Football: I am only 16 years old, and you want me to retire and make a comeback?

Chapter 912 Only by uniting can we achieve victory.

French media outlet Foot Mercato reports that TY-owned PPBond has acquired French third-division club Dunkirk for €450 million.

Official announcement: UAG (United Youth Training Group) and Shandong Taishan Football Club of the Chinese Super League have signed an agency contract. UAG will be responsible for all agency work of Luneng Football School's youth players, including Luneng's youth teams.

When the news of the collaboration between UAG and Gen.G came out, many fans thought that Tang Ye was going to give up football and switch to e-sports. But after going around in circles, it turned out that the core goal was still football.

As the first Chinese Super League club to partner with UAG, Shandong Taishan's management undoubtedly faced considerable pressure. They knew they had to choose between Tang Ye and the Chinese Football Association, and since they believed Tang Ye could succeed, they figured they might as well get on board sooner rather than later, considering it a gesture of goodwill.

In recent years, Tang Ye has been focusing his attention on the Guangzhou team, which has made Shandong Taishan, Tang Ye's former team, lose face!

Let's see if Taishan can ride the bomb car of the Money in Football 2.0 first!
……

The Sun reports that Bubble Bond plans a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June this year, while UAG plans to complete its listing preparations by 2025.

Domestic sources say that Tang Ye plans to send Luneng Football School's U13 to U15 players to France in batches to train at the Dunkirk youth training base in the French third division.

"Dunkirk was acquired by UAG's parent company PPBD on May 10. In addition, the transportation of Shandong Luneng Football School is handled by PPBD's sponsor, Portuguese Airlines. Therefore, this trip to send the players out is considered a 'very economical' plan."

"However, despite this, due to the large number of qualified players at Luneng Football School, the total budget for this event will be no less than 300 million RMB, and Shandong Taishan Club will not need to contribute any funds for it."

[Tang Ye? Master Tang! Master Tang is so magnanimous!]

[This is really comfortable. Now I understand why Shandong Taishan is going against the Football Association. This ride on the money-driven football train is really comfortable.]

[Wang Qiuwang, can you please take a look at my Guangzhou team? We're going bankrupt! Waaaaah, can you please buy us?]

[Guangzhou fans, just go to sleep. I, Tang Qiuwang, definitely won't spend billions. If it were tens of millions, that would be fine... but billions is way too much.]

I have to say, UAG is really amazing. They're combining football and esports, and if they can develop a multinational youth training system, they could easily become a unicorn company.

The fans are excited, but they still need to calm down and think things through.

Tang Ye no longer supports the national team players' overseas training subsidy program from a few years ago, which means that he and the Football Association have officially parted ways due to disagreements.

Abandoning financial support for national team players and instead focusing on youth training means that if Chinese football truly wants to rise, the time required will no longer be as simple as four years or waiting for a World Cup.

Fans need to be patient; only with patience can miracles happen.

……

According to Guangzhou Youth, the Guangdong provincial government hopes to persuade local banks to provide a loan of over 50 billion RMB to Pop Bond, which they want to use to acquire Evergrande Football School. If sufficient funds are available, the Guangdong government is willing to support Pop Bond in buying the Guangzhou team, thus completing the asset separation between the Guangzhou team and Evergrande.

In recent years, Chinese football has developed at an alarming pace. Although Guangdong has an eight-time champion team, it didn't actually enjoy any real benefits during the era of big-spending football.

Now that the World Cup third-place finisher and the "money-driven football 2.0" are about to begin, and the Chinese Super League viewership is skyrocketing while the Guangzhou team has already been relegated, the GD provincial government feels a strong sense of deprivation.

If it were a few years ago, the Guangzhou team would have simply collapsed.

But not now!
Guangzhou team must survive!

If a buyer is needed, Pop Bond is the most suitable company, since it is known for its willingness to spend money.

But the most crucial issue here is that Guangzhou FC has already been relegated and is no longer part of the Chinese Super League, which will inevitably diminish Bubble Bond's interest in the club.

