Chapter 235: Inter Milan's major signing: 3000 million for Torres
Although Vieira has a hot temper, he is not the kind of person who is difficult to get along with.
The reason why he was so upset after arriving at Inter Milan was mainly due to the impact of the game between Inter Milan and Juventus last season and the subsequent phone-gate incident.
Although there is no direct evidence that any player on the Juventus team was directly involved in match-fixing, there is irrefutable evidence that Juventus manipulated the match.
As the victim, Inter Milan will naturally look at the players from Juventus with some tinted glasses.
Last season, the two sides were sworn enemies on the court, but now they have transformed into teammates.
It takes a process to accept the change in each other's identities.
And during this period Vieira must lower his stance, otherwise it will only make Inter Milan more disgusted.
Fortunately, he chose to bow his head in the end. If he didn't, the entire Inter Milan team might really have excluded him and made him sit on the bench for a season.
……
After finishing the friendly match with Monaco, Inter Milan did not stop and immediately set off for the UK to prepare for the next game against Tottenham.
Since the new Premier League season started more than 20 days earlier than Serie A, Tottenham's lineup had almost been run-in before Inter Milan arrived at White Hart Lane, and their players' competitive state was obviously better than Inter Milan.
Inter Milan, playing away from home, conceded a goal to their opponent just five minutes into the game due to a mistake in the backcourt.
Although before the end of the first half, Lin Feng's long shot helped the team equalize the score.
But in the second half, the cool Berbatov received a pass from his teammate in the penalty area, dribbled past the opponent and volleyed the ball, easily sending the ball into the dead corner of the goal.
This goal was scored beautifully, even Inter Milan's players couldn't help but cheer for the other team!
On the sidelines, Mancini was drooling at the outstanding performance of Berbatov.
What a good striker! He has the skills, the awareness, and his footwork is very delicate. The way he stopped the ball was so elegant.
Moreover, his abilities are very comprehensive. He can take shots on his own, pull to the side, organize and support, and even take long shots outside the penalty area.
This kind of striker was actually overtaken by Tottenham. Mancini was so angry!
Although Tottenham is not a top club in the Premier League, it has always been a strong team in the Premier League. It does not have the strength to win the championship, but it not only has the strength to act as a troublemaker, but it is also very strong.
After taking the lead, Tottenham did not play conservatively at all and even suppressed Inter Milan.
After several unsuccessful counterattacks, Inter Milan lost to Tottenham 1:2 and suffered their first defeat in the warm-up match.
Although it was just a friendly match and winning or losing was relatively unimportant, and there were many objective reasons for the loss, after losing to Tottenham, Inter Milan was shrouded in a dark cloud from top to bottom.
"We have to speed up the recruitment of strikers. The new season will start in more than a month. We can't wait too long!"
After losing the game, Mancini took the initiative to find the club's top management and urged them to finalize the team's main striker as soon as possible.
Facchetti knew that the matter could not be delayed, so he dragged his sick body and flew to Germany to have a second contact with Werder Bremen and Klose.
However, the result of this negotiation was very unsatisfactory. Klose, who was originally interested in transferring to Serie A, seemed to have received promises from other teams and directly rejected the olive branch extended by Inter Milan.
This unexpected change completely disrupted Inter Milan's recruitment plan. After the first contact, they had basically decided to introduce Klose, but now all this has become a bubble.
After hitting a wall with Klose, Inter Milan had to immediately adjust their targets and contact other players.
Even as for Ibrahimovic, with whom Inter Milan had previously parted ways unpleasantly, Inter Milan once hesitated whether to take the initiative to contact him.
But in the end, the scouts from La Liga submitted an investigation report and dispelled Facchetti's idea.
He changed his route directly from Germany and went to Madrid to personally invite the young striker.
The outside world has no way of knowing the content of Facchetti's negotiations with the other party, but on August 8, Inter Milan's official website announced a major signing:
Atletico Madrid's young captain, Fernando Torres, who is only 22 years old this year, joined Inter Milan for 3000 million euros.
