Chapter 13 The transfer market isn't everything

Overall, Ah Fa is still very satisfied with this trip to Beijing.

Because he got Li Qingshan's autograph – right under the crest of his Manchester United shirt. and a photo with a number of Manchester United players.

Moreover, with the help of Manchester United, they got the refund money back from Lectune Sports, and part of the round-trip expenses were also reimbursed.

In this public relations process, Manchester United did a good job.

However, this incident caused waves in China, and until the whole Manchester United team left China, it was still rippling in China.

After all, the quality of the turf of the National Stadium, which costs a huge amount of money every year, is so bad that it has ripped off all the skin of the country's sports infrastructure.

This incident has caused widespread discussion and criticism from the media and fans, and the maintenance team of Lezhu Sports and Bird's Nest Stadium, which hosted the event, also blamed each other and shirked responsibility.....

.....

The skies in Manchester are still bright.

The entire United squad for pre-season training at Carrington Training Ground could clearly see that most of the players had been a little tanned by the English sun compared to the end of the holiday.

Marouane Fellaini has finally joined the team in training, and he has finally lost some weight.

And in Manchester United's first team, they have also lost a lot of weight recently.

In addition to the captain Wayne Rooney, who has already moved away, Hernandez has been invited by Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, and Manchester United have left Manchester United for five million euros. Dutchman Blind has returned to the Dutch league, and some of last season's fringe players have left, making Manchester United's first-team team slim down a lot.

However, Carlo Ancelotti has moved up a few players from the Academy to re-bolster the first team.

Including the 20-year-old who has grown from 183 cm in height to 193 cm in one year, Scottish midfielder Scott McTominay; Rising Academy stars such as 19-year-old centre-back Axel Tuanzebe have been wooed by Carlo Ancelotti and moved to the first team.

Now Manchester United's first team has basically finished slimming down, at least in the first team, there are no more players with high salaries, but it is difficult to get a chance to play - these players have been purged by Carlo Ancelotti.

However, Carlo Ancelotti has been a little unhappy lately.

In fact, what he hopes to strengthen the most is in the position of central defender, the combination of Hummels and Rojo is not stable, the state of Argentine central defender Rojo was not stable last season, last season in the face of several strong teams, Manchester United conceded not a small number of goals, if it is not for Li Qingshan's performance on the offensive side is stable enough, once these strong conversations are lost, then it is difficult to say whether Manchester United can have such a big advantage in the standings at the end of the season.

And even if it wasn't against a strong team, even in some games where they didn't concede, United gave their opponents a lot of chances, and to be honest, if it weren't for goalkeeper David De Gea, United's goals conceded numbers would never be as good as they are on the books now – after all, sometimes the numbers are deceiving.

If there was anyone who contributed the most to Manchester United last season, it was undoubtedly Li Qingshan.

Li Qingshan's almost crazy performance last season allowed Manchester United to attack on the third line and win three trophies, but if there is anyone who is in second place, it is guaranteed that many Manchester United fans will choose De Gea - after all, De Gea saved the opponent's must-score goal in almost every game last season!!

As an experienced coach, Carlo Ancelotti remains quite calm. On the football field, any accident can happen.

If it is still like last season, relying on the explosive form of Li Qingshan and De Gea, it is not impossible to lead the team forward - Li Qingshan's ability is enough to make all teams fearful, and De Gea is also trustworthy enough on the goal line.

But the risks are undoubtedly significant. If the holes in the backline cannot be filled, this season Manchester United will have to pile up three midfielders in midfield as they did last season to stabilize the defence at the expense of attack, and even so, De Gea will have to be the key savior. The offense in the front court is more dependent on star players, especially Li Qingshan's play.

But what if the attacking player is not in good shape, or is injured?

Carlo Ancelotti knows where his team's weaknesses lie, so it's his job to try to build United into a stronger and stronger team.

Bringing in a good centre-back is Ancelotti's number one goal.

However, there are only so many excellent central defenders on the market now, and most of these central defenders are not for sale of various giant teams.

The position of central defender is still special compared to other positions, this is a position that relies on defensive experience, most of the budding central defenders are almost twenty-four or five years old, and those really good central defenders are already twenty-seven or eighteen years old, most of them are also playing in various giants, and it is not easy to poach corners.

For example, Carlo Ancelotti has his eye on Juventus' three centre-backs, Barzagli, Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini.

But Juventus barely even negotiated with Manchester United, and simply refused - there was no room for negotiation at all.

Paris Saint-Germain's Thiago Silva is also a central defender that Ancelotti admires, but when Manchester United revealed their interest in Thiago Silva, PSG's backstage boss immediately launched a counterattack, and they made offers for both De Gea and Li Qingshan.......

Although Manchester United is a well-known and wealthy club in football, it is better to have more money than Qatar's National Sovereign Wealth Foundation........ Sandezi thinks about it and knows what the consequences are.

As for other famous central defenders such as Godin, Ramos, Boateng and so on, Manchester United will also find it difficult to pull teeth.

So when Sandezi said that Manchester United did not talk about any of the central defenders that Ancelotti wanted, Ancelotti was not surprised that he was lacking despite regrets.

As for the younger centre-backs of the lower level, Ancelotti is completely out of the list of considerations – because United need the ability to fight and will never sacrifice their results to develop a centre-back. After all, every central defender is tempered by continuous mistakes, and a platform like Manchester United can't give the central defenders a chance to practice.

In the absence of a good enough centre-back, Rojo is also barely usable.

Ancelotti could only console herself.

In addition to the lack of a central defender, the commander-type midfielder that Ancelotti wants is clearly a scarce resource in the transfer market. Manchester United are also hard to find such players in the transfer market.

"Michael can play another season, and if not, let's see next season." Ancelotti was silent for a while, and said to Sandeko on the other side.

Sandezi nodded, it could only be like this for now, but he suddenly said something that made Ancelotti difficult to calm down.

'We have a chance to sign Pogba!'