Full-level pass, please call me the speaker of the Three Lions

Chapter 215 Winter window signing plan!

Time: January 2015, 1

Location: Liverpool, Anfield Stadium

Amidst the loud singing of "You'll Never Walk Alone", the entire stadium turned into bright red.

The score displayed on the big screen was clearly three to zero!

The home team goes first and the away team goes last.

"Wow!"

"Coutinho's long shot once again helped Liverpool expand the score!"

"Eighty minutes into the game, Liverpool leads Leicester City by three goals at home"

"Leicester City hardly organized an effective offense in this game. They must miss their creative No. 7."

Along with the commentator's narration, the live camera focused on Ling Feng sitting in the stands behind the visiting team's bench at the right time.

Ling Feng, who was wearing a woolen hat and a black trench coat, looked calm.

Seeing that the team was defeated, he couldn't help but raise his hand and tugged at the collar of the sweater knitted by his mother, hoping to let the cold wind blow in and cool down the restlessness in his heart.

After spending a warm New Year's Eve with their families, they came to Liverpool non-stop on the first day of the New Year to usher in the twentieth round of the league!

However, due to muscle strain, Ling Feng needs to rest for a week.

Therefore, he, Vardy and Schmeichel, who were already injured, were not included in the squad and could only watch from the stands.

At the beginning, the three of them were chatting and laughing, and from time to time they signed autographs and took photos with the fans next to them.

However, as the game began, the relief on the three people's faces suddenly disappeared and replaced with a solemn expression.

Without him.

Just because without the three absolute main players of Ling Feng, Vardy and Schmeichel, Leicester City had almost no power to fight back against the Red Army's offensive!

The whole audience was almost pushed to the ground by Liverpool and rubbed wildly!

In the end, they lost 3-0 at Anfield!

After the game, Ling Feng also came to the visiting team's locker room, shook hands and hugged his teammates one by one.

This loss, although very frustrating.

However, the three main players were unable to play, making the strength gap between the two teams more obvious, and losing was a foreseeable result.

When greeting Cambiaso with a hug, the former Argentine superstar also said very directly:

"Ling, if you and Jamie were here in this game, we might not lose!"

This sentence is enough to prove the trust of his teammates in him, and also illustrates Leicester City's dependence on him.

indeed.

Leicester City with Ling Feng and without Ling Feng are completely two teams.

Without Ling Feng on the court, they didn't have a backbone at all, and they didn't even know who to pass the ball to.

In this game, Mahrez is the most threatening point in Leicester City's formation.

However, under Rogers' special tactical arrangement, he was heavily marked and was double-teamed by two people when picking up the ball and passing the ball.

Mahrez is not like Ling Feng, who has the explosiveness and speed to speed up in an instant.

In addition, Nick Powell, who replaced Ling Feng, could not give him much support at all.

So he seemed to be alone on the court.

However, with the substitute lineup and in a prestigious away game like Anfield, losing is not something that is difficult to accept.

In Ling Feng's view, Leicester City does not have to worry about relegation this season because of its own existence.

However, judging from the strength and thickness of the lineup, it is still very difficult to win a ticket to the European war.

With Leicester City's current lineup, if they just focus on the league or the Europa League, they have a chance to reach the top six in the league or the top eight in the Europa League.

The key is that they plan to fight on two fronts!

Even if Pearson didn't say so.

However, Ling Feng can also guess what he and the club's senior management focus on the Premier League and Europa League.

Anyway, with Leicester City's current record and points, it is basically unlikely that they will be relegated.

Staying in the Premier League means they can continue to enjoy the Premier League's high broadcast share next year.

However, the European war does not happen every year!

It is a rare opportunity to participate in a European competition. Club owners and senior management will definitely value this great opportunity to expand the club's brand influence across Europe and promote their own tourism group.

The income and influence brought by the Europa League are intuitive!

Every time you win a game and advance to the next round, you will get a certain amount of bonus and broadcast share.

