Mendes personally stepped in, and the negotiations with Dinamo Zagreb went very smoothly, and the two sides almost hit it off.

After negotiating the transfers of Mateo Kovacic and Halilovic in just one day, Mendes returned to Madrid the same way he came, while Carlos Cantarero, the technical director of Chinatown, followed Mendes' old path and left for Zagreb the next day.

This time, it was the Mamic brothers who received him, but not at the Maksimir Stadium, but at the offices of the ASA agency, where negotiations began between Kovacic and Halilovic.

The two youngsters were not treated well by Dinamo Zagreb and were satisfied with the treatment offered by Chinatown, and the two sides quickly reached an agreement, and then Cantarero met with the families of Kovacic and Halilovic respectively.

Chinatown's scouting system is also very good in Eastern Europe, Kovacic has already entered Chinatown's scouting list, Cantarero has a very complete Kovacic intelligence and technical characteristics analysis, coupled with Gao Han and Cantarero after many phone calls, Chinatown's technical director came up with a rather attractive long-term plan as soon as they met.

Cantarero said that although Chinatown kept the two players in Dinamo Zagreb, it did not mean that the team would ignore them, on the contrary, every month, Chinatown technicians would go to Zagreb to conduct various physical tests for Kovacic and Halilovic players, and update the players' data and upload them to the data system for analysis.

Chinatown's scouts in Eastern Europe also follow every game of the players to ensure that the club has a good grasp of the players' every move, as well as a variety of detailed information, and that any problems with the players are handled by specialists in the technical team, and the players have the opportunity to participate in the team's training camp twice a year.

For the various plans proposed by Chinatown, both themselves and their families, the two players are very relieved, they both feel the professionalism and care of Chinatown, and all the players need to do is to concentrate on playing, that's all.

Cantarero's personal commitment, coupled with Gao Han's endorsement on the platform behind him, has given both players confidence and hope for the prospect of joining Chinatown.

Soon, the two parties officially signed the agreement in the presence of the ASA brokerage company, and the transfer will be completed on January 1.

According to the agreement signed between Cantarero and Dinamo Zagreb, the transfer fee for the two players is 10 million euros, and there is also a maximum training fee of 5 million euros, but if Dinamo Zagreb wants to get the 5 million euros, it must ensure the care and investment in player development.

The Mamicchi brothers attach great importance to the exchange with Chinatown and the cooperation with Mendes, and said that they will do their best to help Chinatown train two young players.

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When Gao Han received the news from Cantarero, Paris Saint-Germain was on their way to the away game.

That evening, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Nancy 1-0 away in the 10th round of Ligue 1.

Due to the trip to Zagreb in midweek, Gao Han had to rotate the team, and Paris Saint-Germain's performance was not satisfactory, but it still won steadily.

But Chinatown, which is far away in La Liga, is not so lucky.

Mauricio Pochettino's side travel to Valladolid.

Affected by the hard-fought Arsenal game in midweek, Chinatown did not play well this time, but it was the new signing Antoine Griezmann who played his best form this season.

In the 39th minute of the first half, Griezmann received an assist from Verratti to open the scoring for Chinatown.

But four minutes later, Valladolid midfielder Ebert equalised.

After the rematch in the second half, Hazard assisted Griezmann to score another goal to exceed the score again, but unexpectedly, in the 79th minute, Ebert assisted teammate Gonzalez to equalize the score again.

In the end, Chinatown had to regret a 2-2 draw away from Valladolid, unable to get all three points.

At the end of this round, Chinatown's ranking in La Liga has not changed, and it is still in eighth place, but it is only four points away from Real Madrid, which is fourth in the league, and only five points behind Malaga, which is third in the league.

A week later, the eleventh round of Ligue 1.

Paris Saint-Germain won 3-1 at home to Saint-Etienne, whose young centre-back Kurt Zouma made a good impression on Gao Han with a goal in the 81st minute.

However, China City was defeated by Espanyol at home in the 10th round of La Liga, and in the case of dominance, the opponent took advantage of a corner kick opportunity to score the only goal of the game.

0-1, Chinatown reaped another defeat, and the league ranking once again slipped to tenth place.

For the team's performance, many media in the outside world have criticized it, but more of them still have a wait-and-see attitude.

Compared with the tenth place in La Liga, Chinatown remains first in the Champions League group, which gives Chinatown management confidence.

What's more, last season, Chinatown also did not perform well in multi-front battles, but in the end they caught up in the league, and finally caught up to the fourth place in the league and retained the Champions League qualification this season.

Technical director Cantarero said in an interview with the media that the management is satisfied with the current situation of the team and believes that all the problems are only temporary and that Pochettino has the ability to solve them.

But after losing to Espanyol, Chinatown travelled to England to take on Arsenal away.

