Chapter 632: Chapter 631: Manchester City lacks ambition, new signings are just two mini Davids?
"Ferguson blamed us, but if he truly wanted to stop it, he could have brought Lehmann to Old Trafford with just eight million euros,"
"We all know Deng Kai is a good lad, he respects his elders, and he’s willing to help out with these things. But Ferguson didn’t speak up because he couldn’t bear to, while Arsenal could, and that’s why the deal was successful!"
After this transfer, "Arsenal is willing to spend" became a catchphrase.
It was a term used by fans to mock Manchester United for wanting to maintain their dominance without wanting to spend money.
But no one knew that, years later, it would become one of the phrases most mocking of Arsenal.
Besides Chelsea’s signings and Beckham’s departure, Liverpool’s transfer was the biggest of this Premier League season.
Last season, Liverpool finished three points behind Chelsea, in fifth place, once again missing out on Champions League qualification.
They didn’t have many problems on any front, but they were still lacking a bit of depth in their forward line.
Their most reliable golden boy, Owen, missed quite a few games last season due to injury.
And Heskey’s scoring ability was truly lacking, which was his only shortcoming.
So naturally, Liverpool turned their attention to Robbie Fowler, who had shone brightly at Manchester United last season.
After all, he was a former Liverpool genius striker!
Twenty league goals and seven assists.
Three FA Cup goals and one assist.
Eight League Cup goals and three assists.
Thirty-one goals in a single season, with eleven assists, contributing to forty-two goals, an efficiency that was frightening!
Almost the sum total of Heskey’s stats for two and a half seasons.
A healthy Robbie Fowler was just that terrifying!
If last season’s Deng Kai was in a league of his own in the Premier League,
Henry was in a league of his own just below Deng Kai,
then players like Robbie Fowler, Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy, Beattie, Viduka, and Shearer were in the same tier just below Henry,
ranked in no particular order!
And Fowler was only twenty-eight, at the prime of his age, at his strongest.
The key point is that he fit in with Liverpool seamlessly.
Liverpool wanted him so badly it hurt.
But the key was whether Manchester City was willing to let Liverpool have him?
A few days later, the results were in.
"Understanding Football" grabbed the headline first: "Twenty-five million euros! Robbie Fowler joins Liverpool as the second-highest transfer fee in Premier League history! Second only to Crespo’s twenty-six million!"
"Considering Chelsea’s premium on signings, Fowler might actually be the Premier League’s top transfer of the season!"
However, Sky Sports once again criticized Manchester City: "Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any ambition from Manchester City!"
"They actually sold Robbie Fowler, their second-highest goalscorer! Who are they going to rely on for goals next season? Adriano?"
"Yes, they recently fully regained the ownership of Adriano’s rights. If this whole series of actions was premeditated, then I can only say that the person who devised this plan is a fool."
"We expected to see more moves from Manchester City in the transfer market, otherwise, we find it hard to believe that Manchester City has the strength to challenge Manchester United next season!"
"Even according to the current situation, they keep making enemies. They might move up from mid-lower to mid-upper tier next season, but don’t mention the top four, they’ll struggle to even make the top six!"
"After all, it goes without saying that as long as Man City wants to climb higher, all the Premier League teams in the top eight are their competitors. They’ve clearly overlooked this!"
For a while, the media criticized Man City for lacking ambition.
They accused Mansour of coming to the Premier League not to develop a football career, but to make money off the English.
In response, Mansour immediately announced that, besides owning the Etihad Stadium, Man City would start building the "Etihad Training Centre" the following season.
Manchester City officially launched their youth academy construction project.
The project was planned in three phases, and once completed, would cover eighty acres and include sixteen full-size football pitches and a youth stadium with a capacity of 7,000 people.
It would also feature office buildings, an academy building, players’ apartments, a media center, medical facilities, a dining hall, gymnasium, ice room, arcade, swimming pool, and other facilities.
An estimated £200 million was expected to be invested!
You tell me, doesn’t Man City have ambition?
During an interview with "All Knowing Football Fan," Mansour stated, "I understand the media thinks Man City should make such and such signings, but that’s just the media’s opinion."
"We hope to make more substantive contributions to the residents of Manchester, to England, and to the fans of Man City."
"£200 million could be spent to create a very luxurious lineup, but could that guarantee us winning a title? I believe Real Madrid has already answered that question for everyone."
"Similarly, the £200 million we’re using to build Man City’s youth academy will be the foundation for City’s championship aspirations for the next ten, twenty, thirty years."
"It can bring Man City countless talents and one championship after another."
"And local residents will benefit from this too. The project will provide over two thousand jobs, directly or indirectly, to Manchester, allowing more people to afford to send their kids to football clubs."
"Allowing more young players to receive better care, better education, and better medical treatment..."
"To quote Deng Kai, given the choice to spend money, I’d rather invest in an enterprise that lasts, rather than just making a fleeting noise!"
The interview was met with a lot of approval from the people of Manchester.
Given the choice between the tangible benefits of real money and stars coming to the team, the former is obviously preferred.
Europeans love football, but they’re not fools. They’re not staging protests and activities for the whole world, are they?
They’re just jumping up and down for their own rights, that’s all. Nothing grand about it.
Those proposals that talk about the whole world and casually claim to be for all of humanity are never purely motivated.
As a result, Man City’s string of "small-scale" dealings didn’t ignite the fans’ wrath but instead garnered understanding.
This gave the new signings like Fabregas and Mascherano much better treatment compared to Ribery and others from the same time last year.
"€2 million to snatch him from Zaragoza! Man City takes action to buy David Villa, the lone hero from Sporting Gijon!"
"Chinese Man City fans welcome Villa because his nickname is ’Huluwa,’ and Huluwa are characters from Chinese mythology."
"Twenty goals in a single season in Segunda División! Villa can certainly score more than Adriano!"
"The Mini Assassin, David Villa! Can he fill the void left by Robbie Fowler?"
David Villa had just set foot in Manchester.
Another David from Spain followed suit.
"€700,000! Man City plucks David Silva from Valencia’s youth team!"
