Chapter 1078: Filling the Hole

While Gao Xiaodong was enjoying his vacation in China visiting relatives and friends, the transfer market in Europe was in full swing.

Because there are no major events like the World Cup or the European Cup, the major Premier League teams started crazy purchases as soon as the league ended. Manchester City bought Clichy, Boateng and Savic, and Chelsea bought Piazon. With Matic, Liverpool bought Downing, Henderson and Konchesky. Even Arsenal, which has always been stingy, spent 12 million pounds to buy Gervinho. However, Manchester United, the Premier League class leader, not only did not buy anyone , also sent away Brown and O'Shea.

For Manchester United, last season was a perfect season, winning the Triple Crown. It is almost impossible to be perfect again.

There is a Western saying that if something is not broken, it does not need to be repaired, let alone if it is so perfect, Manchester United naturally does not want to change its main structure. What Manchester United wants to do now is to keep Gao Xiaodong, the absolute core, and keep goalkeepers Edwin van der Sar and Scott Scoop. Fill the hole left by Ernst's retirement.

Scholes' hole is easy to fill, because when Scholes retired, he was already on the bench. His position can now be replaced by Hargreaves and Carrick. The newcomer Pogba is also a strategic player. midfield potential stock.

But this pitfall of Van der Sar is difficult to deal with. A good goalkeeper is equivalent to half the team. In a team, no position can be more important than the goalkeeper. For example, Manchester United may not be able to win without Gao Xiaodong. But if you replace an unreliable goalkeeper, you will probably lose.

Because Van der Sar is old, Manchester United has been looking for Van der Sar's substitute. However, the goalkeeper position is too special. It is impossible to sell the main goalkeeper of the wealthy team, and the goalkeeper of the small team has not been tested in the competition. Ferguson I still haven't found anything I like.

Until Manchester United met Schalke 04 in the Champions League knockout round, Schalke 04 goalkeeper Neuer's performance shocked Ferguson. Ferguson felt that this was the goalkeeper he needed most, and because Schalke 04 was not a wealthy club, Manchester United poached Schalke 04. A corner is possible, so Manchester United has not stopped contacting Neuer since the knockout rounds of the Champions League.

Manchester United is the most successful team and club in world football today, while Schalke 04 is just a mid-to-upper-tier Bundesliga team with basically no influence in world football. If Manchester United wants to poach Schalke Players who can overcome 04, even if they are core players, will definitely be effortless.

But unfortunately, the Bundesliga hegemon Bayern also lacked a world-class goalkeeper after Kahn retired. Both Butt and Lensing were not stable enough and were not doing their jobs properly. They were not worthy of Bayern's status as a giant. Bayern also happened to be interested in Schal. Goalkeeper Neuer of G04.

Obviously knowing that Manchester United is pursuing Neuer, Bayern manager Hoeness still declared in a high-profile manner that Neuer is Bayern's only choice for the goalkeeper position, and Bayern chairman Rummenigge said that the best player in the Bundesliga should play for Bayern. This is not only It's what Bayern needs, and it's also what the national team needs.

So it was originally Manchester United's poaching of Schalke 04's main goalkeeper, which was an easy and enjoyable thing. However, with Bayern's intervention, it soon became a competition between Manchester United and Bayern for Schalke 04's main goalkeeper.

Schalke 04 cannot compete with behemoths like Bayern and Manchester United, and they have never thought about competing. A goalkeeper like Neuer is not something a small club like them can have, not to mention Neuer only has one year left. contract, so club president Tonis said in an interview with the Munich Daily News: "Nothing is impossible, and Neuer's transfer is not impossible. Everyone has a price, so if a club opens If a reasonable offer is made, we will naturally consider it seriously.”

Tonis's meaning is obvious. I can't offend anyone from Manchester United or Bayern. Whoever gives you more money can take Neuer away.

For Schalke 04, this is also a good idea. Since Neuer cannot be retained anyway, if you can make more money, you will naturally make more money.

It would be easier if the two big tycoons, Chelsea and Manchester City, old and new, were competing for Neuer. The two sides would declare the price and whoever had more money would take the man away. But now it is Manchester United and Bayern who are competing for Neuer.

Manchester United has no money!

Last season, Manchester United relied on bank loans to buy Gao Xiaodong. Although they got back a little bit of their capital after winning the Triple Crown this year, they still have a debt of 300 million euros. They don't have much funds to buy Neuer. They can rely on What is attractive to players is the platform of Manchester United and the soft power of Ferguson. In other words, they want to lure people to Manchester United with less money.

Bayern is rich!

The Bundesliga is the most stable league among the five major leagues. Their clubs have stable profits every year, and Bayern is the only one in the Bundesliga. According to the report of Bayern's economic director Hofner, Bayern has been profitable for 18 consecutive seasons, although it still needs to be repaid. Debt at the Allianz Arena, but this does not pose much pressure on Bayern.

However, Bayern, which is rich, will never spend too much money on players, especially Bundesliga players, because Bayern does not need to spend too much money, and other Bundesliga teams also have to sell players to Bayern.

Bayern has a special attraction for Bundesliga players, especially German players. In addition to easily winning championships and high annual salaries in wealthy clubs, Bayern also makes it easier to join the national team, which is also very attractive to German players.

Players are willing to go to Bayern. If the club blocks it, some players would even rather wait until their contracts expire to go to Bayern for free. This forces the Bundesliga team to sell players to Bayern at a lower price.

Now, although Schalke 04 has given the green light to transfer Neuer, and they will sell it to whoever pays more, neither Manchester United nor Bayern, who are cunning and willing to pay more, want nothing more.

When Schalke 04 chairman Tonis announced that Neuer was not for sale, Ferguson said, "Neuer is very good. Manchester United appreciates Neuer very much, but there are many excellent goalkeepers in Europe, such as Ajax goalkeeper Stekelenburg, he is the second Van der Sar. If we can't buy Neuer, Stekelenburg is also a good choice.

Bayern manager Hoeness also said: "Although Neuer is Bayern's only target now, Bayern will not spend more on a player than he is worth. Bayern is a rational club and we will not be extorted by other clubs." , and will not compete viciously with other clubs.”

Both Manchester United and Bayern Munich expressed their desire for Neuer, but neither of them wanted to put up a price first, so they were just dragging their feet. At this time, Schalke 04 was the one who was anxious because Neuer only had one year left on his contract. If he can't sell it this year, Schalke 04 won't get a cent of the transfer fee next year.

Tonis can be the president of the club, and of course he is not a fool. If you don't bid, I will. So Tonis found Manchester City as a trustee, and told the media that Manchester City wanted 40 million euros to intercept Neuer, forcing Bayern and Manchester United took a stand.