Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

"Ferguson is blaming us, but if he really wanted to stop it, he could have brought Leman to Old Trafford for as little as eight million euros."

"We all know Duncan is a good kid; he respects his seniors and is willing to help in these matters. But Ferguson didn't speak up because he couldn't bear to part with him, while Arsenal could, and that's why the deal went through!"

After this deal, "Arsenal are very willing to part with their assets" became a buzzword.

It's a term fans use to mock Manchester United for wanting to maintain their dominance without spending money.

But no one knew that a few years later, this would become one of the most damaging quotes used to mock Arsenal.

Aside from Chelsea's signing and Beckham's departure, Liverpool's transfer was arguably the biggest deal in the Premier League this season.

Last season, Liverpool finished fifth in the league, three points behind Chelsea, and once again missed out on Champions League qualification.

Their lines are all fine, but their attacking depth is still a bit lacking.

Their most reliable star, Kyrie Irving, missed many games last season due to injury.

Heskey's scoring ability is indeed somewhat lacking, which is his only weakness.

Liverpool then naturally set their sights on Robbie Fowler, who had a stellar season at Manchester United.

After all, he was Liverpool's former prodigy striker!

Twenty goals and seven assists in the league.

Three goals and one assist in the FA Cup.

Eight goals and three assists in the EFL Cup.

He scored 31 goals, provided 11 assists, and was involved in 42 goals in a single season—his efficiency was terrifying!

That's almost the sum of Heskey's 2.5 seasons' worth of stats.

A healthy Robbie Fowler is terrifying!

If last season's Duncan was in a league of his own in the Premier League...

Henry is in a league of his own, second only to Duncan.

Players like Robbie Fowler, Cristiano Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy, Beattie, Viduka, and Shearer are in the same tier as Henry.

The ranking is in order of importance!

Moreover, Fowler is only twenty-eight years old, in his prime, at the peak of his life.

The key is that he fits in perfectly with Liverpool and can integrate seamlessly.

Liverpool desperately want a player like that.

But the key question is whether Manchester City is willing to make Liverpool's decision.

A few days later, the results came out.

Dongqiudi (a Chinese sports betting website) grabbed the headline: "25 million euros! Robbie Fowler joins Liverpool for the second-highest transfer fee in the Premier League! Second only to Crespo's 26 million euros!"

"Considering Chelsea's inflated transfer fees, Fowler might be the most expensive Premier League transfer this season!"

However, Sky Sports once again criticized Manchester City: "Unfortunately, we haven't seen any ambition in Manchester City!"

[A stable novel app that has been running for many years, comparable to the old version of the popular reading app, and a source-switching app used by veteran bookworms. huanyuanapp.org]

"They actually sold Robbie Fowler, their second-highest scorer! Who will they rely on to score next season? Adriano?"

"Yes, they have just completely reclaimed ownership of Adriano. If this series of actions was premeditated, I can only say that the person who planned this was out of their mind."

"We expect to see more activity from Manchester City in the transfer market; otherwise, it's hard to believe they have the ability to challenge Manchester United next season!"

"Even if they continue to cultivate rivals as they are now, they might be able to rise from the lower half to the upper half of the table in the new season, but forget about the top four, they'll struggle to even make the top six!"

"It's hard to say what would have happened before, but as long as Manchester City wants to climb higher, all the top eight teams in the Premier League are their competitors. They clearly overlooked that!"

Immediately, the media criticized Manchester City for lacking ambition.

Criticisms suggest that Mansour came to the Premier League not to pursue football, but to make money off the English.

As a result, Mansour immediately announced that in addition to the Intihad Stadium, Manchester City would also begin construction on the "Intihad Training Ground" in the new season.

Manchester City have officially launched their youth academy construction project.

The project is divided into three phases and will cover 80 acres when fully completed, including 16 full-size stadiums and a youth training stadium that can accommodate 7,000 people.

It also includes office buildings, college buildings, player apartments, media center, medical clinic, canteen, gym, ice room, game room, swimming pool and other buildings.

An estimated investment of approximately £200 million!

Do you think Manchester City has any ambitions?

In an interview with Dongqiudi, Mansour stated, "I know the media thinks Manchester City should make certain signings, but that's just the media's opinion."

"We hope to make more substantial contributions to the residents of Manchester, to England, and to the fans of Manchester City."

"Two hundred million pounds might allow us to assemble a very luxurious squad, but does that guarantee us the title? I believe Real Madrid has already given everyone the answer."

"Similarly, we will use the 200 million pounds to build Manchester City's youth academy, which will be the foundation for Manchester City to win titles in the next ten, twenty, or thirty years."

"That's what brings Manchester City countless talents and championship after championship."

"And local residents will also benefit from this. The project will directly or indirectly provide more than two thousand jobs in Manchester, enabling more people to send their children to football clubs."

"It will allow more youth training players to receive better care, better teaching, and better medical treatment..."

"To quote Deng Kai, 'If I'm going to throw money at something, I'd rather invest it to build a foundation than just make a splash!'"

The interview received a lot of likes from Manchester residents.

If you have to choose between the benefits of real money and bringing in superstars, of course you'd choose the former.

Europeans love football, but they're not stupid. They're always holding these marches and events, are they doing it for the whole world?

They're just jumping around for their own rights, that's all, nothing great.

Those proposals that seem to involve the whole world and could inadvertently be for the benefit of all humanity—none of them have a pure motive.

Therefore, Manchester City's subsequent series of "small-scale" transfers did not provoke anger from fans, but were instead understood.

This means that new signings like Fabregas and Mascherano are receiving much better treatment than Ribery and others were this time last year.

Manchester City snatch David Villa, the lone hero of Sporting Gijón, from Zaragoza for €2 million!

Chinese Manchester City fans welcomed Villa's arrival because his nickname is "Huluwa" (a character from Chinese mythology).

Twenty goals in a single Segunda División season! Villa definitely scores more goals than Adriano!

"Mini Killer, David Villa! Can he fill the void left by Robbie Fowler?"

David Villa had just landed in Manchester.

Another David, also from Spain, came.

Manchester City snatch Valencia youth team player David Silva for €700,000!

I like playing football on the ground: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him.