While Chen Xi was taking advantage of the few holidays left to make money around the world, the transfer market on the European continent was also surging.

The craziest in the transfer market is the newcomer to Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, who, after stabilizing the club, brandished his cheque and embarked on a buying spree.

He is transforming his Blues at a rate of buying a big-name star almost every five days, and the Russian billionaire has claimed that his club does not have a transfer budget this summer, which means simply that Abu will not hesitate to sign him in rubles as long as they fancy it, no matter what the cost.

£7 million for Graremy from Real Madrid, £7 million for homegrown left-back Bridges from Southampton, £17 million for winger Duff from Blackburn, £15 million for Real Madrid defender Claude Makelele, £6.6 million for relegated West Ham United, £15 million for Manchester United's Veron, £16 million for Romanian Viper Mutu and Argentine striker Crespo from Inter Milan for the same price. With the addition of a number of young players to buy, Abu has already spent £100 million on the summer transfer market, and it can be said that Abu is sparing no effort to build a championship team.

Combined with the current situation of Chelsea's frenzied acquisition of stars. Many football experts think of the situation when Blackburn won the Premier League in the 1994-1995 season. Blackburn Rovers are the only team in Premier League history other than Manchester United and Arsenal to have league title experience, when British steel tycoon Walker bought the club and began to spend a lot of money, buying Shearer and Sutton, beating Manchester United to win the Premier League title for the first time. Speaking of this championship, there are still many British people who think that Blackburn's championship was "bought". However, most people also admit that its success was also inseparable from the head coach at the time, Dalglish.

In England, there are also examples of spending money to buy lessons, and that is a Liverpool team that is looking for revival. Now at Blackburn, Souness was a star of Liverpool's sixties and seventies, and after he took charge of Liverpool in 1991, he went on a buying spree and bought nearly a dozen players in one go, and although these players were good, playing together was a nightmare, and the star-studded Liverpool only won the FA Cup in 1992. Souness's complete defeat at Liverpool is also seen as a laughing stock in English football.

Now, Chelsea have also undergone a major overhaul. Perhaps history is destined to repeat itself, and Ranieri may be as successful at Chelsea as Dalglish, but he may also suffer a Souness-style defeat. And now all the Italians have to do is race against time.

Although Roman Abramovich has said he doesn't expect to bring the title to Chelsea in his first season, everyone knows the Russian's desire for the title and the pressure is all on the Italian. Claudio Ranieri needs to build a new squad into a top-class champion team in just one season, and the difficulty is understandable.

In addition to Chelsea, Manchester United, who have already sold David Beckham and Veron, have also been a whirlwind in the transfer market this summer. However, compared to Abu's strategy of spending money to buy famous stars, Ferguson is still using his vision to find some young talent around the world.

They bought goalkeeper Howard from the United States for £2.3 million to fill the void left by Butters, and then bought wing star Kleberson from Brazil for £6 million. Combined with the £3.5 million worth of Jemba, the total cost of these acquisitions is less than £12 million, which is not even as much as Veron's worth alone, but the media do not dare to speculate, because none of them can guarantee that these people will become the next Giggs, the next Beckham.

Other than that, the most important thing Ferguson needs to do is bring a new No.7 to succeed David Beckham for Manchester United.

After Alex Ferguson's favourite Ronaldo was brought to Camp Nou by Laporta, Ferguson unexpectedly spotted Portugal's superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in a warm-up match.

The tall, handsome 18-year-old with excellent skills at his feet almost single-handedly played the Reds' backline in the match between Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United, which Ferguson greatly admired.

In the end, after some haggling, Ferguson brought the Portuguese rookie to Old Trafford for $20 million, or more than £12 million, and with some follow-up funds, the Portuguese youngster with the same surname as Ronaldo would be worth fifteen million pounds.

Amid a sea of skepticism, the 18-year-old took over Manchester United's legendary No.7 shirt from Lord Ferguson.

It is said that Cristiano Ronaldo only asked for a number 28 to symbolize a fringe player, but in the end, Lord Ferguson shoehorned the number 7 shirt to the Portuguese.

The media have used this anecdote to make fun of Lord Fernandes, saying that he is chasing ducks to the shelves.

Only Chen Xi knew that the young Portuguese would quickly develop into a superstar in the Premier League.

Compared to Manchester United and Chelsea's big squads, Arsenal, who have a relatively stable squad, have not made a large-scale purchase, they have only added to the goalkeeper position after Seaman's departure. After some of his favorite goalkeepers expressed no interest in Arsenal, Wenger had no choice but to buy the 33-year-old German international Lehmann from Germany. This acquisition also laid the groundwork for Arsenal's goalkeeper panic.

