Chapter 931: Manchester United’s Worries

In order to prepare for the Champions League quarter-finals with Inter Milan in midweek, after the FA Cup match with Arsenal on Saturday, Ferguson did not give the players a holiday as usual, and the team continued to train.

The players have no complaints about this. The game against Inter Milan is very important. It can even be said that one game determines the success or failure of a season.

Previously, Manchester United defeated Inter Milan 2:1 in an away game and took the lead in promotion. However, Inter Milan was the Triple Crown winner last season. Even if Gao Xiaodong and Mourinho left, their strength should not be underestimated. Once Eto'o With superstars like , Milito and Sneijder breaking out, a 2:1 score is not safe.

Manchester United has gained a great advantage by taking risks on the road. Even if there are not so many injured players, they will not continue to attack when they return to home. Only defensive counterattacks can reduce the occurrence of accidents as much as possible.

In the last game, Ferguson arranged a strange formation of 6 defenders. Not only because Arsenal's offensive power is very good, but also because it was an experiment for the Champions League game against Inter Milan. After all, Manchester United completely dominated Inter Milan in the first game. There was almost no opportunity for Inter Milan to attack.

Inter Milan's success last season mainly relied on defensive counterattacks. After Mourinho left, both Benitez and Leonardo who took office also played defensive counterattacks, allowing Inter Milan to play positional warfare. Apart from breakthroughs from the wing, Inter Milan does not have any killer moves, which is why Ferguson is preparing to use defensive counterattacks to deal with Inter Milan.

Manchester United mainly practiced marking Inter Milan's midfielder Sneijder and full-back Maicon during training.

Although Eto'o is powerful and famous, in the transition between offense and defense, Eto'o is the arrow, while Sneijder and Maicon are the ones pulling the bow.

Although Eto'o is difficult to guard, without Sneijder's passing, Eto'o's speed cannot be fully utilized.

Ferguson gave the task of guarding Sneijder to Gao Xiaodong, and the task of guarding Maicon to left back Evra and Valencia, who returned from injury.

Gao Xiaodong is happy to play against his former teammate Sneijder in the game.

It turns out that Gao Xiaodong and Sneijder were competitors in Inter Milan. Sneijder only transferred during the winter break and was forced by Gao Xiaodong to play on the bench and on the wing. However, in the Italian Cup and World Cup, Sneijder had wonderful performances. His performance was one of the reasons why Inter Milan let Gao Xiaodong go.

Now Gao Xiaodong and Sneijder are their own bosses. Gao Xiaodong naturally wants to prove that he can put Sneijder on the bench because of his strength, not because of his relationship with Mourinho.

After training, Gao Xiaodong returned home and found that his agent Mendes was here.

Since sending the monkey to Gao Xiaodong's side, there has been nothing important. Mendes rarely comes to Gao Xiaodong's house, which is completely different from when Gao Xiaodong was at Inter Milan.

Gao Xiaodong and Monkey also discussed this. Gao Xiaodong suspected that Mendes was unhappy because he did not follow Mendes's arrangement to transfer to Real Madrid. Monkey thought that was not the case, because Gao Xiaodong is now among the top five players in the league. The superstar is Mendes' cash cow. Even if Mendes is unhappy, he will never show it.

On the contrary, Monkey believes that Mendes may have sent himself specifically to serve Gao Xiaodong because the relationship between Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong is awkward and it is difficult for him to be a good person in the midst of it.

This can be regarded as a good idea to sell Gao Xiaodong. After all, Gao Xiaodong is alone, and it will be much more comfortable to have a compatriot as his companion.

No matter what he thought about Mendes, Gao Xiaodong was still very affectionate on the surface and said, "Mr. Mendes, why are you here?"

Mendes smiled slightly and said: "I haven't been here for a long time. I just happened to catch up with the Champions League game. I stopped by to see you."

Gao Xiaodong said: "That's great, I miss you very much too."

