Chapter 354: Rest is not idle
In his post-match press conference, Spalletti spoke highly of today's opponents, saying: "Torino are a team of the same level as us, they played their style and they played very well. The two teams were close in this game, but we made more mistakes than before, so it was a poor performance for a short period of time, but the good thing is that the players knew how to adjust, got their balance back and eventually equalised and even had a chance to win the game. We usually have a lot of chances to get the ball up front, but today it didn't go as planned, and Coach Lee is really talented, his tactics have stifled Inter's advantage, and I want to pay tribute to him. ”
On the contrary, the Turin coach naturally wore a high hat for Si Shuai and the home team, and he has long been proficient in this kind of mutual praise routine, which is called a handy one to use.
Although the draw has left Inter unbeaten in the league, with nine wins and three draws being their best start to the league since 2007/08, Spalletti and the club will not be happy. The 1-1 score put an end to the Nerazzurri's record of winning all at home this season, but it was only three and a half hours later that Inter were relieved when the news of Chievo's 0-0 draw at home to Napoli came through, but they were inevitably disappointed that they missed the golden opportunity to catch up with the leaders.
In another highlight game of the round, Fiorentina suffered a 4-2 defeat at home to Roma, and manager Stefano Pioli received a lot of criticism after the game. The most surprising game was the match between Juventus and Benevento, which was supposed to be a bloodbath and ended up being 2-1, and it was the Old Lady who conceded the first goal and then reversed it, and De Zerbi's debut in charge brought everyone a huge surprise. Ten minutes before the start of the evening, Lazio and Udinese announced at the same time that their direct meeting in the twelfth round of Serie A would be postponed due to the rain, a decision made by the referee on duty in consultation with the captains of both teams.
The away draw with the mighty Inter Milan made the Torino team close in the standings by Roma and AC Milan behind them, but overall it was a relatively good result, and the team could enter the last international day of the year with a decent mood.
Just after the end of this round of the league, the official website of the Italian Football Association also announced the latest national team squad, and the European play-offs of the World Preliminary Tournament with the Swedish team are about to start, so the eyes of the whole country are instantly focused on the Italian men's football team. Because it was a battle of life and death, Ventura and his team did not dare to be careless, basically recruited all the elite soldiers, and Turin's forward twin stars were naturally all selected. The national medical team have been closely monitoring Belotti's recovery from injury, and the latter's form since coming off the bench in the league has proved that he should have no major problems and that a call-up is a natural one.
Although Li Mudi wanted to tell Red Beibei not to rashly overdraft his body, he also knew that it would be a waste of saliva to say this, so he helplessly watched the top scorer of last season's league rush to Milan's training base with an excited face. Playing for the country is something that every player with a sense of honor and basic literacy is willing to give his all, as an outsider, it's really hard to say anything, and this country that takes football as its life is about to face a big test of life and death, and Belotti, as the main force of the team, has to face the difficulties, so the Turin coach can only secretly give the Italians blessings in his heart, hoping that they can successfully qualify for the World Cup.
According to the usual practice, the team will take three days off, considering the high intensity of fatigue brought to everyone by the previous consecutive week of double games, so the coaching staff gave everyone another day off, which won unanimous praise from the players. Since Lin Yuner had already joined the group and started the intense filming of the TV series, Li Mudi did not choose to fly back to Asia during this holiday after a video exchange with her, but invited her parents to come over and stay together for a few days.
The house he bought was very good because of the decoration accessories that came with it before, so there were no major changes, and after simple changes, it was basically completed and ready to be delivered, and it is estimated that it will be able to officially move in after a week or two. The two old men came over this time to see the effect in person, and by the way, they would deal with matters such as replacing household appliances. In fact, according to Li Mudi's idea, the original things are also very new, and there is no need to replace them, but Li's mother, who has always been very economical, gave a firm veto, she said that this place is likely to be used as a new house for her son and daughter-in-law after marriage, and all the objects must be equipped with the latest ones.
Seeing her son's troublesome look, the old lady directly occupied the daily video connection time, discussing with Lin Yuner how to decorate the new home, and the Turin coach, who was deprived of the right to communicate with his girlfriend, had to hide aside and eat ice cream depressedly. However, his depression did not last long, because the team's troubles also came to their heads, so that this holiday could not be temporarily stopped.
In Napoli's Champions League defeat to Manchester City on November 1, Algeria international and the team's main left-back Gulam suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury and was diagnosed as a long-term absence after the game, so the White Dolphins are hoping to add a reliable left-back as soon as the winter window opens. Friday's edition of Roma Sport broke the news that Atletico Madrid defender Fosarico is likely to join the Serie A leaders, and Benfica defender Grimaldo is also the focus of Maurizio Sarri's scouting. However, Napoli is obviously a very humane club, and the "Southern Post" immediately published an article revealing that the team has expressed its intention to renew the contract of the injured Gulam, and the annual salary will rise to 3.5 million.
Little did anyone expect that just as the entire Apennine Peninsula turned its attention to the national team that had arrived in Stockholm, the Torino club received a fax of inquiry about Barreca, and Napoli took a fancy to the young left-back who helped Italy reach the last four of the European Youth Championship as a Under-21 player this summer, and hoped to bring him to the Sao Paulo Stadium. Receiving the news, Li Mudi rushed back to the club's residence and held a meeting with Pantario Longo and Valentino Cairo to figure out how to deal with the transfer request.
On the way over, the Torino boss checked the purchase through the FM system and found that Maurizio Sarri was indeed very interested in his main left-back, although it was far from inevitable because of the many options, but considering the strategy of localizing the player, the opposing club should still be very sincere. Also using the FM system's response offer function, Li Mudi tried to find out that the maximum price that Napoli could accept was 25 million euros, which is two and a half times higher than the player's current actual value (7 million), knowing that Atletico Madrid's price tag for Fosarico is only 18 million.
