"What makes Leeds City fans happy is that the team's beloved captain Lorenzo Esposito renewed his contract with the team for two years yesterday, and he personally stated at the press conference after the contract extension
, he will retire from Leeds City after the contract expires... The soap opera about whether the club wants to renew the captain's contract finally came to an end at this moment. In any case, we finally kept the captain, which is a surprise for everyone.
Everyone is satisfied with the result..."
In the TV news footage, club general managers Eric Duffy and Lorenzo Esposito stood side by side, giving thumbs up to the camera with bright smiles on their faces.
"If it weren't for your support, Lorenzo would really be sold." Sam Randall turned to look at Tony Clark and said. "It's so unpredictable. We were still discussing last season.
He sold it..."
Clark smiled: "This is one moment, Sam. I think that although Lorenzo is old, he can still be a useful addition to the lineup. After all, we will inevitably fight on multiple fronts in the new season."
"I understand, I understand." Sam raised his hands, "So we have introduced many players this summer. But there is a problem, Tony. We have introduced so many new players, but because of the World Cup, they have no way to play with the ball.
The team has a good run-in...Hu Lai didn't return to the team until the 6th, and Jay didn't join the team until the 10th. And Pete is even worse, he may have to wait until October to return to the team..."
Clark raised his hand to signal Sam to stop telling the bad news. He also had a headache, but what could be done?
England's World Cup journey is not going well.
They failed to beat the Czech Republic 0:0 in the first game of the group stage. Although they defeated Egypt 2:0 in the second game, they drew 1:1 with their opponent in the final round of the group stage against Mexico for first place in the group.
, can only qualify as second in the group.
In this game, Pete Williams came on as a substitute in the second half and performed well, thus winning the recognition of national team head coach Jason Riley.
So in the quarter-finals with the German team, Williams got the chance to play, squeezing out Harry Bernard, who was in poor health after having his meniscus removed.
Williams, who was playing in the World Cup for the first time, was very excited and active.
His outstanding performance made England commentator Matthew Cox full of praise, believing that the young player trained by Leeds City will be the main midfielder of England in the future after the "captain midfielder".
As a result, just before the end of the first half, he collided with German defender Patrick Eswein during a scramble, resulting in a fracture of his right fibula.
This injury caused Pete Williams to bid farewell to this World Cup early.
Fifty minutes later, the England team followed suit and bid farewell to this World Cup.
Williams was injured this time, and the media initially expected that he would be sidelined for two months due to injury, which would completely miss Leeds City's pre-season training this season, as well as a period of games at the beginning of the season.
Later, after surgical treatment, his absence time was determined to be three and a half months. By the time he returned from injury and returned to the team, he could start training with the team and have the possibility of playing games, which would already be mid-October.
Alright...
As the core of the team's midfield, Pete Williams' injury has dealt a huge blow to Leeds City.
Fortunately, the team bought Jay Adams from London Bridge last season.
Although he has switched from an attacking midfielder to a defensive midfielder, he can still organize attacks. It is not said that there is not even an organizer in the midfield.
It's just that if Jay Adams is to organize the offense, reinforcements will be needed in the defensive midfielder position.
Of course, even if Williams was not injured and Adams replaced him, Leeds City had originally planned to strengthen the midfielder position.
In the Premier League last season, Leeds City scored a total of 86 goals, the most goals scored in the Premier League.
But it also conceded 42 goals. This number of goals conceded is not the most in the Premier League. Peterborough United, which was ranked last and relegated, conceded 75 goals. They were the team that conceded the most goals.
But the 42 goals conceded is the most among the top four in the Premier League.
This performance makes it difficult to say that they should have won last season's Premier League championship.
So it’s no wonder that some people think that the reason why Leeds City won the championship was due to good luck, not how good they performed, but because the performance of several teams that usually compete for the league championship last season was too poor.
Stan Park Rangers originally performed very well, but in the game against Leeds City, they not only lost at home, but also suffered an extreme accident in which captain Bernard was seriously injured.
It can be said that Stan Park Rangers were unlucky, while Leeds City's tone was too good.
In the end, there was no one who could play, and this allowed Leeds City to win the Premier League championship trophy.
As an old Chinese saying goes, "There are no heroes, so Zhuzi becomes famous."
Clark also knows that there were some unexpected factors in the team's victory last season, and his team's defensive performance was not good enough, although it was better than last season when they were barely able to avoid relegation. At that time, Leeds City conceded 67 goals in one season, so
We must continue to strengthen our defense.
Jay Adams played well in the defensive midfield position last season, but after all, he still has to organize offense and control the rhythm, and cannot focus on defense. And because he first entered football and was trained as a front midfielder,
Therefore, the defensive ability itself is not strong. His defense now relies on tireless running and tenacious will.
Spanish defensive midfielder Jose Vieira is a true defensive midfielder, but his problem is that he is too slow and his frontal interception ability is acceptable. Once someone breaks through, he is finished. He is okay as a substitute, and I hope he will be the main force.