In addition to this, Wenger only brought two little-known youngsters, Klich and Senderos. In fact, Arsene Wenger's "Zhengtai Control" has also come to prominence this summer.

After signing Chen Xi for free, Liverpool did not stop there, and the club also needs to use some acquisitions to show its determination to rise strongly in the new season.

As soon as the transfer window opened, Liverpool first bought right-back Finnan from Fulham for £3.5 million.

While Carragher was able to play at right-back and was impressive at right-back last season, Rafael Benitez has decided to put Carragher back in centre-back to partner Hyypia as centre-back Henjoz is getting older. Then adding a strong right-back has become the first option. Fulham's Finnan may not be well known, but Rafael Benitez decided to bring the Premier League player to Anfield after following some footage of the Irish defender's matches.

Liverpool CEO Perry said: "We are delighted to have Steve [Finnen] on board, he is a talented player and we have finally brought him to Liverpool and I can't wait to see him perform at Anfield next season. ”

Liverpool signed the defender, who had been named in the 2001-02 Team of the Season, after a win over Manchester United, which took three months of painstaking negotiations.

Australian winger Colwill, who had an ambiguous relationship with the Liverpool team before the end of the season, was abandoned by the Liverpool team because of Chen Xi's free joining.

After all, Liverpool still has strong players such as Smitchell and Murphy on the wing, and Diouf can also play as a winger with great speed, and if Colwill is bought again, Liverpool's wing will inevitably be overcrowded.

In addition, the Australian's injury situation is also an important reason for Benitez to abandon him.

However, in Benitez's mind, Liverpool's midfield is not in perfect condition, and Croatian defender Biscayne cannot satisfy Benitez with German defender Hamann being slow and suffering from many injuries. With Gerrard determined to free up, adding a midfielder is also a priority.

In an era when clubs have realised the importance of a defender who excels defensively, it is obviously difficult to buy a quality midfielder.

Although the club has promised Benitez a sufficient transfer budget, it is obviously difficult to solve the problem with money alone.

No, when Benitez set his sights on La Liga and was ready to buy the French iron-waisted Claude Makelele, who was unhappy with Real Madrid, Abu's Chelsea stabbed out and offered a high price of 15 million pounds.

Liverpool can afford this price, but in terms of personal treatment, Liverpool obviously can't give too much salary like Chelsea. You must know that the French are transferred because they are not valued in Real Madrid and their salaries are too far from Real Madrid's superstars. In the end, the Frenchman and Chelsea hit it off.

After the 'Italian man' was snatched away by Chelsea, Benitez was not discouraged. He set his sights back on his old club, Valencia.

Valencia's defensive midfield position is luxurious even in the entire European football world, and Baraja and Albelda are coveted by many giants.

However, Valencia FC was quite disgusted with Benitez's poaching, making it clear that Baraja and Albelda were not for sale.

Baraja and Albelda, as Spain internationals, are reluctant to consider leaving La Liga in order to secure their place in the national team.

Benitez hit a nail in the coffin with his old club.

It was at this time that the young youngster Xavi Alonso, who had just been selected for the national team this year and was a substitute for Baraja and Albelda, came into the eyes of Rafael Benitez.

The 21-year-old Spaniard star was quite eye-catching in La Liga last season.

His Real Sociedad team jumped from relegation to a relegation team last season, eventually overtaking Barcelona and Benitez's Valencia to finish second in La Liga, behind the star-studded Real Madrid.

And Xavi Alonso, who has been the team's main player this season, has been the key figure in the team's results. As a modern midfielder, Alonso has not only strong defensive ability, but also a valuable role in attack. Free kicks, long-range shots, lobbs, penalties and even headers from set-pieces are Alonso's forte.

After Benitez got to know Alonso in detail, he couldn't help but wonder how powerful the midfield of him and Gerrard has been in the new season.

Imagine that both men have good defensive skills, but also have a strong ability to shoot back to the goal.

Among them, Xavi Alonso is good at organization and scheduling, and Gerrard has a strong scoring ability. Such a combination is a perfect match in the eyes of Benitez!

In this way, at the urging of Benitez, Liverpool expressed their interest in Alonso directly to Real Sociedad.

At the same time, Benitez also contacted Xavi Alonso, who was on vacation. The Spanish boss has expressed a strong interest in the young compatriot and, as he has done in previous meetings with Chen Xi, has painted a perfect picture for Xavi Alonso.

