The Godfather of Football

With the development of tourism in the Canary Islands in recent years, these small islands far away from the European continent and geographically closer to Africa have become a holiday paradise for countless Europeans, especially in winter every year, when countless people go to the Canary Islands to avoid the cold, and tourism income has become an important source of income for these islands.

Las Palmas is the capital of the Canary Islands and also the most populous city in the Canary Islands.

However, relatively speaking, Tenerife will undoubtedly be more well-known, because the Spanish Second Division professional team Tenerife here has created a great feat that countless people feel unattainable.

That is, they once defeated Real Madrid in the last round of two consecutive La Liga seasons. At that time, the team's head coach was Valdano, who later became the general manager of Real Madrid, and the team's main core was Redondo, who is still missed and talked about by countless fans. It was those two games that made Tenerife famous, because the two rounds of the league gave the Barcelona Dream Team led by Cruyff at the time two consecutive La Liga championship trophies.

Mendoza, the president of Real Madrid at that time, was furious. He took the attitude of "I can't beat you, so I will poach you" and directly poached Valdano and Redondo, which led to Real Madrid's feat of defeating Barcelona 5:0 and successfully winning the championship.

In Europe, countless places have become famous because of the football of a team, attracting countless fans.

Compared with Tenerife, Las Palmas is not very famous, but this largest island in the Canary Islands is not a joke, especially in the south of the island, there is a place called Arguineguin, which is a small fishing village at the southern end of the big island, but it has produced two top midfielders in La Liga in a row.

One is David Silva, who is currently playing for Valencia, and the other is Juan Valeron, who plays for Deportivo La Coruna and has the title of Spanish Zidane.

Perhaps many fans may not know this La Liga great. He was the main core of the invincible Super Laco at the beginning of the century. Whether it was his ability with the ball or running without the ball, he was the best. Many fans could not forget him because his style of play was very elegant and his body was weak, but he was able to perform very well on the court.

His overall view, game awareness, game reading ability, and even his ability with the ball were not inferior to Zidane at all, but if we have to say where he lost to Zidane, it was his body. The gap between the two in physical fitness and strength confrontation was still very large, which greatly limited Belleron's achievements.

Even in Ye Qiu's previous life, when Barcelona was at its peak, many people called Xavi a midfield master, but the definition of Xavi in ​​the Spanish professional circle was a constructor, while Belleron was called a dream maker. From this point, it is not difficult to see the Spaniards' regret and affirmation for this midfield genius who unfortunately failed to reach a high level.

David Silva did not reach the height of Belleron, but he has an advantage that Belleron does not have, that is, he has achieved a very clever balance in modern tactical systems, ball ability and off-ball ability, while Belleron's adaptability to modern tactics is obviously not strong, and his style is more inclined to be simple.

Therefore, judging from the current trend of professional football, David Silva is more in line with modern football, while Belleron belongs to the football of the previous generation, and in fact, he is indeed not young.

Ye Qiu arrived in Las Palmas, Canary Islands with his wife and two children, as well as Eliza Moon.

He took two steps, one was to let Peter Kenyon contact Valencia directly, and the other was to contact David Silva himself, expressing his desire to meet him, and also arranged a meeting place, which was in Las Palmas, in the hotel where they stayed.

As David Silva's father and agent, Fernando Jimenez welcomed Ye Qiu's arrival and said that he would personally take his son to the airport to pick him up and planned to have an in-depth conversation with Ye Qiu.

Just kidding, Ye Qiu is not only a well-known figure in the world, but also the chairman and head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, the hottest team before this summer's European Cup. They just completed a big reversal in the Champions League. If such a team is really interested in David Silva, how could they refuse?

"Valencia is getting worse and worse!" Fernando Jimenez said with a sigh at the Gran Canaria Airport.

Although the tourism industry in the Canary Islands is very developed, there is only one airport with two runways, that is, Gran Canaria Airport, located in a place called Carrizal in the south of Las Palmas, close to the east coast of the island.

Hearing his father's words, David Silva was somewhat emotional. After all, he had been in Valencia for eight years. He left the Canary Islands when he was fourteen years old. At that time, his father took him to the Real Madrid training camp for selection.

Like most children in the Canary Islands, David Silva is also a loyal fan of Real Madrid. Real Madrid is the most popular team in these small islands, but David Silva's dream of Real Madrid was soon shattered. He was rejected by Real Madrid because he was too thin.

Later, he moved to Valencia and stayed there for eight years. He also grew up quickly and was selected for the Spanish national team, becoming an important member of the national team, but Valencia has lost its glory at the beginning of the century.

As an important member of the Valencia team, David Silva is of course aware of the current internal situation of the team. Almost everyone is thinking about leaving the team because they have completely lost hope in the team, but no one is willing to leave after falling out with the team, so everyone is keeping a low profile and waiting.

