Capítulo 164: Transfer News Breaks
The announcement of Lin's transfer on Manchester City's official website exploded like a bomb in the football world! Countless fans were shocked, and Lin's transfer to Manchester City quickly dominated the Bluebirds' trend rankings.
"Wow, Lin is going to Manchester City. Is this for real?"
"It's official. It has to be true!"
"I thought Lin would go to Barca and team up with Messi and Neymar, but he ended up in the Premier League!"
"Yeah, if Lin had returned to Barca, with Neymar on the left, Lin on the right, Messi and Iniesta in the middle, Xavi and Busquets holding the midfield... Wow, that lineup would be insane!"
"If Lin had gone back to Barca, they'd be starting the Dream Four Dynasty right away!"
"Come on, it's obvious that Lin and Barca have some issues. He was never going back there!"
"Exactly, he had a better chance of joining Real Madrid than Barca. Honestly, after what the Real Madrid president said, I thought Lin would join Real."
"Too bad we won't see Lin teaming up with Ronaldo in European competitions!"
"Isn't Real Madrid rumored to be after Bale? Why are they still thinking about Lin?"
"Real Madrid fans are dreaming. A player of Lin's caliber would never go to Real to play second fiddle to Ronaldo!"
"To be fair, with Guardiola joining Bayern and Lin's agent seen meeting with Bayern's manager, I thought Lin would go to Bayern too. Who knew..."
"True. What was Bayern thinking? Did the talks fall apart?"
"Bayern signed Götze. They already had too many forwards. With Götze, there's even less room. Even Lin wouldn't want to go there!"
"Right, I heard the German Football Association made Bayern sign an unequal treaty guaranteeing Götze's starting spot and playing time to ensure the national team can compete for the World Cup."
As discussions on social media heated up, news of Lin's transfer spread explosively across the internet in no time.
...
In North London, at Arsenal Football Club.
Professor Wenger, who was troubled by the team's new signings for the new season, froze when he heard that Lin had turned down Bayern and joined Manchester City instead.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Professor Wenger's hands trembled uncontrollably, whether from excitement or anger, it was unclear.
Since Van Persie joined Manchester United, Arsenal had lacked a powerful striker.
Since Van Persie left last year, Wenger signed nine forwards in the transfer market.
But aside from Giroud and Bendtner, none could be relied upon.
Arsenal, plagued by a lack of strong forwards, had seen a severe decline in their Premier League performance last season.
They barely secured the last Champions League spot, finishing just one point ahead of Tottenham, narrowly achieving their top-four target.
With Arsenal lacking a powerful forward, having a strong player like Lin, who required no transfer fee, right in front of them, and missing the opportunity, Wenger felt like fainting from frustration!
Had he known Lin was a free agent, he would have personally visited, thoroughly explaining his coaching philosophy and Arsenal's team culture to Lin.
Everyone knew Wenger loved young talents and was good at discovering and nurturing them, having brought up countless young players over the years.
So, Wenger believed that with his reputation for developing young players, he would have had a good chance of convincing Lin to join Arsenal if he had personally stepped in.
If Lin joined Arsenal, not only would it solve their striker problem, but they could also dream of winning trophies.
Perhaps they could finally break their trophy drought!
Sadly, they missed such a great opportunity.
Wenger was very reluctant.
So, he spent the entire morning doing nothing but sighing in regret.
...
At another club in London, upon hearing the news that Lin joined Manchester City, Mourinho's expression changed multiple times.
Wasn't Emnalo already in contact with Lin?
Why didn't they manage to convince him to join Chelsea?
Mourinho had been watching Lin for a long time. Since Lin made a name for himself in the Bundesliga, Mourinho had kept an eye on him.
After witnessing Messi's prowess in La Liga, Mourinho had longed to have a similar player someday.
Lin was undoubtedly the closest to what he wanted!
Currently, if anyone resembled Messi the most, it was Lin.
