The so-called "good quality at a good price" meant that the transfer fee would not be too high for some capable players, or they would be poaching some potential players. In other words, they were small players.
Li Ang leaned towards the latter. He was familiar with the future growth trajectory of many small players, and it could be said that his poaching was accurate.
However, before that, his job was to complete the cleansing of the team because he needed to use the players in exchange for transfer funds.
Although Li Ang could also apply for another transfer budget from Moratti, Li Ang did not consider doing so for the time being. The truth was that Moratti had allowed him to cleanse Inter Milan and had already spent 52.5 million euros to bring in players. As the boss, he had already done a good job. Unless it was really necessary, he would not trouble Moratti again.
Now, on Li Ang's cleansing list, the players who had not left the team were the Serbian player Mihajlović, the Italian defender Potenza, and the Argentine player Chiri González.
Among these players, Chiri González was the one who did not lack buyers. Of course, the 31-year-old Argentine veteran could not be sold for a high price.
Subsequently, the La Liga club spent 5 million euros to get the Argentine star, who had previously performed well in Valencia.
Potenza was also transferred to Fiorentina for 2.5 million euros.
Only Mihailovich, a thirty-six-year-old veteran of Serbia and Montenegro, was ignored.
At that moment, AC Milan asked Inter Milan for the 33-year-old Italian veteran.
If Evra had not joined, Li Ang would not have let Favalli leave. However, now that there was Evra, Pasquale on the bench, and Zanetti could also play as the left back, Li Ang did not hesitate and agreed to the transfer.
Inter Milan then announced that the team's Italian veteran, Favalli, would be transferred to AC Milan for 1.5 million euros.
Favalli left, and the unexpected beneficiary was the Serbian and Montenegro veteran, Mihajlović. The Serbian and Montenegro veteran was experienced, and he was good at taking free kicks, but no one was interested in him. In the end, Li Ang decided to keep Mihajlović. He was the only player in his seventeen players list to stay at Inter Milan.
Now, by cleaning up Potenza, Chiri González, and Favalli, Inter Milan earned another nine million euros.
After deducting the 2.5 million euros that he had previously 'overdrawn', Li Ang still had 6.5 million euros that he could use. In other words, the value of the players he could bring in should be within ten million euros. After all, it was common practice for transfer expenses to exceed by a few million euros. This small amount of money did not need to be specially budgeted. As a manager, he still had the right to overdraft the transfer funds.
*****
Li Ang turned his gaze back to the Iberian Peninsula.
This time, he was interested in Valencia's nineteen-year-old player, David Silva.
Speaking of which, David Silva and Li Ang had one thing in common. They were both 'abandoned players of Real Madrid'.
Of course, it was a stretch to say that David Silva was an abandoned player of Real Madrid. After all, Silva did not really join Real Madrid.
It was in 2000, when the fourteen-year-old Silva, accompanied by his father and agent, participated in the Real Madrid Football Academy's entrance test. Silva was a Real Madrid fan. When he was young, his biggest dream was to join Real Madrid and play in the Bernabéu.
However, at Real Madrid's Sports City, Silva left a photo with Real Madrid's star player, Anelka, but did not leave himself. On the day of the test, the former star player and the manager of Real Madrid's B team, Míchel, also accompanied his son, Adrian, to participate in the test. After seeing Silva's performance, Míchel was sure of Silva's ability. The result of the trial was that Adrian passed the test smoothly. However, the person in charge of the academy thought that Silva was too short and did not accept him.
After the failure of the trial at Real Madrid, Silva returned to Canary. Valencia's technical director, Masia, went to the island to scout for talent. The club's local scout, Quintero, recommended four children to him: Giovanni, Bitolo, Ismail, and Silva. Not long after, the four children received the admission notice from Valencia's academy. Silva also received his first income. Other than providing accommodation, the club also provided a monthly allowance of fifteen thousand pesetas (about 95 euros) for the young players.
Just like that, David Silva joined Valencia.