The two most popular players in the team are David Villa and David Silva, who are also the main players of the national team.

In the past year, Valencia has experienced four head coaches, Flores, Koeman, Osk and Boro. Now it has reappointed Emery, the head coach of Almeria this season, as the head coach of the team next season, hoping to restore the momentum of the Bat Corps.

But the 10th place in La Liga this season has completely dissuaded the slightly ambitious players in the team, especially David Villa and David Silva, who are capable of leaving the team. The only difference is who is willing to persuade the Valencia management for them.

"Tottenham Hotspur is a strong team in the Premier League, a new Champions League champion, and a strong contender for the Premier League title. The head coach Ye Qiu is a world-famous coach and the chairman of the team. He is willing to come to the Canary Islands in person, which has shown his sincerity."

Father Fernando Jimenez looked at his son. He felt that David Silva was good in everything and had a good temper, but he didn't like to talk, or was not good at talking, and sometimes even looked dull.

This is also the reason why his father frequently stood up for him. He couldn't watch others fight for their interests while his son suffered in vain, so he became his son's agent.

"I heard Fabregas talk about Tottenham Hotspur!" David Silva listened to his father's nagging for a long time before he spoke once. He and Fabregas were teammates in the national team and had a good relationship. Occasionally, they would talk about Tottenham Hotspur and Ye Qiu.

"Really?" Fernando Jimenez was a little happy to hear that. "What did he say?"

David Silva clearly felt the expectation in his father's eyes, smiled slightly, and even looked a little shy at first glance. "He said Ye Qiu is a top coach, Tottenham Hotspur is actually very strong, there are many very good players in the team, the competition pressure is very high, but it is a place that can improve and inspire the strength and potential of the players."

"That's good!" Fernando Jimenez was a little relieved after hearing that.

"David, put aside your thoughts about Real Madrid for now. You are only 22 years old. The most important thing for you is to hone your skills and improve your strength. Tottenham Hotspur will be a good platform, and there are the best head coaches there. As long as you can play to your strength, are you afraid that you will not have the opportunity to return to Real Madrid?"

Listening to his father's earnest persuasion, David Silva nodded, "I understand, Dad!"

"I know you can't speak. Anyway, when I meet Ye Qiu later, I will tell him that I will say good and bad things. Don't worry, I will not cooperate with them to put pressure on Valencia, nor will I offend Valencia. I will only tell them that we do not rule out joining Tottenham Hotspur, but they must deal with Valencia themselves."

David Silva knew that his father understood his thoughts very well. After listening, he nodded heavily and smiled. He was a little worried that his father would cooperate with Ye Qiu to let him put pressure on Valencia.

Offending the club for the sake of transfer is not David Silva's style.

Tottenham Hotspur was the first team to directly contact David Silva and Valencia. Although Barcelona had expressed interest in David Silva before them, the La Liga giants never made a move, and joining Barcelona was equivalent to cutting off the hope of joining Real Madrid, so David Silva was always a little resistant to Barcelona.

There is another consideration. Barcelona currently has many good midfielders in the team. Xavi and Iniesta occupy two important positions in the midfield. There are Eto'o and Henry in front. Although Ronaldinho left, Hleb was introduced. In addition, several young stars such as Pedro and Dos Santos from local youth training made the internal competition of the team very fierce.

Relatively speaking, Tottenham Hotspur is more sincere. Ye Qiu's personal visit proved Tottenham Hotspur's sincerity.

When Ye Qiu arrived in the Canary Islands, David Silva and his son personally went to the airport to pick him up.

After the group returned to the hotel, Eliza Moon accompanied Huang Chu and took the two children to play around, while Ye Qiu started a conversation with David Silva and his son, which was the most important purpose of his trip.

Ye Qiu explained to David Silva his views on him and his analysis of his technical characteristics, as well as his future position in the Tottenham Hotspur team. He hoped that David Silva could continue to play in the middle of the midfield, but relatively speaking, he would take a backward position to participate in the attack, play his advantages in connecting and advancing with the ball, and also form a dual core with Fabregas.

David Silva plus Fabregas, at first glance, does it feel a bit like Iniesta plus Xavi?

But Fabregas is not Xavi. Fabregas is more forward than Xavi, more like a front midfielder, especially since he used to be a forward and won the top scorer in the World Youth Championship. His scoring ability is very strong. In the most recent season at Tottenham Hotspur, he also played a very high scoring efficiency.

Xavi is more like a central midfielder. His real threat is not near the penalty area or the front of the penalty area, but the second-to-last pass. In addition, his scoring ability and offensive ability after the back are not strong, which means that his position must be behind Fabregas.

Because of this, Ye Qiu needs to continue to observe. Once the midfield is configured with David Silva and Fabregas, Mascherano, as an important defensive role in the midfield, must also change his duties, and his range of activities should be appropriately expanded.

