It's mid-July, and the preparations for the new season are about to begin.

At this point in time, the media discussion has also shifted from the past World Cup matches to summer transfer news and the preparation of various teams for the new season.

Millwall, last season's Premier League champions, is also the focus of the media's discussion, and many football media like to discuss the topic, "Can Millwall continue last season's good results?" ”

It's not about winning the championship, it's about continuing the good results.

This is not to underestimate Millwall, but the law of the natural development of the league, often there are teams with good results in a season, does not mean that they can continue to perform well, Millwall played well last season, which is worthy of everyone's surprise, but in the new season, it is equivalent to a new beginning.

"If Millwall can continue to do well, as long as they can finish in the top three, no, stay in the top six, it's already quite remarkable."

That's how most people think.

The reason why the media is not optimistic about Millwall is also related to the fact that Millwall is a small club, even with foreign investment, Millwall is still only a small club, and the economic situation has not improved to the extent that it is compared with the giants.

It also has to do with history.

Before Millwall was a small club, the youth training system, business expansion and infrastructure, such as the stadium, training ground, club interior, etc., are just the structure of a small club, and the gap between the top teams is huge, if measured by money, the gap between all aspects and the giants is calculated in units of '100 million pounds', just take the stadium as an example, Neil Stadium and Chelsea's home Stamford Bridge stadium, the difference in value is more than 100 million pounds, how much foreign investment in Millwall? The real investment is only tens of millions of pounds, and even the gap on the pitch cannot be bridged, let alone the gap in other aspects.

Millwall still has a long way to go to develop.

Although Millwall is not very optimistic, the media still believes that they can play well, and many media set Millwall's results as 'top six' or 'top four', mainly because Millwall's main lineup has not changed, and top players such as Zambrotta and Pire have joined, and the strength must have increased to a certain extent.

When it comes to Millwall, it has to be said that after most of the transfers were over, Millwall's squad changed.

The media listed Millwall's squad and said, "Millwall have gone from being an English home team to an unquestioned 'multinational force'. ”

At present, Millwall's first-team players belong to 10 nationalities, including Canada, Ireland, England, Mali, France, Italy, Spain, Jamaica, the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Trinidad and Tobago.

This is the 'multinational' force.

In addition, Millwall's first team has only nine 'English' players, which would exceed the FA's 'eight' standard, while six players from the team's academy will exceed the FA's four.

"Congratulations to Millwall on becoming a multinational force! Since the beginning of this season, they have not been a purely homegrown team. ”

There are media sighs of irony.

There are also Millwall's supporting media, who believe that the team's situation is very normal, when a team develops to the top, it will definitely become a multinational force, especially the team that suddenly rises, if you want to maintain good results, it is very unrealistic to rely on the team's youth training alone, and only a large-scale change of lineup can make the team stronger.

That's the case with Chelsea.

Chelsea is a Premier League powerhouse, after Abramovich settled in Chelsea, they are also constantly changing the lineup, two consecutive seasons, the number of players produced by Chelsea's academy, only reached the FA regulations of four, two of which are still for 'making up', it is difficult to play for Chelsea.

Millwall has done quite well in this regard, not only is there more than Chelsea, but Millwall's 'academy players' are also very strong, such as Josh Simpson, Kevin Braniff, Darren Ward, Livermore, etc., each player can be said to be a real star.

In addition to the squad, the media's criticism of Millwall is also the issue of the team's salary.

After the transfer and salary increase in the summer, Millwall's salary expenditure level has increased by 200% compared with last season, and all the players signed together will make Millwall's salary investment in the new season reach the order of 50 million pounds.

That's a pretty high level.

According to last season's figures, the team with the highest wage investment was Chelsea, with a salary expenditure of £110 million alone.

Manchester United came in second with £84 million.

Liverpool, £73 million.

Arsenal, £69 million.

The top four of the Premier League are the first tier, and the second tier of Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are also on the order of 50 million pounds.

