Chapter 811 Young Talent
In the entire Premier League, except for Chelsea's big spending, the rest of the teams are cutting back. Of course, there are not many teams like Manchester United that have almost no moves in the transfer market.
In order to break Manchester United's monopoly on the Premier League championship, Manchester City also made two big transfers this summer. They spent 41 million pounds to dig Dutch central defender Nathan Ake from Bournemouth; spent 30 million pounds to dig talented striker Ferran Torres from La Liga Valencia.
Liverpool spent 45 million pounds to dig Portuguese winger Diogo Jota from Wolves, and spent 12 million pounds to introduce Greek defender Tsimikas.
Arsenal officially announced on September 1 that it had introduced Brazilian central defender Gabriel Magalhaes from Ligue 1 Lille. According to reports, the transfer fee was 26 million euros. It also signed the former Chelsea Brazilian veteran William for free. In addition, Arteta also hopes to get Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder Coutinho.
Tottenham bought out Argentine striker Lo Celso, and spent 15 million pounds each to sign Wolves defender Matt Doherty and Southampton midfielder Hojbjerg. Then they signed Paris Saint-Germain's Uruguayan striker Cavani for free.
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According to the schedule, the new season of the Premier League will start on the first weekend in mid-September. The Community Shield, the prelude to the Premier League, will be held in early September.
However, because Manchester United participated in the Champions League final, there was less than 3 weeks of rest time, so the Community Shield between the Premier League champion Manchester United and the Premier League runner-up Liverpool was forced to postpone. The specific game time depends on the subsequent schedule of the two teams, and it is very likely to be arranged in January next year.
In this case, Manchester United's first official game in the new season will be the first round of the Premier League, which will be on the evening of September 14.
This means that Manchester United will not have pre-season training in the new season. The team will gather on September 11 and then start the game.
Of course, this situation is not just Manchester United. Teams like Manchester City and Chelsea, which have reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League and the Europa League, have had a short pre-season training camp, but their preparation is definitely not as good as those teams that did not participate in the Champions League knockout stage.
The good news for Manchester United is that the team's lineup is very stable, and there is no situation where newcomers integrate into the team.
This may also be one of the reasons why Manchester United finally decided not to make big signings this summer.
However, Bruno's first game of the season came before the start of the Premier League.
After entering September, international football ushered in the first international match day of 2020. During this period, the Portuguese national team will have two European Nations League games, one at home against Croatia and the other away to challenge Sweden.
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The competition system has changed a lot in this European Nations League. League A has become 16 teams, including the 12 teams of the previous League A and the 4 group leaders of the previous League B. Divided into 4 groups, each with 4 teams, they will play a double round-robin group match, and then the 4 group leaders will enter the semi-finals for a single elimination match.
As the defending champion, Portugal was placed in the death group. Its opponents in the same group included the World Cup runner-up France and the strong Croatia, as well as Sweden, which was recovering in momentum. Every game was a big battle.
Before this game, Ronaldo had scored 99 goals for Portugal, only one goal away from the national team's 100-goal milestone. However, Ronaldo missed the roster due to toe inflammation, but he still sat in the stands to cheer for his teammates and stole the spotlight many times.
In the absence of Ronaldo, Bruno wore the captain's armband of the Portuguese national team.
Without Ronaldo, Portugal was still strong, and they frequently threatened Croatia at the beginning. However, Portugal's luck was not good. Cancelo, Guerrero, Joao Felix and Diogo Jota's shots hit the goal frame one after another.
Until the 41st minute, Bruno sent a diagonal pass, Cancelo took the ball on the right side of the penalty area, turned to cut inwards from the middle, and shot from a long distance near the top of the penalty area. The ball went straight to the upper left corner of the goal. Portugal 1:0 Croatia.
From the slow motion, although the Croatian goalkeeper touched the ball, he could not stop it from entering the net.
After the change of sides, Portugal still took the initiative and continued to attack Croatia.
In the 58th minute, Guerrero made an accurate long pass from the backcourt, Diogo Jota broke into the penalty area and shot another goal, the score became 2:0, and Portugal secured the victory.
In the 70th minute, Portugal continued to score, Bruno knocked the ball across the top of the arc, Felix suddenly shot with his right foot, hitting the left side of the goal, Livakovic pounced on the ball, and the ball bounced off the ground and flew into the goal, Portugal 3:0 Croatia. Mr. 126 million cheered.
In the first minute of injury time, Rebic made a straight pass, and Petkovic scored a goal after getting the ball on the left side of the penalty area, and Croatia scored one point.
In the fourth minute of injury time, Portugal took a corner kick from the right side, Pepe headed the ball to the left at the penalty spot, and Andre Silva scored with a shovel shot, Portugal 4:1 Croatia.
