From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 768 Hope
It is February 2020 and the winter transfer window closes.

For Manchester United, this was another quiet transfer window. The team did not make any big moves in the transfer market. Not only did it not bring in any players, it also sent two players away.

34岁的老将阿什利·扬在曼联的出场机会越来越少，不甘寂寞的他向球队递交了转会申请。1月18日，国际米兰官方宣布阿什利·扬正式加盟，与球队签约至2020年6月30日。

At the same time, Manchester United also announced the transfer on its official website and sent blessings to the veteran who has played for Manchester United for eight and a half years and made 260 appearances in various competitions.

The 34-year-old veteran has won numerous honors. In his eight and a half years at Manchester United, he has won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, two Champions Leagues, one Europa League, three European Super Cups, two Club World Cups and six Community Shields, for a total of 4 titles!
Moreover, in order to allow this contributing veteran to receive better treatment at Inter Milan, Manchester United only received a symbolic transfer fee of 200 million euros from the Nerazzurri.

Bruno was actually a little reluctant to see the veteran leave, and persuaded him to stay with the team.

Although he is already 34 years old, which is considered old for a football player, Ashley Young has maintained a good competitive state. Bruno remembered that until he traveled through time, Ashley Young was still active in the Premier League, when he was already 38 years old.

However, due to the fierce competition within Manchester United, although Ashley Young is a jack of all trades on the field and can play almost any position on either side of the field, he has no advantage over the two main full-backs Luke Shaw and Cancelo, or the two wingers Rashford and Mbappe, not to mention that he also has to face competition from Mahrez, Greenwood and Lingard.

Under such circumstances, Ashley Young was very determined to leave, and Bruno's persuasion had no effect, so he could only give him his blessings.

………………

Another player who left Manchester United in this winter transfer window was Argentine defender Rojo.

If Ashley Young still has many opportunities to rotate in Manchester United, then Rojo has basically been guarding the water dispenser all year round in the past two years. In addition, he is about to turn 30 and has no hope at Manchester United, so he decided to return to his hometown and was loaned to the Argentine Primera Division team Estudiantes de La Plata, which is also Rojo's home team.

Compared to most teams, Manchester United was very quiet as only two players were traded during the entire winter window.

However, in this transfer window, although there were nearly 4 transfers with a total transaction value of 8 billion euros, only a handful of them could be called big-money deals, that is, deals worth more than 15 million euros. And even fewer of them received much attention.

In this winter window, the most eye-catching deal is the talented Norwegian striker Haaland, who has been very popular in the Austrian League this season. Dortmund spent 2000 million euros to bring this super genius from Salzburg Red Bull to the Bundesliga.

In fact, as early as when he was in Molde, their head coach, Manchester United legend Solskjaer, recommended this talented striker to Manchester United. However, due to the feud between Haaland's father and Manchester United, and the fact that Manchester United has Harry Kane, the top center forward in European football, as well as top talents such as Mbappe, Rashford and Greenwood, Haaland rejected Manchester United's invitation.

In addition, Tottenham midfielder Eriksen also chose to leave and join Serie A giants Inter Milan.

Manchester United originally wanted to get this midfielder, but because there were too many strong players in Manchester United's midfield, it was difficult for Eriksen to get a starting position in Manchester United. He also rejected Manchester United's recruitment and chose to move to the Apennine Peninsula.

………………

On the evening of February 2st, a focus match of the 1th round of the Premier League kicked off at the Millennium Stadium, with Manchester United taking charge against Wolves.

Earlier, Liverpool had swept Southampton Saints 4-0 at home and were 7 points ahead of Manchester United with one more game to play.

This puts a lot of pressure on Manchester United because in the past few seasons, the Red Devils have never fallen so far behind their opponents in the standings.

Under such circumstances, Manchester United cannot afford to lose this game.

After being promoted to the Premier League last season, Wolves have been performing very well. They finally finished seventh last season and are currently ranked seventh in the standings this season. Therefore, Wolves are also considered to be the team most likely to stop Manchester United's winning inertia besides the BIG6.

Before the game, the Liverpool media, contrary to their usual practice, praised Wolves for their outstanding performance after being promoted to the Premier League, praised the good atmosphere in the Wolves dressing room, and praised the good form of the Wolves players...

Well, in addition to praising, he also exaggerated Manchester United's five consecutive wins against Wolves in the past two seasons, and always talked about revenge. Anyway, it just means that Wolves are in excellent form now, everything is good, if not now, when will revenge be taken?

