Next, the Birmingham team played two warm-up games in a row, and the problems of Birmingham's defense were more obvious, and it was seen that Comrade Senderos was really very unsupportable.

At this time, McLeish began to look for a quality centre-back in the transfer market.

Through Guò, McLeish selected four people, they are Real Madrid's Argentine defender Heinze, one is West Ham defender James Collins, one is Atletico Madrid's Heitinga, and the other is Middlesbrough's German defender Hutter.

These four are all central defenders with transfer intentions, and their strength is very good, of course, the most important thing is that they are not worth more than 10 million pounds, the most expensive of which is Atletico Madrid's Dutch Houhetinga, who is likely to be worth between 600-700 euros.

This summer, Real Madrid has made a lot of money in the transfer market, which has caused the whole transfer market to be unstable, and they have brought in countless reinforcements, and of course they have to send some people away.

Real Madrid is very generous in the transfer market, and directly smashes you with money, no matter how much the player is worth, as long as they value it, he will throw money at it one by one, a typical money man who comes stupidly and quickly.

And the players they shot were extremely cheap, so at this time, the head coach of the Birmingham team, McLeish, took a fancy to Heinze and hoped to knock Real Madrid a stroke.

Heinze's days at Real Madrid have come to an end and he has to leave Real Madrid this summer.

McLeish immediately sent an offer to Real Madrid, hoping to bring in Heinze. However, Real Madrid's reply was that Heinze had signed a contract with the French team Marseille, and Heinze would play in Ligue 1 in the new season.

McLeish went to find out, Heinze's transfer to Marseille only cost 1.5 million euros to the Marseille team, McLeish was stunned, the Marseille team really picked up a big bargain this time. At the same time, he also regretted it, why didn't he make a move earlier? What a pity!

Heinze couldn't do it, so McLeish set his sights on Dutch defender Heitinga, who is a good player and plays for Atletico Madrid at this stage. But Atletico Madrid don't seem to like the Dutch very much and urgently need to make a move on the Dutchman.

At this time, the Premier League's Everton team made several offers to Atletico Madrid, and Atletico Madrid agreed, but Heitinga did not agree. Heitinga is reluctant to come to the Premier League and wants to stay at Atletico Madrid.

McLeish immediately approached Heitinga, who he hoped would be able to persuade him to join their Birmingham team.

However, Heitinga didn't knock McLeish, he said that he didn't even look down on Everton, so how could he look at your promoted horses?

McLeish is completely self-defeating, and he deserves to give up Netherlands international Heitinga.

There aren't many people to choose from now, one is James Collins, the other is Hooter.

James Collins is a bald tall central defender, physically strong, excellent headers, a giant tower in the defensive line, but also able to rush to the opponent's penalty area with headers to attack the city, and more importantly, this is an iron-blooded guy, looking like a tough guy bastard, fierce with his feet, and strong physical confrontation ability.

That's what the Birmingham defence lacks, and McLeish is more bullish on him.

Hute is tall and has a good header, but he is not as strong as James Collins, and he is not as iron-blooded as James Collins, and he looks much softer.

So, naturally, McLeish wants to bring in James Collins.

McLeish immediately made an offer to West Ham United to buy James Collins, with McLeish offering £5 million.

West Ham United did have the idea of selling James Collins, and seeing the Birmingham offer, they agreed to the Birmingham offer outright.

McLeish immediately went to James Collins to negotiate a personal contract, and at first James Collins was reluctant to join the promoted team, but after McLeish's persuasion, James Collins finally agreed to join the Birmingham team.

With the introduction of James Collins, Birmingham's recruitment for the season was completely completed, and McLeish immediately announced the closure of the transfer door.

Birmingham City spent almost £25 million on the transfer market this summer, which is not the most of the three promoted clubs, each of whom spent more than £20 million to stay in the Premier League.

After the recruitment, the Birmingham team still has two warm-up games, these two warm-up games against Celtic in the Soviet Super League and Atletico Madrid in La Liga.

Both teams are very good and these are the two games that will test the quality of the Birmingham team.

Against the Celtics, McLeish lined up in a four-four-two, with Joe Hart in goalkeeper and David Murphy, Ridgewell, James Collins and Zim Bonda in the back four.

In the midfield four are Sebastian Larsson, Kevin Prince Boateng, Barry Ferguson and Li Qinglong.

The two on the top of the front line are Dongfang Chen and Sturridge.

On the Celtics side, Zheng Zhi did not start, he sat on the bench, waiting for the opportunity.

Originally, Celtic also took a fancy to South Korea's midfielder, but unfortunately they were taken the lead by the Birmingham team, and they were helpless.

After the start of the game, Ridgewell and James Collins on the Birmingham team's defensive line did not cooperate tacitly, but the strength of the back line has obviously increased a lot, and the defense line is much stronger.

