Chapter 457: Before the Final
If it had been in the summer transfer window of the first two seasons of taking over the Torino team, or even in the middle of the season, in the face of the temptation to get two high-potential Zhengtai, Li Mudi might have hesitated for a moment before agreeing to let Belotti go.
With the FM system in hand, he is very confident that he will train Cutrone to be a super shooter at the same level as Red Babe in two to three seasons, plus Locatelli, who has the potential to become the next Pirlo, if it is in the game, there is no need for AC Milan to add money, and the two-for-one proposal Li Mudi will directly agree.
And the deal won't be too much of a hindrance in terms of players, with Belotti's work ethic keeping him from expressing his thoughts of leaving the club to the public, but the world knows his status as a die-hard Rossoneri, and there is no reason for him to turn down an offer to land at the San Siro if all the conditions are right.
As for Cutrone, who has been hailed by fans as Italy's next generation of super strikers, although his sudden explosion this season has made him a hot star, the striker whose style of play is more and more inclined to that of Big Inzaghi seems to be rough except for running and finishing goals. Therefore, when the team's offensive line played very poorly and their single-game goal rate was very high, they could not get the full trust of the two successive head coaches, and they were never able to gain a firm foothold in the main position.
Perhaps in a few years, at least most of his potential will be able to return to his parent club as the leading goalscorer, but AC Milan, who have not tasted any trophies since 2011, can no longer tolerate this kind of thing affecting their own giants' status over and over again, and bringing in strong instant power has been their strategy in recent seasons. Once Belotti or other big-name strikers join the team, Cutrone will have to continue to play a role as a substitute, which is not easy for him to accept at a young age.
If the reality is that the situation really develops as above, the predecessors who debuted in Milan's Vesmara Academy, such as Albertacci who is known as a "once-in-a-century talent", Gayeta, who is known as the "combination of Totti and Baggio", Verdy, who is currently playing in Bologna and has been called up to the national team, and Paloski, who was last given the title of Inzaghi's successor, have made an important reference model for Cutrone's current appearance, which is to get a lot of playing time by leaving the team.
With few Italian players succeeding abroad, there is no better option in Serie A than to play under the "mentor of young players" Li Mudi, so as long as the Rossoneri say they can't secure his place in the main line, Cutrone has no antipathy to switching to Turin.
Locatelli is in a similar situation, with Gattuso seemingly trusting the experienced veteran, and with Milan's midfield already more competitive than in front and back, the youngster is keen to gain more experience.
So, as long as the Torino boss nods in agreement with AC Milan's offer, there will be little change in the deal that could change the transfer record in Serie A. As long as the other party can make up tens of millions of funds in time through the fire sale of unwanted players after the transfer window opens, everything will become a reality according to plan.
Replaced by Li Mudi more than a month ago, maybe in order to get a new training . If you have too many chances, you will grit your teeth and agree to come down. But the new stadium plan has made his future at the Red Bulls extremely uncertain, and if nothing happens, next season will be his last year as head coach of Torino, and his goal is to fight for the league title at all costs, so he is not willing to change the squad in any way on the condition of weakening the team's existing strength.
But just as he was about to reject Milan's offer after a short thought, Balotelli's name popped into his mind and a somewhat crazy idea was born.
Signing Ba Shen, who is similar to Belotti in terms of instant combat power, is not confident enough to control this striker whose spiritual world is always on an alien planet, but anyway, he has only been in charge of the team for one season, and he just needs to stick to it as much as he can. And as Raiola said, in terms of technical characteristics, Balotelli is indeed more suitable for the current tactical needs of the Red Bulls than Red Babe, and his combination with Immobile is indeed the most lethal in Serie A in theory.
At the same time, this replacement will also bring two new stars with a potential of more than 165 and a transfer fund of more than 50 million. In this way, Li Mudi is more confident in challenging the city's sworn rivals next season. And the possible side effect of the Red Bulls is just how long Bashen can maintain a normal state in the team, as long as he can "make a mistake" after Cutrone has fully grown, then the Torino team will definitely make a lot of money.
If all of this can be carried out perfectly, then the Torino boss can be sure that this will be a transfer that will go down in football history and will be enough to be worshiped for a long time.
In Li Mudi's mind at this time, like the scene that appears in many literary works, two villains were born, the one who represents the radical and crazy side is constantly preaching that this will be a deal that can make the Torino coach instantly become a world-class coach, and with the same forward power and improved potential, and a huge transfer fee, the Red Bulls' squad next season will be further strengthened, enough to attack the league title.
And the villain, who represents the rational side, has repeatedly reminded himself that even without this player change, according to the original plan, the team has a good chance to compete with Juventus. Replacing Belotti with Balotelli is a gamble, and if something big happens in the middle of the season that the bomb that will be detonated at some point, it will completely bankrupt the plan to compete for the championship, which is completely worth the loss for the Red Bulls, who have a certain possibility of achieving their goal.
Both sides seem to be very reasonable, and Li Mudi, who has been trying to weigh the pros and cons and come to a conclusion in a short time, found that no matter what he did, he couldn't calm down, and he was so disturbed by this contradictory psychology that he couldn't keep his mind clear. As a last resort, he chose to pass on this headache to others.
That night, the club's crown prince, Valentino Cairo, once again came to the home of the Torino coach alone, and stayed all night, much to the surprise of the paparazzi who were waiting outside. The next morning, many tabloids published the news of the two suspected homosexuals, which attracted the attention of many melon-eating people and added some extra tidbits to the upcoming Coppa Italia final.
