Rebirth 1994: Football Situation

Chapter 573 Europe 2003 The Origin of the Storm

"Jose, I think you can say what you think about the players today."

Nearly a month before the pre-season training camp, Pei Wei found Mourinho: "Although Newcastle performed well last year, it is obviously still a bit short of hitting the championship with the current lineup. How about it? What do you think?" .”

"Newcastle United's current first team is too large. There are 28 players, of which in my opinion no more than [-] can be useful in the new season. Boss, it seems that you have to open your wallet."

Mourinho replied: "In fact, Newcastle's strength has not been bad in recent years, especially in terms of offense. Alan Shearer has always been the most stable striker. Although Bellamy has a weird temper, he is a locker room. The bomb and the restless, but his skills and speed are what Newcastle need, Robert, Solano and Dyer are also very good offensive players, Newcastle's problem is mainly in the defense."

"This is similar to my opinion. In modern football, defense is definitely the most important part. No team can win the championship when the defense is a mess. Not even Brazil... look at Newcastle. A line of defense. Except for Woodgate, the others can only be regarded as second-rate even in the Premier League. The Frenchman Bernard on the left is not bad, and his offensive and defensive abilities are relatively good. The two on the right are simply rubbish. I really don’t know. How could Sir Robson endure such two full-backs." Pei Wei nodded and said.

"It seems that you have a good eye for players." Mourinho laughed, but he will not deny this. After all, when he was in China, Pei Wei was famous for his excellent eye for foreign aid. When judging whether a player is good or not, Pei Wei's evaluation of Mourinho should also be considered very seriously.

"Well, it's not an option to continue discussing like this. You can just make a list, and you only need to write on it the players you need to keep. If you don't need it, you can either throw it into the reserve team or transfer it. Then you tell Where do I need to add players, if there is someone you like, just propose it, and if there is no suitable one for the time being, let me look for it, do you think this will work?"

"OK, this is also a good way. You know my habits. Apart from the goalkeeper, I only need to have about 24 to 26 first-line players. It's enough... No matter how many garbage players there are, it's useless."

"In addition, you have to pay attention to the issue of labor certification. Non-national footballers outside the European Union cannot obtain a labor certification for the Premier League." Pei Wei reminded: "Don't give me any problems at that time... Just like Didier, I I really want him too, but he just joined the Côte d’Ivoire national team this year and hasn’t played a few games, so he definitely won’t be able to come to the Premier League.”

"I know, the damn labor certificate..." Mourinho cursed like other Premier League coaches. For them, the labor certificate is really something that makes them hate it. For example, there is no labor certificate. If so, Ferguson might rush to sign Kaka ahead of AC Milan. It is precisely because of Kaka's outstanding performance in AC Milan that the "special talent clause" was released.

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Mourinho moved very quickly, and after a day, he handed Pei Wei a list.

Goalkeeper Given and backup goalkeeper Haber are retained. Defenders Bernard, Woodgate and Bramble, only three of the six main defenders Mourinho is interested in. This is also related to the relatively low level of Newcastle's defense. , It is estimated that Mourinho is going to work hard on the defense line. Midfielders Speed, Janus, Dyer, Robert, and Solano are all on Mourinho's reserved list, while Hope is reserved on the forward line. Le, Bellamy and Ameobi, this is the first line in Mourinho's list. These are the main players or main substitutes in the future. There are only thirteen people in total.

There are six players in the second row, namely right back Griffin, center back Taylor, midfielder Akuna, midfielder Diana, forward Lualua and third goalkeeper Tony Keig. Rinho's opinion is that there are better players who can be replaced, and no better players can be retained. They belong to players who can be used as substitutes.

As for the number of players in the third row, it is the largest. These are the players that Mourinho despises. They are going to be sold after the start of the season or thrown into the reserve team. Among them, the most famous players are probably Former England international Bowyer and Greek international Dabisas.

In fact, there is absolutely no problem with Bowyer's ability. After all, he was one of the main midfielders at Leeds United and was once a frequent visitor to the England national team. However, his bad record made Mourinho choose to stay away. , especially this Bowyer is a well-known racist who was accused of beating an Asian student, which neither Pei Wei nor Mourinho can tolerate.