Benitez's statement clearly made Alonso quite emotional. Like many young stars, Alonso grew up in his hometown team, which he loved as a child, and wanted to bring glory and hope to it, but he also knew he couldn't stay here forever until he retired.

In fact, due to his excellent performance, many big clubs have thrown olive branches to Alonso, in addition to Liverpool, Real Madrid in La Liga, and Manchester United in the Premier League have also expressed interest in him.

However, in the face of Benitez's sincerity, the blueprint he has drawn and Liverpool's long history. In the end, it was the Spaniard who decided to leave his homeland and go to the Premier League.

After the player himself was settled, the transfer became a negotiation between the two clubs.

Although Real Sociedad played an excellent record last season, as a small club, they did not expect to keep their stars at all, and in the face of Liverpool's offer of tens of millions of pounds, Real Sociedad finally compromised after a symbolic resistance.

For this, Liverpool will pay a price of 12 million pounds. Converted into dollars, there is a prize fund of 20 million, which is enough for Real Sociedad to buy some inexpensive demon players.

After Liverpool negotiated a personal deal with Alonso, the transfer was officially announced.

Alonso was accompanied by Real Sociedad president Astia Salon, who attended his transfer press conference and excitedly stated: "I will join a club with a long history and a great present. But San Sebastian (Real Sociedad) is a very important part of my memory and it is still possible for me to come back. ”

When asked why he chose Liverpool after being chased by a number of clubs, including Real Madrid, he revealed that it was Rafael Benitez who made him decide to join the Reds: "He convinced me that I was the player they needed, that he was not only a great manager, but also a master of psychology who could take players to the next level and that's how he led Valencia to La Liga. I believe it will be a lot of fun for me to be at Liverpool to be able to play alongside talented people like Edison, Owen and Steven Gerrard. At the same time, I also believe that we will conquer the Premier League under his leadership! ”

Of course, while showing his ambition to break into the Premier League, he also can't help but show his attachment to Real Sociedad. At the press conference, he read out a farewell letter he had written for Real Sociedad fans: "Real Sociedad will always be with me for the rest of my life, I thank all the fans, those who have supported me and encouraged me in the last 4 years, I will continue to take their support and spirit to a new environment for the new season, which is what the fans and Real Sociedad deserve in return." I keep Real Sociedad in my heart and I will always be grateful for it because here I grew up as a professional. ”

After finalising Xavi Alonso, Benitez's eyes remain on La Liga.

Obviously, as a foreigner on the British mainland, the idea of wanting to bring a few fellow countrymen as companions is perfectly normal.

Benitez then went on to buy Málaga's versatile defensive player Jose Mi for £2.5 million. Rafael Benitez has undoubtedly positioned the young defender as a substitute. After all, the main framework of Liverpool's defense has been basically finalized.

With the veteran Henjoz in the centre-back position and two versatile defenders, Traore and Josemi, Liverpool's defensive back-up is also quite perfect.

In the forward position, Liverpool's squad is luxurious, Owen and Heskey are the striker partners of the England national team, and young Baros and Diouf are also the main strikers of their respective national teams.

After Rafael Benitez's bid for Valencia's Mista failed again, the Spanish boss also gave up on adding to the team's forward position.

Eventually, Benitez set his sights on Barcelona's Luis Garcia, a Spain international who played alongside Benitez in La Liga's Tenerife and where the loanee was impressive, scoring 16 goals in 40 appearances.

Luis Garcia can play on both wings, as a midfielder or even as a shadow striker, and is a bit more versatile than Colwill was interested in Liverpool before. At the same time, he is also a veteran of Benitez.

This series of factors gave Benitez the idea of buying Luis Garcia.

Luis Garcia was depressed at Barcelona, and after Barcelona bought Ronaldo, his living space was further reduced, and for this reason, he also decided to try his luck in the Premier League.

With no place for Luis Garcia in the squad, Barcelona did not put the biggest hurdle in the way of this transfer, and at £6 million, Benitez bought the proud old man as he wished.

In this way, Benitez bought three compatriots in the transfer market in one go. Such an approach has caused some dissatisfaction among some English fans and the media.

The three Spaniards will also have to prove themselves as soon as possible in the coming days, otherwise both they and Benitez will be under intense pressure.

spent more than 20 million pounds to buy four powerful players, although such a move is not big in the Premier League, but considering that they also signed Chen Xi for free before, Liverpool's investment in this summer also made Liverpool fans see hope!

After purging players who are not in Benitez's plans, including veteran Czech international Borg, Liverpool's transfer season has come to a successful conclusion.

The team will assemble around July 20 to begin preparations for the new season.

(To be continued)