In the past, the most reasonable configuration was Beckham, Fabregas and Mascherano. Beckham's range of activities was very large, so Mascherano's coverage would be relatively small. But now David Silva will also participate in defense, but his range of activities is definitely not as large as Beckham, so the coverage area of ​​the back midfielder must be relatively expanded.

However, from the overall point of view, if the midfield configuration of David Silva, Fabregas and Mascherano is really combined, Tottenham's midfield control ability, ball control ability, and offensive ability will be greatly improved, and the real midfield iron triangle will be formed.

With this set of midfielders, plus the offensive configuration of Van Persie, Ribery and Messi in the frontcourt, Tottenham's midfield and frontcourt offensive ability will have a more obvious improvement and improvement than last season.

By the way, Ribery's injury is not serious and will not affect his European Cup. When Ye Qiu talked to Domenech about this on the phone, the French head coach also said that he would be careful, but also hoped that Ye Qiu could understand his work. Ye Qiu also gave understanding.

Every head coach has his own pressure. Domenech usually does not have major competitions. The key depends on the performance of the European Cup and the World Cup, so it is understandable that he attaches importance to the European Cup.

While Ye Qiu stayed in the Canary Islands, on vacation, while keeping in touch with David Silva and establishing a good personal friendship, Peter Kenyon was also in contact and negotiating with Valencia.

When Valencia responded to Tottenham's inquiry, it did not hide the idea that the club would consider selling players to fill the financial difficulties, but they also said that it was impossible to take the opportunity to get David Silva at a low price, and the Bats intended to pull Barcelona to put pressure on Tottenham.

This is a bit suspicious of raising the price, but it is also a normal way to sell players. However, what Barcelona wants most at present is Chelsea midfielder Deco and to handle Ronaldinho's transfer. Moreover, they offer David Silva 20 million euros, but it must be paid in installments, of which 5 million euros are floating costs in the future.

Valencia obviously does not agree with Barcelona's offer, because it is equivalent to selling the player for only 15 million euros. On the contrary, Tottenham Hotspur is more sincere, 20 million euros, cash, no discount, but there are no subsequent terms, it is a buyout price directly.

Valencia hopes to keep David Silva at a higher price, but Tottenham Hotspur is unwilling to increase the price, so the two sides are in a stalemate, both testing each other's patience.

At this time, Tottenham Hotspur deliberately used the media to spread the news that the team wanted to get Werder Bremen's Brazilian midfielder Diego, and revealed through German newspapers that Tottenham Hotspur had made an offer of 20 million euros to Werder Bremen, and Werder Bremen was also seriously considering Tottenham Hotspur's offer.

This is a pressure tactic commonly used by buyers. After all, sellers know how to put pressure on buyers, and buyers will not be too passive.

The two parties in the transaction must be the buyer who wants a cheaper price and the seller who wants a higher price, each speaking with their own means.

While negotiating with Valencia, Tottenham Hotspur also quietly completed the transfer of Mike Dawson, who went directly to Fulham, and the transfer fee reached 2.5 million euros, which can be regarded as a recognition of Mike Dawson's strength. The latter has played for the team many times in the past two seasons and his performance is also acceptable.

Of course, it is very important that Fulham is in urgent need of a central defender, and Mike Dawson is also a famous local central defender, so the price is not too high.

While Tottenham Hotspur sold Mike Dawson and was rumored to be signing David Silva, Manchester United and Chelsea have adopted a policy of only buying and not selling this season, tightening their money supply. However, Manchester United's top star Cristiano Ronaldo has become a hot commodity in the transfer market.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Tottenham Hotspur's Ribery are undoubtedly the two hottest stars in the summer transfer market. There are many teams eyeing these two players, the most popular of which are Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​but everyone is waiting for their performance in the European Cup.

Arsenal did make several deals in succession, bringing in Nasri from Marseille and Silvestre from Manchester United, while selling Hleb to Barcelona. Gilberto Silva and Lehmann were both sold by Wenger, and Flamini went to AC Milan. Senderos was also reported to be loaned out. It seems that Arsenal is going to make some changes this summer.

Relatively speaking, Liverpool's movement is not very big. Benitez is now looking at players who are powerful but not very famous. The biggest name among them is David Silva, but he doesn't want to go to Liverpool, so there is nothing he can do!

But Liverpool is obviously also planning to reorganize the team's lineup. Benitez's cleaning list even includes players such as Crouch, Riise, Finnan, Kewell, Voronin, etc.

Ye Qiu is not surprised by this situation. After all, Liverpool cannot play in the Champions League in the new season, so they must reduce the team's expenses. Cleaning the lineup is a normal thing.

But just as time entered the end of May, with the start of the Spanish national team training camp, David Silva left the Canary Islands, and Ye Qiu also left the island with his family and Eliza and went to Silicon Valley in the United States. But at this time, a piece of explosive news came that was enough to detonate the European football world.