For Mourinho's list, Pei Wei passed it very quickly. He thought the same as Mourinho. Troublesome people like Bowyer, no matter how talented they are, can't stay, especially Pei Wei remembers that in the future Bowyer also once fought his teammate Dyer on the court, causing Newcastle to be ridiculed so much that he would not keep this person in the team just for the club's reputation.

According to Mourinho's team building principles, the team only needs to have about 25 regular first-line players, so in addition to the [-] players who can stay, Pei Wei needs to find at least six players in the transfer market To enrich the lineup.

This task seems simple. After all, the bottom line of Pei Wei's investment in the transfer market this season is [-] million. [-] million is enough to form a fairly strong team. But if you want to choose excellent players to fill positions, Then it is not so easy.

According to Mourinho's idea, what Newcastle needs to fill is almost these positions-a defensive midfielder. After all, Veteran Speed ​​is too old to play all the games. Apart from Janus, there is no outstanding defensive ability. Although Janus is young, his position is higher than that of the midfielder, so finding a good midfielder is the most important thing.

Then there is a right back and a central back, and to find a substitute for the left back and the central back. As for the frontcourt, Mourinho did not make any special requirements. What is needed may be just a good substitute.

"Damn it, I would rather you need a striker..." Pei Wei lamented in his heart. It is easy to find offensive players in continental Europe now, but good full-backs and midfielders are rarer than pandas. But there is no way, since Mourinho spoke up, and he had to do it if he couldn't.

"Isn't it just for money! Chelsea was able to produce a super lineup at that time, I don't believe I can't!" Pei Wei thought viciously in his heart.

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Pei Wei's first target is the best team in Europe for a century, La Liga overlord Real Madrid.

And his goal is Real Madrid's French midfielder Makelele.

For Makelele, in fact, at this time, many people have not realized his role, especially in La Liga, fans pay more attention to those offensive players with excellent skills, such as Zidane and Figo.

Makelele has won two league titles and a European Champions Cup during his years at Real Madrid, but neither the fans nor the coaches of Real Madrid correctly recognized his value. Only to find that they could find players to fill the vacancies of Zidane and Figo, but they never found anyone who could fill the vacancy of Makelele!
Pei Wei knows the importance of Makelele. Although he is 29 years old this year, he can still maintain a high level of performance for at least three to four years. With him, Newcastle no longer need to worry about not being strong enough.

So the next day, Newcastle's transfer department, under Pei Wei's suggestion, asked about the possibility of Makelele's transfer.

The reply from Real Madrid was very polite and official: "Sorry, Makelele is in our plan for next season."

Pei Wei sneered. At that time, it seemed that Newcastle and Chelsea were arguing until the moment before the start of the 03-04 season.I don't have the patience to play this soap opera.

Therefore, Pei Wei took a two-pronged approach. First, he contacted Makelele's agent in private, promising to give Makelele an annual salary of 300 million euros and a four-year contract, and then reported the first offer to Real Madrid—— 800 million pounds (about 1000 million euros).

Perhaps this offer is not enough to tempt Real Madrid, but the annual salary promised by Pei Wei has made Makelele tempted. You must know that his annual salary in Real Madrid is only 150 million euros, and now it has doubled all of a sudden. , and the contract period is still four years!

You must know that he is already 29, and it is difficult to get such a big contract. Although he lives comfortably in Real Madrid, he may not be able to have such an income...

Makelele was shaken, but it was still difficult for him to give up a championship club to a team that had only recently entered the European Champions Cup, so he asked Real Madrid through his agent if he could add a part of his salary. It seems that even if he only increases his salary by 100 million euros, he can continue to stay in Real Madrid willingly.

Maybe other European clubs haven't noticed yet, but in places they don't know, a storm that is about to sweep across Europe is about to blow, and Newcastle's invitation to Makelele is just the origin of the storm.

PS: Update on ticket #310...

The brothers are too enthusiastic. I don't know if I can pay off the debts before the end of this month, but please rest assured that even if I can't finish this month, I will make up for it next month. At the speed of three chapters a day, I will continue until the debt is paid off.

(End of this chapter)