Chapter 324: The crazy arms race in the Premier League, is Manchester City about to fail?

"The competition in the Premier League is very fierce this season!"

On a beach in Catalonia, under a huge parasol, Lin Quan and Guardiola were lying on deck chairs enjoying the sea breeze.

Guardiola held a newspaper in his hand and read it with relish.

"Yeah?"

Lin Quan asked casually.

Guardiola is a workaholic. Although he is on vacation now, he is still very concerned about football affairs. He even remotely operated Bayern's transfer operation and sold the disobedient Mandzukic.

"Yes, the big clubs in the Premier League are making a lot of moves in the transfer market, especially your neighbor Manchester United. They have been crazy about buying people recently!"

Lin Quan remembers that after Moyes was fired, Dutchman Louis van Gaal took charge of the Red Devils.

This guy seems to have spent a lot of money while in office, most of it unjustly.

Lin Quan took a look at the newspaper. Sure enough, Manchester United has made really big moves this summer.

As soon as the transfer market opened, they couldn't wait to buy Luke Shaw from Southampton for 33 million pounds.

Then they spent £31 million to buy their midfielder Herrera from Athletic Bilbao, spent £60 million to buy Di Maria from Real Madrid, and took away Benfica for £20 million. The opponent's defender Rojo.

In addition, they also loaned young tiger Falcao from Monaco for a price of 6 million pounds per year.

Manchester United spent 180 million euros on the transfer market this summer, making it the most expensive team in Europe.

Although Barcelona's transfer investment is also high, Barcelona recovered 70 to 80 million euros through selling people.

Although Manchester United left many players this summer, the funds recovered through sales were only 43 million euros.

In other words, their net investment is as high as 140 million euros!

Van Gaal can really burn money!

However, if Van Gaal succeeds in burning such a large amount of money, it would be okay to say that, if he fails, he will probably be scolded miserably!

However, Lin Quan went to the Internet to check it out. It seems that Manchester United fans are applauding Van Gaal's big signing. There are no opponents, but their voices are very small.

The vast majority of fans are happy and looking forward to the club's ambitious signings!

"Haha, the club has invested so much this season, it looks like it is ready to do something big!"

"Hey, look forward to revenge against Manchester City in the league!"

"Manchester City's lineup has not changed much, and there is Lin. Can we really beat them in the new season?"

Some people are unsure. Although Manchester City is an upstart, they were the Champions League champions last season. Manchester City's strength must not be underestimated!

Last season, Manchester United was beaten home and away by Manchester City, and they lost by a huge margin.

The scene of Lin Quan scoring a hat-trick at Old Trafford and celebrating with Cantona's King patrolling the entire field still deeply hurts the hearts of Red Devils fans and has even become a nightmare in their hearts.

"Don't worry. In the new season, we have Robin van Persie, Rooney, Falcao, Mata, Di Maria and many other top stars in the team. With this lineup, tell me how we can lose?"

"Yes, this lineup is basically destined to win the Premier League championship this season and guarantee the top four in the Champions League!"

"Sure enough, money is a good thing. Idiots like Manchester City can get good results by burning money. Our Red Devils have a stronger foundation. We have invested so much this season. If we don't beat the shit out of Manchester City next season!"

Red Devils fans are very confident in the team's record in the new season, and now they are just looking forward to the start of the new season!

Seeing the Manchester United fans looking forward to it, Lin Quan couldn't help but want to laugh.

Van Gaal is good at spending money, but his performance in leading the team...

In addition to Manchester United, Chelsea's expenses are also not small, and they are the first club to start taking action.

On May 24, the Premier League had just ended. Before the start of the World Cup, Chelsea eagerly reached a transfer agreement with Paris Saint-Germain, the tycoon of Ligue 1.

The Blues sold their main center back David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain for £50 million.

This price broke the world record held by another central defender of Paris Saint-Germain, Thiago Silva.

David Luiz has also become the most expensive central defender in the world so far.

Interestingly, Thiago Silva and David Luiz are both Brazil's main central defenders in this World Cup.

Paris Saint-Germain may have tasted the sweetness after buying Thiago Silva, thinking that David Luiz, who is also Brazil's main central defender, is as good as his sister-in-law.

Moreover, these two are teammates in the national team, and there must be no problem with their tacit understanding. It won't take long to buy him into the team, so even if he spends a little more, it is still a good deal.

