Chapter 114: The stingy Xiao Ming?

After winning the League Cup last season, although Leiden Oriental has just been promoted to the League One, it has undoubtedly become the focus of even Premier League teams. The local media in London have paid enough attention to this team, hoping that another outstanding London team will appear outside Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Wimbledon.

Although London is the capital of the UK, the top league championships in England have always been divided by teams in the northwest. Teams in the two cities, Manchester and Liverpool, have won most of the top league championships in England. The only three teams in London teams have won the top league championships. As the capital, this result is indeed a bit shabby.

Being able to face northern teams can make Londoners extremely happy even if they have a little advantage.

This time, Manchester United bought Leiden Oriental's number one scorer and number one assist as soon as they took action during the transfer period, which immediately caused a huge response in the English media.

Manchester United is so shameless.

The London media unanimously condemned the team that had won three league championships in the Premier League, believing that they would poach people at home, such as West Ham United, Cantona from Leeds United, Keane from Nottingham Forest, and Cole from Newcastle... In the past, they were still poaching people from Premier League teams, and being able to poach was considered their ability, but this time they poached people from a new English League One team, and they dug two of them. It was simply too unstandard.

The London media scolded this way, in fact, it was jealous of Manchester United's outstanding achievements in recent years. They did not want another Manchester United dynasty to appear after the Liverpool dynasty, and continued to suppress the London teams tightly. But what made them sad is that several Premier League teams in London are indeed not capable of comparing with Manchester United. In the past few years since the establishment of the Premier League, only Blackburn and Newcastle can separate from Manchester United. Tottenham Hotspurs only have the mid-range results, and Chelsea is only a mid-range team. Arsenal is still in the turmoil after changing coaches, and Wimbledon is not the famous crazy helper. Thinking of this, all London fans have a hint of sadness.

In this case, when Newcastle defeated Manchester United with a world-first net worth of 13 million pounds and poached England's best scorer Hiller from Blackburn, the entire London media was excited, believing that this was the best counterattack against Manchester United's hegemony. Last season, Newcastle once firmly suppressed Manchester United, but eventually lost a good game due to lack of experience and psychological factors. After buying Hiller, coupled with the first-class players who already owned Ginola, Biztley, Asprila, Les Ferdinand, Gillespie and other first-class players, Newcastle already has the best offensive line in England, and undoubtedly became the biggest favorite to win the Premier League in the new season except Manchester United.

Compared with Newcastle's big money, Manchester United only bought the son of the Dutch Flyingman Cruyff, apart from the fact that he had dug up Pobosky and Solskjaer from Leiden East, and did not make any big moves. Although Ferguson almost got angry and spent 15 million pounds to buy Bielhof, who shined in the European Cup, did not know what was wrong with Udinese's boss's head, and he flatly declared: "Not to mention 15 million pounds, even 25 million pounds will not be sold!"

As a result, this became the most painful thing for Udinese later. Two years later, Bielhof transferred to AC Milan after winning the Serie A Golden Boot, and they only received 17 million US dollars - although it was not much less than 15 million pounds, but the soaring players' value in two years later made them actually lose a lot...

This season, the Premier League's top players have made a lot of noise. Newcastle bought Hiller, Arsenal bought French midfielder Vieira, and Chelsea even spent money on the transfer market. After Braid Gulit took office, he used his relationship with Italian football, Chelsea bought three Italian players who are famous in Serie A in a row - Juventus center Luca Viali, Parma's Italian national team member's short-footed Tiger Zola and midfielder Robert DiMao, who is also a member of the Italian national team, and French scavenger Frank Leboff, all three lines have been greatly strengthened. Liverpool bought Czech striker Borg, who shined in the European Cup, and a young player named Michael Irving began to enter their first team...

In this turbulent situation, what is Leiden East doing?

When Poboski and Solskjaer were sold to Manchester United, the fans of Leiden Oriental were naturally a little dissatisfied and worried, but they also knew that for Leiden Oriental, it was almost irresistible to poach teams of Manchester United.

Moreover, Pobosky and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also broke up friendly and had transparent transfer operations. The two in the media were grateful for the training and enthusiastic fans of Leiden Oriental this year. During the year in Leiden Oriental, they adapted to the style of English football in advance, which also helped them perform better at Manchester United.

Manchester United has reason to thank Leiden Oriental, but they were resentful of a large number of English League One and English League Two clubs, because after receiving the transfer fee given by Manchester United, Leiden Oriental set off a whirlwind of poaching in English League One and English League Two.

