Chapter 47: The Most Expensive Derby

Carrington Training Base.

After two weeks of international breaks, Manchester United players are returning to Manchester.

With the exception of a few injured players, the remaining United players began the day training under the command of the coaching staff.

Ancelotti frowned.

The situation is not optimistic.

Most of the players who have just returned from the national team are showing fatigue, even Li Qingshan, who has the best physical fitness, inevitably has a tired look on his face after experiencing two national team games and a long flight of more than ten hours, not to mention other players.

Marouane Fellaini's injury is okay, and Manchester United still have several good players in midfield, especially after the introduction of Pogba, the other midfielders can only compete for the remaining two positions, Herrera, Kramer, and Carrick can all play in this position.

And the injuries of the two wide attackers up front made Carlo Ancelotti scratch his head a little.

Compared to Juan Mata and Di Maria, the attacking wingers in Manchester United's first team at this time are Ashley Young, as well as youngsters Lingard and Rashford, compared to Mata and Di Maria, Lingard and Rashford are of course not as experienced and capable as these two mature stars, and Ashley Young is also where his age, the England winger no longer has the speed he had when he debuted - but he is also a qualified rotation player.

What bothers Ancelotti even more is the injury to Hummels, the German centre-back is the core player that Ancelotti relies on at the back. As soon as Hummels is injured, the centre-back position is bound to be precarious.

In addition to the goalkeeper, the cornerstone of a team's defence is to rely on a stable combination of centre-backs, so it is rare for a team to rotate between centre-backs and goalkeepers. The two centre-backs who work well together will need to work together for a long time.

Now at centre-back, there are Marcos Rojo, Smalling, Phil Jones and the new centre-back Eric Bailly, who has been introduced this season.

There are two options in front of Ancelotti now, in terms of the ability of the players, the combination of Rojo and Bailly, who have played more games, should be a more ideal combination, but in terms of tacit understanding, Smalling and Phil Jones, who have been together for a long time, also seem to be a suitable option.

Rotation is a must.

The sudden large injury list has stretched Carlo Ancelotti's line-up, and the fatigue of the main players has also been seen by the coaching staff.

The Manchester derby is clearly a game that cannot be given up – and if they do, the United fans will absolutely spray their manager to death.

It's a real headache.

Ancelotti rubbed his head, and the face of the assistant coach Giggs on the side was not too good.

"You can only pick one of these two games as the focus." Ancelotti finally made up his mind, and he turned to Giggs.

Ryan Giggs nodded, he certainly knows the situation of the team at the moment. If both Manchester derbies and Belgium are juggled, the biggest possibility is that neither side has the benefit.

"It's just a derby." Giggs suggested.

As a veteran of Manchester United, Ryan Giggs is of course well aware of the grievances between the two teams in Manchester, and the loss to Manchester City is more painful than the loss to Club Brugge in Belgium...

Ancelotti knew this in his heart, and he nodded, not rebutting.

Prepare for the Manchester derby, and as for Belgium, you will have to make some extensive rotations....

Fortunately, Manchester United's group stage opponents this season are not too strong, even if there is an accident in the first game of the group stage, there is still a chance.

Moreover, even if you rotate the squad, you will not necessarily lose to Club Brugge, and now the gap between the rich and the poor in the European leagues is widening, and the gap between the middle leagues of Europe such as the Belgian league and the top European leagues such as the Premier League is much wider than it was a decade or twenty ago. Because in terms of revenue capacity, Brugge is one on the ground and one in the sky compared to Manchester United. The influence of the league and the economic strength of the team mean the ability to attract stars, so even if it is a Belgian giant, but in European competitions, European small and medium-sized league teams such as Belgium have a weaker and weaker presence in the European competition.

...

The derby was not long in coming.

Compared with Manchester United's four main injuries, Manchester City's situation is better.

Sergio Aguero's suspension has had a big impact on Manchester City, while Yaya Toure has completely lost his place in Pep Guardiola's system.

Manchester City have spent £187 million in the transfer market this season, the highest among any team. Pep Guardiola's side bought centre-back John Stones, striker Leroy Sane, midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, striker Nolito, midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko and goalkeeper Bravo this season. From the center back, midfielder, striker, Manchester City has replaced half of the team almost all at once this season, the big purchase of Guardiola is ambitious, and the addition of a number of high-level new signings also indicates that Manchester City's new season squad will be greatly changed, and Guardiola's concept of passing and controlling football will also be integrated into the Premier League upstart Manchester City.

Looking at the opposing line-up, there is no doubt that Manchester City are a very difficult opponent to deal with.

To be precise, Pep Guardiola's side are always difficult to play against, and Carlo Ancelotti knows that.

However, Manchester United's squad is not as good, and some media claimed before the game that this is the most expensive derby in history, and Sky Sports predicted the start of this game based on the start of the first three rounds of the two teams, and calculated the total value of this matchup based on the transfer fee when these players joined the team. Manchester United's 11 spent £350 million, while Manchester City's 11 spent £320 million. Manchester United and Manchester City combined to spend £670 million on a 22-man start, which Sky Sports says is the most expensive Manchester derby ever. According to Sky Sports statistics, the total starting cost of 22 people when Real Madrid and Barcelona met in 2015 was 562 million pounds, of course, this cost is less because Barcelona's Busquets, Iniesta and others did not spend money on youth training.

Even if Manchester United's main players were injured four at once, Manchester United's transfer value is not a lot at all, and the transfer value of Li Qingshan and Pogba alone is close to 200 million.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration for the media to use the most expensive derby as a gimmick.

And this match will also be a battle between the top two teams in the standings.

Manchester United and Manchester City have won three in a row in the first three rounds, so this game will also be a battle for the top of the table.