Chapter 298: The movements of major giants during the winter break, Beckham joining Inter Milan? Just as major leagues gradually resumed their games, the 2007 winter transfer window deadline was approaching. Since the winter break is relatively short and strong clubs all want to strive for various honors, it is unlikely that they will let go of their main players halfway through the season. Therefore, the winter break every year is actually not very lively, and there are relatively few transfers. But the situation this year is somewhat special. After the transfer window of the winter transfer window of 2007 opened, La Liga became the first to become lively. Within 5 days after the opening of the La Liga winter transfer window, the transaction amount reached 5100 million euros, which is only 900 million away from La Liga's historical record. The vast majority of this amount was contributed by Real Madrid. Due to poor results and Capello's drastic cleanup of the team's lineup, Real Madrid has made a lot of signings this winter. On January 1, just as the transfer window began, Real Madrid announced three major signings in one go. They spent 1200 million euros to bring in the smoking duo Higuain from the Argentine River Plate club.
Spended 650 million euros to sign Brazilian defender Marcelo from Fluminense in the Brazilian Serie A. The most expensive deal was the 2050 million euros spent to bring in 21-year-old midfielder Fernando Gago from Boca Juniors in Argentina. Real Madrid's three big signings directly shocked the entire football world, especially the last transfer. For fans more than a decade later, the name Gago may not be so familiar because he has not achieved any achievements in football. But in the period of 2006-2007, this young midfielder known as Redondo II could be said to be one of the most anticipated young players in the entire football world. As early as the 05-06 season, the 19-year-old Gago had already become famous throughout the Argentine football world. His performance shocked many Argentine football legends. Maradona once said that he would be the best midfielder in Argentina in the future. Redondo himself admired Gago very much and even publicly supported Redondo II. At that time, Real Madrid was not yet Real Somalia, and they paid great attention to the appearance and temperament of their players. The players they choose must not only be world-class in their respective positions, but also meet strict requirements in terms of temperament and appearance. A player like Gago who is good-looking and capable perfectly meets their selection criteria, so Real Madrid fell in love with him at once! In addition, Redondo is the hero of the championship in the hearts of Real Madrid fans. However, as the captain, he had just led the team to win the Champions League when he was ruthlessly purged by Florentino, who intended to build a galactic battleship. He did not have a good ending, which made countless Real Madrid players feel guilty. Now that Florentino has been ousted, the newly elected Calderon will naturally have to correct past wrongdoings in order to please the fans. It’s a pity that Redondo has retired now and there is no way to invite him back. So we have to buy Redondo II, which can be regarded as a disguised compensation for this Real Madrid hero! Therefore, this transfer is not just a simple transfer, but also involves open and covert struggles among the club's top management. However, Real Madrid's actions did not stop there. According to sources, after spending more than 4000 million euros, Real Madrid set its sights on Cristiano Ronaldo, who was playing very well at Manchester United. It is said that Real Madrid's offer to Manchester United has reached 4000 million euros, but there seems to be no response from Manchester United. Considering that Ferguson made it clear in an interview with reporters that Ronaldo is not for sale, it would be difficult for Real Madrid to impress the other party with this price. Real Madrid, unwilling to give up, raised the price by another 1000 million and turned to AC Milan to submit an offer, hoping to bring in the other side's core midfielder Kaka. Unsurprisingly, Real Madrid's offer was rejected immediately by Milan. What a joke! The Champions League has reached the knockout stage. How could Milan let go of anyone at this time? After the Champions League is over and Milan realizes its Champions League dream, there may still be some possibility for Real Madrid to buy players. As for now, there is no chance at all.