This is Inter Milan's largest transfer spending in the transfer market this summer, and the target is a young player who is only 22 years old.
This can't help but make the outside world very curious. Who is this Torres and why is it worth Inter Milan spending such a huge amount of money?
Don't look at it, look at it!
This guy named Torres scored 19 goals in La Liga when he was years old, becoming the youngest captain in the history of Atletico Madrid.
In the past two seasons, Torres' performance in La Liga has been very stable, and he often scores goals in key games. His speed and impact have left a deep impression on fans who have watched his games.
"This guy looks a bit like Ade!"
"Maybe Inter Milan recruited players based on Ade's template?"
"Alas, it's such a pity for Ade. He has such a great talent, but it's a pity that his personality has hindered him!"
When it comes to Ade, Inter Milan fans still feel a little sad.
There is no doubt about Ade's strength. He has both skills and talent.
Even Ronaldo once publicly said that Ade was a player of the same level as him. However, due to the influence of his personality and family, Ade's talent was not fully realized.
Lack of self-discipline, coupled with the psychological blow brought by his father's death, made Ade more and more self-indulgent, causing his condition to deteriorate.
When Lin Feng first joined the team last season, Ade's performance was remarkable, which gave fans great hope.
But as the season progressed, Ade gradually returned to his previous state. Problems such as being late for training, leaving early, hanging out in nightclubs, and arguing with the coaching staff began to occur frequently.
During that period, Inter Milan also struggled in the league and was once left behind by Juventus by a huge gap of 12 points.
The combination of multiple factors led to Mancini's extremely bad impression of Ade. In the end, he would rather let substitute striker Cruz start than use Ade.
This was also the direct reason for the irreconcilable conflict between the two later.
"Since Torres can be the captain of Atletico Madrid, his mentality must be much more mature than Ade. We don't have to worry about him becoming a time bomb for the team, right?"
Although the strength of this newcomer is still unclear, Inter fans are generally optimistic.
As long as Torres can smoothly integrate into Inter Milan's tactical system and his form does not decline significantly, with the help of so many assist-producing players in the team, he will definitely score a lot of goals.
After signing Torres, Inter Milan has strengthened its forward, midfield and defense lines, and its strength is even better than last season. This has greatly boosted Mancini's confidence, and he feels that he can have a good fight in the new season of the Champions League!
……
In fact, Inter Milan is not the only one eyeing Torres. Premier League giants Liverpool also eyed Torres earlier than Inter Milan.
Since Owen left, Liverpool has been lacking a strong center forward. Last season in the league and the Champions League, Liverpool was troubled by the lack of a striker.
After the disastrous defeat to Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals last season, Benítez learned his lesson and felt that the forwards in the team were too unreliable and that he had to introduce strong forwards to change the situation of weak forwards.
In order to make up for this shortcoming, Benítez started looking for candidates for the striker early on, and Torres won his favor with his prolific and stable performance in Atletico.
Before the end of last season, he used his Spanish identity and domestic network of contacts to privately contact Torres' agent.
But at that time Torres was still a little hesitant, wavering between the two options of leaving or staying.
In addition, Atletico Madrid's offer was too high, asking Liverpool for a transfer fee of 2200 million pounds. For Liverpool, who are financially stingy and live within their means, this price is too expensive.
Since taking over Liverpool, the most expensive signing Benítez has made was the £1400 million he spent on French star Cisse.
Now the other party asked for 2200 million pounds, which exceeded his psychological expectations.
Liverpool's boss is not a tyrannical man like Moratti. They don't have much money, so naturally they can't invest heavily in signing players for the team.
But Cisse accidentally broke his leg, resulting in a lack of players on Liverpool's front line.
This problem needs to be solved urgently, otherwise Liverpool's performance in the new season is likely to plummet.
So Benítez had no choice but to bite the bullet and try to bargain with the other party to see if he could lower the price to less than 2000 million pounds.
However, just when he was trying to bargain, Inter Milan suddenly appeared and offered 3000 million without any bargaining, and took away his favorite striker.