The British media and fans were all delighted. Obviously, everyone knew that Liverpool hoped that Wolves could stop Manchester United and help the Reds realize their dream of winning the Premier League title for the first time.

From this we can also see that although Liverpool now has a clear advantage in the standings, they still lack confidence in winning the championship.

This is all because Manchester United’s performance in the past few seasons has been so strong and so stable, so strong that it makes people tremble with fear, and so stable that it makes people’s heart palpitate.

Of course, Wolves also have reasons to win. Since being promoted to the Premier League last season, although Wolves have performed very well, their performance in the game against Manchester United was not good.

上赛季，狼队在两回合的联赛中均被曼联3:1击败，在足总杯八强战也被曼联3:2干掉。本赛季，他们先是在联赛第2轮的主场比赛中被曼联4:1血洗，然后又在足总杯第3轮的比赛中于主场再度被曼联淘汰。

If they lose to Manchester United again this time, it will mean that they have been beaten by Manchester United six times in two seasons, which is a shame for everyone.

In addition, Wolves still retain a glimmer of hope to compete for a Champions League spot, and this glimmer of hope depends on their victory over Manchester United in this game.

In this round of the game, Leicester City, ranked fourth in the standings, and Chelsea, ranked fifth, tied 2:2 at the King Power Stadium. As the saying goes, while the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman gains. If Wolves can win this game, the gap with Leicester City will be narrowed to 12 points. With 13 games left in the league, although the hope of a comeback is slim, there is always some hope, isn't it?
Participating in the Europa League this season has already shown Wolves the benefits of participating in European competitions. This is still the Europa League, if they can participate in the more influential Champions League, the benefits will be unimaginable.

If they lose this game, there will be no need to talk about anything else. Wolves' only goal this season is to compete with Chelsea, Tottenham and Sheffield United in the league for the Europa League qualification.

In this match, Manchester United played very steadily at home. Mourinho not only sent out the full main lineup, but also used relatively conservative tactics. He did not let Manchester United launch a crazy attack at home, but played a defensive counterattack against Wolves.

As an experienced coach, Mourinho knows very well that the more difficult the situation is, the less risk you can take. Counterattack is the most stable tactic to score points.

The game went into injury time and the score was still 0:0. Even the commentator was summing up the game with the score of 0:0, when a goal was scored.

Wolves, who were trying their best to attack and defeat Manchester United unexpectedly, were counterattacked by Manchester United. Harry Kane used an excellent run in the penalty area and found a good opportunity to shoot.

Bruno and Mbappe made a wall-to-wall cooperation, pretending to pass the ball to the side, but passed the ball to the middle. Harry Kane cleverly inserted into the position, and he shot before Wolves captain Connor Coady cleared the ball. The ball suddenly jumped up, passed over the left hand of Wolves goalkeeper Patricio, and went straight into the net.

"Harry Kane! Harry Kane!!" commentator Andy Gray suddenly exclaimed, "He is like an assassin, a real shooter. He appeared in the most important position at the most appropriate time! And then he made the most correct move! This is not a Harry Kane penalty goal in the absolute sense. 1:0! Manchester United took the lead. This is a lore! This is a lore!! This is a real lore!!!"

"1:0! Manchester United defeated Wolves. After winning this game, Manchester United's points reached 68. Liverpool's game is over. Liverpool won, but they are still only 4 points ahead of Manchester United. The fight for the league championship is not over yet!"

Harry Kane, who scored the goal, pounced on captain Bruno who passed the ball to him, and the two hugged each other, and then more Manchester United players rushed up.

"This is Harry Kane's 19th league goal this season, and this is Bruno Fernandes' 13th assist this season. In the Premier League scorer list, Harry Kane ranks second, ahead of Bruno with 29 goals, behind him are Vardy with 17 goals and Aguero with 16 goals."

"In the assists list, Bruno ranks second with 13 assists, ahead of De Bruyne with 14 assists."

Ten seconds later, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Manchester United defeated Wolves 1:0. They have defeated Wolves three times this season and have completed six consecutive victories against the dark horse Wolves in the past two seasons.

Mourinho waved his arms and rushed into the field frantically. Behind him were the equally crazy Manchester United substitutes, coaches, and team staff.

By winning this game, Manchester United has retained its hopes of winning the Premier League title.

With 13 league games left, Manchester United is only 4 points behind Liverpool and there is still a possibility of catching up.

If Manchester United really falls behind Liverpool by 7 points, given Liverpool's stability this season, they can really declare their withdrawal from the race for the league title in advance!
(End of this chapter)