Sources say that Bubble Bond wants to buy Evergrande Football School for 80% of the price. If they also acquire Guangzhou FC, they must get a discount of more than 40%, meaning they would have to take on 6% of the debt to buy 100% of Guangzhou FC.

In any case, Evergrande Football School's Bubble Bond is a must-buy, as it is the first and most important step in their youth football training program.

Moreover, buying Evergrande Football School has another advantage: it provides a collateral for the loan.

If Bubble Bond were to spend 30 billion RMB to buy the massive Evergrande Football School, it could simultaneously use the school as its own base for youth football training and mortgage it to banks as collateral for a loan, thus securing another loan of over 30 billion RMB and achieving a double win.

Land, as a hard asset, is still very valuable in China!
As for whether or not to bail out the Guangzhou team, that depends on the situation at the time, after all, Bubble Bond's money doesn't fall from the sky.

……

On May 20, Manchester United defeated Inter Milan, becoming the first team to advance to the final.

Tomorrow is the match between Real Madrid and Manchester City, which has attracted a lot of attention from new Manchester United fans because the winner of the Real Madrid vs. Manchester City game will be Manchester United's opponent in the final.

So why are only new Manchester United fans paying attention to this match?

Because older Manchester United fans are so experienced, their confidence in their team is almost unbelievable.

"What Champions League semi-final? To me, it's more like a toy selection contest for Manchester United!"

Li Laoba made outrageous remarks on Bilibili: "To put it bluntly, whether it's Real Madrid or Manchester City, they'll get thrashed by Manchester United in the final. What's the point? Isn't the semi-final just a selection tournament for Manchester United's toys? There really isn't any team that can beat Manchester United now."

"Do you guys know how to beat Manchester United now?"

Li Laoba pointed at the camera: "If you let Mbappe go to Manchester City to play as a winger, maybe there will still be a chance. Or, if Real Madrid really does what they said, they can just buy Tang Ye. That would indeed solve the problem."

"Brother Ba, do you think Tang Ye might leave Manchester United for Saudi Arabia...?"

"Hiss, that's a problem."

Seeing the comments, Li Laoba's expression turned serious.

"Actually, I started watching Tang Ye's games around 2015. Hey, don't think I'm bragging. By 2015, I already knew Tang Ye pretty well. Yeah, back then he wasn't even playing in the top five leagues yet. I remember the King of Football was pretty lazy when he was young, so I felt there was a pretty high chance he'd retire early in Saudi Arabia and just quit playing altogether."

"The Premier League is no longer being played?"

Feng Xuejuan looked at Li Laoba beside her.

"That's what it means to not understand football."

Li Laoba pointed at Feng Xuejuan, then looked at the camera and said, "What Tang Ye wants now is not more club honors. Haven't you seen the news? Chinese football is in complete chaos right now. What Tang Ye wants is to bring Chinese football back up."

"Then he himself has to persevere for China to rise up, right?" Feng Xuejuan pressed. "He knows he can't do it anymore, you know that, right?"

Li Laoba's expression was serious: "The match against France woke Tang Ye up. No matter how heroic a person is, he can't win the World Cup. After that semi-final, Tang Ye understood everything. Otherwise, why would he spend billions to play that UAG thing?"

"Oh."

Feng Xuejuan nodded thoughtfully.

As expected of my husband, he knows football better than most people!
"Anyway, if UAG goes public, I will definitely buy shares to support it."

"You want to invest in stocks?"

Feng Xuejuan immediately tensed up: "Your brain isn't really suited for stock trading."

"What do you mean by 'my brain'? I'm very smart, okay? I was one of the smartest kids in my class when I was in elementary school."

Li Laoba retorted, "Moreover, in the long run, UAG is bound to succeed. It's not that Chinese football is bound to succeed, but as long as Pop Bond succeeds, then UAG will definitely succeed. I'm optimistic about Pop Bond's development, so I bought UAG and incidentally supported Chinese football. Is that okay?"

