After the wedding, Liu Xiaoyan and Qu Bai went to France for their honeymoon.

Liu Yun was busy with his daughter's wedding, and he could finally free up his hands to concentrate on preparing for the new season of the Premier League.

Coventry City are now largely based on the League One squad they had two years ago.

Most of the people in this squad have risen from the Coventry junior team, youth team, reserve team all the way to the first team.

Clubs in the UK, from the Super League to the Second Division, have a well-established youth training system. Those League Two and League One clubs lack the funds to buy big-name players. Most of their starters were developed by their own youth system.

Coventry's squad is obviously not up to the level of confrontation in the Premier League.

There is only one solution to this problem, and that is to buy players.

Coventry City have a much better transfer fee this season than last year.

This season's transfer fee mainly comes from two aspects. The first is the sponsorship of large enterprises.

In the past, big business sponsorships were for the old lieutenant Liu Yun. Now that Coventry has been promoted to the Premier League, international brands such as Adi and Cheap Coke have invested more in Coventry.

The second aspect is bank loans.

The FA has a well-established broadcasting fee distribution system. The Premier League is one of the most watched football competitions in the world, with billions of pounds per year on broadcasts.

Last season, the Premier League's broadcast fee for a single season was £2.6 billion. With the exception of a small portion of the money withheld by the FA, most of the rest was distributed to the twenty Premier League teams according to the ranking of the competition.

Champions Manchester United received £150 million. Runners-up Chelsea got £145 million... Even Aston Villa, who are at the bottom, have a share of £93 million.

In other words, even if Coventry is bottom of the new season, it can still receive more than 90 million pounds in dividends.

The Sky Blues pledged part of their Premier League dividend rights to Bard Bank in Coventry for a £10 million loan.

Add to that advertising sponsorship fees and the remaining ticket revenue from last season's Ricoh Stadium, and Coventry City have a transfer fee of around £18 million during the summer break.

The £18 million transfer fee may not be enough for the big-money clubs to buy a substitute. But for Coventry, a team that has been in the lower leagues for many years, it is already the highest transfer fee in the past.

What managers Edda and Liu Yun have to do is to make the most of the 18 million pounds transfer fee.

Liu Yun is now more than just a player at Ricoh Arena. He is also the team's assistant coach.

Eda has been traveling to South America and Africa for a whole month, and has preliminarily determined a shortlist of 50 people to be purchased.

On this day, Liu Yun came to Ada's office to discuss the purchase of players.

Eda said to Liu Yun: "We have you and Manla on our front line now. The two substitutes, Gilart and Speer, are both young players that Coventry has cultivated themselves. After two seasons of training, these two people are already qualified to be substitutes for the two of you. I don't think we need to strengthen the front line. ”

Tamanla has been with Coventry since he was 21 years old and has played for Coventry for five seasons. At the age of twenty-six, he is now in the prime of his life. Coventry had just been promoted to the Championship last summer, and Aston Villa in the Premier League offered a huge salary to poach Manla, but Manla rejected it.

Speaking to Aston Villa's scouts at the time, Manla said: "I came to Coventry four years ago and it was the city that took me in. Here I became partners on the front line with the great old lieutenant. I started a family here. became a part of the city. I love this city dearly, and the people in this city love me. Thank you for your kindness, I will never leave Ricoh Arena. ”

Manla's choice was the right one. Now Coventry City have been promoted to the Premier League. Aston Villa were relegated to the Championship.

Liu Yun said to Eda approvingly: "The general direction of buying people is mainly the three positions of forward midfield, left and right fullback. ”

Pearl River Sea Soul was sent to the Coventry Academy five years ago for a group of Chinese youth players to be trained.

Among this group of Chinese young players, Qu Bai has become a European superstar.

There are also two centre-backs – Zhao Kaixuan and Li Fanghua – who have grown into Coventry's main centre-backs.

Now Coventry's starting list includes a full three Chinese.

Liu Yun treats Zhao Kaixuan and Li Fanghua like his own children.

Liu Yun and Eda discussed for a full hour, and watched the video of the candidate's game for several hours. In the end, 10 people were determined. The 10 have 2 Brazilian players, 3 South African players, 1 Argentine player and 3 English players.