However, in Valencia, which was full of talented players, David Silva was not valued. He was loaned to the Spanish lower league team, Eibar last season. In this season, Silva scored five goals in 35 appearances for Eibar. In this season, Silva's name appeared in the sports newspaper for the first time. However, it was not because of his skills, but because of his character. The last time Club Eibar visited the Catalonia region and challenged Lidar, the score was 1: 1. During one of Eibar's attacks, one of their players was injured and fell in front of the goal line. Coincidentally, his teammate passed the ball to Silva, who was not offside. In a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, Silva gave up the shot. In an interview later, Silva said, "My soul told me not to shoot." That season, Eibar finished fourth in Serie B, only two points away from being promoted to Serie A.
His performance in the lower league team, Eibar, did not improve Silva's situation in Valencia. In the summer of 2005, he was loaned out by Valencia to play for Celta. It was during this season in Celta that Silva's outstanding performance caught Valencia's attention. Silva was then recalled to take over Aimar's position.
Silva had yet to catch Valencia's attention, so if Li Ang wanted to take Silva away from Valencia, it would be easier for him to do so.
*****
In order to focus on preparing for the new season, Li Ang asked Inter Milan's management to not arrange any commercial competitions.
With Inter Milan's reputation as a powerhouse, especially with Ronaldo's return and Li Ang's status as a China manager, if Inter Milan went to Asia, especially East Asia, to play commercial competitions in China, they would make a lot of money. Inter Milan's management also had this intention. However, Li Ang firmly ruled out the possibility of the team playing commercial competitions.
His reason was simple and direct.
Inter Milan, which had just undergone a major overhaul, needed time to adjust. They did not have the energy and time to play commercial competitions.
If the team's preparation for the new season was affected by playing commercial competitions, the losses would outweigh the gains.
Inter Milan's management agreed with Li Ang's suggestion. Therefore, although other teams went to Asia and the United States to make a lot of money, it had nothing to do with Inter Milan.
Inter Milan stayed in Italy, focused on training, playing warm-up games, and adjusting to the team.
After the away game against Brescia, Inter Milan played another warm-up game at the Meazza Stadium. Their opponent was the Bundesliga team, FC Schalke 04.
Inter Milan did not open the game to the fans and media. In the huge Meazza Stadium, there were no spectators other than the members of both clubs.
The final result of the game was a draw between Inter Milan and FC Schalke 04.
In this game, Li Ang tried to use Mata as the attacking midfielder and let Stankovic play as the left midfielder. The effect was average.
Mata was used to playing as the attacking midfielder and would subconsciously move closer to the side.
Of course, with Mata's ability, he could still play as the attacking midfielder if he slowly familiarized himself with it.
However, this would be a waste of the attacking midfielder tactic that Li Ang had specially designed for Mata.
In the second half of the game, Marchisio came on as a substitute. His performance as the attacking midfielder made Li Ang relatively satisfied. After all, Marchisio had played in this position when he was in the Juventus youth team.
However, this was not enough to make Li Ang completely satisfied. Marchisio had been playing in the youth team and did not have any experience in the first team. He still needed time to grow.
Fortunately, there was good news soon.
Xiao Yao, whom Li Ang had high hopes for, was coming.
After some bargaining between Inter Milan and Valencia regarding the transfer of David Silva, Oriari brought David Silva from Valencia to Li Ang.
Moreover, to Li Ang's surprise, Oriari successfully lowered the price and got Silva at a relatively small price.
Of course, this also had to do with the fact that Valencia did not pay attention to Silva and did not discover his outstanding talent. After all, his performance in a low-level league season was not very convincing.
On August 9, 2005, Inter Milan officially announced that they had brought in the 19-year-old Spanish player, David Silva, from Valencia for a transfer fee of five million Euros.
Li Ang's Inter Milan team had finally completed the last piece of the puzzle this summer.
PS: Second update, thanks to Tang Da Chui Chui for the thirty thousand reward 2.
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