If it was Turin a few years ago, I believe that when the other party bids 15 million, it will not be able to bear it, but with the strong sponsorship of the "Celestial Fathers", they still have a certain ability to resist temptation. The chairman directly said that in the matter of whether to agree with Barreka's departure, the opinion of the head coach of the team is the main thing, and the results are the most critical, which also made Li Mudi feel reassured. There is no need to worry about losing the only youth mainstay in the squad.
The meeting didn't last long, and the trio quickly decided to reject the offer and add the player to the current list of items not for sale. After notifying the parties of this decision, Barreca and his agent did not raise any objections, the young man's loyalty is 14, which is still relatively reliable, even in the face of the solicitation of the Serie A leader, he did not have the idea of abandoning the parent team. Of course, if the club agrees to the offer, he will not be so stupid as to insist that he must stay. However, even if the player did not show signs of dissatisfaction, club director Longo said that he would sign him a new contract next summer based on his performance, and raise his salary appropriately, although he had just completed a contract extension in August.
After dealing with the player's transfer request, Li Mudi can't go home to rest because there is still a proposal related to the Red Bulls' roster adjustment that needs to be resolved as soon as possible. On November 6, news came from France that René Lueno, the former chairman of the French Ligue 1 team, officially announced his departure, and his successor was none other than Olivier Redon, the former sporting director of Paris Saint-Germain. The next day, they officially issued an announcement that former team manager Christian Gourcuff had been dismissed. The 62-year-old French boss took over last summer and has recorded 19 wins, 17 draws and 19 defeats in 55 games in charge.
A day later, the Sr. Gourcuff's successor was revealed, with former French midfielder Sabri Lamouche, who played for Parma, Inter, Monaco and Marseille as a player, taking over the reins of Rennes, and local media speculated that Jonn Gourcuff, who had just recovered from a calf muscle injury, might also be in danger of being purged. Judging from the news from his agent Migliacio, Rennes is likely to agree to a peaceful parting with his client in the near future, and now it is up to Torino to sign the former talented striker.
Regarding this player, Li Mudi is actually quite regretful, in his previous life, when he was playing the football manager game, he really introduced little Gourcuff, and he still knows a lot about his technical characteristics at that time. This is a classical midfielder with slightly less potential than Zinedine Zidane, and although he does not have the absolute speed of Melo, he still has a good ability to break through. The key is that at the age of just turning 20, he has shown a very good sense of the big picture, combined with his far beyond ordinary passing skills and physical conditions of his tall stature and excellent confrontation ability, he definitely has a chance to take over the core position of the Gallic rooster left by Zizou.
However, the early transfer to a big club, a serious lack of game training and a lack of mental maturity have interfered with the talent's growth trajectory and prevented him from fully living up to his potential. After returning to the French league, he finally regained his form for a while, but fell into a trough again due to the increase in injuries and the wrong switch to the down-and-out Lyon. However, in the evaluation of the FM system, he still has excellent mental and technical attributes, and it is still very suitable for a substitute role in the Red Bulls, so the Torino coach is actually quite willing to sign the midfielder on a free transfer.
Turin's squad has not filled their rosters in the league or European competitions this season, so it is perfectly acceptable to accept Gourcuff, but the club president has previously spoken in an internal meeting about wanting the team to bring in a big name player who can help the team improve their status in the winter window, and the Frenchman is clearly not on his wish list. Urbano Cairo, who is currently planning a trip to the Celestial Empire to attend a business exchange between Italy and Heaven, naturally hopes to attract a large number of patronage in a country full of gold in his eyes, and the president of Turin, who had just had a dinner with Galeries Lafayette last month, apparently learned from them how to make a name for himself by buying top stars.
Fortunately, there is more than one place left in the team, and only 17 of the 29 players in the current first team are over 21 years old, even if only one of them is Bareca in Torino, but there are still five places left to the 22-man ceiling (25-3), so bringing in Gourcuff will not affect the purchase of other new signings. At most, it will only affect the playing time of the two youngsters, Fibas and Balic, and given that the latter is too strong to cope with the Serie A division, the Torino boss has planned to buy him out in January and then go on loan to the second division, so as to leave room for Gourcuff to play.
After reaching an agreement with several senior members of the club, it was reported to the chairman for approval, and on November 9, before the start of the first leg of the play-offs, the European sports media received a transfer news: Rennes, the French club that had just changed its chairman, officially announced the termination of the remaining eight months of the contract with the team's homegrown midfielder and son of the former manager, Jon Gourcuff, and neither side paid any additional fees for it.
Immediately, the well-known French agent Migliacio was photographed appearing at Turin Caselle Airport, which attracted the attention of some media and netizens. At 17 o'clock in the evening of the same day, the official website of Torino sent a message: the team has officially signed Gourcuff Jr., the contract period is until June 30 next year, and if neither party objects, the contract will be automatically renewed for another year. According to Di Marzio's personal website, the French midfielder's weekly salary is only 17,500 euros before tax, which is slightly lower than his previous salary. As a result, some media speculated that it was probably Li Mudi who made a promise to give him a lot of playing time to persuade the veteran who still had strength to take a salary cut to join, which would inevitably bring additional risks to the team that had already formed a certain tacit understanding.
However, everyone's mind quickly shifted away from questioning the signing, as the four play-off games had already begun to unfold one by one, and it was clear that no one would be concerned about the minor issues of the Torino team until they could secure the final spot.