Chapter 102: The second signing of the summer window, Levy’s mentality exploded
Li Chen did not choose to sneak into the stadium to congratulate Mu when the entire Roma team was celebrating.

Even with his current reputation in the industry and his relationship with Lao Mu, it is not a problem for him to get a work permit and enter the scene.

But he still chose not to do so, because now was the time for the entire Roma team and Mourinho to celebrate.

After watching Roma’s trophy-winning ceremony, he returned to his hotel accompanied by his security team.

More than two hours later, he received a call from Lao Mu.

“You’ve returned to the hotel early, Li?”

It still sounded a bit noisy on the other end of the phone. Li Chen didn’t know whether it was Mancini or Smalling who suddenly leaned over the phone and yelled in a funny way.

Li Chen and Lao Mu, who were connected over the phone, both smiled knowingly.

Afterwards, Li Chen briefly talked about his schedule for tomorrow.

Although the off-season has arrived, it is not time for Li Chen, who is still responsible for part of the club’s recruitment work, to rest assured.

In addition, he has also accepted invitations from UEFA and Sky Sports to serve as Sky Sports’ special guest at the Champions League final in a few days.

So even if he wanted to stay, he would have no time to relax and reminisce with Lao Mu in the next few days. It would be better for him to finish all the work at hand and then have a good rest.

Mourinho didn’t say much after hearing this, but made an appointment with Li Chen to meet sometime this summer.

The next morning, Li Chen boarded the plane from Budapest back to London, holding a newspaper reporting that Mourinho had led Roma to successfully win the Europa League championship.

However, his good mood disappeared as soon as he got off the plane and received a call from the club’s transfer negotiation team.

“Levi has set a price limit of 2 million euros? Is there no possibility of negotiation?”

“No, and the inside information we received is that Levy is determined to sell Kane to other leagues. He even offered Manchester United a transfer fee of 2.5 million…”

Li Chen felt very unhappy when he first heard that Levy was asking for an exorbitant price and deliberately disgusting the Newcastle club.

But when he heard that Levy offered a transfer fee of 2.5 million to Manchester United, which also wanted to pursue Kane, he suddenly felt a lot more balanced.

Although Levi is not a likable guy, he is relatively fair in what he does. He will definitely not just disgust one person if he can disgust more people.

Li Chen could already imagine Ten Hag’s confused expression after learning of Levy’s offer.

Levy wants to sell Kane, whose contract expires next summer, for a sky-high price of more than 2 million euros. It is clear that he does not want his competitors in the Premier League to get Kane.

Normally speaking, any club willing to offer Kane around 8000 million at this time would be considered very sincere.

Newcastle’s first offer was this number, but now it seems that Newcastle really has no need to continue negotiating with Tottenham about Kane’s transfer.

“I understand. Terminate the negotiations and cut off all transfer contacts with Tottenham… Next, you should focus on the negotiations with Real Madrid. I hope to get good news from you as soon as possible.”

Li Chen made the decision, but his pursuit of Kane did not end there.

The deal he made with Bayern’s management comes in handy now.

This time, he wanted to let the shrewd Levi feel the pain of being played around by his competitors…

After the end of the season, all the major clubs have overtly or covertly accelerated the pace of summer transfer recruitment.

As for the fans, before eating all the big news in the summer transfer window, they have to enjoy a feast of the most technical and tactical games today.

On the evening of June 6th, the Ataturk Olympic Stadium welcomed the UEFA Champions League final of the 10-2022 season.

Before the game, more than 70% of the fans interviewed clearly stated that they were more optimistic that Manchester City would win the championship easily.

The remaining 30% of the fans interviewed are more optimistic about Inter Milan winning the Champions League this season.

But they also believe that the entire Inter Milan team needs to perform exceptionally well to beat Manchester City in the 90 minutes of regular match time.

Just looking at the starting rosters of the two teams and the team’s value data, it is very reasonable for fans to have such an understanding.

Manchester City has long been among the top teams in football. In recent years, it seems that only top teams such as Liverpool, Bayern and Real Madrid can be compared with them in the Champions League.

Inter Milan has performed quite well in recent seasons, but in the impression of many fans, they have only just risen again.

In terms of performance ceiling and experience in important Champions League battles, they are far inferior to Manchester City.

Inter Milan has created a miracle by successfully reaching the Champions League final this season.