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From the technical statistics of both sides, Portugal has an overwhelming advantage. Although the big brother Cristiano Ronaldo was unable to play due to toe inflammation, his national team teammates still won a big victory.
Since the official launch of the UEFA Nations League, Portugal has not lost in this event. So far, their record is 5 wins and 2 draws.
The score of 4:1 is also the biggest score of Portugal in the UEFA Nations League.
Three days later, Portugal traveled to Scandinavia to challenge Sweden.
In this game, Ronaldo finally returned to the starting lineup and performed well in the game.
In the 39th minute, Bruno's long pass from the right side of the midfield found Ronaldo, who shot from the right side of the penalty area and scored his 100th goal for the Portuguese national team.
In the 44th minute, Svensson fouled Bruno maliciously at the top of the penalty area, received the second yellow card, and was sent off. For the rest of the game, the home team had to play with 10 players.
Portugal got a free kick in the frontcourt with a good position. Ronaldo took the free kick near the top of the penalty area. The free kick went straight to the upper left corner of the goal, and Portugal led 2:0.
Five minutes after the start of the second half, Bruno's long shot from the right side of the penalty area penetrated the goal guarded by Swedish goalkeeper Olsen. 3:0, Portugal completely locked the victory.
10 minutes later, Portugal's offensive came back. Guedes passed the ball back with his heel from the left, Guerrero made a cross from the right, and Bruno inserted his outside foot in front of the goal and shot. The ball hit the top of the goal frame and went into the net. Portugal led 4:0.
In the 71st minute, Felix knocked the ball in the middle, and Ronaldo shot the ball from the left side of the penalty area to the far corner. The ball went over the goalkeeper's head and fell into the net. Ronaldo performed a hat trick and Portugal's lead expanded to 5 goals.
At the end of the game, Portugal defeated Sweden 5:0, won both games and ranked first in the group standings.
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After the game, Bruno flew back to Manchester by private plane as soon as possible to prepare for the first round of the new season of the Premier League starting next Monday.
Reading the error-free version! 6=9+Shu_Bar published this novel for the first time.
Back in Manchester, Bruno learned a good news, that is, after 20 months of closed construction, the main project of Manchester United's home stadium, Old Trafford, has been completed and entered the later stage of construction.
According to the construction progress, all construction projects of the entire stadium will be completed in December. Manchester United will return to Old Trafford for the game in January 2021.
Although the new crown epidemic has had a great impact on the world, it has not affected the construction of Manchester United's new home.
Of course, there are still three or four months before Manchester United moves back to Old Trafford to play.
Manchester United's first league game of the new season will be away against Burnley.
In this game, a new face appeared in Manchester United's roster. But this person Bruno is not unfamiliar. He is Dean Henderson, the main goalkeeper of Sheffield United last season.
The Manchester United youth training goalkeeper performed well at Sheffield United last season. He played 36 games in the Premier League throughout the season and completed 13 zero seals, helping Sheffield United become the fourth team with the fewest goals conceded in the Premier League last season. Only 39 goals were conceded throughout the season, of which Henderson only conceded 31 goals during the game. He was the number one contributor to Sheffield United's ability to be a newly promoted team last season and finally ranked eighth in the standings.
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After the end of last season, Manchester United recalled Dean Henderson.
However, according to what Bruno knows, this young Manchester United player does not want to stay in Manchester United, but hopes to seek another loan opportunity, or even transfer.
This is mainly because Manchester United is currently too competitive in the goalkeeper position. In addition to De Gea, the main goalkeeper of Spain, the team's substitute goalkeepers are all the number one goalkeeper of the Argentine national team, Romero.
With two such goalkeepers, it is difficult for Henderson to get too many opportunities in the team.
Moreover, Dean Henderson has no shortage of suitors because of his outstanding performance in Sheffield United last season.
First of all, Sheffield United hopes to continue to loan Henderson to them. Of course, if the price is right, they hope to sign Henderson.
Secondly, Chelsea, another Premier League giant, is also eager to sign Henderson. Because their main goalkeeper Kepa performed very poorly last season, Lampard hopes to sign a top goalkeeper to replace the Spaniard. Henderson, who performed well at Sheffield United last season, has entered the sights of Lampard and Chelsea.
After the summer transfer window opened, Chelsea submitted a transfer application to Manchester United, hoping to sign the 23-year-old talented goalkeeper at a sky-high price of 50 million pounds.
Manchester United rejected Chelsea's offer, but did not directly close the door to negotiations. Later, Chelsea made a new offer to Manchester United, and the two sides are still negotiating.
When Bruno chatted with Manchester United CEO Giarretta, he expressed the hope that the team would let Henderson leave. He also hoped that the young talent could get better training opportunities instead of wasting time on Manchester United's bench.