I have to say that Paris Saint-Germain's calculations are very good.

But when the Brazilian team was beaten 7:1 by the German team in the World Cup, they could no longer laugh.

The Blues fans, on the other hand, were all beaming with joy, as if they had found the culprit responsible for the team's loss last season:

"Thank you to the wealthy people in the Middle East for helping my car clear mines!"

"Sold a rear defense bomb for 50 million pounds and made a lot of money!"

"No wonder my car's record was so poor last season. It turns out there was a time bomb in the back line!"

Of course, not all Blues fans think so. There are still some people who can say something fair for David Luiz:

"David Luiz is still quite strong, but his positional sense is a bit poor. Every time I see him make defensive mistakes, it's always when he's attacking."

"You're right. This guy likes to go up and expand his defensive area. Once he fails to go up, he will look very conspicuous, which makes him look like a defensive bomb."

"This kind of defender is not suitable to be the commander of the defense line, but is suitable to be a general who charges into the battle. They will be very useful when someone is commanding them!"

These fans really understand football. In fact, after the game when Brazil lost to Germany, many professionals believed that the suspension of Thiago Silva, the defense commander, was far more harmful than Neymar's suspension. The Brazilian team has a great influence.

Marcelo and David Luiz are both players who like to leave their positions, and the German team took the lead from the start.

The Brazilian team was anxious to recover the score and played too hastily, and then the opponent broke the defense. This does not mean that the strength gap between the two teams is really that big!

Of course, to say that David Luiz is worth 50 million pounds is to tell lies.

So Chelsea must have made a lot of money from this deal.

If this transfer occurs after the World Cup, it will only be worth 30 million pounds at most.

After selling David Luiz, the Blues raised enough transfer funds to finally buy their favorite striker.

As the champion of this World Cup, Spanish forward Diego Costa is favored by many wealthy clubs.

The Blues, who were plagued by a weak forward last season, have long been interested in Diego Costa, a forward who performed well in the Champions League and the World Cup.

Therefore, before the World Cup ended, they made an offer to Atletico Madrid for 35 million pounds, hoping to take away Diego Costa.

Chelsea are still very naughty. When they made an offer to Atletico Madrid, it happened to be when Diego Costa was injured in the World Cup group stage and could not play.

At that time, Diego Costa was absent from the Champions League finals and World Cup due to injuries, which led to the suspicion that Diego Costa was a glass man, which greatly affected his transfer value.

Atletico Madrid also had the same concerns, so they started transfer negotiations with Chelsea.

But while we were talking, Spain won the championship, with Diego Costa returning from injury in the final.

Although he failed to score, his performance in the final was not bad, but Lin Quan's brilliance was too bright and overshadowed him.

Seeing that Diego Costa's injury is fine, Atletico Madrid has a lot of confidence in negotiations and firmly refuses to agree to a price reduction.

You, Chelsea, made 50 million by selling David Luiz. Are you embarrassed to buy a World Cup-winning striker like Diego Costa for less than 50 million pounds?

This offer obviously makes Chelsea people very uncomfortable. They are not rich in the Middle East and are not short of money.

Even if you are really a wealthy person, you can't be a traitor and be slaughtered!

Is it worth buying Diego Costa for 50 million?

If the opponent is not injured and can perfectly fit Chelsea, the price is not outrageous.

However, if they really spend so much money to buy someone, their transfer budget may not be enough.

The loss to Manchester City last season made everyone in the Blues simmering with anger. This season they are gearing up and preparing to recruit heavily, arming themselves to the teeth in order to take revenge on Manchester City.

Therefore, in addition to forwards, they also look at players in other positions, such as Atletico Madrid's left back Felipe, Barcelona's midfielder Cesc Fabregas and others.

To buy these stars, 50 million is probably not enough.

Therefore, Chelsea can only continue to negotiate with Atletico Madrid.

After arduous negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement. Chelsea sent Torres away and brought Felipe and Diego Costa to Stamford Bridge in a package worth 50 million pounds.

For Chelsea, they exchanged a Spanish forward whose strength was declining for another younger Spanish forward who was in his prime.

In addition, he also acquired a left back with great potential, and also cleared up the team's salary space. This transaction is definitely not a loss!

For Atletico Madrid, after sending away Diego Costa, they also need to introduce a high-level forward. Torres is from Atletico Madrid's youth training and a Spaniard. Bringing him back to Atletico Madrid is a good choice.

