Chapter 477 Crazy Transfer Market
Although it was only the first training session in the morning and the first day of the training camp, there was no training at all, but many things could still be seen.
The first one was the new player Lindelof.
He looked very strong and had excellent physical fitness, but in fact he was very delicate and had strong dribbling ability. During the team training, he dribbled forward many times, leaving a deep impression.
The player that Manchester United spent 31 million pounds to introduce was indeed not simple at all.
Fitness coach Carlos Larin carefully prepared a complete set of summer fitness reserve plans for Manchester United, and added a lot of training programs that had not been available before.
But he was not completely blind and one-size-fits-all.
Just like Bruno, because he only participated in the Confederations Cup in June, although his physical condition was maintained well, Carlos Larin did not dare to be careless and left Bruno a full week of buffer period, hoping that he could slowly adjust and then increase the training volume.
This made his teammates very envious and jealous, and they felt that Carlos Larin was unfair. As a result, the physical trainer, who was always very strict, directly replied: "If you have the ability, you can also win a world championship and I can approve you not to go to the gym."
The Manchester United players were immediately frustrated and retreated speechlessly.
Is it so easy to win a world championship? Even if it is just a Confederations Cup.
After all, it is a competition that only the champions of the continental competitions can participate in. If you want to participate, you must first help the national team win the continental championship. .
Bruno is still cheerful. Whether it is summer reserve training or gym, although it is very hard, he has gotten used to it, because he has been suffering almost every day in the past five years.
Sometimes, you get used to it after suffering too much.
………………
In the next period of time, Manchester United began to enter the comprehensive summer preparation stage.
Last year, Bruno's transfer was not negotiated until August, and he also participated in the European Cup with the Portuguese national team and missed the summer preparation. So strictly speaking, this is Bruno's first complete summer preparation training at Manchester United.
The club also attaches great importance to this. Although Carlos Larin granted Bruno a week of adjustment, he still carefully formulated a physical reserve training plan for Bruno.
The purpose of doing this is to hope that Bruno can have a better performance in the new season, help Manchester United to go further, and strive to win in the Champions League.
As a top European giant, the Champions League is the club's highest pursuit.
The last time Manchester United won the Champions League was in the 2007-2008 season, which has been nine years. If Manchester United can win the Champions League again in the new season, it will be exactly ten years later.
Bruno is also very hard-working and devoted to the pre-season training without distraction. He is meticulous and determined to train according to the plan of the coaching staff.
At the same time, Manchester United's negotiations to introduce Harry Kane and Mbappe have been difficult.
Although the media is full of reports about these two signings, judging from the reports of major media, neither transfer has made substantial progress.
And several competitors of Manchester United in the Premier League are constantly making big moves.
………………
Guardiola's Manchester City is the most active this summer. Having just experienced a season in which they failed to win any of the four major titles, and even almost failed to get a place in the Champions League, such performance is naturally not in line with the expectations of Manchester City's management, but they have not lost confidence in Guardiola. They are not short of money, but continue to spend a lot of money in the transfer market and strongly support Guardiola's signings.
Just after the end of the season, Manchester City announced the introduction of Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva from Ligue 1 champion Monaco. The transfer fee reported by the media was 43 million pounds.
Then, on the first day of June, Manchester City once again officially announced a heavy signing, introducing Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson from Portuguese Super League giants Benfica, which cost another 35 million pounds.
In mid-July, Manchester City's negotiations to introduce Tottenham defender Kyle Walker were finally settled. The final amount of the transfer was 45 million pounds, with a floating clause of 5 million pounds, which can be considered as 50 million pounds.
On the second day after signing Kyle Walker, Manchester City announced again that it would introduce the talented player Douglas Luiz from the Brazilian team Vasco da Gama for 11 million pounds.
In addition, the media is also reporting that Manchester City plans to introduce Brazilian midfielder Danilo from Real Madrid, while continuing to fleece Monaco and poach their main central defender Mendy.
If both deals are reached, Manchester City's investment in the transfer market this summer will exceed 200 million pounds again!
With an investment of more than 200 million for two consecutive summer windows, Manchester City can be said to be "400 million reckless"!
………………
Manchester City is constantly moving, and Premier League giants such as Chelsea are not idle either.
Abramovich was not reconciled to the failure of the championship with Manchester United last season, and continued to strengthen the team this summer.
