Su Dong's feeling was correct, and things have been developing in a good direction.
The results of Valencia's captaincy election were approved by head coach Benitez and were quickly announced to major newspapers.
Albelda and Baraja were elected as the team's captains and vice-captains, which was unanimously recognized by Valencia local fans. Both players have proven their strength and value in the team.
Central defender Ayala, who was criticized by fans for his transfer scandal with Barcelona, also quickly apologized.
First, AS reported that Real Madrid was interested in Ayala after sending away veteran Hierro. However, Valencia's Argentine central defender reacted quickly this time and immediately came forward to clarify and expressed his loyalty to Valencia.
Interested in joining Real Madrid.
Not only that, Ayala also took the opportunity to apologize to the Valencia fans, clarifying his previous "slip of the tongue" and saying that he had no intention of leaving Valencia. "If possible, I hope to be able to play in this football team."
He plays for the team until he retires."
Ayala's statement was also affirmed by Valencia fans and the media, especially his clear rejection of Real Madrid.
You know, as early as the mid-1990s, Valencia was at loggerheads with Real Madrid because of Mijatovic's transfer, and the chairman of Valencia at the time was Roig, who had just won the election.
Because of this, Roig immediately rejected the news that Real Madrid was interested in Ayala.
"As long as I am the president of Valencia, no Valencia players will transfer to Real Madrid!"
Roig's words, like Ayala's, won the hearts of Valencia fans.
It was amid this chaos that Valencia quietly started preparations for the new season.
Benitez led the team to Nyon, Switzerland for a secret training camp.
…
As early as last season, Valencia was already the favorite to win La Liga, but the team's final performance declined and they almost missed the Champions League this season. One of the important reasons was their weak offense.
The lack of offensive players on the front line caused Valencia to struggle in many games without scoring.
For example, in the two-leg match against Inter Milan in the Champions League quarter-finals, Valencia's possession rate was as high as 70%, which can be said to be an advantage. Whether it is the scene or the opportunities created, it is better than Inter Milan.
But the final result was that Valencia was unfortunately eliminated.
Why?
Because there is no one on the front line!
After learning from the experience, Valencia made a comeback this season.
In order to reduce the team's debt burden, the management sold Salva and Carew, two big salary earners, but also spent 10 million euros to sign Sudong from Sporting Lisbon, which made everyone in Valencia feel this.
Management's determination.
Although Su Dong is only eighteen years old, in the Portuguese Super League and UEFA Cup last season, he scored 23 and 12 goals respectively, and was elected as the top scorer in both games. His scoring ability is evident.
He has achieved outstanding results at a young age, and has received the attention of head coach Benitez. Everyone in the team is also full of expectations for Su Dong.
With the joining of Su Dong, the forward line has been supplemented, and the arrival of Mohamed Sissoko has further strengthened the thickness of the midfield. These two signings have strengthened Valencia's overall strength compared to last season.
As for how strong it is, this still has to wait for the test of the new season, especially Su Dong's performance.
But after the summer training camp began, Su Dong clearly felt the breath that his teammates were holding back.
Everyone in this increasingly mature team, which took Benitez two years of hard work to build, is ready for a big fight.
Before heading to Nyon, Switzerland, the club arranged for players to be interviewed by the media as usual. Everyone expressed their hope that they could create greater glory for the team in the new season and achieve a breakthrough in performance.
Aimar rarely gives interviews to the media, but this time he stated: "We made a lot of mistakes last season and lacked some luck, but these have passed. This season we will seize all opportunities in front of us and win.
All games."
Argentinian defender Pellegrino also said: "With the addition of Su Dong and other strong players, we already have a very complete lineup. Although there are still many areas that need to be improved, everything is going well.
The direction of development, everyone in the locker room is working hard for it!"
This is true for the players, and it is also true for the head coach.
Before the team went to Nyon, Switzerland, Benitez had already made it clear that this would be the most demanding season since he coached, requiring every player in the team to be mentally prepared.
You must go all out and focus on pre-season training.
"Whether it's La Liga or the Champions League, I hope we can gain something in the new season!"
Benitez's words encouraged the whole team.
…
In addition to the players, coaching staff and staff of Valencia's first team, Sudong's personal coaching team, including Nuno Cruz, a total of three people and nutrition expert Paul La also went to Nyon, Switzerland.
Casco will follow up in Switzerland every few days.
Su Dong is also the only player in the team who has hired a personal coach for a long time, which is relatively new in the Valencia team.
