Chapter 476 Salah and Mbappe
Another target for Manchester United in the forward line is Egyptian striker Salah of Serie A giants Roma. In the just-concluded 2016-2017 season, the little Pharaoh played 41 games for the Red Wolves in various competitions, scored 19 goals and sent 15 assists, helping Roma win the runner-up of the Serie A.
However, with the strength and potential shown by Salah, Roma is not his long-term place. All major European giants are eyeing him, and it is reasonable for Manchester United to take a fancy to him.
Because Salah and Bruno have a good personal relationship, Manchester United CEO Giarretta also asked Bruno to call Salah and persuade the Egyptian to join Manchester United.
However, to the disappointment of Bruno and Manchester United, Salah did not consider joining Manchester United. The Egyptian explained to Bruno that he was not optimistic about playing under Mourinho, but Bruno could see that this was not the Egyptian's true idea, at least not completely true.
Thinking of Salah's achievements in another time and space, Bruno had some enlightenment in his heart.
In particular, the media soon revealed that Liverpool coach Klopp personally flew to Rome and met with Salah.
No one knows what the two talked about, but Roma and Liverpool soon announced Salah's transfer to Liverpool on June 23.
According to the official announcement of the transaction by Roma, the transfer fee is only 42 million euros!
Yes, although this number has created a transfer record for Liverpool, it is not worth mentioning for Manchester United. It is not excessive to describe it as "just a little".
You know, the first offer made by Manchester United to Roma was as high as 40 million pounds, which is more than 45 million euros in equivalent!
In this case, Salah finally transferred to Liverpool, which can only show that the player's own choice played a key role in it.
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It is Kylian Mbappe, the talented striker of the French Ligue 1 giants Monaco.
The 18-year-old French striker has experienced a fantastic season in Monaco and is currently the most famous talented new star in European football.
In the 2016-2017 season, Mbappe played 29 times in the French Ligue 1, scored 15 goals and contributed 11 assists; played 3 times in the French League Cup, scored 3 goals; played 3 times in the French Cup, scored 2 goals and contributed 3 assists; played 9 times in the Champions League and scored 6 goals. The total score sheet is 44 games in various club competitions, scored 26 goals and assisted 14 times.
Such performance is completely the performance of a top shooter!
Because of his outstanding performance, Mbappe is also considered one of the two most outstanding talented new stars in Europe last season, and the other one is Rashford in Manchester United.
In the 2016-2017 season, Rashford has also secured a starting position in Manchester United, playing 30 times in the Premier League, scoring 11 goals and assisting 5 times; playing 5 times in the FA Cup, scoring 3 goals and assisting 2 times; playing 6 times in the League Cup, scoring 2 goals and assisting 2 times; playing 11 games in the Europa League, scoring 4 goals and assisting 5 times. The total score sheet is 52 games in various club competitions, 20 goals and 14 assists.
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From the personal data, Rashford's goal scoring efficiency is not as good as Mbappe, but he also made great contributions to Manchester United's five-time champion of the season and is an important member of the Manchester United team.
However, in terms of team honors, Rashford is a complete victory over Mbappe. Monaco, where Mbappe plays, only won one French Ligue 1 championship last season, but Manchester United won the Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield last season.
In the current odds of winning the European Golden Boy Award, Mbappe and Rashford are the two favorites, and the odds of the two are similar.
In the negotiations with Monaco, Manchester United's first offer reached 60 million pounds. Many media said that such an offer was full of sincerity and also showed Manchester United's confidence in Mbappe's determination to win.
You know, Mbappe is currently only an 18-year-old boy. Although he had an extremely outstanding performance both in France and in the Champions League last season, it was only one season and was not very convincing.
In the world of football, there are too many talented stars who suddenly rose but quickly fell.
But only Bruno knew that such an offer seemed to be a sky-high price, but compared with Mbappe's final transfer price, this offer was really not enough.
Of course, no one knew that Paris Saint-Germain would really "do 400 million this summer". First, it spent 222 million euros to win Neymar, the crown prince of La Liga giant Barcelona, and then spent 180 million euros to "rent" Mbappe from Monaco.
Yes, Mbappe did not officially transfer to Paris Saint-Germain this summer, but first joined on loan, and then bought out next summer. The price was 180 million euros, including a one-year rental fee of 45 million euros and a buyout clause of 135 million euros, making the total value of the transaction as high as 180 million euros.
