Regardless of whether it is fans or the media, the title that Gao Shen has been reported on the most is Manchester City's head coach.
If he were more humorous, he would be said to be the leader of a mercenary army.
But in fact, Gao Shen also has another very important but less well-known title, that of Manchester City Technical Director.
This is not actually a formal appointment because Manchester City currently does not have a technical director.
But within the team, everyone knows that Gao Shen holds the position of technical director. He is asked about everything that has anything to do with football, inside and outside the club, and his opinion is the basis. allow.
Even to a certain extent, Gao Shen's power in Manchester City is higher than that of Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal.
As a picky Virgo man, Gao Shen not only has high demands on others, but also has strict demands on himself.
Either you don't hold this position, or you should do it well if you do.
When Gao Shen first took office at Manchester City, he sent a fax to Mansour in Abu Dhabi and Mubarak in Manchester. In addition to clearly listing his plan to reorganize and transform Manchester City, it also involved He came to a youth training reform, which he named the Spark Project.
The name comes from the words of the great leader: A single spark can start a prairie fire.
Youth training reform not only involves personnel changes, but also the establishment and expansion of the scouting network, and more importantly, talent selection.
Since the Abu Dhabi consortium acquired Manchester City in 2008, it has continued to increase its efforts in youth training, but Gao Shen believes that this is not enough because Manchester City is still doing very poorly in many aspects.
In the plan, he told Mansour and Mubarak that Manchester City's strong rise will definitely trigger a strong rebound from the traditional strong teams in the Premier League and even the traditional strong teams in Europe, and may even prompt UEFA to introduce relevant rules to impose restrictions.
Obviously, blindly relying on backers to burn money is not a long-term solution.
Gao Shen believes that on the one hand, Manchester City must quickly improve the strength of the first team, but on the other hand, it must also strengthen its emphasis on youth training, recruit talents from all over the world, enrich Manchester City's youth training camp, and provide an endless supply of follow-up talents for the first team. .
Both Mansour and Mubarak adopted profound suggestions and gave him full responsibility for the implementation of the Spark Plan.
A few months later, as Platini pushed for the adoption of the Financial Fair Play policy, both Mansour and Mubarak were grateful for their previous support for Gao Shen.
Yesterday, Mansour even called Gao Shen personally to ask him about his response strategy.
Gao Shen's answer was: Build walls high, accumulate grain widely, and become king quickly.
This is actually what Gao Shen has been doing since he took office.
Needless to say, building walls high, Manchester City has spared no effort in investing in the club's infrastructure, and has even begun preparations to acquire land near the Etihad Stadium to build a new training base and youth academy.
At the same time, the commercial marketing team headed by Ha Jin is undergoing comprehensive expansion, actively developing overseas markets, and striving to increase Manchester City's commercial income as soon as possible.
These are all laying a solid foundation for Manchester City to become a wealthy team.
The most important thing for Guangjiliang is the supply of youth training talents.
This is also the reason why Gao Shen came to Pratt Youth Training Academy today.
…
Gao Shen has always believed that in the world of professional football, there is nothing that cannot be solved with a check.
If so, then two!
After he became the head coach of Manchester City, in addition to recruiting talents into the first team, the youth team was also not idle.
Raheem Sterling was recruited from the youth academy of Queens Park Rangers in London, John Stones was recruited from the youth academy of Barnsley in Yorkshire, and John Stones was recruited from the youth academy of Watford.
Poaching Jadon Sancho, poaching youngster Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool's youth academy, and introducing Jack Grealish from Aston Villa's youth academy...
Manchester City waved the check in their hands and searched all over England for young players with potential and talent.
The older one is fourteen or fifteen years old, the younger one is only ten years old, and they are all ignored.
If it were another team, poaching like this would inevitably trigger strong backlash and protests from the opposing club, but Manchester City did not because they usually use money to solve problems.
Not only that, Gao Shen has also significantly changed Manchester City's youth training standards for talent selection. From the previous emphasis on physical fitness to the current emphasis on technology and creativity, Gao Shen's reforms are also reflected in talent selection.
…
"Marcus Rashford transfer, how is it going?"
After walking around the youth training academy, Gao Shen and the others, accompanied by Cox and others, came to the conference room. As soon as they sat down, Gao Shen immediately asked about the progress.
Marcus Rashford, eleven years old, plays for Fletcher Moss Rovers.
He and his family live in Withington, south of the Pratt Youth Training Academy, very close to the youth training academy. As a single-parent family with five children, one can imagine the family circumstances.
This youngster performed well in the youth training camp of Fletcher Moss Wanderers. Because of the cooperation with the club, he also played for the youth teams of Manchester City and Manchester United. He wanted to join Manchester City before, but his body was too thin and he was rejected.
