Rennes, the second largest city in northwestern France, January 24.

Roazon Park Stadium, the 22nd round of Ligue 1 matches are underway.

The match will be played against Ligue 10-placed Rennes and third-from-bottom Caen.

Since neither side is a star team, and the attention of Ligue 1 is not high.

So this game should not have been paid much attention.

However, when the cameras at the scene found Guardiola in a black tweed coat in the stands, and Lin Quan, the new Ballon d'Or winner sitting next to him, the fans at the scene instantly boiled.

"Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola? What is he doing here? ”

"Could it be that we have a crush on Rennes' players?"

This is Rennes' home stadium, so Rennes fans subconsciously thought that Pep Guardiola was coming for their players.

However, in fact, Pep Guardiola did not have his eye on Rennes' players, he had his eye on the visiting midfielder, N'Golo Kante wearing the number 17 shirt.

After seeing his own picture on the big screen, Guardiola was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect to be discovered so soon.

However, after reacting, he immediately smiled and waved to the camera to greet the fans at the scene.

When the camera focused on Lin Quan, Lin Quan clenched his right hand and made a cheering motion, which seemed to encourage the players on both sides to play well.

The arrival of the two has excited the players of both teams, and Lin Quan is an idol in the hearts of many young players.

They all hope to become famous one day like Lin Quan!

As for Pep Guardiola, he is a world-class manager, and if he can be eyed, for many players there will be a chance to play in the big clubs.

As a result, players from both teams competed to present themselves on the pitch in an attempt to catch Pep Guardiola's attention.

Guardiola's eye has always been picky, and being able to be favored by him is in itself a recognition of his own strength, which is very valuable for these ordinary players who are mixed in the middle and lower teams.

Since Pep Guardiola likes to buy midfielders the most, Andre, the main defender in Rennes' team, subconsciously thought that the other party was coming for him.

This made him extremely excited on the court, frequently beckoning for the ball, wanting to better show his talent.

His hard work paid off when Andre scored a goal in the 15th minute of the first half.

After the goal, Andre was so excited that he couldn't help but think:

I must have impressed Coach Guardiola with such a good performance, right?

Thinking of this, he did not immediately celebrate with his teammates, but looked at the stands with anticipation, wanting to see Guardiola's reaction.

In the stands, Guardiola and Lin Quan applauded their faces after seeing the goal.

This encouraged Andre to feel that he had fallen into Guardiola's eyes, otherwise the other party would not have given him a round of applause.

So, in the next game, his desire to perform became stronger.

However, this was not only not a good result, but also self-defeating.

It was because of his mistake that Rennes was counter-attacked by Caen on the opposite side, and Caen equalized before the end of the first half.

By the time the second half began, Andrea's performance not only did not improve, but was even more lost.

Affected by this, Rennes' performance was even more sluggish, but Caen was completely in form in the second half, scoring three goals in a row at half-time, and finally won 4-1 against the opponent.

The big loss at home made the Rennes fans who came to the scene feel unacceptable.

Before the game, they were even more favored by everyone, after all, they are regulars in Ligue 1, and the opponent is just a promoted horse who has just been promoted from Ligue 2.

But the result of the match was so unexpected that they were very angry.

As the biggest 'hero' of the loss, Andre was criticized from all sides.

Everyone thinks that Guardiola is looking away this time, with Andre's performance, how did Guardiola fall in love with him?

Compared to Andre, it is felt that Julian, who contributed one shot and three passes in the game, has a better future, and the latter was also named the MVP of the game after the game.

However, Guardiola is neither here for Andre nor for Julian.

In this game, he barely took his eyes off the small black player wearing the number 17 shirt in the Caen team.

Anyone who can really understand the game will definitely be impressed by this guy.

The same goes for Pep Guardiola!

"How? How does it feel like he's performing? ”

After the game, Lin Quan asked.

"It's really good, it's really potential!"

Pep Guardiola's eyes lit up and said:

"Let's go get in touch with this guy!"

He can't wait to bring Kante back to the Etihad Stadium!

……

N'Golo Kante was surprised that although he knew Guardiola was coming to the pitch at the time of the game, he never thought that Guardiola was here to inspect him.

So at the end of the game, when he received a call from his agent and learned that Guardiola wanted to see him in person, Kante was stunned.

It's not April Fool's Day, is it?

But when he actually met Pep Guardiola and Lin Quan in the café, Kante was sure that it was all true!

"Sit down, Ngolo, and don't hold back!"

Pep Guardiola saw that Kante was a little apprehensive and nervous, so he smiled and spoke.

"Drink something, I'll help you get it!"

Lin Quan, who was sitting on the side, also spoke.

Kante hurriedly waved his hand, signaling that he would not need to.

What are you kidding, let the Golden Globe winner order coffee for himself, does he have such a big face?

After Kante's mood calmed down a little, Guardiola did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point:

"N'Golo, I want to take you to Manchester City, would you like to?"

Pep Guardiola's words made Kante a little suspicious of his ears for a while, I actually got an invitation from Manchester City, and it was an olive branch personally handed by Guardiola.

Could it be that Mr. Guardiola came here to invite himself?

For a while, he was surrounded by great joy, and without thinking about it, he quickly nodded: "I do!" ”

For a player like N'Golo Kante, it is almost unthinkable to get an invitation from a Premier League giant.

Unlike players who came through the youth of professional teams, N'Golo Kante came from the grassroots.

He also went to the youth academy of the professional team as a child, but he didn't pass it all.

Until the age of 19, he played for an amateur club called Syrena, with a pitifully low salary that made it difficult to support himself.

In 2010, N'Golo Kante was spotted by a Ligue 2 team and finally ate the meal of a professional footballer.

