hundred thousand from Charlton took Parker.
One million and fifty thousand euros from Southampton took Bridge.
Ten million euros from Real Madrid took Gremi.
Nine million nine hundred thousand euros from West Ham United took Joe Cole.
Chelsea went on a rampage!
But that summer, Chelsea’s reputation wasn’t good.
Fans fiercely criticized them as nouveaux riches, accusing them of insulting football with money.
Yet they completely failed to see that it was the football world, especially in England, that was extorting Abramovich.
Any Premier League player Chelsea wanted, the eventual transfer fee would almost always double.
Chelsea had no choice but to swallow these hard truths.
No one was more eager than Abramovich to get a Championship Trophy to severely punish these greedy Englishmen.
To punish these so-called European nobles.
With Chelsea’s recruitment, their own players were also being cleared out en masse.
Some players did not wish to stay at Chelsea, like Zola.
Others weren’t in Chelsea’s plans, and staying at Chelsea wouldn’t be very pleasant. This group mainly consisted of veterans like Desailly.
As Chelsea’s captain, Desailly was about to turn thirty-five, and a decline in form was inevitable.
Earlier this year, in April, Desailly played his 104th game for the French national team, surpassing his former national team colleague Didier Deschamps.
In June, he even helped the French team defend their Confederations Cup title.
But for Chelsea, Abramovich and his team had a "big splash" planned for next season.
But when it truly came to title contention, it would probably be the season after next.
After all, Chelsea was undergoing a major overhaul this year, with players and tactics needing at least a season to gel.
And what about Desailly, whose form was still good this year?
Let him continue to play this year, but after others had settled into their roles next year, would they then need to bring in a newcomer to replace Desailly’s position?
It all seemed so unnecessary.
Desailly’s agent and family advised him to go for gold in the Qatar league.
But Desailly felt somewhat unwilling.
He knew that his form would still be very good for at least next season.
Going for gold, would truly be a pity.
Moreover, somewhat embarrassingly, in the national team, Desailly had won the World Cup, the European Championship, and two Confederations Cups.
But on the club level, he had only won the European Super Cup, the Italian Super Cup, the FA Cup, the Community Shield... He had never tasted the flavor of a heavyweight club Championship Trophy.
Especially the league title, which is different for any player.
Cup titles, where luck reigns supreme.
League titles, that’s where you truly dominate others for a whole season!
...
That evening, Desailly’s family came once again to persuade him to transfer to Al-Gharafa Sports Club in Qatar.
And they told Desailly, Hierro had gone for gold!
Desailly checked the news.
"Former Real Madrid legend and Manchester City defensive star Hierro moves to Rayyan Sports Club in Qatar for a transfer fee of three million euros!"
After playing for Manchester City for free for a year, he showed up Real Madrid.
But he definitely couldn’t keep playing for Manchester City without pay.
And Manchester City certainly couldn’t afford the salary Rayyan was offering.
Ultimately, Manchester City and Hierro reached an agreement, allowing Hierro to smoothly transfer and enter the final stage of his professional career.
