In the face of the upcoming 03-04 season, the main players of the Manchester City Football Club were all training very hard.
This year was the first season after Manchester City's return to the Premier League. The whole team was full of energy, hoping to fight another turnaround in the Premier League.
The manager, Kevin Keegan, was also going all out to lead all the players in training and actively preparing for the new season's technical and tactical arrangements. Since this year, Kevin Keegan had been present for every training session of the first team. He would even be present to supervise the simple indoor physical training.
However, what puzzled the players was that this afternoon, the manager, Kevin Keegan, suddenly disappeared. He, who had never been absent from training in the past, did not appear on the sidelines of the training ground. He just told the assistant manager to take everyone through daily training.
The players usually liked some gossip, so everyone quietly speculated about Kevin Keegan's whereabouts while training, and the results of the speculation became more and more outrageous.
Just as everyone speculated whether Kevin Keegan had gone to the city to pick up girls, Kevin Keegan suddenly appeared on the sidelines and said to all the players who were training, "Everyone stop training and follow me to the main building of the base. You are not allowed to bring any communication equipment, especially mobile phones with camera functions."
Kevin Keegan's sudden appearance confused everyone, and what he said was even more confusing.
Stop training, go to the main building of the base, and not bring any communication equipment. What was he going to do?
Everyone was puzzled and immediately stopped training. Dressed in sweaty training clothes, they followed Kevin Keegan to the large conference room in the main building of the base.
For the players, they were very familiar with the large conference room in the main building. Every time Kevin Keegan wanted to talk about the whole team's tactics or analyze the strengths and weaknesses of other teams, everyone would gather here. However, in the past, when they came to the meeting here, they would not come in their training clothes, so it felt a little strange.
As soon as the door opened and the players came in, they were surprised to find that the club's CEO was also here, and there were a few unfamiliar faces.
Just as everyone was wondering about the origins of these unfamiliar faces, a player suddenly exclaimed, "Li Mu … My God, it's really Li Mu!"
The Manchester United players all recognized Li Mu at the sound of this exclamation.
Just as they were in shock, Li Mu stood up and said with a smile, "Hello everyone, I'm Li Mu, the new owner of Manchester City Football Club."
When he said that, all the players were even more stunned.
Li Mu had become the new owner of Manchester City Football Club? The world's most famous businessman bought a second-tier football club that had just returned to the English Premier League? Isn't this too inconceivable? It was as if the richest man in the country had suddenly bought a small brick kiln at the entrance of his village. He had no idea why.
While everyone was puzzled, Li Mu explained to them that he had bought the Manchester City Football Club entirely because he liked football and hoped to personally make a club the strongest in the world.
If someone else had said this, the crowd would not have believed it at all. But when it came out of Li Mu's mouth, none of the players doubted it.
Subsequently, Li Mu gave a general outline of his investment plan for the Manchester City Football Club. In short, Manchester City would have money and resources in the future. Even future advertising sponsorships would be covered by Makino Technology. This meant that not only would Li Mu personally continue to invest in the club, but he would also let his company, through cooperation, provide more cash flow for the club.
Moreover, Li Mu also promised everyone that he would not make any active changes to the club's staff before the end of the season. That was to say, the coaching staff would not be changed, the medical team would not be changed, and the management staff would not be changed. In this way, he promised them that the environment they were familiar with would not change dramatically and cause them trouble.
But Li Mu did not promise that the team's lineup and the players' departure would not change. This was also a message that he wanted to release to the players. He could give them all kinds of support, and he could also do everything according to their habits, but the premise was that they had to be capable enough. Otherwise, he would not be lenient.
Manager Kevin Keegan then introduced the team's players to Li Mu one by one. When it came to Sun Jihai, before Kevin Keegan could speak, Li Mu looked at the familiar and heroic face in front of him, took the initiative to step forward, reached out to him, and said in Chinese, "Mr. Sun, I've heard of you for a long time."
Sun Jihai did not expect Li Mu to know him. He was flattered and said, "Li Zong is too polite. I'm not famous. I'm just an ordinary player."
Li Mu laughed and said, "There are not many domestic players who can play in the five major leagues. You are one of them, and the first player to reach the Premier League. You are the example and pride of domestic players. Isn't that famous?"
Sun Jihai laughed a few times and said, "In fact, there are a lot of players who are better than me in the country. It's just that I'm a little luckier. When I joined Manchester City, the team was still in the First Division. Everyone played very well last season, so I muddled my way to the Premier League …"
Li Mu laughed and said, "Mr. Sun, you don't have to be so modest. In my eyes, you are one of the top football players in Hua Xia."