Manchester City declined.
After Gao Shen took office, he really could only smile bitterly when he heard about this incident.
The future famous Master La was rejected because of his health. I wonder if Manchester City will cry in the future?
But no matter what happened in his previous life, since he met him anyway, Gao Shen had no reason to let him go.
Because he always believes in one sentence: poach the opponent's corner so that the opponent has no one to dig.
"He hopes to sign a youth training contract, and at the same time the club can provide them with a house and a job for his mother. We are currently considering it," Cox said.
Gao Shen had known about Rashford's family situation before and felt that this request was reasonable, but he might not necessarily be agreed to by the club because young players are too risky and they have invested so much and taken risks now.
But no one knows Rashford's potential better than Gao Shen.
"Promise him!" Gao Shen made a quick decision.
Cox and others were very surprised, so they agreed?
Gao Shen's words mean that Manchester City will invest at least seven figures in Rashford in the next few years.
"Yes, promise him." Gao Shen saw everyone's doubts and repeated.
After thinking for a while, Cox nodded and said, "Okay, I'll make a call right away."
"If Rashford is in Withington, you can invite him to Platt Lane and I can meet him." Gao Shen continued.
This statement surprised everyone present.
Gao Shen wants to meet in person?
Could it be said that he really thinks so highly of Rashford?
"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away."
With that said, Cox got up and left the conference room, obviously to make a phone call. He came back shortly after and told Gao Shen that Rashford and his mother would come to Pratt Lane, where Manchester City's youth club is located, in an hour.
The location of the training college.
"Then hurry up, next one." Gao Shen turned to the next page of the material, "Have you contacted Adrian Rabiot?"
"Already contacted." Cox quickly replied.
Adrien Rabiot, fourteen years old, doesn’t have a team yet.
This young French player was discovered by Manchester City scouts in the summer of 2008 and brought to Manchester. At that time, the two parties signed a six-year contract and their whole family moved to Manchester.
At that time, Manchester City ambitiously recruited talents from all over the world, and Rabiot was one of them.
But unfortunately, just six months after arriving in Manchester, they fell out with Manchester City.
Gao Shen, Cox, Brian Kidd and others were not personal experiencers. After learning about the actual situation, they discovered that the problem was quite complicated.
On the one hand, the reason why Rabiot's family chose to terminate the contract was that his father suffered a stroke and was paralyzed at home, and his mother accused the club of cheating and failing to pay for Rabiot's English tutoring, rent, utilities, etc.
But according to the explanation of Manchester City scout Gary Payton, Manchester City did not do enough in this regard, but that is because they signed a preparatory professional contract with the club. In theory, he is not considered to be Manchester City until his seventeenth birthday.
players.
The reason why Rabiot's mother chose to leave Manchester was not because of football, but because of life.
Gao Shen understands what Gary Payton means.
Judging from the various "crimes" of Manchester City listed by Rabiot's mother, they boil down to one word: money.
My father suffered a stroke and was paralyzed in bed, and my mother was alone with three children. You can imagine the situation.
Therefore, Gao Shen asked the scouts to contact Rabiot again and found that after returning to France, he did not join any team. Instead, he went back to school and relied on physical education classes and after-school training to maintain his condition and improve himself.
Therefore, Gao Shen wanted to recruit this future French international player back.
Since we are recruiting him back, the conditions must be renegotiated and generous benefits must be given. This time, Gao Shen plans to directly provide quasi-professional contract benefits and a certain monthly salary subsidy so that Rabiot can attend training without distractions.
.
"What did they say after the contract was given?" Gao Shen asked.
Cox shrugged and smiled: "We made an offer that the whole family couldn't refuse."
In addition to the salary for Rabiot, there is also a job arranged for his mother, which is vital assistance to their family.
After hearing this, Gao Shen nodded, secretly laughing in his heart.
Now, I have helped Manchester City poach so many young talents and have reformed the youth training camp. I wonder if these future stars can develop better than in their previous lives?
When the time comes, what height will they take Manchester City to?
"In the future, some rules and regulations of our youth academy will need to be changed. We should give more care and support in life to some young players who have performed well to avoid situations like Rashford and Rabiot from happening again.
"Gao Shen gave instructions.
Cox and others all nodded in agreement and wrote it down.
Gao Shen is now the head of Manchester City's athletic affairs, and what he says basically represents Manchester City's decision-making.
Let alone Cox, Lopetegui and Wilcox, even Brian Kidd can only obey orders.
Later, Gao Shen asked a lot of questions, made a lot of decisions, and gave a lot of instructions.
When you are busy, time flies quickly.
A staff member came over to report: Rashford has arrived.
"Let's go and meet the future British Emperor!" Gao Shen said with a smile.