From the perspective of a club owner, the further the team progresses in the Europa League, the more helpful it will be for the increase in the share price of their own tourism group, and the more money they will be able to make.

From the perspective of Pearson, the head coach, it may be more realistic to go further in the Europa League.

The league season is too long.

It is a very big test for the depth of the team's lineup and the stability of the team.

After all, even a wealthy team like Arsenal, which has been competing in the Premier League for many years, will often fall behind at critical moments when competing for the top four due to the depth of its lineup.

How easy is it for Leicester City to compete with Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham, Liverpool, Southampton and other teams for European qualification? !

So, if Leicester City can be ranked in the top eight at the end of the season, it will already be a great achievement worthy of popping the champagne.

Compared with the long league season, cup matches are more accidental and the possibility of upsets is higher.

If he can lead Leicester City to the quarter-finals, or even the semi-finals, as the head coach, Pearson's reputation will definitely be resounding throughout Europe!

As a player, I don’t have that many ideas.

Most of these players know how much they weigh.

Premier League champion? Champions League spot?

In fact, it has nothing to do with their newly promoted team.

In the minds of most players, they are thinking about taking one step at a time and playing every game well first.

Then let his value increase, or sign a contract with a better salary with the club.

As for the final league ranking, it will be revealed at the end of the season, so there is no use thinking about it so much.

And this is what Ling Feng thinks.

However, no matter whether the team focuses on the league or the cup, or both, they must strengthen in this winter window!

. . .

With the winter transfer window officially opening, the head coaches, scouts, and agents of major European leagues are all busy.

And Leicester City head coach Pearson is no exception.

The day after losing to Liverpool, he immediately summoned the football director, coaching staff and scouts to hold the first signing meeting.

Everyone sat in the conference room and first reviewed the team's statistics over the past half season.

Number of goals scored, number of goals conceded, number of chances created per game, average running distance per game, number of steals, number of saves, etc.

Through intuitive data, looking at the past half-season, Leicester City's advantage in offensive firepower is visible to the naked eye.

However, scoring many goals and conceding many goals is also the biggest problem of their team.

Obviously, their frontcourt offensive firepower is already one of the best in the entire Premier League.

However, they still have many shortcomings on the defensive end and there is a lot of room for improvement. How to improve the team's poor defense to reduce conceding goals?

There are two ways!

One is to build a defensive system; the other is to buy stronger defenders!

And these two can complement each other.

You can buy stronger defenders while building a defensive system to reduce the number of goals conceded.

The one who urgently needs reinforcement in the defensive position is of course the central defender!

Considering that center back Moore is impatient, and Vasilevskiy and Upson are both too old and too slow, except for captain Morgan who is relatively stable and reliable at the center back position, there is really a shortage of available players.

Moreover, they are about to face two-front battles in the league and the Europa League in the second half, and personnel rotation will definitely become more frequent.

Whether it's the partnership of Morgan and Moore, or the partnership of Morgan and Vasilevskiy, the effect is not good.

Their top priority is to find a suitable partner for Morgan!

Pearson immediately looked at his old buddy, who brought Vardy, Mahrez, Morgan and other core chief scouts to the team, Steve Walsh, known as the "Eagle Eye":

"Steve, do you have any suitable candidates for the centre-back position?"

And Walsh, who was wearing reading glasses, took out his small brown notebook and said:

"After inspection and analysis by the scouting department, we have selected several candidate targets."

As soon as he finished speaking, a young scout pointed at the projection screen and pressed the remote control.

With a "swish" sound, a scouting report with detailed analysis appeared in front of everyone:

“The first one, Stoke City’s German centre-back, Robert Huth!”

"I am 2006 years old this year. I was selected for the German national team and competed in the World Cup."

"He is 1.9 meters tall and weighs 80 kilograms. His advantages are strong body, strong frontal interception ability, and excellent air defense."

"weakness is"

After a detailed introduction, Pearson looked at the scouting report in his hand and then asked:

"Is this our first choice?"

"Yes."

"But he seems to have just recovered from his injury. Will he have any injury problems?"