The first one to be poached was Watford, a London team that was just relegated from the League One last season. Their top scorer last season, striker Kevin Phillips, who scored 11 goals in the League One, was poached by Leiden Oriental for 300,000 pounds. Without the double-digit scorer in this list season, the Hornets' chances of returning to the League One are probably not high.

The second victim was the English League One team, Odham, whose main goalkeeper, the 23-year-old Englishman Paul Gerrard was signed by Leiden Oriental for 100,000 pounds. Since Paul Gerrard's contract was only one year left, Odham had to agree to Leiden Oriental's offer, otherwise they would not get a penny in a year.

Next, Xiao Ming's sinful black hand reached out to Luton, the victim of the League Two, their main right-back, the 25-year-old Scotsman Graham Alexander was poached by Leiden East for 300,000 pounds. Luton was originally unwilling to let go, but Alexander himself was naturally willing to go to the higher-level Leiden East, not to mention that Leiden East has European games to play next season, so the attraction is naturally not comparable to Luton. At the same time, in addition to Alexander, Xiao Ming also poached the 17-year-old young player Matthew Upson from Luton. This all-rounder who can play both left and center back can make up for the overall weakness of Leiden East's defense line.

If you want to say that the biggest victim of Leighton East this season is Crew in the League Two. In just one week, Leighton East poached three people from Crew in one breath - 19-year-old midfielder Danny Murphy. The attacking midfielder scored ten goals in the league last season, with excellent running ability and an excellent free kick. He can play in the left, center and right direction. After he was poached, Crew's attack line may be reorganized.

The second person is Crew's Northern Ireland national team member, the midfielder Neil Lennon. This midfielder has the value of all the excellent engineer midfielders in the future - excellent defense, strong running ability, unknown, and diligent - but the midfielder like this is not particularly popular now. Originally, Leiden East faced the competition from the Premier League team Leicester, but the temptation of Hilton and the ability to play in the UEFA Cup allowed Leiden East to defeat the Premier League team Leicester and signed the Northern Ireland national team member. At the same time, the number of Leiden East's international players did not decline after Pobosky left, maintaining a balance.

The third person is Sese Johnson, who is seventeen years old. This defensive player has just emerged from Crew's second team, but has not escaped the vision of Leiden Oriental scouts. He can play as a midfielder, as well as a left midfielder and a left back. These two positions are exactly the positions Leiden Oriental lacks now. Young players like this are also a good choice for investment in the future.

Of course, Xiao Ming did not let go of Simon Davis, whom he noticed last season. It was not difficult to poach people from the League Two team. Moreover, after the collision last season, Davis envied Daniel for not much older than him but had played in the League Two for a season. Davis, who hoped to get more opportunities to play, agreed to transfer to Leiden East without hesitation.

In just ten days, Leiden Oriental used various means to poach eight players from other teams, but the cost was not much. The highest transfer fee was on Lenon, 1.2 million pounds, and the other players' worth was not more than 300,000 pounds. It cost a total of 2.7 million pounds to buy these eight people, less than half of the transfer fee of Pobosky and Solskjaer.

When someone comes, there will naturally be someone leaving. Second goalkeeper Cardville was sold to Cardiff, Sheerer, Haj and Annan, three substitutes with prominent names, also left the team. Annan went to Stockport in the English Second Division, and Haj and Sheer were terminated by the team. In addition to Wilkins' retirement, Chapman was terminated by the team, and Channing was sold to Chester in the English Second Division.

Someone asked questions about this, questioning that the players Leiden Oriental bought this season are not particularly outstanding players, all from the League Two and League One teams, some are the main players, and some are the substitutes. The purchase of these players will not greatly improve the team's strength. If it is used to replace the players who left, is this necessary? The players who left have played substitutes for at least several years and will not cause any trouble.

"I understand what you mean." He answered enviously: "But we have to understand that our main lineup is not bad now. At least we can see how we performed in the League Cup last season. Even in the Premier League, we have the strength to gain a foothold... Now our only flaw is that our bench is not deep enough. After the rotation last season, we have seen the results. The strength difference between the main and the substitute is too big. Once the rotation team is replaced, the performance of the team on the court will be reduced by a level. In the League Two, we can certainly put all our energy into the League Cup and will not have much impact on the league results. But now we are playing in the League One, and we also have to face the League Cup, the FA Cup and the League Cup... Our new season

It's a four-line battle! If there are not enough rotation players and we want to achieve good results, we may be dragged down in the late season! The players we bought can rest assured that they are all players who have the strength to play in the League One after their efforts and observations. Although many of them are very young, they have great potential. Some of the players who sold are already not young and there is no player who can play in the League One again. Although it costs a lot, such an update is definitely worth it. What I need is a team that has a small number of people but everyone can play, rather than a team that seems to have a large number of people and can play in the main players but only a few people."

