Reality has a strong irony.

There are many little stories that circulate in East London.

For example, Millwall was dismissive of Chelsea's £50 million offer, Thierry Henry was indifferent to £10 million a year, and Millwall's hierarchy, led by Adam, mocked Chelsea for paying £10 million for Johnson after drinking in a bar

Millwall's treatment of Johnson's transfer, the club is very calm, because Johnson is the bottom, the most marginal, the least concerned figure, whether he has zài or not, almost no impact.

And the Lions fans laughed at him with a disdainful attitude and left Millwall for money? This is not a departure from the failure of competition, he has not even competed at all, and he wants to make a lot of money, giving up the bright future that he may have in Millwall.

In addition to contempt, he will also say in a sarcastic tone: he has contributed to Millwall, Chelsea are rich, it is simply wonderful! Henry was bought by us for 10 million pounds, and now we sold Johnson to Chelsea for 10 million pounds, and we can use 10 million pounds to find the next Henry.

The deal has also been divided among the fan base, with some believing Millwall should not have sold the player to bitter rivals Chelsea.

The retractors have two points of view, the first is that the feng shui rotates, Millwall used to lure away the academy seedlings of their rivals West Ham United with high salaries, and today Chelsea can also poach people from Millwall in this way, can this be avoided? Second, if the player is not sold to Chelsea, Johnson has torn his face. In the case of openly announcing that he wants to devote himself to Stamford Bridge. Keep him on the team. Wouldn't the fans be as disgusted as if they had eaten a fly when they saw him?

Aldrich did not give an interview, but some sources in Fleet Street were informed of his attitude.

"Johnson? He had hoped for a good future at Millwall when Schneider was about to turn 30, but now, everything has changed, he can't take Millwall's No. 7 jersey, he won't let Glenn Johnson's name be special and go. Let's go, and in a few years' time, we can see who takes over Schneider's No.7 shirt and right-back position, and at that time, it must be a top-three player in the world in the same position, because Millwall is looking for perfection. ”

Entering mid-July, Millwall's all-team training camp kicked off, and Aldridge finished training on his first day back with Johnson in addition to cleaning up Johnson. He called Xiao Luo into the office and looked at Xiao Luo's slightly fat belly. Asked: "Can it disappear in a month?" ”

Xiao Luo embarrassedly pinched the fat on his waist, and said in a firm tone: "Two weeks!" ”

I'm afraid he's going to have to sweat a lot in the gym.

Aldridge took out a necklace of shells from a drawer and handed it to him, saying: "This is a necklace that Earl carefully selected after picking up shells at the beach, and I have given it to you to thank you for guiding him to play football before the end of last season." ”

Xiao Luo's face was surprised, and he immediately smiled and took the necklace, and when he looked down, he found that the inside of the shells with a good size and beautiful texture were engraved with words on the back of each one, crooked, obviously not from the master's hand, presumably the little guy Earl himself carved it.

A necklace in which the letters inside each shell are combined into a sentence.

"King of the World - Ronaldinho."

Xiao Luo wore it directly around his neck, matching it with his training T-shirt, which didn't feel coordinated, but he liked it very much, and laughed: "I just played with him casually, and I didn't teach him anything." ”

Since Aldridge returned to coach last season, his two sons have been training with the youth team, and Ronaldo sometimes runs around when he has nothing to do, and he has a good relationship with Earl, and he just plays with him when he is bored.

After Ronaldo's departure, Aldridge asked in the office about the progress of the transfer section.

Before the end of his holiday, the club had already finalised the list of signings.

The forward line is worry-free, and the guard line does not need to be recruited, but now there is less Johnson, and the fullback is a link, and it is reluctant to say that there are hidden dangers, after all, Neil can play fullback, but from the perspective of long-term development, there is still a need for newcomers, and it should be possible to promote the 17-year-old Ramos, but he is the only one, and he still seems thin, especially on the other side, Baines is not very old.

On the midfield line, Aldridge asked Jenson to find a midfield substitute before the end of last season, which must be dominated by young people, after all, Alonso's age is there, and he is willing to play a substitute for Alonso, so naturally he will be younger than Alonso.

The results given by Jenson really continue the true character of Millwall's team-building style.

Others are basically buying players in the present, or buying players in the past.

Millwall, and Arsenal, are basically buying players for the future.

The person Jensen liked, Aldrich looked at it, and was quite satisfied.

Sporting Lisbon Academy Twins.

Moutinho and Veloso.

Originally, it was a two-choice choice, and Aldridge directly asked the team to bring both of them.

One is Veloso, who has just turned 17, and Moutinho will not be 17 until September.

Veloso can be developed as a substitute for De Rossi in the future, and Moutinho can be developed as a substitute for Alonso.

Sporting Lisbon probably sensed the storm blowing by Chelsea in the Premier League, and at first they didn't let go, but they didn't want to let go.

However, when the two players heard that Millwall were interested in them, they were visibly moved.

So since the beginning of July, they have been negotiating, and the tug-of-war over the transfer fee has been deadlocked.

