i want to be king

Chapter 847 Chelsea's Big Gamble
In the fourth round of the FA Cup, Manchester City challenged Notts County away.

This was a duel between two teams whose strengths were not at the same level, but as the oldest football club in the world, Notts County showed a very tenacious side at their home court.

Although Manchester City controlled the ball and the rhythm of the game, they were never able to break through Notts County's goal. Instead, in 9 minutes, Notts County used a corner kick to score.

But this goal also completely awakened Manchester City.

Dzeko then headed home before Adam Johnson seized his chance to turn the score around for City.

In the end, Manchester City reversed Notts County [-]-[-] away and advanced to the fifth round.

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Back in Manchester, Manchester City went to Birmingham non-stop.

In the fifth round of Premier League No.20, Manchester City challenged Birmingham away.

In just 4 minutes of the opening, David Silva sent a through kick at the front of the penalty area, and Su Dong turned offside to form a single shot, opening the scoring for Manchester City.

But in the No.203 minute, Birmingham took advantage of a free kick in the frontcourt. Former Arsenal player Bentley sent a cross, and high center Zigic scored with a header to equalize the score for Birmingham.

Joe Hart once again made a mistake during goalkeeping.

But in the No. 309 minute, after receiving a pass from his teammate, Su Dong drove straight in with the ball. After passing three opponents, when he was about to enter the shooting range, he was fouled by the opponent and won a free kick in the frontcourt.

This time Su Dong personally took the penalty, the precise falling leaf ball, after bypassing the wall, hit the dead corner of the goal, [-] to [-]!

This score was also maintained until the end of the game.

Manchester City narrowly beat Birmingham [-]-[-] away.

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After the Birmingham game, the Manchester City team returned to Carrington, Manchester, and it was already past ten o'clock in the evening.

Surprisingly, both Soriano and Begiristan greeted the team at the training base.

To say that the game against Birmingham is not an important game, it shouldn't be such a big battle, right?

Soriano and Begiristan first spoke a few words to the players, nothing more than to affirm their performance in the away game, and at the same time encourage them to continue to bite the bullet in the next league, to survive the difficult period of winter break and multi-line battles.

After the lessons of last season, Manchester City's management is basically aware that after Christmas and the winter break, the multi-line battle in February, March and April is also the most difficult period in the Premier League.

After talking to the players, Soriano and Begiristan invited Guardiola, Estiat, Torrente and other coaching staff, Su Dong, Kompany and Zabaleta three players to the meeting room.

Watching Su Dong and others leave, Pepe and other players immediately looked at each other in blank dismay.

Something big happened!
Everyone checked, sure enough!

While they were fighting in Birmingham, Chelsea managed to sign Torres from Liverpool in the final stages of the transfer market.

The transfer fee is as high as 5000 million pounds.

……

"No one expected that in the final stage of the transfer market, such a sudden revelation would come out."

"After Chelsea paid £5000m for Torres, Liverpool turned around and brought in Andy Carroll from Newcastle for £500m and Luis Suarez from Ajax for £650m."

"What do you think?"

In the conference room, Begiristain introduced the latest information that the team had just obtained. Many of the contents will not be published in the media until tomorrow morning, and may even not appear in the newspaper until the day after tomorrow. However, Manchester City's management is still quite nervous about this.

It's not so easy to be the league leader.

Manchester United is chasing after them and may come back at any time. Arsenal is tepid, but Chelsea, which fell out of the top four in the league, has begun to recruit. The joining of Torres will undoubtedly greatly enhance Chelsea's competitiveness, especially its offensive firepower.

"How about the technical team's assessment?" Guardiola asked with concern.

Begiristain shook his head, "We don't have the specific situation of Torres so far, so we can't make a judgment. If he can get back to Liverpool's peak state in the early stage, it will undoubtedly be quite amazing. Chelsea's deal will be very cost-effective, but if it can't be done, we will be less optimistic."

"This is a big gamble!" Assistant coach Manel Estiat analyzed, "Chelsea must strive to secure the top four, and they must also sign up. After David Luiz, the central defender's signing target, was preempted by us, the introduction of a strong scorer is very in line with Chelsea's requirements."

Everyone also nodded, this analysis is reasonable.

Many people know that the huge broadcast fee share of the Premier League has caused many teams to pay attention to the domestic league and ignore the European competition. Even in thankless competitions like the Europa League, few teams are willing to play.

The reason is simple, it's really exhausting and maybe even a losing business.

But there is one thing that no Premier League team will ignore, and that is the qualification for the Champions League.

