Chapter 631
Lin Feng and Cristiano Ronaldo, Brothers in Football?
It was truly a case of one stone stirring up a thousand waves; Ronaldo's transfer completely ignited the entire football world.
Real Madrid fans spread the news and celebrated with singing and dancing that their team had signed another superstar.
No one says that Real Madrid's second Galácticos lacks star power anymore. Lin Feng and Cristiano Ronaldo are enough to surpass the original Galácticos team composed of Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo, and others!
Unlike the first Galácticos, these two not only have a better image and temperament than Zidane and Ronaldo, but they are also stronger.
Compared to Zidane, Lin Feng is not only younger, but also more versatile.
His role on the field was far greater than Zidane's, as evidenced by his match statistics and the honors he led his team to.
As for Cristiano Ronaldo, although his ability is not as good as Ronaldo's at his peak, when the "Alien" came to Real Madrid, he was already in a weakened state after a major injury and could not perform to his full potential.
In contrast, Cristiano Ronaldo already possessed strong immediate impact, and he had not yet reached his limit, continuing to grow.
More importantly, these two are much younger than Zidane and Ronaldo.
Such signings, which combine fame and skill with complementary positions, creating a synergy greater than the sum of its parts, are far superior to the indiscriminate acquisitions made by the first Galacticos era in order to simply pile up star players!
Real Madrid president Calderón, who orchestrated the transfer, was very pleased. Florentino Pérez was able to boost his support by promising fans that he would bring in big-name stars, which helped him win the presidential election.
He can certainly do it, and he can even follow other people's paths, leaving others with nowhere to go.
He had already inquired about it; Florentino's people had been secretly contacting Mendes and Ronaldo, hoping to win over fans by using the hype of bringing in another superstar for Real Madrid, thus securing victory in this summer's election.
Calderon's move to secure Ronaldo's signature was tantamount to cutting off his lifeline, leaving Florentino completely without his trump card.
With the Real Madrid presidential election approaching in August, he is eager to know what Florentino Pérez can do to turn things around after losing his biggest trump card.
Real Madrid fans don't care about any of that; they support whoever brings big-name stars to the team and leads them to more victories and championships.
Calderón has done a pretty good job in recent years. Two La Liga titles and two Champions League titles have earned him a lot of credit, and Real Madrid fans are very satisfied with his performance in charge of the club.
They especially admired his transfer dealings that brought in superstars Lin Feng and Cristiano Ronaldo. With these two on the team, unless Real Madrid's performance plummeted and they failed to win any league or Champions League titles for several years, Calderon's position would be very secure, and even Florentino Pérez could not shake it.
Some people are happy, while others are not!
As Real Madrid's arch-rivals, Barcelona fans are deeply uneasy about this transfer by Real Madrid.
Lin Feng alone is already so difficult to deal with, and now there's Cristiano Ronaldo.
Although Barcelona has brought in Ibrahimovic, Barcelona fans are not very confident that the combination of Ibrahimovic and Messi can compete with the combination of Lin Feng and Ronaldo.
After all, Ronaldo is a superstar, while Ibrahimovic?
The Swedes are indeed quite strong, but they are still quite far from being superstars.
And the most worrying question is whether Ibrahimovic can integrate into Barcelona's tactical system.
……
Actually, the most intense reaction to this transfer came not from Barcelona fans, but from Manchester United fans.
Just days after celebrating Kaká's arrival, Manchester United fans were furious upon learning that Ronaldo had been sold. They stormed outside the Carrington training ground, holding up banners with various protest slogans, demanding an explanation from the club.
Why sell Cristiano?
We need a reasonable explanation!
"Give us back Cristiano Ronaldo!"
"The Glazer family of vampires, get out of Carrington!"
Manchester United fans are absolutely furious!
Do those corrupt club executives not understand how important Cristiano Ronaldo is to the team?
Without him, how can Manchester United compete for the Champions League trophy next season?
Forget about winning the Champions League, they might not even be able to keep the league title next season.
Having reached the final for two consecutive years, Manchester United are just one step away from winning the title.
They only need to make targeted improvements to the existing squad and address their weaknesses to potentially achieve their dream of winning the Champions League.
But at such a crucial juncture, the team actually sold off its core player and top scorer!
