On September 3, Beijing time (CEST), Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee published an article in The Athletic, revealing the behind-the-scenes story of Manchester City's summer transfer window.

According to reports, Manchester City's acquisition of Enzo was once threatened to fall through because Chelsea demanded a fixed transfer fee of £135 million, while Manchester City's initial offer was £104 million plus add-ons. Manchester City was at one point ready to walk away, but ultimately agreed to pay £125 million on Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday morning, Enzo's family planned to travel from London to Manchester, but at that time they still did not know whether the player had received permission from Chelsea to leave. After difficult negotiations, Manchester City finally agreed to pay the reduced asking price of £135 million before the transfer window closed.

Although Chelsea had previously publicly stated that they informed Enzo's agent in May that his transfer fee this summer could reach £120 million, and Chelsea had also publicly set a final offer deadline of 5 p.m. on August 14, Manchester City appeared not to take it seriously.

After the deadline passed, Chelsea demanded an even higher transfer fee, giving the impression that Manchester City was waiting until the transfer window closed to make a move, but ultimately only paid an additional £5 million.

In any case, Enzo was Manchester City's target from the start, with related reports in April of this year, when Guardiola's future was still uncertain. Privately, Manchester City knew around a month ago that Guardiola would leave and planned to replace him with Maresca.

Before the season ended, Manchester City had decided to make Enzo a primary target because they knew Rodri might leave. During the Asian pre-season tour, Maresca emphasized that he did not specifically request that Manchester City sign certain Chelsea players, but he also did not rule out the possibility of players joining from Stamford Bridge.

Gusto was once considered an ideal candidate for right-back, but Manchester City was unwilling to pay Chelsea's asking price of £80 million. They also thoroughly investigated Pedro Neto, believing he met many requirements for a winger, but they were unwilling to meet Chelsea's asking price to recruit him.

But facilitating Enzo's transfer was always part of Manchester City's plan. He and Maresca developed a very close relationship during their time at Chelsea, often having lengthy discussions about football. When Maresca left Stamford Bridge in January of this year, Enzo expressed his dissatisfaction and was very keen to play for Maresca again.

An insider revealed that Chelsea had asked Manchester City to cancel Bouadi's signing so he could replace Enzo at Chelsea, and proposed a swap deal involving Gusto with Nico O'Reilly, without Manchester City paying the full transfer fee requested.

However, Chelsea denies ever requesting that Manchester City cancel Bouadi's signing and states that Gusto was never placed on the transfer market. Maresca greatly values Gusto's personality, his energy, his understanding of the tactical plan, and his ability to change the game through important contributions.

A source close to Maresca said that as a newly appointed head coach, he has significant input on transfers, which is one of his advantages, and he has worked closely with sporting director Hugo Viana throughout the summer.

This summer, Manchester City identified several key positions that needed strengthening: right-back, central midfield, and right winger. However, due to the anticipated departures of many players, other areas also needed adjustment.

With players who were out of favor last season wanting to leave, Manchester City knew they would face one of their busiest transfer windows in years this summer. But by late July, when the pre-season tour began in Hong Kong, some key staff not directly involved in the recruitment process wondered when everything would really start to move.

Some people at the club had hoped new recruits would fly to Asia and join the team during the tour, but they soon realized this would not be possible, and even player departures appeared to be temporarily delayed.

Kovacic revealed in Hong Kong that he would respect the final year of his contract, and Nico Gonzalez also told reporters in South Korea that he was fully intent on staying. At that time, plans to recruit a right-back had been put on hold due to failure to find a suitable candidate.

Bouadi, who performed brilliantly for Morocco at the World Cup, was identified as a transfer target well before the World Cup began. Manchester City and Lille negotiated his transfer throughout the summer. Lille was unwilling to sell him, and their president, Letang, is known as a tough negotiator.

Manchester City recovered payments previously made for several players, who in many cases had joined in the last two years with the aim of helping the team with much-needed rebuilding, but these players had not performed as expected.

A large-scale exodus of players left the team severely short-staffed before the start of the season, and the clubs selling players also realized they needed reinforcements and had abundant funds.

Manchester City initially intended to fill all the positions left by departing players, but ultimately believed Nico O'Reilly was a suitable replacement for Gonzalez in midfield, since they already had players like Gvardiol and Aït-Nouri on the left flank.

Despite a disappointing first season at Manchester City, Aït-Nouri decided to stay and see how he would perform under Maresca. However, he did not receive playing time in Friday night's match against Crystal Palace.

It was later reported that Manchester United had inquired about a loan deal for him. Manchester United stated that Aït-Nouri's agent proposed the idea, but Manchester United was unwilling to accept Manchester City's insistence on a mandatory purchase option.

As for the winger position, a source familiar with the recruitment process said in mid-summer that there were no suitable top players on the market, but with the departures of Savio and Marmoush, Manchester City needed to strengthen their attack, which meant a solution had to be found.

Palmeiras' 22-year-old winger Allan quickly became one of Manchester City's hoped-for solutions, but his unremarkable goal and assist statistics concerned fans and raised questions about the wisdom of Manchester City's transfer strategy.

Nevertheless, Manchester City still believes they have found a player with excellent dribbling skills and resilient defending, and they are confident he can elevate his game to a new level.

Diterjemahkan oleh AI.

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