In the list of players submitted by Gao Shen before, there is another name that is very unfamiliar to everyone in Manchester City.
Kevin De Bruyne, a 19-year-old midfielder who plays for Genk in Belgium.
This player was the main midfielder of Genk last season, but his performance was very average, with only one goal. Genk only ranked twelfth in the Belgian League last season, and his results were not outstanding.
After receiving the advanced instructions, Gary Cook, Brian Kidd and others flew across the English Channel and went to Belgium to make contact with the Genk team. As a result, the other team was more active than Manchester City themselves.
Why?
The whole world knows that Manchester City is rich!
As a Belgian team, Genk are not well-off at all. Being able to sell their players in exchange for a sum of money is not a good deal for them.
After all, Belgium's youth training has experienced an explosion of talent in recent years, coupled with the influx of young players from Africa, they have no shortage of talent at all.
Gary Cook, Brian Kidd and others discovered during their contacts with Genk chairman Herbert Hoben that the other party did not want to take advantage of the opportunity to take advantage of Manchester City. On the contrary, he took the initiative to contact Manchester City.
Recommend young players in the team.
For example, Brazilian central defender Joao Carlos, who has been the main player for two consecutive seasons, is said to be favored by Russian team Anzhi. However, if Manchester City is willing to make an offer, Genk will definitely sell to Manchester City first.
The market assessment price of this central defender is 3.6 million euros, and Genk's asking price is basically this amount.
There is also the young goalkeeper Courtois. He only entered the first team in the second half of last season. However, the players of the Belgian National Youth Team have unlimited potential and are highly favored by many people. The price is not high. The current asking price is one
million euros.
As for De Bruyne, Genk’s asking price is not expensive either.
The player's estimated market value is two million euros, and Genk's asking price is three million euros, which is slightly higher.
…
"Have you all bought them?"
In the conference room at Intihad Stadium, Gao Shen had just arrived and was surprised after listening to Brian Kidd's report.
He originally wanted De Bruyne, but he didn't expect to get Courtois.
If he remembered correctly, these two players seemed to have joined Chelsea together later.
"Because we have already signed Jerome Boateng, we did not buy Joao Carlos, but De Bruyne and Courtois were both taken by us." Brian Kidd laughed.
road.
When Gao Shen mentioned De Bruyne, he also mentioned Courtois, which gave Brian Kidd no reason to give up on this young player.
Everyone knows that a sophisticated product must be of high quality.
Gao Shen was a little embarrassed.
Neuer's main position is very solid. If Courtois is introduced, it will be difficult for him to shake Neuer's position for the time being.
If Courtois is left on the bench for a long time, can he still be the future Belgian goalkeeper?
"The Genk team also made demands on us." Brian Kidd looked at Gao Shen and said.
"any request?"
"They hope to rent these two young players back to Genk to play for them." After Brian Kidd finished speaking, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Gao Shen secretly screamed, "Damn it, it turned out to be such a calculation."
Players are sold to Manchester City, and Manchester City still pays for the salary and everything else, but if they use it, it will be used by them.
Not to mention, many small teams make deals with big teams in this way.
Maybe someone will say, the big team is not stupid, can they agree?
Many agreed.
The main reason is that the two sides have different priorities.
The benefits that small teams want are nothing more than trivial matters to big teams.
Just like Manchester City, what they want is the future development of De Bruyne and Courtois and locking in their futures in advance. As for renting back to Genk, this is of no concern to Manchester City at all.
Of course, Gao Shen wants to introduce De Bruyne, not to rent him back.
But Courtois...
"Then tell Genk that De Bruyne will stay in our team. Courtois will follow the team for pre-season training. After the season starts, he will be rented back to Genk for the game." Gao Shen made a prompt decision.
A transaction of two to three million euros is really nothing to Manchester City today.
If it wasn't for the futures of De Bruyne and Courtois, Gao Shen wouldn't have thought about it for more than a minute.
Separating the two, I wonder if the grudge between the two in the previous life will happen again?
As for De Bruyne, Gao Shen really plans to use him as a substitute and rotation player.
It's a shame that this kid went to Chelsea in his previous life and was under Mourinho.
Gao Shen has always said that Mourinho cannot use this type of midfielder well. This is not a prejudice, but a fact.
…
As for the left back, Gao Shen chose Leighton Baines, who plays for Everton, based on various considerations, especially the number of local players in the team.
This player is not tall, but he is very fast, has excellent foot skills, strong offensive power, and excellent assist ability. He is a rare local player. As early as last season, Gao Shen had already been eyeing him, but later due to various reasons.
For various reasons, I didn't start.
Now, there is news that Bayern Munich is also interested in this player, and Gao Shen has no reason not to take action.