Is it all for a mere 9600 million euros in transfer fees?
The Glazer family is truly beyond saving; they'll make money off of this kind of thing!
Manchester United will not be good as long as the Glazer family remains in power!
Manchester United fans neither understand nor accept the club's short-sighted approach, and can only blame all their anger on the Glazer family.
Faced with protests from fans, the Glazer family members hid and dared not show their faces, while head coach Ferguson suffered in silence, unable to express his grievances.
If possible, he would certainly like to keep Ronaldo.
But two consecutive years of failure caused Ronaldo to completely lose faith in Manchester United.
Last year, he was able to persuade the other party to stay for another year by appealing to their emotions.
But what can he do this year?
Should we continue to play the emotional card?
Ferguson still has a sense of shame; he simply can't bring himself to deceive Ronaldo again.
Considering the strength of Real Madrid and Barcelona, even if he persuades Ronaldo to stay, and even with Kaká added to the squad, Manchester United is not 100% certain of winning the title.
They're strengthening their squad, and the other side isn't idle either.
After this summer transfer window, the strength of the two La Liga giants will only increase further.
Whether facing Real Madrid or Barcelona, Ferguson was never confident of victory, and even against the transformed Bayern Munich, he struggled to cope.
In this situation, if he continues to try to persuade Ronaldo to stay for another year by appealing to his emotions, he worries that if he fails next year, Ronaldo will become his enemy.
You can't force someone to stay. Since Ronaldo has lost faith in Manchester United and sees no hope here, it's better to part ways amicably and let him leave.
In this way, the relationship between the two sides will not break down, and there may be opportunities for renewed cooperation in the future, creating a chance for the wanderer to return home.
But just as fans feared, Manchester United's strength will undoubtedly be greatly weakened after losing Ronaldo.
Simply bringing in Kaka is not enough to make up for their shortcomings.
This season, Manchester United may not be able to fight their way through to the final like they have before.
Since his strength didn't allow it, and the Champions League was fraught with difficulties, Ferguson decided to focus the new season on the league.
They are just one trophy away from winning the Premier League and dethroning Liverpool.
Ferguson was getting old and didn't want to drag things out any longer.
He wants to achieve this goal this season!
However, winning the Premier League title is far more difficult than in other leagues.
In the new season, Manchester United will not only face challenges from rising stars and established giants such as Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, but also be wary of a variable that has emerged in recent years – Manchester City!
Since the Middle Eastern consortium took over Manchester City, the city has been spending money in the transfer market, signing a host of star players.
On July 18, Manchester City announced three major signings on their official website:
Manchester City spent €2900 million on three transfers: €3000 million to acquire Arsenal's star striker Adebayor, €2700 million to bring in the legendary Tevez from Manchester United, and €8600 million to acquire Everton's key center-back Lescott. For a team that failed to achieve any trophies last season, including failing to qualify for the Champions League group stage, this was a remarkably generous move.
But this is not the limit for Manchester City!
In the following week, Manchester City made a series of moves, announcing one major signing after another, leaving the outside world overwhelmed.
On July 21, Manchester City announced the signing of David Silva, a talented attacking midfielder from Sevilla, for €35 million.
Three days later, Manchester City announced that they had acquired Yaya Toure, a box-to-box midfielder who had a strained relationship with manager Pep Guardiola, from Barcelona for €32 million.
They then signed Kolo Toure, Toure's brother, from Arsenal for €2000 million...
Manchester City's extravagant spending has attracted the attention of the entire Premier League.
Manchester City have already spent more than 2 million euros in the transfer market this summer alone.
Even when Abramovich took over Chelsea, they weren't as extravagant in spending money on player transfers as they are now.
Moreover, it is said that Manchester City is not satisfied with signing these players, and even has its sights set on Lin Feng and Messi.
They sent exorbitant transfer faxes to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, hoping to bring one of these two superstars back to the Etihad Stadium!
This reckless spending has drawn strong criticism from many teams.
They jointly pressured UEFA to implement Financial Fair Play regulations as soon as possible to stop this endless arms race.
If this behavior cannot be effectively curbed, not only will ordinary small and medium-sized teams be unable to survive, but even some traditional powerhouses will find it difficult to hold on.