Before the game, some media also shouted the slogan that Inter Milan’s loss to Manchester City was not a failure. What’s outrageous is that this argument was also recognized by many neutral fans.

This gives us a glimpse into the direction of public opinion at the moment.

But even under such public opinion, Li Chen, who was a guest in the Sky Sports studio, gave his own different and novel opinions.

“The stronger team can certainly choose a safe tactic in a cup final, but being safe often means you can’t cause more trouble for the opponent.

Inter Milan has the determination and strength to change. They have a stable and reliable midfield structure, forwards who can seize opportunities, and they are not short of experienced veterans.

I think Inzaghi will definitely seize the opportunity to attack more actively, speed up the tempo of the game, and win space for their two forwards to shoot during the attack and chaos.

If Manchester City are not fully prepared, they will definitely be in big trouble.”

Owen and Carragher, who were also special guests at today’s Champions League final, were skeptical.

Of course, they are more optimistic that Manchester City will easily win the championship, but Li Chen’s lucky mouth has predicted the final winning team many times this season.

In order to avoid being embarrassed later, the two chose to suppress their doubts for the time being and wait to see the situation of the game before adjusting and making their own statements.

After the game officially started, Inter Milan quickly got into the game as Li Chen expected, using more aggressive pressing and oppression to compete for the offensive rhythm.

Manchester City seemed to be a little slow to warm up, or it could be said that the tactics adopted by Guardiola today were more stable than before.

They wanted to control the game more, but Inter Milan’s starting players, who were full of energy, did not want to give Manchester City a chance to fight a war of attrition.

Including Dzeko, Inter Milan’s midfield and frontcourt players used their physical strength to press and run, which quickly won the team many excellent opportunities for counterattacks.

When the game entered the 20th minute of the first half, Inter Milan had already made four shots, while Manchester City had only one shot.

In the 26th minute of the first half, Inter Milan took advantage of their third corner kick opportunity.

Dzeko’s header from the back post was almost poked into Manchester City’s goal by Lautaro who was rushing forward!

At the critical moment, Ruben Dias, who was helping Ederson defend the near corner of the goal, stretched out his calf to block Lautaro’s shot!

Lautaro, who had never expected that his opponent could even block his shot, hugged his head in disbelief.

The Inter Milan fans at the scene also let out a huge sigh.

The commentators could no longer say that Lautaro’s shooting skills or shot selection were problematic. It was Ruben Dias’s extraordinary performance that saved Manchester City!
Guardiola watched the team escape and fell directly from the coaching seat!

But afterwards he did not signal the team to expand the defense line and attack instead of defend. Instead, he continued to keep his temper and asked the players on the field to pay attention to the efficiency of defending in the penalty area.

The Manchester City defenders were alerted and showed 100% vigilance. They did not make any low-level mistakes, giving Inter Milan forwards easy opportunities to shoot in the penalty area.

The first half of the game ended quickly with both teams drawing.

Looking at the statistics alone, Manchester City only gained more ball possession and passing data in this half of the game.

They are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of the number of shots, shots on target, corner kick opportunities and fouls.

Li Chen’s prediction seemed to have come true again, and the Inter Milan he favored did become the ruler in the first half of the final.

But just when Owen and Carragher had already changed sides and wanted to express their optimism about Inter Milan, Li Chen changed the subject.

“The second half of such an important final will test the mentality of the players of both teams.

Manchester City has adapted to the rhythm of the game and has also figured out Inter Milan’s offensive tactics. This is a very dangerous signal.

If Inter Milan fails to maintain their offensive rhythm and score a goal before 60 minutes of the second half, they will face a targeted counterattack from Manchester City.

If they can’t keep their mentality stable, the game after 60 minutes will be a huge test for Inter Milan’s players.”

Li Chen is very confident in his judgment.

After all, he had played in many top football battles with Mourinho and Ancelotti 10 years ago.

Some competitions have not yet reached the finals level, but their value and importance are no less than the finals.

With a lot of experience, and having led his team to play multiple finals for two consecutive seasons, Li Chen can be considered a finals expert.

These players of Inter Milan are not bad in ability, but the fatal point is that none of their starting players has played in the Champions League final.

The further into the second half of the game such a big battle progresses, the more it tests the players’ mentality and big battle experience.

Manchester City has at least experienced a Champions League final. Although they lost to Chelsea in the end, it has become a valuable game experience for them.