Moreover, Lin's on-field performance was as good as Messi's and even better suited Mourinho's requirements in terms of physical confrontation, defensive ability, and adaptability.
To Mourinho, Lin was the perfect player.
And now, his perfect player had joined Manchester City!
Mourinho couldn't accept this!
What did Manchester City have besides money?
Chelsea had money too!
And they were a top club, having won the Champions League last year.
Not to mention, they had Mourinho, the best coach in football!
So Mourinho couldn't understand why Lin chose Manchester City over Chelsea.
What was so good about Manchester City?
...
"What kind of offer did Manchester City give Lin? How did they convince him?"
At another club in Manchester, recently retired Ferguson was shocked by the news.
No matter how he calculated, he never expected Lin to join Manchester City.
Now, with Lin joining Manchester City, their strength for the next season would significantly increase.
With Ferguson just retired, Manchester United was in a crucial transition phase.
His successor would already struggle to manage the situation, and losing to Manchester City in the derby would make it even harder.
Manchester United's owner, Joel Glazer, quickly approached Ferguson, begging him to stay for another year.
"Sir Alex, Manchester United can't do without you, especially now. If you leave, Manchester City will walk all over us!"
Joel Glazer was very worried about Manchester United's performance next season. Although they had hired Moyes, who was recommended by Ferguson, to take over, Moyes lacked experience managing a top club.
He had only managed smaller clubs.
These teams didn't have Manchester City's star-studded lineup or such a complex locker room environment.
Moyes himself wasn't a very famous player.
Expecting someone with no European success or star quality to manage Manchester United was a tough ask.
Joel himself doubted Moyes could control the locker room.
So, he had little hope for Moyes' coaching performance.
"Joel, I'm already retired.
Since you hired Moyes, trust him fully. I'll talk to the senior players in the locker room.
If things get out of hand, you can use your authority to deal with troublemakers. That should keep things calm for a while."
Ferguson sighed. A coach's authority ultimately depended on their results.
He could help as much as possible, but if Moyes' performance was poor, there was little he could do.
...
In La Liga, Real Madrid was feeling the pain of Lin's transfer to Manchester City.
"Damn it, did Tottenham reject our latest offer? They won't sell Bale for 96 million euros?"
"Yes, sir. Tottenham is asking for 100 million pounds and hasn't shown any signs of budging."
"100 million pounds? Do they think Bale is Lin? What makes him worth that much?"
If it were for Lin, Real Madrid would have no hesitation in offering 100 million pounds.
But for Bale, Florentino felt it wasn't worth it.
"They probably don't think Bale is worth it, but they know we have no other choice, especially now that Lin has joined Manchester City."
The assistant was also frustrated. Tottenham was too greedy, treating Real Madrid like cash cows.
Florentino listened to the assistant's report in frustration and picked up the phone to call Levy.
After a moment's thought, he put it down.
Since using Lin to pressure Levy had failed, that old fox wouldn't take his calls anymore.
Florentino knew the assistant was right. Tottenham was milking Real Madrid for all they were worth.
With Lin no longer an option, Bale was their only choice, allowing Tottenham to hike up the price.
"96 million euros is our limit. We can't really pay more for Bale than we did for Ronaldo, can we?"
Florentino felt stuck. He had promised fans to bring in a superstar to strengthen the squad for next year's Champions League run.
If he broke that promise, fans might not vote for him as president again.
So, for his own future, he couldn't break his promise.
And Tottenham knew this, which was why they were so fearless.
Real Madrid could afford to raise their offer.
But it was difficult to justify spending more than they did for Ronaldo!
Ronaldo's dominance in football was well-known. Would he accept a player with a higher transfer fee stealing his spotlight?
Currently, the world's highest transfer fee belonged to Ronaldo, and that was his pride.
If Real Madrid broke that record for Bale, how would Ronaldo feel?
Real Madrid wanted Bale to strengthen the team, not to cause conflicts with Ronaldo in the locker room.
This was why their offer was capped at 96 million euros!
"Sir, I have an idea!"