"Layton Baines is currently worth 8 million euros. When he moved to Everton from Wigan Athletic in 2007, the transfer fee was 6.75 million euros, but we raised the offer to 10 million euros.
, but Everton still refused to negotiate."
Gao Shen listened silently and nodded towards Brian Kidd as an affirmation of his work.
"How did Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Bayern respond?" Gao Shen asked.
The main thing Gao Shen is worried about is that someone will interfere. If there is a real robbery, the player's value will not be so simple.
"Manchester United now has Evra, Arsenal has Clichy, and Chelsea have Ashley Cole. Although they are all interested in Baynes, they are unwilling to participate. Bayern has some movements. Rummenigge publicly
It was said in the media that the way Baines played reminded him of Lizarazu."
"Did you get a quote?" Gao Shen asked.
Brian Kidd shook his head, "There is no news about this yet."
In fact, among the top teams in the Premier League, Liverpool is the one most lacking in left backs.
Since Suya has left the team, Liverpool really has no left back candidate, and Aurelio is often injured. As a result, Benitez now has no choice but to target Dossena from Napoli in Serie A.
But Gao Shen is not worried about Liverpool at all, because Liverpool and Everton are mortal enemies in the same city.
Everton will not sell players to Liverpool to anyone.
"Then the price will rise again, one million by one million, up to 15 million euros." Gao Shen ordered.
Judging from the current situation, as long as other wealthy teams do not take action, Everton will definitely let go of the price of between 12 million and 15 million euros.
Brian Kidd knows what profound means.
It's not that if Everton doesn't sell it after reaching 15 million euros, Manchester City won't buy it, but the authorization given to him by Gao Shen is only 15 million euros.
To put it simply, there is no need to ask for expert advice before 15 million euros.
"Understood." Brian Kidd agreed.
According to Gao Shen's plan, Gareth Bale will appear more as an attacker. His position is not fixed. He may be a full-back, full midfielder or even a winger. Felipe alone on the left is not enough, so Gao Shen
I want to bring in Don Bynes again.
…
De Jong, Bridge and Micah Richards have all been put on the transfer market. There are currently many teams interested in these players. For example, De Jong has the feeling of a team like AC Milan.
interest.
When I bought it, it was a forced expropriation and the transfer fee was high. But if I want to sell it now, I will definitely suffer a serious loss.
But there is nothing that can be done about it. After all, Manchester City when Mark Hughes was in charge was really the type where people are stupid and money comes quickly.
If Micah Richards is sold, Sabaleta will be left on the right wing.
Gao Shen wanted to introduce a player to compete with Zabaleta, and the one he chose was Lichtsteiner, his favorite player from his time in Naples.
Gao Shen was not involved in the negotiations due to sensitivity, but the negotiations between Gary Cook and Brian Kidd, De Laurentiis and Marino were not smooth at all.
The reason is very simple: the other lion opened his mouth.
"We raised Lichtsteiner's offer to 25 million euros, but De Laurentiis still refused. He said..." Gary Cook had an embarrassed wry smile on his face, and he couldn't go on.
Both Gao Shen and Mubarak looked at him, which forced the Manchester City CEO to continue.
"He said the money was only enough to buy one of Lichtsteiner's leg hairs."
Gao Shen snorted and couldn't help laughing.
Okay, this is very De Laurentiis.
He didn't mention the hair on other parts of the body, which was already a big deal.
Mubarak was a little embarrassed,
Lichtsteiner is one of Gao Shen's most valued signings, but he didn't expect it to happen like this.
"Gao, how about you go and talk in person?" Gary Cook suggested.
Brian Kidd agrees.
Everyone knows that Gao Shen has a close relationship with De Laurentiis and Marino. If he comes forward to negotiate, it will definitely be much smoother.
"Forget it, you can continue to talk. With the current scarcity of full-backs in the transfer market, our offer is indeed not high. If you find it unacceptable, then we will change the target."
Lazio's left back Kolarov can command a high price of 25 million euros. It is conceivable that the transfer market has really begun to rise, especially for scarce defenders.
De Laurentiis knows that Manchester City is short of players and wants to take the opportunity to make a profit, which is normal.
But Gao Shen didn't want to teach anyone else.
"Gao, several of us have also studied it carefully. Whether it is in terms of immediate combat ability or the team as a whole, Lichtsteiner is a very good candidate. We are also optimistic about him coming to Manchester City.
Performance."
When he said this, Gary Cook also understood what Gao Shen was taboo about, and immediately turned his head and looked at Mubarak, "I think we should let Gao Shen talk to us and convince Naples to sign this player."
Mubarak thought for a while and agreed to let Gao Shen talk.
Gao Shen still refused, but could not withstand everyone's persuasion, and finally reluctantly agreed to make a phone call.