"Boss, we will not doubt your vision," said McDonald. "But after Solskjaer and Pobosky left, we need to add three positions most - forward, right forward and our old habit - left back. But the eight people you bought this time, one goalkeeper, one center back, one right back, one attack midfielder, and two midfielders. Only Phillips and Davis meet the positions we lack, but can they replace Pobosky and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer?"

Other coaches nodded. Last season, Solskjaer and Pobosky's performance was indeed very good. One took the right side and the other scored countless goals. It is very difficult for such a player to make up for it. Although Phillips scored eleven goals in the League One last season, his value is not higher than Solskjaer's eight goals in the League Cup. As for Simon Davis... No matter how naive people are, they would not think that this young man who was just seventeen years old can replace Pobosky's position?

"Phillips is a very outstanding shooter, I firmly believe in this." Xiao Ming smiled and said, "Of course I don't think he is the best striker we can buy, but the most suitable striker for us... I watched his game many times last season. Do you know what I found? This is a shooter with a characteristic that is quite close to Solskjaer! A pure shooter! He is not tall, has average speed, and is just average in his ability to fight, but his biggest feature is that he can appear where he should appear! This characteristic and

Solskjaer is exactly the same, and he has played in England for four or five years, so there is no inadequacy. At this stage, he is the best replacement for Solskjaer. As for Simon Davis... I don't plan to make him the main player. In the right midfield position, I plan to make Hackby the main player. His characteristics can become an excellent wing assaulter, and his strength is very good. It is a waste to play as a substitute. He plays as a main player and Davis plays as a substitute, which is a good choice."

Seeing that the coaches seemed not satisfied with the answer, Xiao Ming smiled and was not angry. Instead, he thought that this was a performance of the coaches being responsible to the club. Of course, he would not admit that he felt guilty about Huckby and gave him more opportunities to play as the right forward: "Besides, last season, our main offense was launched from the right side, and other opponents could not ignore this situation, so we have to change this season, with Jin Kraze and Barack as the main offensive forces in the midfield, and the offensive forces on the left and middle side, and we cannot place our offensive strength on buying a suitable replacement for Pobosky. That's what I think."

"What about the left-back?" McDonald seemed to be convinced by Xiao Ming, but he immediately raised a new question: "McCasey was a bit reluctant to play in the League Two last season. Although Upson bought this time can also play in the left-back, he is only seventeen years old after all. At the same time, his strength is height and frontal confrontation, and he cannot play in the main left-back."

"It's hard to find the main left-back in the transfer market now." Xiao Ming sighed: "That's why I bought Alexander... He is a powerful right-back who can replace Daniel's position... So in the new season, I plan to let Daniel go to the left and let him play the left-back... With Jin Kraze's offense on the left, Daniel doesn't need to invest too much energy in the offense. It's enough to do a good job of defense. He is definitely competent for this."

"So that's how it is!" After thinking through Xiao Ming's words, the coaches began to admire Xiao Ming. The eight players they bought seemed to be targeted at all, but they could make up for the shortcomings of the main lineup and make the substitute lineup thicker. Since you can't buy any good left-backs, it is also a good choice to tap the potential inside and let Daniel, a player who can play left-handed and full-backs, go to the left-hand side. After all, in the team competition last season, Daniel played left-backs a lot, and he also had excellent performance in defending Pobosky. With this strength, it is enough to defend most of the League One players.

"Since there are still a lot of transfer fees left, why not buy more players? At least it can make the team stronger overall strength." Another coach asked.

"I have other uses for the extra funds." Xiao Ming hesitated for a moment and said: "I plan to invest 8 million pounds to expand the Leicester training base... Half of the territory is idle, which is really a waste. At the same time, the training equipment and infrastructure are still quite lacking. This time, with spare money on hand, I want to make Leiden Oriental's hardware facilities no worse than those big clubs!"

"What?"

Many coaches began to exclaim, and at this time they remembered that Xiao Ming had been talking about building the Leicester training base into a star training cradle that was no worse than the Carrington training base!
Chapter completed!