Before the team's afternoon training began, Li Ang had a meeting with the Inter Milan Team captain, Zanetti, at noon.
Zanetti was the captain of Inter Milan. Zanetti was the most successful Argentine player in the history of the Inter Milan Football Club. He joined Inter Milan in 1995 and quickly became the main force of the team. He took over the captain's armband after Bergomi retired. During his ten-year career with Inter Milan, Zanetti had experienced all kinds of difficulties with the team, but he had always persevered! With Zanetti's position and influence in Inter Milan, Li Ang wanted to establish absolute control over Inter Milan. Obtaining the captain's support was a necessary condition.
In addition, later on, there were many Argentine players who were the captains of Inter Milan. Gradually, there was the so-called "Argentine Gang." Because the Argentine players liked to eat barbecue, they were also known as the "Barbecue Gang." Usually, when a team's gang was too strong, it would definitely cause an imbalance in the locker room. This could be seen from the chaos in Inter Milan for a period of time after the end of the Mourinho era.
Of course, in the current Inter Milan locker room, the "Argentine Gang" had not really been established. However, there was Zanetti, Cambiasso, Chiri González, and now there was Samuels. Li Ang had to guard against the Argentinians being too strong.
The only good thing was that in the original track of history, the Argentine Gang of Inter Milan was slowly established after Inter Milan won the Treble. In the current Inter Milan Team, Cambiasso had only joined for a season. Samuels had been brought in by Li Ang. As for Chiri González, he was still on Li Ang's purge list. Inter Milan's current "Argentine Gang" was not mature yet. Li Ang wanted to nip this bud in the bud.
Another point was that Zanetti was a mild-tempered captain. He was someone who could be communicated with and "recruited."
This was also why Li Ang had purged so many people but did not touch Zanetti, the captain. On one hand, touching Zanetti would cause internal strife. On the other hand, Zanetti's strength was recognized by Li Ang. He was loyal to Inter Milan and mild-tempered. He was someone who could be won over.
Li Ang wanted to have a stable and controllable locker room environment. Therefore, this meeting with Zanetti was necessary to win over Inter Milan Zanetti's support.
Of course, talking alone could not prevent Inter Milan's Argentine players from being too powerful. Li Ang brought Ronaldo to Real Madrid. Now, Ronaldo was grateful to Li Ang because he was willing to "sacrifice his skills" to treat his illness. In front of Ronaldo, Adriano and the goalkeeper, César, were juniors. Therefore, the Brazilian Gang was leaning towards Li Ang.
In addition, Mata, Carlos, and Modric were Li Ang's confidants from Sporting de Gijón. Bonucci was promoted to the First Team by Li Ang. Li Ang personally poached Marchisio from Juventus. They were naturally close to Li Ang.
Therefore, as long as he could get Zanetti, the captain, he could get the other Inter Milan players in the team, including the other Argentine players.
*****
Li Ang decided to start the conversation with the purge of Chiri González.
He asked Zanetti, "Harvey, I've decided to inform Chiri González to transfer."
The Argentine winger, Chiri González, played for Zaragoza and Valencia in La Liga. He joined Inter Milan with Manager Cooper in 2003. In addition, it was worth mentioning that Chiri González was Zanetti's teammate in the Argentina national team. The two had a good relationship.
The smile on Zanetti's face froze. He originally thought that the manager wanted to talk to him about the future of the team and that it would be a harmonious conversation. He did not expect it to start with such a topic.
Zanetti looked at the young China manager with a complicated look. Li Ang had already carried out a big purge in Inter Milan. Martins was transferred to Newcastle for 21 million euros, Emre was transferred to Newcastle for 7 million euros, Carlini was transferred to Getafe for 2 million euros, Karagounis was transferred to Benfica for 1 million euros, Giotos was transferred to Olympiacos for 1 million euros, Zemaria was transferred to Sampdoria for 1.5 million euros, van der Meyde was transferred to Everton for 10 million euros, Gamara was transferred to Palmeiras for 500,000 euros, Recoba, Davies, and Vieri were traded to Real Madrid as trade chips, and Fontana was transferred to Chievo on a free transfer.
Li Ang had already purged 12 players. In addition to Koke, who was still on the transfer market and had not found a new club for the time being, there were 13 players. Inter Milan had completely changed. After returning from the holiday, many familiar teammates were gone. Zanetti was not without sadness in his heart. He thought that Li Ang's purge was over. He did not expect that it was not over yet. Now, he was going to purge his national team teammates and good friends.
Li Ang looked at the expression on Zanetti's face and observed.
Zanetti was indeed good-tempered. He was not angry and controlled his emotions very well.
*****
"Coach, the team is changing so much. It will definitely cause turmoil. Too many familiar players are gone," Zanetti said.
"Without destruction, there can be no construction." Li Ang said, "Inter Milan needs new blood. They need players who can bring more championships to the team."
These words made Zanetti unhappy. In his view, it was a denial of the players who had left. They also contributed to Inter Milan.
"Am I also one of the players who will leave?" Zanetti finally had some temper and said unhappily.
"No! Harvey! " Li Ang looked seriously into Zanetti's eyes. "You are the captain of this team. You are the cornerstone of this team. You are Inter Milan's past, present, and future! You are the champion captain that I need! "
Zanetti felt much better when he heard Li Ang's affirmation of him. His dissatisfaction with Li Ang also lessened.
"Then, Keely …"
"He is not suitable for my tactics," Li Ang said directly.
Zanetti had nothing to say. The manager had the right to choose the players according to his own tactics.
Li Ang then explained his tactics to Zanetti in detail, as well as the requirements of the tactics. Anyway, these were all to be explained to the players. It was more appropriate to communicate with the captain first.
As a top player, Zanetti had worked with many famous managers. He had a high ball knowledge. Naturally, he could distinguish the subtleties of Li Ang's tactics.
"This is the tactic you used to lead Sporting de Gijón to the championship?" Zanetti asked curiously.
"No, the one I used at Sporting de Gijón was a simplified version. This is the real version. Sporting de Gijón's players are not as good as Inter Milan's, so they can't fully display the effectiveness of this tactic."
After Zanetti heard this, he inexplicably had confidence in Li Ang. This confidence came not only from Li Ang's title as a Treble champion coach, but also from the tactics that Li Ang explained to him. The simplified tactics dominated La Liga. Then, wouldn't the complete tactics at Inter Milan be even more powerful?!
PS: Third update. Thank you to Jiexi for your reward.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