Sun Jihai said humbly, "Thank you, Li Zong, for your affirmation of me. I will continue to work hard in the future and strive to live up to the club's trust in me."
Li Mu nodded slightly and said with a smile, "Brother Sun, you are older than me. I will call you Old Sun."
Sun Jihai hurriedly said, "Anything is fine. You can call me whatever you want."
Li Mu then asked him, "By the way, Old Sun, do you know anything about Dong Fangzhuo? I heard that he seems to be talking about a contract with Manchester United? "
When talking with Jorge Mendes just now, Li Mu did not mention Dong Fangzhuo to him because he knew that Sun Jihai and Dong Fangzhuo were from the same town. They were from the same city. Sun Jihai must know more about Dong Fangzhuo than Jorge Mendes.
When Sun Jihai heard Li Mu ask about Dong Fangzhuo, he immediately nodded and said, "Little Dong is from my hometown. I know his situation better. Manchester United is really interested in him and is currently negotiating with his agent. His agent is domestic. At present, the negotiation is almost done. Now the price has not been negotiated. Shide still hopes to ask for a higher transfer fee."
Li Mu nodded gently and said with a smile, "Since it has not been negotiated, it will be easy. Old Sun, can I ask you for a favor?"
Sun Jihai hurriedly said, "Please say it, Li Zong."
Li Mu said, "Help me contact Dong Fangzhuo's agent later and tell him that I am very interested in Dong Fangzhuo and hope he can join the Manchester City team. At the same time, ask him to help me ask what Shide's offer is. Ask them to give me an offer as soon as possible. If it is suitable, complete the contract as soon as possible. I want to get him to Manchester City before the transfer window closes."
As he said that, Li Mu added, "By the way, help me tell them that I will try my best to train Dong Fangzhuo and provide him with enough opportunities to learn and improve. I can also solve his work permit problem so that he can play directly in Manchester City."
Sun Jihai asked in surprise, "Li Zong, can the work permit problem really be solved? The work permit system in Britain is more troublesome. If it is a domestic player, he usually has to be loaned to other leagues first. "
Li Mu said with a smile, "The work permit is not a problem. As long as he accepts my offer, the work permit problem can be solved at any time."
Sun Jihai nodded repeatedly and said, "Then I will call Xiao Dong later. I believe he will be very excited if he knows the news."
…
By the time Ronaldo returned to Manchester United, the training was almost over.
Usually, the team would train a little later, but because there was a game tomorrow, the manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, halved today's training so that everyone could conserve their energy for tomorrow's game.
Seeing Ronaldo come back, Ferguson patted him on the shoulder and said with a somewhat kind expression, "Cristiano, you must have a good rest today. I am going to let you play tomorrow to feel the pace of the Premier League game."
Ronaldo dodged Ferguson's eyes. He felt a little guilty and guilty at this time. After all, Ferguson was still very good to him, but he chose to breach the contract to join the Manchester City team. If Ferguson knew all this, he would probably be very disappointed.
However, Ronaldo also understood that although Ferguson was good, Li Mu was too strong. Everyone wanted to be able to enjoy the shade behind such a superstar, and Ronaldo also wanted to join Li Mu's team.
Ferguson did not see anything wrong with Ronaldo. He had just let Ronaldo play for the last ten minutes of the confrontation when the Nokia mobile phone in his pocket rang.
It was the CEO of Manchester United who called.
The first words out of the other party's mouth were, "Sir Alex, please come to my office. There is an emergency."
Ferguson hurried back to the main building in the review car and went to the CEO's office. When he pushed the door open, he found that Jorge Mendes was already sitting there.
Ferguson looked at the two men in surprise and asked inexplicably, "Mr. Gill, why are you looking for me?"
David Gill had just become the CEO of Manchester United not long ago, thanks to the Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich poaching the previous CEO to Chelsea. He, who had just taken over the team, had always wanted to make some big moves. He hoped that this year's team could win the championship this season. This was not a pipe dream, because Ferguson had always told him that the newly signed Cristiano Ronaldo was extraordinary. If he was given a chance to grow, he would quickly become the future hope of Manchester United.
However, it was such a player that Ferguson was very optimistic about that was suddenly going to be snatched away by someone else!
David Gill pointed to Jorge Mendes and said angrily, "Mendes just told me that someone is willing to trigger the liquidated damages mechanism in Cristiano Ronaldo's contract to poach him from Manchester United!"
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