After Diego Costa fell out with the team, the Russian tycoon immediately found a new gun for the Blues. Last season's Premier League bronze boot, former Chelsea player Lukaku returned to the Blues at a sky-high price of 75 million pounds.
The day after signing Lukaku, Chelsea made another move in the transfer market, bringing in central defender Rudiger from Serie A Roma for £32 million.
Then, in mid-July, Chelsea officially announced the signing of midfielder Bakayoko from French Ligue 1 champion Monaco, with a transfer fee of up to 40 million pounds.
In addition, Torino midfielder Zappacosta and Manchester United youth training product Drinkwater, nicknamed "Drinking Water Brother" in Leicester City, are also Chelsea's targets. Once these two transfers are completed, Chelsea's investment in signings this summer will also exceed 200 million pounds!
After missing out on the Champions League spot, Liverpool also began to make big signings. They first dug up Egyptian winger Salah from Roma for 39 million pounds, and then brought in Chamberlain from Arsenal for 35 million pounds.
Arsenal, which also lost its Champions League spot, lost midfielder Chamberlain, defenders Gibbs and Gabriel, and goalkeeper Szczesny, but Wenger is also actively signing players. Lyon striker Lacazette, who was unable to complete the transfer due to Atletico Madrid's transfer ban, became the professor's target. The transfer was completed very quickly. On July 6, Arsenal officially announced that Lacazette officially joined the team and signed a five-year contract with a transfer fee of 46.5 million pounds + 6 million pounds of floating transfer fee.
Spurs, which sold Kyle Walker and Bentaleb, also introduced central defender Sanchez from Ajax, Aurier from Paris Saint-Germain, and Spanish center forward Fernando Llorente from Swansea.
The move to sign Llorente was considered by many British media as Tottenham's preparation for losing Harry Kane.
Faced with Manchester United's wanton checks, the stubborn Levy was also a little unable to control himself and it was difficult to keep his oath that he would not sell players to Manchester United.
………………
The predecessor of the International Champions Cup was called the "World Football Challenge", which was an exhibition match between international football clubs. The first event started in 2009, when there were four participating teams: Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Mexico's America. In the end, Chelsea won all three games and won the first World Football Challenge.
In 2010, the tournament was not held due to the World Cup in South Africa. By 2011, there were 13 participating teams in the tournament, including Manchester United. This tournament had a total of 14 games, with the games being held in the United States and Canada. In the end, Real Madrid and Manchester United both won all three games, with Real Madrid winning the championship with a goal difference advantage over Manchester United.
In 2012, the third and final World Football Challenge attracted 11 teams to participate. Since this tournament did not adopt a single round-robin group system, the number of participations for each team was different, so there was no official champion that year. Among these teams, Real Madrid played four games, the team with the most games. In these four games, Real Madrid remained undefeated and scored a total of 14 goals.
In 2013, the World Football Challenge was officially renamed the "International Champions Cup". The tournament was sponsored by Relevant Sports, a company owned by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and former New York Jets executive Matt Higgins.
So far, this event has become the most important commercial event in international football, and has successfully established the brand recognition of the world's highest level pre-season event.
At first, this event was held in the United States and Canada like its predecessor, but with the expansion of its influence, China, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, and various parts of Europe have also begun to join the ranks of hosting events.
The competition system of the International Champions Cup has also been constantly evolving with its own development. In the first two sessions, there were eight teams participating, and they were evenly divided into two groups.
In the first event, the group stage did not adopt a single round-robin system, but the two teams that won the first round of the group played in the next round, and the team that won two consecutive games in the group advanced to the final.
The second event adopted a single round-robin system for the group stage, and the last two teams that won the first place in the group advanced to the final.
Starting from 2015, due to the addition of events in other stations except the North American station, the competition system of each station will be different.
Since the International Champions Cup is essentially a commercial tour exhibition match, this event encourages participating teams to play offensive football.
This is also reflected in the points rules of the event: in addition to three points for the winner in regular time and one point for a draw. In regular time, each goal scored by the team will score one point. If the regular time is tied, the two teams will enter a penalty shootout, and the winner of the penalty shootout will get one more point.
This year's International Champions Cup is scheduled to be held in North America, China, and Singapore. China will host 4 games, Singapore will host 3 games, and the remaining 12 games will be held in North America.
Manchester United is also one of the participating teams in this International Champions Cup and will participate in the North American competition.