China City was pinned down by the home team Arsenal throughout the game, not only did the best pass control not play, but there were also mistakes in the pressing, especially in the 73rd minute, Michu scored the only goal for Arsenal.

In the end, Chinatown went home 0-1 away.

After four rounds of group stage matches, Chinatown has nine points from three wins and one loss, and is still ranked first, while Arsenal is in second place with two wins, one draw and one loss with seven points, and AC Milan defeated Zenit St. Petersburg at home, also with two wins and one draw and seven points, the same as Arsenal.

Only the hapless Zenit St. Petersburg, although they invested heavily in the summer, still failed to make a difference in the Champions League group stage, losing all four games and finishing at the bottom of the points.

Paris Saint-Germain, on the other hand, beat Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 at home, with Mateo Kovacic and Halilovic both starting and coming off the bench, but neither player was able to perform too well.

After the match, Gao Han met with the two players in a private capacity and gave encouragement, hoping that they can continue to work hard and improve their strength as soon as possible.

After playing the fourth round of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain returned to Ligue 1 and defeated Montpellier 2-0 away and Rennes 3-0 at home in the 12th and 13th rounds to continue to lead the Ligue 1 standings.

In the fifth round of the Champions League group, the Alpine team was forced to travel to the icy Ukraine, and in the extreme unfavorable weather, they finally defeated Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 with the help of the Alpine skill card.

Chinatown has also improved its performance in La Liga.

Away to Manuel Pellegrini in the 11th round.

Amid rumours that Pochettino will leave for Manchester United to replace Alex Ferguson, Manuel Pellegrini is one of the most widely recognized successors to the Chinese City managership, and he also showed quite good quality at home in this game.

Eden Hazard opened the scoring after just one minute, but Malaga equalised in the 37th minute when Saviola equalised.

It was a hard-fought battle, with Manuel Pellegrini's side dominating possession and Mauricio Pochettino's side showing tenacity, before Pelle set up Rakitic to score a goal in the 69th minute to give Chinatown a 2-1 win at Malaga.

After the 11th round, Chinatown was given a week's rest, which was undoubtedly quite difficult for Chinatown, and Pochettino's team regrouped and soon beat Rayo Vallecano 4-0 at home in the 12th round of La Liga a week later.

Eden Hazard scored twice in this round, Danilo and Antoine Griezmann scored one each, and Pelle and Rakitic both provided two assists.

With this wave of two consecutive wins, Chinatown once again reached fifth in the league, only one point away from Levante in fourth place, but the gap with Real Madrid has also widened to seven points, not to mention Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, who are unbeaten so far.

However, in the league, Pochettino's side were met with stubborn sniping on the road.

Travelling to a snowy Russia at the end of November would be an ordeal for any team, including Paris Saint-Germain, let alone Chinatown.

In the fifth round of the Champions League group stage, with Pelle's pass and shot, China City scored two goals in two minutes and established an early lead, but in the second half, Zenit St. Petersburg launched a counterattack.

The icy weather was Chinatown's worst enemy, but Spalletti's side were clearly more adaptable, with two goals from Dani and Hulk eventually equalising for Zenit St. Petersburg.

Chinatown 2-2 brought home a point from away.

However, Arsenal beat AC Milan 3-1 away to take all three points and tie Chinatown on points.

After five rounds, China City is three wins, one draw and one loss and ten points, and Arsenal is also three wins, one draw and one loss and ten points.

AC Milan has two wins, one draw and two losses with seven points and is third in the group, while Zenit St. Petersburg has only one point and has been eliminated early.

In the final round of the group stage, Arsenal played Zenit St. Petersburg at home, and Chinatown hosted AC Milan.

These two matchups will not only determine the top spot in the group, but may even shake the right to qualify from the group.

According to the rules, as long as AC Milan can win more than three goals away from Chinatown, it has the ability to replace Chinatown, successfully counterattack and rank second in the group.

Chinatown, on the other hand, must avoid conceding by more than three goals if they want to qualify from the group, and if they want to compete with Arsenal for top of the group, they must do everything in their power to win a game.

But as a result, in the Brogue Stadium, the two sides played inseparably.

Allegri's side are mainly defensive and counter-attacking and have a solid footing, but Pochettino's side are not willing to settle for a draw and take the initiative.

What is even more unacceptable is that in the 16th minute, the lag midfielder Ilya Ramendi, who has performed well this season, went off injured and the defensive midfielder N'Golo Kante came on as a substitute.

But just before the end of the first half, AC Milan went on the offensive with former Barcelona youngster Bojan setting up Paccini's goal.

After the rematch in the second half, China City took the lead and equalized in the 50th minute.

But in the 61st minute, an assist from Boateng allowed Bojan to score another goal and exceed the score again.

One to two, Chinatown was once again forced into a desperate situation from which there was no way out.

(End of chapter)