Seeing that Real Madrid has recruited players in the three positions of defender, midfielder and striker, and that all the players they bought are young players in their early 20s, one can't help but wonder, is Real Madrid going to start building the second phase of the Galacticos? In addition to Real Madrid's massive recruitment, other giants are also busy. In the Premier League, although Manchester United is currently firmly at the top of the league table, they are 6 points ahead of Chelsea. But Manchester United, which did not recruit many players last summer, feels a bit overwhelmed facing the multi-line battles in the league and the Champions League. So Sir Alex Ferguson made an offer of 1500 million pounds to Bayern, hoping to take away the opponent's young midfielder Hargreaves to strengthen the team's lineup. But the Southern Kings are having a very hard time now. After being humiliated by Inter Milan in the Champions League group stage, they were beaten by Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga, and their league ranking dropped to third. Rummenigge, who vowed to make Bayern Munich great again, wants to hollow out the entire Bundesliga at this time. How could he let go of the core players in the team and weaken his own strength? So they rejected Manchester United's offer without hesitation! At this time, Manchester United was not yet in a good position. After the offer was rejected, Ferguson just felt a little regretful. He did not continue to increase the bid and then get slaughtered like the subsequent Manchester United coaches did. Instead, he chose to be pragmatic and loaned the opponent's substitute striker Larsson from Barcelona to strengthen the team's forward line. The loan contract was only for 3 months, but the treatment offered by Manchester United was quite generous. Larsson received the highest weekly salary in Manchester United - pounds! Ferguson is calculating carefully, and so is Wenger. Arsenal, which has entered the peak period of debt repayment, has to repay the bank nearly 4000 million pounds in principal plus interest every year. Such heavy economic pressure made Wenger have great ambitions, but he had no money in his pocket, so he didn't buy anyone during this winter break, and didn't even introduce cheap young players. Wenger's experience really proves the old saying: Even a penny can make a hero fall! Compared with Wenger, Chelsea is not short of money, but has too much money to spend. However, the lavish spending last summer did not result in improved performance. Apart from the pride of beating Barcelona in the Champions League, Chelsea's performance in the league has declined significantly compared to last season. The Ukrainian nuclear warhead that Abramovich bought at a high price has been slow to integrate into the team's tactical system. In addition, Mourinho does not like to use him very much, so Shevchenko has almost no voice after joining Chelsea. And it's not just him. German superstar Ballack also had problems acclimatizing after joining the Blues. In the past half season, Ballack's performance has been quite poor, far worse than his performance in the Bundesliga. In fact, it is not just these two who have performed poorly for Chelsea this season. By the 24th round of the league, Chelsea's number of goals conceded had already exceeded that of the previous season. In terms of offense, Chelsea has also declined significantly. At this time last season, Chelsea's league goal tally was leading the entire Premier League by a large margin, but this season, Chelsea's goal tally is already 12 goals behind Manchester United! Three years after Mourinho took over, Chelsea's overall performance declined, and various problems began to emerge, even in the dressing room. More seriously, because Abramovich forcibly intervened in the team's transfer affairs last summer and introduced two superstars, Shevchenko and Ballack, at high prices, Mourinho was very dissatisfied. These two are not the best choices in Mourinho's mind. In his opinion, with Shevchenko's sky-high transfer fee and Ballack's high salary, he can use it to buy a younger player who is more in line with the team's tactical requirements, such as Lin Feng from Inter Milan. Just imagine, if it was Lin Feng who joined Chelsea last summer, Chelsea would have both immediate combat effectiveness and a future. How could Shevchenko and Ballack, two veterans over 30 years old who have entered the later stages of their careers, compare to them? So in order to express his dissatisfaction, Mourinho openly disobeyed Abramovich's orders, put the two on the bench, and even made it clear that if Abramovich forced him to use a certain player, he would leave Chelsea. Abu took these words to heart and did not force him anymore, but his feeling towards him deteriorated sharply. The once close relationship has unknowingly developed a bottomless rift. …… Real Madrid has made such a big move, so Inter Milan will naturally not sit idly by. After all, many fans jokingly call Inter Milan the garbage recycling station of Real Madrid. Many players who could not stay in Real Madrid or were cleared out by Real Madrid finally chose to join Inter Milan. For example, Cambiasso, Figo, Solari and so on. And this winter, there are so many Real Madrid stars who have been rumored to have affairs with Inter Milan! It is not known whether it was Capello's own intention or the instruction of Real Madrid's top management.
