Chapter 710: Old Man Li's Rickshaw Boy Theory Requires Concessions

July 27th.

With less than twenty days remaining until the start of the new Premier League season, the Manchester United players departed for the United States to prepare for their final pre-season friendly match.

Their opponent was Napoli from the Serie A league.

Like the two matches during their tour of China, Manchester United's games in the United States remained commercial in nature.

However, considering the opponent was Napoli, also from one of the top five leagues, some fans believed the match against Napoli constituted Manchester United's true warm-up, serving as their preparation for the new Premier League season.

From this perspective, the match between Manchester United and Napoli held considerable appeal, as both sides hoped to use a high-level game to test their condition before the season began.

The Daily Mail: The friendly between Manchester United and Napoli may have special arrangements; Ten Hag hopes to use it to assess Osimhen's capabilities.

In order to buy a suitable striker, everyone at Manchester United, from the management to the coaching staff and even the fans, was utterly overwhelmed.

The reason was quite simple.

Manchester United's starting lineup was absurdly strong, and all-around strikers were a scarce commodity in today's football world; strikers capable of fitting into Manchester United's starting lineup were even rarer.

Currently, there were only three strikers with one hundred percent capability to match the intensity of Manchester United's squad: Kane, Lewandowski, and Haaland.

These three players were indispensable roles for their respective clubs; acquiring Kane or Lewandowski was practically impossible.

As for Haaland...

Compared to Tottenham and Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund was more likely to be willing to let him go, because a transfer fee exceeding one hundred million euros was already exorbitant for Dortmund.

However, this presented another problem.

According to media reports, Haaland's father, a former Leeds United player, had a significant conflict with Manchester United around the year 2000; a violent foul by Manchester United captain Roy Keane left Haaland's father bedridden with injuries.

Because of this incident, one could not determine what the Haaland family's attitude toward Manchester United was.

Haaland was already an adult; shouldn't he make his own decision?

Thinking this way was clearly inappropriate, because past experience showed that family, and even club, grudges often became hidden variables in transfers.

Boom!

Manchester United's chartered plane landed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.

"The aircraft is taxiing on the runway; please do not unfasten your seatbelts or attempt to open the window shades during taxiing."

Hearing the flight attendant's words, Tang Ye unfastened his seatbelt, clasped his hands behind his head, and waited for the plane to taxi slowly.

At this moment, Rodri felt somewhat surprised, as this was the first time he had encountered a situation where opening the window shades was prohibited.

"This airport is dual-use for military and civil aviation; there are both civilian planes and fighter jets."

Expert Tom offered an explanation: "The airport back in my hometown is also dual-use for military and civil aviation; before every takeoff, you can't see anything because they might have parked fighter jets or something; they just don't allow photography."

Wow!

Taking a deep breath, Tang Ye's words sparked Dembélé's interest: "Can we see the fighter jets?"

Glancing out of the corner of his eye at the flight attendant at the front, Tang Ye leaned down and secretly pulled up the window shade.

He took a quick look, then covered it back up.

"How was it?"

"Were there any fighter jets?"

Dembélé leaned over.

"Nothing at all."

Tang Ye expressed some disappointment: "This airport is too huge; it's full of planes. We should have looked before landing; we should have been able to see them before landing."

"That's a pity."

Dembélé shook his head: "Actually, Tom, I feel you should join the military."

"Hmm, why?"

"You should put your abilities to use; flying fighter jets would be the best way to utilize your capabilities. Hmm, you know, once you become a fighter pilot, remember to invite me for a ride on your plane."

He clenched his fist and punched Tang Ye lightly on the body: "You guys in China have particularly awesome fighter jets, although I don't know what they're called."

"Him flying a fighter jet? Oh, come on!"

Rodri spread his hands, clearly disapproving of Dembélé's suggestion: "You riding in Tom's fighter jet? Fuck! What would you do if he landed on the enemy's aircraft carrier deck by mistake?"

"Hey!"

Tang Ye pushed Rodri: "Stop being unable to move past that incident! I only passed the ball to Osman because of a mistake."

Tang Ye flying a fighter jet and landing on the wrong aircraft carrier; of course he knew why Rodri said that!

The own-goal collaboration between Master Tom and Osman had already become a subject of mockery among online fans, and even players within the Manchester United team kept bringing up this incident.

Whenever Tang Ye and Dembélé did anything, Rodri, De Jong, and De Ligt would inevitably bring up the own-goal incident.

Even though these three guys had also made mistakes in matches themselves.

"Let me take another look."

After the plane had taxied for half a minute, Tang Ye secretly pulled up the window shade again and saw transport planes lining up, preparing for takeoff.

"I recall the US military being quite generous; last time I came here, we didn't even have to close the window shades."

Dembélé told Tang Ye about his own experience.

"Could it be that there's something inside that transport plane?"

"..."

Dembélé's words prompted Tang Ye to think.

"Hmm... maybe it's something from the Umbrella Corporation; they want to turn people into zombies."

"Haha!"

Repost: Manchester United players have arrived in Charlotte, USA, and will play their third pre-season friendly of this season against Napoli on August 2nd.

There was still some time before the friendly match between Manchester United and Napoli; at this moment, the only news was that the Manchester United players had just arrived at the airport, with everything else being uniform transfer rumors.

In recent seasons, the Premier League's transfer window has been quite special, meaning its duration is relatively long.

However, a long duration does not mean Premier League teams can therefore slack off; Manchester United needs to finalize their striker choice within one month.

Otherwise, Ten Hag might really have to let B. Fernandes play as a striker!

Just as fans were closely following C. Ronaldo and Kane on social media, the famous football pundit Li Li Laoba released his latest video on Bilibili.

The video was extremely popular, reaching 800,000 views in just two hours, a truly exaggerated achievement for the football section of Bilibili.

"Burp~"

"Actually, don't just look at the Chinese national team's current high total market value, or the fact that their starting lineup's value is invincible in Asia; the problems the Chinese national team faces right now are huge, and some people haven't realized it yet."

"Hey, let me state beforehand: personally, I don't really watch the Chinese Super League, and I don't even recognize all the players within the national team."

When discussing matters related to the national team, Li Li Laoba habitually covered his own back: "Also, I am not some spy sent by Japan or South Korea; as a Chinese person, I naturally hope the Chinese team does well."

"But the problems the Chinese national team faces right now are extremely serious, so serious that they can no longer be solved by just Tang Ye and Escrivá alone."

"Do you know why I say this?"

Li Li Laoba narrowed his eyes, revealing a strange smile, then gestured for his wife to bring him a plate of watermelon.