Mendes smiled and said, "I usually don't dare to come over because I'm worried about disturbing you."

Gao Xiaodong said with a smile: "How could that be? Your coming will only give me motivation." After that, he turned to Monkey and said: "Monkey, let Sister Xiaole prepare some dishes, and Mr. Mendes and I will have a drink. "

The monkey smiled and said: "Sister Xiaole has already done it."

Mendes said: "Xiaodong, you have performed very well recently. Messi and Ronaldo have both been suppressed by you."

Gao Xiaodong smiled and said: "I don't have the shame to accept your compliment. I just received a red card at the Double Red Club and will be suspended for three games."

Mendes smiled and said: "I know, I watched the game and I was a little impulsive, but it doesn't affect the overall situation. Your league has a lot of advantages. The three games of suspension are all against weak teams. You are just right to play Manchester City in the FA Cup." You’re back, but you can’t do such things again. If you lose the championship because of your impulsiveness, the impact will be huge.”

Gao Xiaodong said humbly: "I won't do it anymore. I promise not to scold or hit you back."

Mendes laughed loudly and said: "You kid can be such an honest person? I don't believe it."

"I think you must have misunderstood me."

Gao Xiaodong laughed loudly, and the monkey laughed too, and the atmosphere in the living room immediately became more relaxed.

After chatting for a while, Mendes suddenly said: "Xiaodong, are you satisfied with your current salary?"

Gao Xiaodong was stunned for a moment, with a look of eagerness in his eyes, but he immediately said hypocritically: "The annual salary of 12 million euros is not bad, but asking for a salary increase after less than one season, doesn't it seem a bit too greedy for money? "

What do you mean, you are just greedy for money, but of course Mendes would not say it out loud. He chuckled and said, "Xiaodong, it's not that we want to increase your salary, but that Manchester United wants to renew your contract after this season?"

Gao Xiaodong was stunned again and said, "Renew the contract now. I've signed the contract for less than a season?"

Mendes said: "We signed a three-year contract at the time, and now one year has almost passed. According to UEFA regulations, you can buy out your contract in another year. Your contract is so short, Manchester United's Your binding force is very small, and they are very worried. They hope to renew your contract for another two years. If you agree to renew, they will definitely not let you renew for nothing. They should offer you a salary increase. After all, you have already obtained He won the Ballon d'Or and is the number one player in the world, so of course he has to get the highest salary in the world."

This incident was a bit too sudden. Gao Xiaodong knew that Mendes would definitely come to the Three Treasures Hall for everything, but he still didn't expect that it was about renewing his contract.

Gao Xiaodong really hasn't thought about this matter, so he is not mentally prepared. He doesn't know whether to renew the contract. He pondered for a while and said: "Mr. Mendes, can you allow me to think about it and let you know later?" reply."

"Okay, it's not urgent."

Mendes saw that Gao Xiaodong wanted to think about it. He sighed secretly and said to himself, Mourinho, it's not that I don't try my best. Gao Xiaodong may have the idea of ​​​​staying at Manchester United for a long time. At this time, I am afraid that he should go to Real Madrid. It's too difficult.

While they were talking, Xiao Le prepared the meal, and the four of them ate together. Monkey accompanied Mendes and Baijiu, and Gao Xiaodong drank beer and chatted while drinking.

During the meal, Mendes revealed the purpose of his visit. It turned out that recently, because Gao Xiaodong won the Golden Globe Award and became famous, many businesses wanted to find Gao Xiaodong to endorse him. Now, taking advantage of Gao Xiaodong's suspension, Mendes hopes that Gao Xiaodong can sign these contracts and shoot a few commercials.

This was a matter of giving money, and it didn't waste too much energy. Of course Gao Xiaodong agreed.

After dinner, Mendes and Gao Xiaodong chatted for a while about the Champions League match with Inter Milan the day after tomorrow, before saying goodbye and going back to the hotel to rest.