Li Ang had been in charge of Inter Milan for two seasons and was about to enter his third season in charge of Inter Milan. His team's lineup was stable. This was also the normal maturity of a championship team.
Inter Milan's stability was most obvious in the midfield. Entering the summer of 2007, Inter Milan's midfield configuration was almost unchanged from the beginning of the new season in 2005.
The Inter Milan team that stood at the top of Europe in 2006 had proven their strength. Therefore, Lyon did not make any major changes to the team in the following season, especially in the midfield. Except for the departure of Figo, who chose to leave Inter Milan at the end of the season to retire in Qatar, Inter Milan's midfielders, Cambiasso, Stankovic, Modric, Carlos, Marchisio, Mata, and Silva, were still in the team.
Li Ang did not need to worry too much about this mature midfield configuration. He only needed to bring in another player in the midfield to make up for Figo's departure.
In the forward line, the biggest change from the historical trajectory was that Adriano was still in the Inter Milan team. The Brazilian center forward, who had solved his psychological problems, was still the favorite of the Meazza Stadium, and was still the top scorer in the Inter Milan team. In addition, Ibrahimović, who was supposed to come to Inter Milan after the end of the Calciopoli last summer, did not come. Considering that the team already had Adriano, the main center forward, a player like Ibrahimović could not be placed on the bench, and there was also the compatibility problem between Ibrahimović and Adriano. Although Inter Milan's boss, Moratti, expressed his fondness for Ibrahimović, Inter Milan did not make a move to take Ibrahimović because of Li Ang's insistence. AC Milan's pursuit of Ibrahimović was not challenged. History took a turning point here. Ibrahimović joined AC Milan four years earlier than in the original history, and in the season that just ended, Ibrahimović stood at the top of Europe with AC Milan in Athens, achieving the achievement that he had been working hard in the original history until 2017, but still could not achieve.
With the end of the season, Ronaldo chose to return to Brazil to enjoy Samba football. Currently, Inter Milan's forward line had three strikers, Adriano, Agüero, and Borriello.
Adriano was Li Ang's most trusted and important player, and he had locked in a main position.
The nineteen-year-old Agüero had been Ronaldo's substitute for the previous two seasons. The Argentine youngster had made great progress, and now that Ronaldo had left, Agüero was fully capable of taking over Ronaldo's position.
Borriello was a passable substitute.
However, the configuration of three strikers obviously could not meet the needs of Inter Milan to compete on three fronts in a season. Li Ang had to bring in another trustworthy striker on the forward line.
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Generally speaking, to bring in a trustworthy striker, a manager had to spend the most effort and meticulous planning, as well as the club's full effort to fight for it. It might be a long selection and battle.
However, for Li Ang, he did not need to be so complicated.
Gijón, Spain.
The 20062007 La Liga season had ended more than half a month ago. Sporting de Gijón had been ranked 14th in La Liga this past season and had been on the verge of relegation. It was not until the penultimate round of the league that they narrowly avoided relegation.
This red and white team, which had dominated La Liga and Europe under Li Ang's leadership, sank again in just two seasons after Li Ang's departure.
However, although Sporting de Gijón's ranking was terrible, it did not prevent their players from being highly sought after in the transfer market.
Li Ang had single-handedly built the championship team for Sporting de Gijón. Many powerhouse clubs had been poaching players for two years in a row, but there were still some players who performed well and received attention.
In the center back position, Rami and Vermaelen, the French defender and the Belgian defender, had grown into more stable and trustworthy defenders after two seasons of training.
In addition, the Venezuelan national footballer Juan Arango was also a target of interest for some teams.
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Of course, Sporting de Gijón's Argentinian striker, Diego Milito, was the most coveted by other teams and even some powerhouse clubs.
This Argentinian striker was originally discovered by Li Ang from the Serie B league. In the two seasons after Li Ang's departure, although his goal scoring numbers had decreased, he was still one of the top three most consistent strikers in La Liga. In the 20052006 season, Milito scored 21 goals for Sporting de Gijón in all competitions. In the 2006200 season, the Argentinian scored 19 goals for Sporting de Gijón in all competitions. He was the biggest contributor to Sporting de Gijón's success in avoiding relegation.
However, Diego Milito had previously signed a three-year contract with Sporting de Gijón. Later, after Li Ang's departure, Sporting de Gijón gave him a raise and extended his contract for another year in order to retain him. Now, Diego Milito's four-year contract only had one season left. There were rumors that the contract extension between Sporting de Gijón and Diego Milito was not going well. During this period, the Spanish media had also been paying attention to this matter. There were even media reports that Diego Milito had closed the door to contract extension negotiations with Sporting de Gijón.
The Spanish media speculated that among the Sporting de Gijón champions of Li Ang's era, the most famous player remaining at Sporting de Gijón, had already made the decision to leave Sporting de Gijón and join a powerhouse club.
This gave Sporting de Gijón a headache. Diego Milito was Sporting de Gijón's most famous player at the moment. He was the biggest contributor to Sporting de Gijón's survival. If Diego Milito also left, Sporting de Gijón's future would really be uncertain for the next season. Of course, the old Arango also knew that with Diego Milito's current fame and ability, it would be difficult for Sporting de Gijón to continue to keep him. However, no matter how difficult it was, they had to try to keep him.
After Li Ang left the team, Sporting de Gijón made a lot of money by selling star players such as Pepe, Ribéry, Benzema, Mata, Carlos and Modric. This made the old Arango very proud and excited. He thought that this was the victory of the idea between him and Li Ang. However, in the following two seasons, Sporting de Gijón's performance deteriorated year after year. After only two seasons, the dignified La Liga champions were almost relegated. This made the old Arango a little panic. Of course, he knew the horror of relegation. Once they were relegated to Segunda División, it would be a swamp. Once they were trapped, it could be a bottomless abyss.
Therefore, the old Arango really put in a lot of effort to keep Diego Milito this time. He even promised to give him an annual salary of 1.5 million euros, which would be the highest in Sporting de Gijón's history.
Although Diego Milito did not close the door to contract renewal negotiations as the media had said, the Argentine did not respond very positively. This made Sporting de Gijón very passive. They began to realize that the Argentine striker seemed to be gradually moving away from Sporting de Gijón.
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