However, N'Golo Kante was unlucky, and in the year he was promoted to the first team, the team finished bottom of the league and were relegated to Ligue 3.

N'Golo Kante has played just one league game for the team this season and has been a water cooler manager almost the entire time.

In the 2012-13 season, after the relegation of the team, a large number of players left, and Kante finally got the chance to play.

This season, N'Golo Kante made 37 appearances for the club in Ligue 3 and scored three goals.

His outstanding performance attracted the attention of another Ligue 2 team, who sent him an invitation.

So, in the summer of 2013, Kante joined Caen on a free transfer and returned to Ligue 2.

N'Golo Kante's form has changed this season, as he has played 38 games in the league and has made it to Ligue 1 with his team-mates who finished third in Ligue 2.

However, Caen's strength is weak after all, and halfway through this season, Caen is at the bottom of Ligue 1 and is about to be relegated back to Ligue 2.

N'Golo Kante, who was born in 1991, is about to turn 24.

After a few more years in the lower leagues, the peak of professional players will be exhausted.

Therefore, the invitation extended to him by Pep Guardiola on behalf of Manchester City was a lifesaver for Kante at this time.

Not to mention Manchester City, even if a mid-to-lower Premier League team like Leicester City sends an invitation, he will gladly accept it.

Guardiola didn't expect to get Kante so easily, he thought it would take a lot of words!

In order to avoid long nights and to provide a little compensation to the Caen team, Manchester City made an offer of £8 million.

After the other party haggled, the final price was set at 9 million pounds, or about 11 million euros.

On 25 January, Manchester City announced the transfer on the club's official website.

The transfer was carried out very quickly, and the outside world did not get any news beforehand, and after seeing Manchester City's official announcement, it was only after seeing Manchester City's official announcement that they knew that Manchester City had bought someone again.

It's just that for this guy named Kanter, their eyes are dark, and they don't know who this holy spirit is.

After learning about N'Golo Kante's origins and record of games in the league, they were even more confused.

When did Manchester City's selection criteria fall so low?

A player from the grassroots who has been in the lower leagues for a long time can also be seen?

Isn't it a big deal for such a player to catch in the big five leagues?

Pep Guardiola doesn't care about the outside world's evaluation, and after getting Kante out, he has set his sights on defenders and forwards again.

……

In a hospital in Stuttgart, a tall black player is lying on a hospital bed, looking boredly at the ceiling above him.

Rudiger was out for the season after suffering a meniscus injury in the league a month ago and had to undergo knee surgery.

A major injury and surgery in this position of the knee means a great risk for a young player like him, who is not yet 22 years old.

As a result, his hard-fought main position in Stuttgart is likely to be lost.

Not only that, but the clubs that had made high offers to Stuttgart in the summer transfer window in the hope of taking him away have also withdrawn because of a major knee injury.

Overnight, he fell from a star-studded football star to a point where no one cared.

The stark contrast between the past and the present, as well as the uneasiness and fear of the future, left Rudiger disheartened.

"Hey Antonio, you need to cheer up!"

Just when Rudiger was feeling down, his agent, Seifer Ruby, walked in and said loudly:

"What you have to do now is to recuperate with peace of mind and strive for a speedy recovery, as for the affairs of the club, leave it to me to deal with, you can rest assured!"

Rudiger was very moved after listening to it, the icing on the cake is not as good as charcoal in the snow, the agent did not abandon him when he was in a low point, but thought about him everywhere, which made him trust the rupee even more.

'I've talked to Stuttgart and when you recover from your injury, we'll see if we can get back into the starting line-up, and if not, we'll go out on loan.

You're at the age of a crucial time to get the ball up, you need a lot of game accumulation, so you can't sit on the bench for too long, we need to go to a team that allows us to play more. ”

Rudiger nodded approvingly, he was about to turn 22.

For a player who has been selected for the German national team, it may be a bit reluctant to start at this age for a big club.

However, there is still a lot of hope for the main place in the middle and lower teams, and if he hadn't been affected by injuries, there would have been no problems in the team's main position at all.

"Where are you going to play on loan? Bundesliga or abroad? ”

"I've been in contact with Roma in Serie A and they've shown interest in you, so as soon as you recover from your injury, we can play for Roma!"

Rome?

This is a team with a strong heritage, although it is not a giant, but it is also a top-ranked team in Serie A, and it is very competitive.

And Italy has always been very strong defensively, and as a defender, going here to train may be useful for Rudiger.

But just when he was about to nod his head and agree to the agent's arrangement.

The agent's phone rang suddenly.

When Ruby put down the phone, Rudiger saw a smile on his face, as if he had eaten honey.

"Good news!"

"We don't have to go out on loan because we have an offer from a big club!"

"Wealthy? Who is it? ”

Hearing the word giant, Rudiger's eyes lit up.

It's a very attractive thing for any player to be able to play in a big team.

"Manchester City!"

……

On 26 January, shortly after Manchester City announced their second transfer for the winter break, they announced a third transfer news.

Stuttgart's main centre-back Rudiger has moved to Manchester City for 10 million euros.

Last summer, there was a €15 million offer for Rudiger, but Stuttgart didn't sell it.

As a result, Rudiger's major injury depreciated his value by a third.

Stuttgart was afraid that his injury would have an irreversible impact on his form, so after encountering Manchester City's offer, they hardly bargained and accepted it very happily.

They are worried that Rudiger will be out of form after he is injured, let alone 10 million euros, and they may not get a penny.

After bringing in two defenders and a midfielder in quick succession, Pep Guardiola's recruitment of the team's midfield is almost over.

With only a few days left before the winter break transfer window closes, City are left with only a striker to sign.

On 27 January, The Sun was the first to reveal that Manchester City had made an offer of £12 million to Chelsea for Salah.

(End of chapter)