In other words, the price of this transfer deal is 180 million euros. The reason why it is divided into 45 million euros in rental fees and 135 million euros in buyout is just a trick used by Paris Saint-Germain. Because Paris Saint-Germain has already spent 222 million euros to sign Neymar, if they sign Mbappe directly this summer, they will definitely violate the financial fair play clause and bring penalties to the team. In this case, they changed the transfer of Mbappe and cleverly moved it to the summer of one year later.
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The transfer market is still brewing. Although many big deals have appeared in the short time since it was opened, no one expected that the transfer market this summer would be so crazy.
Most of Manchester United's players have returned to Manchester and started summer training.
Although it is the first training session of the new season, the rules that should be followed must still be followed.
After passing the physical examination, several players' physical tests did not meet the standards, which made Mourinho very angry. But everyone is used to it. After every long vacation, there will always be a few players who have problems. After all, there are very few players who can maintain strict self-discipline during the long vacation. As long as they can lose weight during the training camp, it will be fine.
In addition to criticizing the players' self-discipline during the vacation as usual, Mourinho also introduced Manchester United's new signing this summer, Victor Lindelof, a Swedish international from the Portuguese Super League giants Benfica and Ibrahimovic's national team teammate.
When this Swedish player, who is 1.87 meters tall and weighs nearly 80 kilograms, stands next to the head coach Mourinho, it is obvious that he is taller than the head coach.
Although Lindelof mainly plays as a central defender, he can also play as a right back and defensive midfielder. He is a versatile player in the back line. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Mourinho signed Lindelof. Buying one person is relatively strengthening multiple positions.
Originally, Manchester United had a relatively sufficient number of central defenders, including Van Dijk, Maguire, Smalling, Phil Jones, Rojo and Blind. However, in Mourinho's view, only Van Dijk and Maguire were truly reliable. Among the other four, although Smalling had no major injuries, he was not stable and often made low-level mistakes on the field; Phil Jones was completely a glass man, and the time he spent on the injury list far exceeded the time he was healthy; Rojo and Blind were not favored by Mourinho and were the targets he planned to clear out.
Therefore, Mourinho decided to introduce a more reliable central defender to avoid the embarrassment of not having a qualified rotation central defender after one of Maguire and Van Dijk was injured.
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After Lindelof introduced himself, since captain Rooney had transferred to Everton and Manchester United did not immediately select a new captain, vice-captain Carrick took him to introduce his teammates one by one.
"Hello, Victor, I'm glad to be your teammate." Bruno smiled and took the initiative to extend his hand.
Lindelof knew that Bruno was younger than him, but he was the team's top star and the European Golden Boot last season, so he didn't dare to be careless. He immediately stepped forward and shook Bruno's right hand.
"Thank you, I believe we will have a good cooperation. I will do my best to complete my task and help you as much as possible."
"Help each other and work together." Bruno said as he stepped forward and hugged Lindelof politely.
In Bruno's memory, although Lindelof has the indecent nickname of "Leaky Husband" among Manchester United fans, he is a relatively stable one in Manchester United's defense in the next few years.
So far, Manchester United has only introduced two new players, but only Lindelof has reported to the team, and Cancelo is still on vacation.
After introducing the new players, the coaching staff began to disband the team and prepare to start training. Bruno also walked aside, sat on the grass, and slowly took off the black sandbag worn on his calf, similar to a knee pad.
Bruno prepared these two sandbags himself. Each weighs three kilograms, which is not heavy. It is mainly for him to practice more. As for the usual team training, he must take it off.
Lindelof was near Bruno. When he saw him take off the sandbag, he was somewhat confused. He originally thought that it was a protective gear like knee pads, but he didn't expect it to be a bit heavy. He immediately understood that it was a training prop, and it must be used by Bruno to train leg strength.
Thinking about it again, Bruno was wearing a sandbag whether it was the stair return run or the team's circle grabbing game. Lindelof was really impressed and felt that it was not simple for his teammate to achieve today's results.
Realizing this, he completely suppressed the pride that originally remained in his heart.
After all, Manchester United is a top giant, and these players in the team are all well-known, and none of them are easy to deal with.