, covering the entire midfield to defend...it is really too weak to catch others. The opponent has already moved the football away before they can reach the position, so he can only run exhausted.
The signing of the defensive midfielder position has become the club's top priority in the recruitment work this summer. In the end, the club spent 25 million pounds to purchase the team's main defensive midfielder, the Ghana international, from the Bundesliga Gossen United.
Salif Saidu.
It is hoped that the arrival of this midfielder can improve Leeds City's defense in the midfield.
At the same time, the transfer fee of 30 million pounds is also Leeds City's "highest bid" so far. Not only this season, it is also the most expensive player purchased by Leeds City in its history.
Seydoux has played in the Bundesliga for seven seasons at Berlin-Gössen and has always been the main player. He was also selected into the Bundesliga's best team of the season five seasons ago. There is no doubt about his strength.
This is why Leeds City is willing to spend 30 million pounds for him.
In addition to the defensive midfielder, the signing of the forward line is also a top priority.
Because Lorenzo has been embarrassed by his big job, the position he vacated needs to be filled.
Although Hulay was the top scorer in the Premier League last season, we must also consider that the defensive pressure on him in the new season must be unprecedented, and we must find someone to share the pressure with him.
During the World Cup, Leeds City reached an agreement with the Polish club Warsaw and introduced the team's young talented forward Dominic Lasky for a transfer fee of 25 million pounds.
This 23-year-old Polish forward is 1.84 meters tall and has a well-proportioned figure, but he is definitely not strong.
Compared with Lorenzo, the most outstanding thing about him is his excellent foot skills. In the Polish league, he can often stage wonderful scenes of one person holding the ball and breaking out from the circle of two or three people.
He has comprehensive skills and can dribble, shoot and pass. Last season he ranked third among the top scorers in the Polish First Division, scoring 18 goals and assisting 10 times.
His goals and assists are in double figures, which shows his versatility in passing and shooting.
And this kind of performance is also an important reason why Leeds City takes a fancy to him.
There are many ways to share the defensive pressure for Hu Lai. One is to score a goal personally, and the other is to attract the opponent's defensive forces and then pass the ball to Hu Lai who is in space.
What this requires is good scoring ability and ball-playing ability.
Lasky happens to have both.
He is different from Lorenzo, a powerful center who relies on his body to protect the football and then plays the ball for Hu Lai. He relies on his excellent foot skills to control the football and then distribute the football.
In fact, Laski is also a rising star of Polish football and has long been watched by major European teams, many of which are much more famous than Leeds City.
But why did Laski end up choosing Leeds City?
On the one hand, Leeds City is willing to give money, 25 million pounds, which is equivalent to about 30 million euros, to buy a 23-year-old young player. I am afraid that other giants are not as clean and efficient as Leeds City. I am not saying that other giants are not.
Leeds City has money, but they feel that Laski may not be worth 30 million euros.
On the other hand, Leeds City promised to give Laski a starting position.
This is the decisive factor.
Leaving the Polish domestic league to compete on the real mainstream stage of European football, Lasky, as a top representative among Polish young players, certainly has his own ambitions.
If you go to those wealthy families and can only work as a water fountain keeper, what's the point?
Although he is a young player, he is not very young at the age of 23.
If you waste another one or two seasons on the bench, your career achievements may be lowered by more than one or two levels.
At this point, Lasky, a young man, has a maturity and foresight that is not consistent with his age.
Therefore, he rejected those famous wealthy families and did not wait for the water cooler to satisfy his vanity.
Instead, he chose to join Leeds City, which had just won the Premier League championship "by luck".
For him, no matter what, this is the Premier League championship.
Even if he is not from a wealthy club, no one would think that it is "condescending" for a player who is Poland's third-leading scorer to transfer to the Premier League champions.
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Seydoux and Lasky are Leeds City's two biggest signings this season. In addition, Leeds City has also made reinforcements in other positions.
For example, in response to the shortage of manpower on the wing, they spent 18 million pounds to introduce Welsh right midfielder Jack Walsh from Liverpool United. This Welsh international can play on both sides, has good speed and has certain assault ability.
, is a wing player. He will compete with Charlie Watt for the right wing position.
In addition, Leeds City has also made additions in many positions such as full-back and central defender.
Some are recruited through transfers, some are on loan, and some are promoted from their own youth teams and reserve teams.
As a result, the number of registered players in Leeds City's first team has reached 30.
These are all arrangements made to cope with the multi-front battle in the new season.
Different from just staying in England before, this time, Leeds City will participate in the Champions League as the Premier League champion.
In this football tournament that truly represents the most technical football tournament on earth, they will compete with the giants and strong teams from Europe.
They may become famous, or they may be beaten to pieces and witness the cruelty of the wealthy game table.
But no matter what, this is already a great leap forward for a team that was still struggling with how to avoid relegation two seasons ago.
After all, being able to sit at the poker table and dance with the big guys that you could only look up to before is already amazing.