Liu Yun and Eda will fly to South America and South Africa to inspect the players during the match this month.

Before you know it, it's lunchtime.

Eda asked his secretary to get two sandwiches in the office, and he shrugged at Liu Yun: "I'm sorry, old lieutenant." I don't have Chinese dumplings here, only this. Eat it, and when we get our first Premier League win, I swear, I'll treat you to a French dinner! ”

Liu Yun didn't care, picked up the sandwich and took a bite: "Okay, boss, I remember your promise!" I'm waiting for your French dinner. ”

Edda put a bunch of newspapers in front of Liu Yun: "Old lieutenant, the media is not optimistic about our Premier League journey. ”

Liu Yun flipped through the newspaper.

The Sun: Even if Coventry City have an old lieutenant, it won't change their status as the weakest team in the Premier League this season. Admittedly, the old lieutenant has been in good form during his two seasons in League One and the Championship. He scored 29 goals in League One and 33 in the Championship. But that's League One and the Championship, after all. After two seasons in the lower leagues, the old lieutenant at Ricoh Stadium is no longer the old lieutenant at Old Trafford. One person can't save a team.

Daily Mail: Coventry's goals for this year's season should be realistic. Relegation should be set as their ultimate goal. Obviously, even this goal is difficult to achieve. You know, their squad is still the same one that played in League One two seasons ago.

The Times: Coventry City have unveiled a transfer fee budget for the new season: £18 million. That's less than 20 of United's transfer budget. The Sky Blues should have the lowest transfer fee of any Premier League team. The Premier League is always about quality. The low transfer fee means that they can only buy players of average level. Their quality – perhaps the weakest of the twenty Premier League teams in the new season.

The Guardian: Coventry are a two-year double jump team after all. Note that double jumps are not a compliment here. This is a derogatory term in terms of the results forecast for the new season. Because it means that their squad is still stuck in League One. No matter how miraculous the old lieutenant is, he is only a person, not a god. Besides, at the age of 50, how long he can maintain his form is still a big question.

Liu Yun sighed: "It seems that the media is very optimistic about our journey to the new season of the Premier League." ”

Edda shrugged his shoulders: "Just like last season when we were promoted to the Championship, all the media concluded that we would fall back to League One at the end of the season. ”

Liu Yun laughed: "Yes." I think the British media has a fight with Pele. ”

Eda asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Liu Yun replied: "I still remember when I first came to Coventry, the media called me an old liar from China. When I first arrived at Manchester United, they called it an old vase that would always sit on the bench. Heh, four years ago in the FA Cup. From the third round onwards, in every round of the match, the media gave us a death sentence before the game. We won the FA Cup... Their beaks are the same as Bailey's, crow's beaks. ”

Eda couldn't help but laugh when she heard Liu Yun's words: "That's right. Old lieutenant, you're so right. Their predictions are often the opposite of the results at the end of the season. Maybe we'll have a Leicester City miracle? ”

Leicester City won the title in their first season back in the Premier League under Claudio Ranieri. To this day, this incident is still talked about by British fans.

Liu Yun suddenly remembered something: "By the way, my friend Baggio called me yesterday. In Fiorentina's youth team, there is a good 19-year-old midfielder. Fiorentina was bought by the Qataris and has a lot of big stars. Not only can this kid not be able to play the main force, but sometimes he can't even sit on the bench. Before we leave for South Africa, we can go to Italy and visit Florence to see this child. ”

Liu Yun now has a huge network of contacts in European football.

A person of high character always makes a lot of friends. Friends are people.

Coventry needs reinforcements for the new season, and many of Liu Yun's friends have called him to recommend players.

However, the players recommended by Batistuta and Maradona are all South American black shop River Plate and Boca Juniors. These clubs often cost tens of millions of pounds, and Coventry can't afford them.

Eda was surprised and said, "The player recommended by Baggio? That must be promising. Okay, we can fly from London to Florence first. After scouting the player, we went to South Africa. Finally fly to South America. ”

————

Liu Yun returned home. Isabella had dinner ready.