The thought process is a bit novel, but overall it works.

Li Gan will become one of the greatest supporters of Chinese football!

……

Match report: Manchester City 3-0, a 4-0 aggregate victory over Real Madrid, will face Manchester United in the Champions League final. UEFA has confirmed that this season's Champions League final will be held in Istanbul.

“Pep”.

After the match, reporters interviewed Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

"You seem to be under a lot of pressure?" the reporter asked.

Guardiola scratched his head and gave a wry smile: "Maybe, I don't know..."

Is it because of Manchester United?

The reporter suddenly felt sympathy for Guardiola.

In fact, this Spanish manager has achieved considerable success at Manchester City, especially his possession-based football philosophy, which has brought Manchester City to a new level.

Unfortunately, I was born at the wrong time!

Guardiola has run into the Manchester United dynasty!
"Some people say that the Champions League knockout stage is just a selection process for Manchester United's toys. What do you think about this?"

The reporter seemed to be holding back laughter, but Guardiola was genuinely amused.

"Haha, I know, well... I know there's some truth to that, because Manchester United is a great club, and they've done a lot that others haven't. But if I had to say something, I believe in my players. That's all I can say."

"Regarding Real Madrid's offer for TY, do you think it's possible that TY might leave the Premier League and transfer to Real Madrid?"

“Well…that’s what I want to see.”

Guardiola smiled wryly: "But I don't think he'll go to Real Madrid. If he does, he might lose a lot of what he has now. Of course, I don't know Tom very well either, so I can't make a proper judgment. That's all."

……

After the interview, the Manchester Evening News listed Manchester United's schedule for the next 10 days and circled two of the matches in red.

On May 25th, Manchester United will face Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

On May 29th, Manchester United will face Manchester City in the Champions League final.

Goodness, the two finals are practically tied together.

Judging from the team's preparation, Manchester City, with fewer injured players, may have the advantage.

However, if we look at the raw strength of the starting lineups, Manchester United has the edge.

With two consecutive Manchester derbies, it's worth discussing whether Manchester United is willing to concede one of the titles to their long-time city rivals.

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand: Based on my understanding of Ten Hag, Manchester United will not give Manchester City any chance. Even if we don't give up the FA Cup, we have enough energy to compete for the Champions League title. This season will be a sextuple season.

On May 24, the day before the FA Cup final, major European media outlets were vying to report on the Manchester United vs. Manchester City match.

As the only newspaper to send a reporter to China, The Sun was able to secure exclusive access to breaking news.

On May 24th, The Sun published a news article!

According to information obtained by The Sun team, after signing a cooperation agreement with Shandong Taishan Football Club, the United Youth Training Company contacted three more teams in Zhejiang, Chengdu Rongcheng, and Henan, and plans to establish cooperative relationships with at least five Chinese Super League teams before the summer of this year.

To convince clubs not to worry about pressure from the Football Association, UAG promised many benefits, such as completely free agent assistance.

In addition, negotiations between UAG and Evergrande Football School are at a critical stage. If banks are willing to provide sufficient loans, experts believe that UAG has a high probability of acquiring Evergrande Football School as its first base.

The Sun: UAG has already posted job advertisements on various platforms. They will be recruiting a large number of scouts, lawyers, and football coaches from various countries (50% from China, 40% from Europe, and 10% from South America). The company will work with the Architectural Research Center of Peking University to renovate the infrastructure of the acquired Evergrande Football School, and will hire a large number of teachers and students for design work. The job posting reads: "United, we can win."

"This will be a massive project. TY hopes to build an unprecedented football training base in China."

"TY's former national team teammate Zheng Zhi may become one of the initial coaches. In addition, there may be more retired Chinese national team players included in the coaching plan. However, the newspaper has not yet started to investigate the relevant situation because some of the reporters sent abroad have reached the visa limit and need to return to China to rest before re-entering the country."

Stay tuned to The Sun for the latest news on The Super Golden Age of Football in China!

……

(End of this chapter)