Looking at James Collins' excellent performance from the sidelines, Senderos looked gloomy, knowing that the main centre-back position was far away from him, and he could only wait for his chance on the bench.

The defensive line is solid, and the attacking strength of the Birmingham team is reflected, and the quality of the Birmingham team on both flanks is good. Li Qinglong is fast and flexible, and has a beautiful and accurate cross and pass, although this guy suffers a little bit in physical confrontation, but there are not many opportunities for physical confrontation on the side, he can eat very much directly by using speed and flexibility.

And Sebastian Larsson and Li Qinglong have similar characteristics, they are also technical, and they are inferior in physical confrontation, but Sebastian Larsson has very good skills and accurate passing.

The route of the Birmingham team in the new season is to fly on both wings.

Dongfang Chen and Sturridge on the front line are also dissatisfied with their speed, and the physical confrontation is not weak, Dongfang Chen's header is also very good, and Sturridge's header is slightly weaker, but the foot is good, the two have their own characteristics, and they complement each other well.

Kevin Priss Boateng in the middle can go up and down, full of momentum, and is a master of chaos. Barry Ferguson, on the other hand, is experienced and organised.

So, now Birmingham's attacking ability is really good.

The Birmingham team also has Kevin Phillips, Emerson, Lee Bowyer, Ji Chengyong, Martin Taylor and Senderos on the bench, it can be said that the Birmingham team is very complete, and the depth of the bench is not bad.

In the face of Celtic, a Champions League-level team, the Birmingham team's attack still looks very strong, and the Celtic defense is a little overwhelmed.

In the thirtieth minute of the first half, Li Qinglong on the wing received a long pass from Barry Ferguson, immediately broke through the bottom with the ball, and then directly curled the ball into the Celtic penalty area.

In Kyle's painful penalty area, Birmingham striker Dongchen jumped high and gave the ball to Sturridge in the middle.

Sturridge leaned sideways against the Celtic centre-back next to him and swept the ball into the Celtic goal to give Birmingham a 1-0 lead.

Seeing this goal, McLeish on the sidelines was overjoyed, and he could see that after nearly a month of training and games, the players of the team were developing chemistry and moving towards the good side.

Seeing the team's performance like this, McLeish suddenly had more expectations for the team's progress in the new season.

Towards the end of the first half, Birmingham City attacked again, this time with Sebastian Larsson's turn on the other side.

Kevin Boateng cut off the ball at the feet of a Celtic player and immediately passed it to Sebastian Larsson on the wing.

After receiving the ball, Sebastian Larsson did not move forward with the ball, but directly took a long pass, and the football flew quickly to Dongfang Chen at the edge of the penalty area.

Dongfang Chen, who was on his back, jumped slightly, and after stopping the football with his chest, he didn't adjust, and directly turned around and volleyed, pumping the football fiercely towards the Celtic goal.

The Celtic goalkeeper waited for the ball to fly out before he reacted, but it was too late, and the ball flew into the Celtic goal at a rapid pace, 2-0, and the Birmingham team extended the score.

In the second half of the game, Celtic replaced Chinese player Zheng Zhi, Zheng Zhi looked good after coming on the field, sending two very threatening passes in a row, but unfortunately the Celtic striker did not seize the opportunity.

On the other hand, it was Birmingham that substitute Ji Chengyong sent a very beautiful diagonal pass, and Sebastian Larsson on the wing unloaded the ball and immediately smashed into the Celtic penalty area, and a volley extended the score to 3-0.

In the final game, Birmingham won 3-1 away against Celtic, and in the final stage of the game, Zheng Zhi's long-range shot hit the body of the Birmingham team's defender and flew into the Birmingham team's goal.

McLeish was very satisfied with this game, especially with the team's defence, and he was looking forward to the new season.

Birmingham's final warm-up game before the new season was against Spain's Atletico Madrid.

Birmingham City face their opponents at the St Andrews Stadium, Atletico Madrid are very strong, but a little stronger than Celtic, especially Atletico Madrid's attacking strength, with the likes of Diego Forlan, Sergio Aguero, Maxi Rodriguez, Assunção and Luis Garcia up front.

This game is a very big test for the Birmingham team, and it is also a very interesting game, for which McLeish is very important.

At the beginning of the game, Atletico Madrid caused very big problems for the Birmingham team, and Atletico Madrid's attack was very layered and frequently threatened the Birmingham team.

The Birmingham side looked good at the back, but they didn't work very well together, and the Birmingham side were in danger on a number of occasions, and if it wasn't for Joe Hart's excellent appearance, Birmingham would have been two goals down in the first half.

At the start of the second half, Diego Forlan blasted Birmingham wide with a long-range shot that left Birmingham down by one goal.

It was the only goal of the game as Birmingham City suffered their second defeat in the human competition, but it was the only one in their seven pregnancy games without a goal.

The game was a test of the quality of the Birmingham side and McLeish knows they still have a lot to do in the new season and the team's problems will have to be solved.