Hiring a personal trainer is actually not uncommon in the football field. For example, some injured players will hire a personal physical therapist to help them during the recovery process, but this is only for a short period of time.
It is quite rare for someone like Su Dong to hire a personal coach for a long time and for the entire team, let alone Valencia, even in La Liga and even in the entire European football world.
But the Valencia players didn't have much objection to this, because all the expenses were paid by Su Dong out of his own pocket. Even the team's expenses in Nyon, Switzerland, in addition to following the team's food and accommodation, other expenses were also borne by Su Dong.
To bear.
In this case, Valencia players will naturally have no objections. On the contrary, many ambitious players will be happy because they see Su Dong's determination and investment in improving.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! And if Su Dong can really solve Valencia's forward crisis, this will be a huge improvement to Valencia's overall strength.
Especially when the team came to Nyon, Switzerland, and started pre-season training, Valencia players all felt how hard Su Dong worked. In addition to training with the team every day, he also carried out additional tasks assigned by the personal coaching team.
Additional training tasks.
Many players in the team were originally resistant to Benitez's devilish training and strict requirements, but after seeing Su Dong's training volume, they were stunned and all their original thoughts of bargaining with the coaching staff gave up.
Let me ask you, if you really go to the coaching staff, they will just say back: Look at Su Dong, and then look at yourself, are you embarrassed?
Naturally, no one wants to do this kind of self-inflicted boredom.
Su Dong's approach also caused some controversy within the team. Privately, some players believed that he "brought bad" the atmosphere in the team, but most players, especially Aimar, Ayala, Albelda and
Players such as Vicente were delighted and admired Su Dong's approach.
As a new aid, Su Dong has initially gained recognition from his teammates with his own efforts.
…
While Valencia was secretly training in Nyon, Switzerland, the schedule for the new European season was also released one after another.
The one that Valencia pays the most attention to is the Champions League qualifying rounds.
Last season, they only finished fourth in La Liga. Valencia must participate in the third round of the Champions League qualifying rounds. The first round of La Liga is at the end of August, so the new season's Bat Corps will fight on two fronts from the beginning.
.
It is worth mentioning that because the Portuguese Super League occupied three of the top four places in the UEFA Cup semi-finals last season, Sporting Lisbon won the UEFA Cup in the end, which caused the Portuguese Super League's European war points to soar.
, got two valuable Champions League qualification spots.
This summer, after UEFA recalculated the European war points, the Portuguese Super League champion Sporting Lisbon was able to directly advance to the Champions League group stage, while as the runner-up, Porto had to participate in the peripheral qualifiers.
This also made Su Dong regretfully express when he called his best friend Pepe, "Originally, I wanted to send you back to Portugal in the third round of qualifiers, but unfortunately I didn't have the chance!"
Boloni stayed at Sporting Lisbon. If he really met his former club, Sudong would not mind sending Boloni home, whether as a professional player or out of revenge for Boloni.
Of course, Pepe would not be polite, saying that there is still a chance in the Champions League group stage.
The Brazilian central defender's gratitude to Soudong comes from the bottom of his heart.
If it weren't for Su Dong, he wouldn't have been able to transfer from Maritimo to Sporting Lisbon, let alone be reused after the transfer. He won the Portuguese Super League and the UEFA Cup double in his first season, and even more so this season.
Being able to represent the team in the Champions League, is this a dream situation for many Brazilian players?
But because of this, Pepe reminds himself all the time to work harder to avoid being pulled further away by friends such as Su Dong and Ronnie. At the same time, he is also eager to improve the lives of himself and his family by playing well.
Since the first leg of the Champions League qualifying round will be played in mid-August, Valencia's summer training started relatively early. Benitez led the team to conduct a closed training camp in Nyon, Switzerland. In addition to carrying out necessary physical reserve training,
It’s more about adjusting and practicing the team’s offensive style.
Su Dong also carefully watched the contents of the USB flash drives that Benitez prepared for him, and indeed benefited a lot from them. He discovered many details and mistakes that he had not noticed before.
There are even many places that vaguely echo Romario's [Wolf of the Forbidden Zone], which makes Su Dong have a strong feeling that if he improves these shortcomings, not only will his own strength be further improved, but also his performance on the court will be further improved.
The threat will also become greater.
Because of this, Su Dong not only fully cooperated with Benitez's daily training, but also actively participated in the exercise physiology research project he led to improve his movements.
He hopes to perform better in the new season and further prove his worth!