The assistant had a flash of inspiration.
"What is it? Tell me!"
"We can..."
After listening to the assistant's idea, Florentino nodded slightly.
"Not bad, that's a good plan!"
...
In La Liga, besides Real Madrid being hurt, the biggest losers were definitely Barcelona.
When news broke that Lin signed with Manchester City instead of staying at Barcelona, countless Barca fans flooded their website, demanding to know why the club failed to keep their academy gem, why they let La Masia's talent go elsewhere?
When Lin's performances in the Bundesliga and national team improved, Barca fans were proud of their academy producing another superstar.
But now, their prized player didn't return to Barca and instead joined a club with no top club heritage.
This was hard for Barca fans to accept!
"First, Guardiola leaves, and now Lin, our La Masia gem, doesn't come home.
President Rosell,
what have you done to drive away our coaches and players, making them not want to return to Barca or wear our colors?"
"There's definitely something fishy going on!"
"We need an explanation. We need to know the truth!"
"Right, we want to know why Lin and Guardiola left Barca!"
Faced with fan demands, Rosell chose to stay silent, not responding publicly.
He couldn't respond, as admitting he drove them away would make fans tear him apart!
But his silence only enraged the fans.
Without Rosell's response, many fans took to the internet, calling for his resignation.
"The one ruining our Barca is Rosell. Rosell out!"
"Damn businessman, get out of Camp Nou!"
"We don't want a businessman as president. We need someone who truly understands football!"
The Champions League humiliation by Bayern and the departures of Guardiola and Lin had already accumulated a lot of resentment among Barca fans.
Finally, the volcano erupted.
Many Barca fans voted online, demanding Rosell step down.
Under Rosell's orders, Barca tried to ignore the issue, but as more fans spoke up, it spread from online to real life.
When Barca's summer training began, many fans gathered outside the club with banners, chanting for Rosell to step down.
Some even brought rotten eggs to throw at him.
If not for the club's staff, who used umbrellas to shield him, Rosell might have been pelted on the spot.
Such fervent fan actions shocked Barca's players.
They looked at their club president, not knowing what he had done to cause such outrage.
Rosell's face turned dark, retreating into the club under staff protection.
But his departure didn't calm the fans, who continued to demand an explanation outside the club.
Seeing the situation spiral out of control, Barca's board had to step in.
The board promised fans they would investigate and provide an explanation.
The moment the board intervened, it was clear that Rosell's future at Barca was doomed.
...
People's emotions are different. While Barca fans were outraged, Manchester City fans were overjoyed.
Manchester City fans didn't care about the outside world. After hearing the news, they flooded the website and social media with messages:
"Thank God, Manchester City finally has a superstar of our own!"
"Crying, are we finally rising?"
"Someone pinch me. Am I dreaming? Did Lin really come to Manchester City?"
"Of course, I was at Manchester Airport and saw our boss, Mansour, and Lin leaving together!"
Some Manchester City fans posted pictures taken at the airport, showing Lin and Mansour.
Soon after, paparazzi revealed more details, showing Lin arriving in Manchester on Mansour's private jet, then being taken to a hotel owned by the Middle Eastern consortium.
These photos and details confirmed the news.
No wonder Manchester City fans were skeptical. They had heard many transfer rumors, but none of the stars ever came.
Among the most rumored was Messi!
Manchester City had money but no heritage or achievements. Top stars didn't want to lower themselves to join just for money.
After many failed rumors, Manchester City fans became insecure.
Thinking of their back-to-back Champions League group stage exits, their confidence was even lower.
Why would a top star join a team that couldn't even get past the group stage?
So, even with the official announcement, they still couldn't believe it, fearing it was a joke.
That was the most dazzling rising star in football, hailed as the third man after Messi and Ronaldo!
Did he really come to Manchester City?
Understanding their fans' excitement and anxiety, Manchester City announced Lin's public unveiling at the Etihad Stadium shortly after his arrival.
On July 28, Lin would officially appear at the Etihad Stadium.
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