Participating in the Champions League is not just a league ranking, nor is it just a prize for participating in the Champions League, but has the right to distribute the huge sum of money in the Champions League's prize pool in England.

In other words, only teams participating in the UEFA Champions League are eligible to receive this part of the UEFA Champions League bonus pool.

It's also quite tempting.

The budget-conscious Wenger and his Arsenal have set the best example, that is, the way to maximize the interests of the Premier League team is to break into the top four in the league and the Champions League to reach the knockout round of [-].

In other words, the top four in the Premier League and the top sixteen in the Champions League have all gained a lot.

So in recent years, Arsenal's strategy has been developed around these two points. As for whether they can achieve better results, it depends on fate.

In the past, the competition for the top four in the Premier League was not so fierce. Even if Arsenal sold their captain every year, they could reach the top four, but now it is no longer possible. With the strong rise of teams such as Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, the competition for the top four in the league has become unprecedentedly fierce. Liverpool's current ranking and Chelsea's fall out of the top four are the best proof.

Because of this, Chelsea and Liverpool must return to the top four anyway.

Chelsea desperately poached Torres. After Liverpool cashed out Torres at a high price, they turned around and introduced Andy Carroll and Suarez. This is undoubtedly an attempt to further enhance the team's strength.

"Liverpool must have been prepared, otherwise it would not be so efficient. After selling Torres, Andy Carroll and Suarez were immediately settled, and the most likely thing is..."

When Su Dong said this, he paused on purpose and looked at the people present.

Those who can sit in this conference room are basically human beings. Zabaleta and Kompany are also the team's vice-captains and play a certain management role. At this time, they can also immediately think of what Su Dong said.

"That's right, we also suspect that Liverpool is half-push, half-leave, or even take the initiative to sell Torres, so they negotiated with Andy Carroll and Suarez early on, and the reason why Liverpool decided to sell Torres, we guess, is probably because Liverpool feel that Torres can no longer return to the top."

That makes sense.

"Tottenham Hotspur is still lacking in strength and is not particularly stable. If Chelsea regroups, there is still a good chance of getting back to the top four, while Liverpool is at most in the European theater, and it is basically impossible to enter the top four." Guardiola has a clear judgment.

After seeing this clearly, the next situation in the Premier League is basically a competition between Manchester City and Manchester United.

What Manchester City needs to do is still try their best to ensure their competitiveness, especially after the winter break.

Not long ago, the management of Manchester City gave the team bonuses, including a bonus for winning the Europa League. The weight is not lost to the Premier League. It is not difficult to see that Manchester City management is eager for championship honor.

In fact, playing in the UEFA Europa League really doesn't make much money. If the high bonuses are given, the club may even lose money and make money, but there is no way.

To give the simplest example, Manchester City's opponent in the Europa League knockout round is Aris from Greece.

The team is located in Kalamaria, a southeastern suburb of Thessaloniki, a city in northern Greece.

This is a small city.

Let alone Kalamaria, even Thessaloniki and Manchester have no direct flights.

How to go then?

The straight-line distance from Manchester to Thessaloniki is more than 2000 kilometers. If you charter a flight, the flight will take more than three hours, which does not include the time outside the flight. Therefore, the team must arrive in Thessaloniki one day in advance and choose a hotel to stay in.

This is very troublesome.

The club not only needs to charter a round-trip flight, but also needs hotel board and lodging, which will be a big expense for the club.

Of course, the team can also choose not to charter a flight, but from Manchester to Thessaloniki, or from London, there is only one flight a day. If you fly from Manchester to London first, and then transfer, it is estimated to take [-] hours.

If you are connecting through Istanbul, it will take 24 hours.

This is why many teams are unwilling to play in the Europa League, because they cannot make money and lose money.

In fact, this is not a problem unique to the Europa League. As far as Su Dong knows, China has a vast territory, and the domestic league also has this problem.

Manchester City is not short of money and is willing to invest in the Europa League, so the club gave a lot of bonuses, hoping that the players can work harder in the Europa League and strive to make a difference.

As for Aris, according to the Greek media, this team has not been captured in its home court for 40 years, and it can almost be said to be the strongest home court in Europe.

When Su Dong heard this report from Begiristan, his first reaction was to fuck.

It's as if domestic fans ridiculed that the national football team is a strong team in the World Cup. It has only lost three games in the World Cup finals for decades. Is it exactly the same?
The reason why Greece was called the five European pig countries and the reason why they were so poor and bankrupt is probably related to their non-collection of cowhide tax.

Look at the bragging skills of their domestic media. If they really want to collect a cowhide tax, Greece will go bankrupt?
(End of this chapter)