"This shouldn't be a big problem. As long as he can pass the medical examination, he can play for us. Since he has no playing time at Stoke City, he also hopes to leave Stoke City and change to a new environment. Now it is time for us to get The perfect time to kill him!”

"We can rent him out for half a season and see the effect of partnering with Morgan before deciding whether to buy him out."

After hearing what Walsh said, Pearson nodded, "Well, it sounds like a very economical deal."

"Let's ask Stoke City for their opinion first. If they are willing to rent him, that would be the best. If not, then let's see how much money we need to get him!"

"clear."

"Next person!"

“Hull City’s homegrown centre-back, Harry Maguire!”

"Maguire?"

Hearing the name and seeing Maguire's half-length photo on the projection screen, Pearson suddenly remembered something and asked suddenly:

"Is he the tall guy Ling was talking to in the tunnel?"

"it's him!"

"Ling and he seem to be friends."

"Yes, it seems they only met in the FA Cup last season."

"Maguire's playing style is somewhat similar to Morgan's. And his footwork, no offense, is obviously better than Morgan's."

"His performance against Sheffield United last season was impressive"

As he spoke, the projector played some of Maguire's game videos and highlights.

"Of course, he is still very young and has many shortcomings, such as lack of experience, slow turning speed, etc. However, this is definitely a good prospect."

"The schedule in the second half of the season is relatively intensive, and as our opponents study us, the defense will inevitably face greater pressure. So we must strengthen the defense with more manpower!"

"So, what is your suggestion?"

"We can adopt the same strategy as Huth and rent him for half a season to see how he performs. If he performs well, it won't be too late for us to buy him."

"Well, then send an email to Hull City and ask them!"

"Next person."

The entire signing meeting was conducted in an orderly manner.

At Leicester City, owner Vichai basically takes over the business and does not care about the team's tactics and transfers.

The excellent record in the past half season has given Pearson the full support of his boss Vichai.

His status in the club is almost rock solid.

As director of football, Rudkin also has certain decision-making power.

Therefore, the team's transfer power is basically in the hands of Pearson, Walsh, and Rudkin.

Who to buy and who to sell can be decided after basically three people discussing it and giving it to the boss to take a look at.

In the football world, there is a huge difference between a coach and a manager.

The former is to watch the food and eat.

It is none of his business what players the club gives or introduces.

His task is to formulate tactics according to these players;

The latter is a handful.

You can recruit and formulate your own lineup system according to your own wishes!

Strictly speaking, Pearson is the only manager in the entire Premier League, apart from Wenger, who can participate in transfer decisions.

In addition to the most critical central defender position, at the meeting, the scouting department also made reinforcement plans for other positions, providing the head coach with some options.

For example, on the front line, they took a fancy to Kramaric, who was exiled to Rijeka for resisting the Croatian devil Mamic.

The Croatian international performed well for the Croatian team Rijeka. He played 34 times in all competitions last season and scored an astonishing 27 goals!

Halfway through this season, he has also scored 14 goals in 20 games, and his scoring efficiency can be called efficient!

Of course, the Croatian Premier League and the Premier League are two completely different leagues.

Just because he is killing all the players in the Croatian Premier League does not mean that he will be able to score a lot of goals in the Premier League.

Kramaric is worth five million euros.

If they want to acquire this Croatian international who is on the rise and is the team's leading shooter in the winter window, the transfer fee they have to pay will definitely be no less than 7 million!

Seven million euros for a rotating forward?

This is not in line with their Leicester City transfer strategy of spending small money to do big things.

As for the goalkeeper position, they also took a fancy to Chelsea's old goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, and planned to let this Australian legend, who has played more than 500 games in the Premier League, come over to do a part-time job to enhance his experience in the goalkeeper position.

After the meeting, head coach Pearson, chief scout Walsh, and football director Rudkin also met with team owner Vichai's son, the club's vice president Ayawat.

Ayawat was delighted with Pearson's signing plan and told them good news:

This winter window, they have a transfer budget of 10 million pounds to operate!

(End of this chapter)