Can't you see that Serie A, which can't afford to burn through money, is on its last legs and about to collapse?
While other league giants are aggressively recruiting new players, Inter Milan and AC Milan, two traditional powerhouses, are facing severe player losses.
Inter Milan lost their star striker, and AC Milan even lost their key player.
As a result of this blow, these two clubs may not be able to recover for a long time to come.
In previous years, we could still see them competing in the Champions League. But now, with the rise of Roma and Napoli, and the resurgence of the old powerhouse Juventus, it is a big question mark whether they can still get a Champions League spot in the future.
When Zidane left Serie A, people were debating whether the league was truly on the verge of decline.
But by the time Lin Feng left Serie A, there was little disagreement on this issue.
No one expected that Serie A would decline so quickly.
In just two short years, Serie A has fallen from its Champions League title to such a state, which is truly lamentable.
If this continues, Serie A might end up sitting at the same table as Ligue 1, like children.
……
Although he was in China, Lin Feng would still occasionally keep up with transfer news from Europe.
He couldn't possibly be unaware of such a major event as Real Madrid signing Cristiano Ronaldo, which shocked the entire football world and even garnered widespread coverage in domestic media.
Lin Feng was actually quite surprised to hear this news.
In his impression, Ronaldo was a very arrogant guy, even a bit too arrogant.
He joined Real Madrid after Manchester United had already won the Ballon d'Or and the Champions League.
At that time, Real Madrid was in a slump, performing poorly in both the league and the Champions League, and even repeatedly failing to advance beyond the round of 16 in the Champions League, making them a laughing stock.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Real Madrid with the success and pride of his time at Manchester United, was not there to ride on anyone's coattails, but rather as a savior hoping to arrive at the Bernabéu and rescue Real Madrid!
However, in the current situation, the circumstances are completely different from those in the original timeline.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not achieve success at Manchester United, at least not entirely.
Having only won league titles but never the Champions League, European Golden Boot, Ballon d'Or, or FIFA World Player of the Year, he was completely inferior to Lin Feng, a true superstar with two Ballon d'Or awards and three Champions League trophies.
In this situation, it will be extremely difficult for him to compete with Lin Feng, who has already achieved brilliant results at Real Madrid and has a deep foundation.
Therefore, Ronaldo's joining at this time will not be seen as Real Madrid's savior, but rather as someone trying to ride on their coattails to win the championship.
Cristiano Ronaldo couldn't possibly be unaware of this, but he still came.
Either he has full confidence in his abilities and believes he can definitely suppress Lin Feng and become Real Madrid's number one star.
Either he wasn't there to compete with Lin Feng for the top spot at all, but rather to curry favor with him and promote brotherhood football?
Lin Feng has never had much contact with Cristiano Ronaldo and doesn't know much about him.
Based solely on Ronaldo's personality from his previous life, this possibility seems unlikely, which is why this transfer seems strange.
Considering that both he and Ronaldo's agents are Mendes, Lin Feng plans to take some time to call Mendes and find out the situation.
……
After spending a huge sum to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid's transfer spending this summer is close to 2 million euros. Even a super club like Real Madrid doesn't have the money to continue spending lavishly.
Besides buying players, Real Madrid also sold quite a few players.
After gaining the support of the club's top management, Mourinho made a tough decision and carried out a major purge of the Dutch contingent, including Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder, Huntelaar, Robben, and Van der Vaart.
Van Nistelrooy terminated his contract with Real Madrid and joined Hamburg as a free agent.
Sneijder was sold to Inter Milan for a low price of 2000 million euros, while Huntelaar was sold to AC Milan for 1500 million euros.
Rafael van der Vaart was traded to Tottenham Hotspur for €1200 million as part of the Modric transfer.
After offloading players like Sneijder, Mourinho intended to keep Robben, who had performed exceptionally well at the end of last season, and sell Higuain.
However, Robben was not keen on staying at Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich kept raising the price, from the initial 2500 million to 4500 million. Moreover, the more Real Madrid didn't want to sell, the more they wanted to buy him.
In order to raise money to buy Cristiano Ronaldo, Mourinho was forced to agree to let Robben go and keep Higuain.
On July 28, just one day after Real Madrid officially announced the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid began their training tour in Asia.
Their first stop on this trip was China! (End of Chapter)