Upon learning that Torres was snatched away by Inter Milan, Benítez was so angry that he wanted to curse Inter Milan's ancestors.
But there was no point in being angry, the person had already been abducted, he could only use the alternative plan and use 900 million euros to introduce the opponent's striker Bellamy from Benblack.
Although Bellamy's league goal tally is comparable to Torres' and he is at the peak of his career, he seems to be a more suitable choice than introducing a young striker like Torres.
But in Benítez's heart, Bellamy and Torres are not players of the same level at all.
The 27-year-old Bellamy has no potential to speak of, but the 22-year-old Torres still has unlimited possibilities.
……
Lin Feng was very surprised when he learned that Facchetti had intercepted Torres.
He had originally been prepared to be teammates with Klose next season, but at the last minute, someone was replaced. Klose did not come, and the golden boy Torres came.
It is hard to say who is stronger between the two, but Torres, who is about to enter his peak period, is definitely the top striker in football.
His joining can indeed bring great reinforcement to Inter Milan.
However, there is one thing that Lin Feng is curious about. Since Torres has already come, will Ibrahimovic also come?
Ibrahimovic's situation is a bit embarrassing at this time!
After falling out with Inter Milan over transfer fees, he and his agent contacted teams everywhere, trying to find a better next home.
But there are not many teams that need a strong striker and are capable of taking him.
Moreover, these teams have clear goals, and many of them have already secured players when the transfer period started. It is obviously too late for Ibrahimovic to contact them now.
"Liverpool is the only team that is still lacking a striker, but I contacted Liverpool and they obviously don't have enough financial resources to bring you to the Premier League!"
Although Liverpool is a veteran powerhouse in the Premier League, the Reds really have no money at that time.
Although under the careful planning of the tactical master Benítez, Liverpool's record in recent seasons has been good, especially in the Champions League. They once staged the Istanbul Miracle and snatched a championship trophy from AC Milan.
However, due to the club's lack of money, Liverpool's squad is not deep enough to cope with both the league and the Champions League at the same time.
To make matters worse, the Premier League has no winter break and the team has to start fast during the Christmas season, which places extremely high demands on the depth of its bench.
Liverpool hasn't won the league title for many years, and the last time they won the league title was 17 years ago.
As long as they have money, Liverpool will definitely make crazy signings to strengthen its lineup and compete with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal for the Premier League title.
If Benítez had not acted so quickly and had not spent the 900 million euros to sign Bellamy, perhaps if they put their money together, they might have been able to sign Ibrahimovic.
But after spending this huge sum of 900 million euros, Liverpool has spent almost half of its transfer budget for this season.
Even if Ibrahimovic takes the initiative to join Liverpool now, they are powerless and have no money in their pockets.
Of course, if Ibrahimovic were to do the same as Fabio Cannavaro and pay the transfer fee out of his own pocket instead of Liverpool, there might still be a glimmer of hope.
But Ibrahimovic obviously couldn't do such a thing!
So now Ibrahimovic’s situation is very embarrassing. He wants to leave, but he can’t.
The most embarrassing thing is that after the Calciopoli scandal broke out, Ibrahimovic had already expressed his intention to leave Juventus. If no one wants to leave in the end, he would not have the face to stay in Juventus.
"Zlatan, don't worry, we can still work on this matter!"
"Oh? What can you do?"
Ibrahimovic looked at his agent expectantly.
Raiola has been in the football world for many years and is very experienced. Since he said there is a way, there must be a way!
Now Ibrahimovic is no longer picky about teams. As long as a big club comes, any big club, as long as they can take him away and the salary is not cut too much, he will accept it.
"Haha, as far as I know, Ronaldo seems to be leaving Real Madrid. Although Real Madrid has brought in Van Nistelrooy, they may not be uninterested in you. I will show up in Madrid. Even if I don't have any contact with Real Madrid, I can still use this to create momentum! By then, any team interested in you will naturally come to you!"
When Ibrahimovic heard his agent's idea, his eyes lit up.
It would be great if I could really join Real Madrid, after all, it is the best team on the planet!
(End of this chapter)