Li Chen feels that it is this gap that will eventually help Manchester City find a way out.

This is not a scientific analysis, but a coach’s judgment and intuition.

The second half of the game started quickly, and the tug-of-war between the two teams continued until the 70th minute of the second half.

It was also at this point in the game that Guardiola let go and allowed the entire team to press forward!
Manchester City, who had been holding back for almost the entire game, finally released their offensive passion.

Inter Milan, which had already consumed excessive physical energy in the first half of the game, could only shrink its formation and consolidate its defense at this moment.

The situation between the two teams soon turned around.

Manchester City, who were beating Inter Milan, repeatedly sent threatening passes back from the flanks and center.

In the 76th minute, Bonado Silva shook off Dimarco at the right bottom line and made an unconventional inverted triangle pass!
This back pass did not find several Manchester City attackers who were flanking the middle of the penalty area, but was pushed back directly to the edge of Inter Milan’s penalty area!

Under the tense gaze of countless fans around the world, Rodri, who had made a forward run, took the lead and shot like a god!

Onana had no way to deal with Rodri’s long-range shot!
Manchester City also scored a winning goal at a crucial stage when the game was about to enter the end of regular time!
Guardiola’s rare tactical rhythm of first suppressing and then rising in the final stage was not in vain. His changes made Manchester City achieve the final success!

The famous king of offensive football in the football world ended up winning his first Champions League title with Manchester City in a dramatic way using more pragmatic tactics.

This has to be said to be a very interesting scene.

Of course, Li Chen, who made correct predictions in both the first and second half, has once again become the focus of fans’ attention.

Carragher even took the time to send a tweet, in which there was only the image of Li Chen standing in the studio with his hands on his hips watching the game.

The accompanying text is even simpler.

“Come out and see God!”

This tweet was full of jokes and ridicule, but Li Chen’s ability to guess the direction of the game situation one after another was truly amazing.

So much so that after the game, Li Chen had to choose to drive away with Owen and Carragher to avoid being besieged and interviewed by reporters who were waiting there.

Perhaps realizing that he had been too much in the spotlight recently, Li Chen did not participate in any public events in the next few days.

Newcastle officials also began to frequently forward photos and tweets of their players taking a break.

After the summer transfer window officially opened, clubs from all major leagues have announced some signings to a greater or lesser extent.

Some of these are true and some are false. Some are indeed at the substantive stage of transfer where both parties have contacted each other, while others are fake news deliberately leaked in order to better lower the price.

Newcastle was very low-key at the beginning, and only announced the news of Guimarães and Joelinton’s successful contract renewal in the early stage after the summer transfer window opened.

But just when Magpies fans thought that their team’s recruitment work this summer would be slow, Newcastle’s official Twitter account made a big move!

On the morning of June 6, Newcastle and Bayern Munich successively issued transfer announcements.

Newcastle sells Paline to Bayern Munich.

Half an hour after Bayern officially announced that they had reached an agreement with Tottenham and successfully introduced Kane, they announced that Kane would be loaned to Newcastle Club for three years!
These two transfer announcements instantly shocked the world of football!

Well-known media reporters with connections did some in-depth research and eventually found out that Newcastle sold Palinha for 4500 million euros, while Bayern spent a premium of 1.2 million euros to introduce Kane.

At first glance this seems normal.

But fans who are familiar with Bayern know that Bayern’s management will never allow the management team to make a transfer decision to buy a 30-year-old veteran at a premium!
And Newcastle sold Palinha too “cheaply”.

Even if they cannot sell Palinha at the latest Transfermarkt price of 65 million euros, Newcastle can still easily sell this popular midfielder for 55 million.

4500 million is really a bargain, which makes Newcastle seem very conscientious. But they are not a friendly club of Bayern, so why should they let Bayern take such a big advantage?
There must be other explanations!

Some of the more intelligent fans quickly came to an interesting conclusion after some deductions.

There is no way Bayern would spend such a huge sum of money to bring in Kane, but it would make sense if there were other clubs willing to bear the transfer fee and the huge commission to Kane’s agent.

In order to thank Bayern for making this deal, Newcastle, who finally got Kane, chose to “sell” Palinha to Bayern at a low price to express their gratitude, which is reasonable…

The fans who deduced the inside story behind this were thrilled!

Levi, who was dealing with some business issues in London at the moment, was in a state of panic.

He was made a fool of himself!

(End of this chapter)