The key is that Torres's transfer price is only 5 million euros, which is just like giving it away for free!

For Torres, he struggled extremely hard in the past few seasons at Chelsea.

Rather than continue to be gradually marginalized at Chelsea, it is better to change the environment and find the status again.

Moreover, he made his debut at Atletico Madrid. He entered Atletico Madrid's youth training at the age of 11 and only transferred and left after becoming famous.

Now, returning to his home team after seven years, for Torres, it can be regarded as a return to his roots.

After the transfer was completed, Chelsea began to go all out to contact Barcelona, ​​preparing to introduce Fabregas to complete their last piece of the puzzle.

Barcelona actually didn't want to let Francesco go, but because they wanted to buy Suarez and compete with Real Madrid for Ronaldo, they had to sell people to raise funds.

So, after some negotiations with Chelsea, the two teams finally reached a deal at a price of 33 million euros.

This summer, Chelsea spent 110 million euros on signings.

However, after selling players such as David Luiz and Lukaku, they recovered 100 million euros.

In total, it only cost less than 10 million euros, barely breaking even.

In fact, for Chelsea, which lacks high-quality forwards, Lukaku, who performed well at Everton, should not be sold.

However, Abramovich's relationship with Mourinho was tense and he did not provide him with large amounts of funds for transfer operations. Mourinho could only raise funds through selling people.

Although Lukaku is good, selling him can bring a budget of 40 million euros to the team, so it is better to sell him. Chelsea is worried that his performance will be short-lived and may depreciate in the future.

However, this decision paved the way for Lukaku's subsequent three-in and three-out appearances at Chelsea...

Manchester United and Chelsea are both big spenders, and Liverpool is naturally not far behind.

This summer, after selling Suarez, Liverpool became very rich, so they bought Emre Can, Lallana, Markovic, Lovren, Origi, Moreno and Barlow in one go. Turley and a large group of players.

The worth of these players is generally not high. The most valuable is midfielder Adam Lallana, who has a local household registration, but it is only 31 million euros.

For players like Markovic, Lovren and Balotelli, the transfer fees are around 20 million euros.

Although the transfer fee for a single player is not high, there are so many people!

The Red Army spent a total of 150 million euros to buy these players, which set a new record for the Red Army's single-season transfer fee.

However, although a lot of people were bought, except for Balotelli, among these players, none of them looked like stars at all.

And Balotelli is a famous problem player...

As a result, a very strange phenomenon occurred. Even though the team spent the highest transfer budget in its 131-year history, the fans of the Red Army still felt worried.

I always feel that the players bought with so much money are not as useful as Suarez alone!

But Suarez was always biting and banning people. He was banned by FIFA and the FA, which totaled 19 games!

Who can withstand a half-season suspension?

Among the four traditional giants in the Premier League, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have all spent more than 100 million euros on buying players. Naturally, Arsenal cannot fail to take action.

Since spending 45 million pounds to buy Ozil last summer, the professor has become willing to spend money.

This summer, Arsenal also took a tough stance.

They first bought Sanchez from Barcelona for 42.5 million euros, and then spent 20 million euros to buy the opponent's forward Welbeck from Manchester United.

The professor then spent 35 million euros to buy two defenders and another 4 million euros to buy a backup goalkeeper.

In total, Arsenal spent a total of 100 million euros this season. After deducting the income from selling people, the net investment reached 80 million euros. This is definitely a huge hemorrhage!

It seems that the Premier League's arms race does have a great impact.

Even a man like Wenger, who has always been diligent and frugal, was forced to spend a lot of money to buy people!

As the initiator of the arms race, Manchester City has made very little action this summer.

They spent 15 million euros to buy La Liga's best goalkeeper Navas from Levante, who performed well in the World Cup.

Later, he bought Porto midfielder Francisco and defender Mangala for 15 million and 30 million euros.

That's it, gone!

Manchester City's total transfer investment in buying people is only 60 million euros, which is far less than the four giants!

Not only that, this summer, Manchester City let go of a large number of players such as Javi Garcia, Negredo, Rodwell, and recovered 65 million euros through sales.

After calculating this, their total investment was actually negative!

What about Jinyuan Football?

Is there any look like Jinyuan football here?

With such little transfer investment, the outside world can't help but start to question, is Manchester City about to start to fail?