During the meal, Liu Yun said to Isabella: "This trip to inspect the players is estimated to take 20 days to go home." You take good care of little Coke at home. ”

Isabella shrugged her shoulders: "Heh, our eldest daughter is married. Now you're going again. The house was empty. When you go home, I will also go to Huaguo to continue to do charity projects in the poor mountainous areas of Handong. ”

Liu Yun took a spoon and coaxed the three-year-old little Coke to eat.

"Good Coke, mouth open, ah~"

In the spoon is a piece of organic cauliflower.

Little Cola gritted her teeth and shook her head like a rattle. This guy is a serious picky eater.

Liu Yun had no choice but to coax his daughter: "It is said that children who eat cauliflower will have a pair of wings when they grow up and can fly to the sky." ”

Little Cola blinked his eyes: "Really? ”

Taking advantage of Xiao Coke's opening of the golden mouth, Liu Yun, who was quick with his eyes, immediately poked the cauliflower into Xiao Coke's mouth.

"That's right! As long as you chew the cauliflower and eat it, you will be able to grow wings when you grow up. ”

Liu Yun complained to Isabella: "I think it's much more difficult to coax our little daughter to eat vegetables than to score goals at Ricoh Stadium." ”

Isabella said: "Why don't you go back to China this time to inspect the players? If you go to Huaguo to scout the players, I can go with you. ”

Liu Yun sighed: "The value of Huaguo players has long been speculated. The transfer fee for third- and fourth-rate players at the level of League Two is millions of euros. The cost performance of Huaguo players is too low. Our transfer fee is limited, and we can't satisfy the lion's mouth of Huaguo Club. ”

Isabella said, "I don't understand you more and more. Those children in poor areas can't afford even a decent lunch. Sometimes a steamed bun with some pickles is their lunch at school. Yanjing's house can reach tens of thousands of pounds per square meter. The value of the players is also, according to what you said, the Chinese Super League is only at the level of League A and English B, but the value of the players is the top level of the Premier League. ”

Liu Yun said with a smile: "I have lived in China for forty-five years, and I don't understand the affairs of China. You have only been a daughter-in-law of Huaguo for four years, how can you understand Huaguo? ”

Isabella added: "I was really touched by those Chinese children. Last winter, I visited a mountain school, and a child braved the snow and walked eight miles to get to school. When I arrived at school, I had ice stubble in my hair. ”

After Liu Yun finished feeding the baby Little Coke, he scratched Little Coke's nose: "I really should send you back to your hometown in Handong and eat steamed buns with pickles for a few months." ”

Liu Yun turned his head to Isabella again and said, "Wife, what you are doing now is something that may change the fate of these children. It's a great thing. I will give you my full support. ”

Isabella said, "Yes, knowledge can always change a person's fate. Like our eldest daughter. Although I disagree with her decision to return to China. But I have to admit that her three-year college career has changed her from a willful little girl to a mature woman with thoughts and cultivation. By the way, she called me today. She and Qu have arrived in Paris. I guess I'm having dinner under the Eiffel Tower. ”

Little Cola suddenly danced and shouted: "Remember to ask my sister to bring me a gift!" ”

Liu Yun scratched Xiao Cola's nose: "Your sister has forgotten that no one will forget you." When you grow up, you have to earn money to buy hundreds of clothes for your sister. From the time you were born to the present, it is estimated that there are hundreds of pieces of your sister's clothes that have been ruined by pooping and peeing. ”

After dinner, Liu Yun turned on the TV.

SKY TV is reporting on the latest developments in the Premier League transfer window:

Manchester United have signed the first player of the summer break, Borussia Dortmund's 21-year-old wide star Christian Pulisic. It is reported that Pulisic's transfer fee is £60 million.

Liu Yun sighed: It's still Manchester United with a lot of money. The transfer fee for buying a demon star is 3 times the entire transfer fee budget of Coventry.

Liu Yun suddenly remembered a famous saying in Handong's hometown: The rich have the way of life of the rich, and the poor have the way of life of the poor.

Besides, the demon star also came from an obscure and lowly young player.

Maybe this expedition will find a treasure?

I hope so.