This season, the salary investment of the Premier League teams will increase, and some data websites expect it to be about 15 percent, but no matter how it is calculated, Millwall's salary investment will not be much less than that of Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, in other words, Millwall's salary investment will already be at the end of the second echelon.

It's pretty amazing.

Just last season, Millwall's wage contribution was just £17 million, the lowest of all teams.

Seventh this season?

Some media analysts said, "If Millwall can't continue to do well, the high wage level will directly drag down their finances!" ”

This is not sensational.

The gap between Millwall and the top teams is all-round, and the financial income of the top teams cannot be compared with the top teams under the same results, if the results suddenly drop too much, such as not being able to enter the top six, not being able to qualify for European competitions, coupled with the financial income affected by the decline in attention and the decline in TV broadcast costs, it will make the club's income significantly reduced, and naturally cannot support the high wage expenses.

This is also a problem that a team that has risen rashly must face.

It's all about grades.

Millwall FC must continue to perform well if they are to continue to develop.

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As time passed, Millwall's first-team training ground began to gain popularity, with Jamie Vardy returning to training first, then Livermore and Simpson also returning.

Several people were discussing the holidays.

Vardy learned from Simpson that he spent the holidays with Livermore, spending half of the time together, and perhaps Simpson stayed with Livermore's sister Irina, who was the 'overseer' and acted as a light bulb.

This relationship dispute is really worth gossiping.

"Maybe the two of you were a natural pair." Vardy was in the driver's head, "If you're not with Irina, consider being with David. Maybe he's not supervising his sister, but he's in love with you. ”

Vardy's brain hole annoyed Simpson, and Vardy was 'hunted' for the rest of the day.

Jokes aside, all three of them worked hard.

They come back to the club three days early and come to the stadium automatically for training, very few other players can do it, and it is already considered hard work if they are not late, and there are some players who are about to gather for training, and they are still hugging beautiful women on some beach.

That's the reality of a professional footballer's holiday.

The next day, two new players joined the training, one was new player Ricardo Quaresma and the other was young Chinese goalkeeper Li Wei.

Quaresma came early because he had already arrived in London, and since the official signing, he has not returned to Portugal, and he has arranged his life to adapt to the environment in advance.

Quaresma wanted to get to know his new team-mates, but his experience was not good because his English was poor and he could only understand basic vocabulary, and the others did not speak Portuguese.

Fortunately, Quaresma is a cheerful person, and he barely communicates with Simpson and others.

Li Wei is also a new player, but his mentality is completely different from that of Quaresma.

It's hard for him to fit in.

In fact, when standing on the training ground in Millwall, Li Wei felt like a dream, let alone coming here to train, even if he came to travel and take photos with the stars, he could go back to show off with his friends.

Before coming to Millwall, Li Wei was just an ordinary person, he was a youth player of Jinhua Club, and that's all, he was not a genius among them, and his dream was limited to landing in the Chinese Super League.

As for Europe?

He didn't even think about it, let alone the Premier League.

Although he was favored to join Millwall, Li Wei still knows that he is different, just like many media said, he may just be a lucky person, he was brought to Millwall by Zhang Yang, even if Zhang Yang is really optimistic about him, he will not be able to play for Millwall in the new season.

This is because the UK has a 'labour certification' requirement.

Li Wei is a non-EU player, and in order to participate in the Premier League, he must first apply for a labor certificate, and one of the conditions for applying for a labor certificate is that he needs to represent the national team and play a certain number of games.

Li Wei was not even a professional player before, how could he be selected for the national team?

So the only way out for him in the future is to train with Millwall's youth team and then go out on loan if he has the chance.

Only when he has made a name for himself will he have the opportunity to return to Millwall, or transfer to another club, and gradually grow into a real professional footballer.

Li Wei knows that his career has only just begun.

The experience in front of you may be the pinnacle of your career, or maybe it is just an ordinary scene of your career?

Li Wei hopes it's the latter.