Sporting Lisbon Lions opened their mouths and demanded £20 million.

And keep saying: Glenn Johnson you sold to Chelsea for £10 million, that's just a mediocre boy, and our players are real talents.

Is this retribution?

It's so ironic.

Anyway, Glenn Johnson has an appearance record in the Premier League, and Sporting Lisbon are the two boys. Zero appearances in the professional league!

"Boss. The tone of the Lisbon side was very resolute. The bottom line is 15 million pounds. ”

"Damn, give it to him! It's over early! The further back you go, the greater the variables! ”

Aldrich hung up the phone in annoyance.

At this point, the pound is almost 1:1.5 against the euro.

£15 million, which equates to almost 23 million euros.

Buy two 17-year-old hairy boys.

It is estimated that the media that have been laughing at Chelsea recently will immediately turn their guns and mock Millwall.

However, Aldrich does not regret it, things in the transfer market have always changed rapidly, and. Millwall is a big move, if other clubs finish the main recruitment work, and then look back and find the main target of Millwall's side, there will be spoilers to intervene, and at that time, it may not be possible to get 15 million pounds.

When it really got to that situation, Millwall didn't want to suffer a big loss, and the transfer was in vain.

But what about the team's plans for the season?

Not affected by it?

Heading to North America for a warm-up game, Aldridge doesn't like to delay a move for too long.

He wants the transfer to be closed when the team flies to the United States. Prepare for the new season with peace of mind.

Today's planned work is over, and Aldrich is ready to get up and go home. At that moment, there was a knock on the door of his office.

Seeing that it was Klose, Aldrich smiled and asked the other party to sit down, Klose looked more relaxed, and after sitting down, he began to chat with Aldridge and talked a lot about the past.

"Boss, I think your promise to my parents has been fulfilled."

"Chief, I've had a great time in Millwall, and you've shown me the most beautiful scenery, and even though I'm not the master most of the time, I've learned a lot of valuable lessons."

Hearing Klose's words, Aldridge's mood was not heavy, and finally, in silence, he spoke: "You want to go, right?" ”

Klose nodded slightly.

Aldrich was in a trance.

At this point, he was very different from Lampard's circumstances when he offered to leave.

On the contrary, he can understand Klose.

In front of Lampard, there is a 31-year-old Nedved who will be 31 this summer, two years, at most two years, and Lampard is not willing to wait.

And Klose, who is just 25 years old, is facing Henry, who is about to turn 26.

If Thierry Henry is in good form and injury-free, Klose has little chance of getting on the table.

Originally, this layer of window paper had not been pierced in the summer of '02, until Klinsmann helped Klose to the position last season, and at the end of the season, Aldridge added him to the bench, and Klose also recognized the reality.

It's not that he doesn't want to compete, it's not that he lacks courage.

This past season, he was more stable than everyone else's starters, scoring 19 goals in the league, which is already a good number of goals, but this number of goals, compared to Henry in the past few seasons, the gap is in double digits!

It's no longer a question of whether he will be able to take the position if he waits.

A genius covers up countless geniuses, and the competition of giants is so cruel.

Aldridge muttered blankly: "When I brought you to Millwall, I originally thought that today you would be Millwall's number one striker, and no one could shake it. ”

Plans can never keep up with the rapid pace of change.

Henry, who had been asked for repeatedly and unsuccessfully, was not in Aldrich's original plan, because the failure of one, two, and three times made him think that there was no possibility with Henry, but he finally got Henry, and this changed all of Aldrich's original assumptions about Klose.

Although Klose can still play as a winger, it would be unfair to him to keep him as a winger, because "being able to play" and "top" are two different things.

In the wing, the competition for the future Ronaldo, the current Ronaldo, in the center, a Henry, so that Millwall before and after how many center forwards desperately carry the burden and choose to leave?

Aldridge is more open-minded in mentality, compared to the lack of strikers because of the departure of Shevchenko and Trezeguet, at least Van Nistelrooy, Drogba, and now Klose, they are very good, but at least the main core of Millwall has not been shaken.

This situation is the same as before.

"Do you want to develop in the past?"

Aldrich asked.

Klose shook his head and smiled: "I don't have a concrete idea yet, though, I don't want to stay in the Premier League anymore because I don't want to play for Millwall's league rivals, and if we meet in Europe in the future, I hope the Millwall fans don't boo me." ”

Aldridge smiled: "No, at least, I haven't seen the Millwall fans boo Trezeguet and Shevchenko, and Elgra, even when Pirlo came back last season, the fans didn't boo them. ”

"No, I can't compare with them, they have brought great glory to Millwall, and my contribution here is insignificant."

"That's not right, you've been a player we can trust all these years, maybe it's not gorgeous in a season, but it's definitely a big contribution."

A steady substitute, a good substitute player, the role will be obvious, a team itself cannot rely on 11 players to win the world, let alone a season of 70+ games like Millwall's South and North Campaigns in the past few years.

The little carpenter was leaving, and Aldridge invited Klose to dinner with his girlfriend at home in the evening, wishing him all the best for the future. (To be continued......)