After handing over a number of preconditions for accepting Belottti's departure to the marketing department, Li Mudi was finally able to put aside his transfer worries for a while and focus on Friday night's game.
Unlike the Red Bulls, who have always been in a more tense atmosphere, their final opponents, the Bianconeri, do not seem to take this game too seriously, and the old woman, who has won the Coppa Italia for three consecutive years, has been appearing in front of the public with confidence. Whether it is the remarks of players or coaches, or the relevant news about the club on the Internet and the media, it is more related to the dynamics of the league and transfers, and there is little content related to domestic cup competitions.
No, first of all, the "Courier" broke the news that German midfielder Khedira intends to switch to the British Peninsula after his contract expires next year, and after winning the Bundesliga (following Stuttgart), La Liga and Serie A titles in succession, he intends to include the Premier League crown in his honor book.
Immediately afterwards, Juventus legend Vialli said in an interview with reporters that German international Emre Can, who has been rumored to join as a free agent in the summer, is not suitable for the Bianconeri, and he personally believes that Rakitic, who plays for Barcelona, is an excellent puzzle for the Serie A hegemony to strengthen the midfield.
Then the foreign media also came to join in the fun, and the news came from Switzerland and Germany that the veteran Lichtsteiner, whose contract will expire in more than a month, has been confirmed to leave Turin City at the end of the season, and the next home is likely to be Hornet Dortmund. As for the position he has left, Juventus are interested in correcting De Sciglio, who joined from AC Milan last year.
Then came the bombshell news, with Torino Sport citing reports from England that Alvaro Morata was eager to leave the place that had brought him all sorts of bad luck after a disappointing season at Chelsea. The former Real Madrid striker has agreed to take a pay cut to return to Juventus, and it will be up to the two clubs to reach an agreement. In the 2014/16 season, Alvaro Morata had fond memories of his time with the Bianconeri, winning two league trophies and helping them reach the Champions League final. If they can renew their old dreams, there is a good chance of a win-win situation, which their opponents do not want to see.
However, the news was inconsequential after the revelations of the British Daily Mirror and Sky Sports on Thursday night. According to so-called insiders, Allegri is currently only around 50 per cent likely to remain in the position next season, and once he believes that there is no longer any challenge to staying in Italy, then Arsenal will be the next challenge for the tactician.
Although previously reported by the British media that the names at the top of the Gunners' list of new coaches were Enrique, Benitez, Vieira and Arteta, but when the former Barcelona coach shouted a sky-high annual salary of 15 million pounds, Bei Shuai said that he did not want to leave Newcastle, and the remaining two rookie coaches seriously lacked coaching experience, Uncle Yu stood out and became the most suitable coach in the hearts of Arsenal's senior management.
Despite receiving the highest salary of a Serie A manager at the moment, Allegri has always hoped to sign a new contract with Juventus with better terms, because he believes that he has not been paid his due, even if 7.5 million euros is more than double the second-highest paid manager in Serie A.
However, it should be true that Uncle Yu intends to coach in the Premier League, just to Arsenal? Anyone with a bit of a brain knows that they can't afford to pay higher wages at all. In the case that Chelsea's tactical style is not suitable for Allegri's performance, and the positions of other Premier League giants are stable for the time being, the current Juventus manager has almost no good next home to choose from, so many people believe that the news that he is leaving the old woman should be the effect of pressuring the club to force the club to offer more generous contract renewal conditions.
Juventus general manager Marotta said in an interview on Friday morning that the management has a very good relationship with the manager, and that the two sides will sit together immediately after the season to discuss future plans, and he is confident of a result that everyone will be happy with.
Finally, Marotta finally spoke about the Coppa Italia final that will take place in the evening, and he is optimistic: "It's great that we have won the domestic cup in the last three seasons and everyone wants to do it again tonight. The opponent is the Torino team? This was somewhat of a pre-season surprise, but our local rivals have been impressive in the last two seasons, with a talent and energy rarely seen in Serie A and in Europe as a whole, especially with such a great manager, who always plays fantastic games. It's still tough for us, but I personally think that as long as Juve can play their own style and level, the initiative to win is still in our hands. ”
It was the first time in a few days that Juventus members had expressed their views on the final, and even when they announced their 23-man squad a day earlier, the journalists were unable to get any meaningful information from those involved. The performance, seen by some as a flouting for the Red Bulls, has angered many radical Turin fans, and some fans with a history of violence have organized online dialects that can bring back painful memories and put pressure on the police in the city of Rome, where the game is played.
Some of the players in the Torino team also felt the humiliation of being ignored by their opponents, and their emotions were a little too excited, which affected the effectiveness of their preparations. Li Mudi discovered the problem in time and held an impromptu short meeting, telling everyone that this was all a deliberate move by Juventus, which was to interfere with the psychology of the Torino players. In fact, the old lady has been making intense preparations in private, otherwise they would not have hidden most of their main players in last weekend's league game, and they would not have stood up to refute the rumors when the transfer news was flying in the past two days, all because they were not sure enough to eat the red bulls, and they were also afraid of losing.
This enlightenment still had a good effect, and almost all the players in the team were drawn back to preparation, and did not fall for the tricks of the old and spicy opponent opposite. At this point, everything is ready, and it is only necessary to test their full efforts in the game to see if they have a chance to successfully overthrow the league dominant.