After sending away Figo and Ronaldo one after another, Real Madrid still chose to clean up the remaining Galacticos lineup without mercy. Among them, the British football star Beckham was the main target. Capello himself disliked Beckham very much. He thought that he was flashy and lacked the corresponding defensive ability as a defensive midfielder, which led to problems in the team's defense. So after he took over as coach of Real Madrid, he immediately put Beckham on the bench. The new president Calderon did not intervene and even welcomed the outcome. As the last superstar of the Galacticos era, as long as Beckham is eliminated, everything left by Florentino will be cleared away. Faced with Real Madrid's suppression, Beckham naturally knew what would happen to him. So during the winter break, his transfer became a big news in the football world. Even if you are not a fan of Real Madrid or Beckham himself, you are all concerned about when this popular player will leave Real Madrid and which club he will join next. Although there are rumors that someone from the Major League Baseball is in contact with Beckham, the heartthrob's next club is likely to be a team in the MLS. But this news has been widely questioned. In everyone's perception, the MLS is a place for stars at the end of their careers to retire, and Beckham is not at that level yet. Figo, born in 72, was still a starter for Inter Milan. How could he, born in 75, have fallen to the point of playing in the MLS so quickly? So many people believe that Beckham’s next club will definitely be a team in the top five leagues, and it is very likely to be a wealthy club. Coincidentally, Beckham visited Milan once in November last year when he was recovering from injury. Although he ostensibly came to attend the wedding of his good friend Tom Cruise, it is hard to say whether he has had private contact with the two Milan clubs. It is also because of this that after Beckham’s transfer rumors came out, Inter Milan instantly became the focus of everyone’s suspicion. It's no wonder that others would be suspicious, as Inter Milan and Real Madrid have always had close relations. The two teams have cooperated many times. Inter Milan often introduces players from Real Madrid at low prices, and Real Madrid also introduced the alien Ronaldo from Inter Milan. With such cooperative contacts, it is not impossible to cooperate again. Furthermore, Beckham started out as a right-side player. Although he is not very competent in the defensive midfielder position, he poses a great threat on the right side. There was no other way in Real Madrid, as there was already someone in that position, so he had to sacrifice himself and play as a defensive midfielder. But Inter Milan has a rich talent pool in the defensive midfielder position and does not need him to sacrifice. If Beckham really joins Inter Milan, he can go back to play as his favorite right winger. It just so happens that Figo on Inter Milan's right side is getting older and has less and less playing time. Beckham joining the team at this time can greatly alleviate Inter Milan's embarrassment of lack of players on the right side. So when the news came out, many people came to Inter Milan to ask whether Inter Milan really wanted to sign Beckham? Mancini was caught off guard by the question: Inter Milan is going to sign Beckham? How come I, the head coach, don’t know this? When asked, he was so doubtful about his life that he quickly asked the club chairman Moratti to verify the authenticity of the news. If this is true, then it can only be Moratti himself who did it. Considering that Moratti has been frantically introducing various stars in the past decade, he seems to have an inexplicable collecting habit for stars, which makes Mancini feel that he can definitely do this. "Beckham? Do you have any thoughts about him?" Moratti was also a little confused, because he actually liked players like Beckham very much. He is strong, has outstanding appearance and temperament, and is very dedicated. He can not only bring honor to the team, but also help the team expand its commercial value. Which boss would not like such a player? But he really did not take the initiative to "seduce" Beckham. Moratti's mind was now full of how to build a team around Lin Feng.
Although Inter Milan has always mocked AC Milan next door as an old car, the average age of the team is not small, and the lineup is also very aging and needs to be rebuilt. Considering that Lin Feng is still very young and has outstanding strength. So it was natural for Inter Milan to take him as the cornerstone of the team, build the team's future lineup around him and formulate corresponding technical and tactical play. However, where to find such a large group of outstanding young players is a very troubling problem. Moreover, Moratti has always wanted to change coaches. Even if he had extra time, he used it to observe various famous coaches and never paid attention to what was happening at Real Madrid. (End of this chapter)