Chapter 284
# 2018/2019 Premier League.
At the beginning of the 2018/2019 season, Manchester United struggled to adapt to Jürgen Klopp’s tactics, but as time passed, the players began to gel with the strategies, becoming stronger and stronger.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimović, and Sadio Mané attacked like crazy, trying to score at least one more goal than each other.
The midfield trio of Son Jinho, İlkay Gündoğan, and Rodri literally dominated the Premier League midfield and gained advantage for the team.
The defense, anchored by Virgil van Dijk, showcased a fortress-like performance, while David De Gea achieved the record for the most clean sheets in a single Premier League season.
Although Manchester United faced a slew of injuries in the latter part of the season and got knocked out in the Champions League semifinals.
[Manchester United falls to devastating injuries and ultimately… out of the Champions League semifinals.]
└ Ha. Seriously, there were too many injuries.
└ Yeah lol, managing injuries is skill too.
└ Before Son Jinho got injured, our performance was decent, dammit;;
└ For real, my brother’s injury was the biggest blow.
└ Just Son Jinho <<< this guy is Manchester United's core.
They succeeded in reclaiming the league title from Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.
[Manchester United stops Manchester City's three-year league title streak.]
└ Ah lol, if we can’t achieve a three-peat in the Champions League, you guys can’t do a three-peat in the league either lol.
# Ronaldo and Preseason.
Before the fever of the league title celebration parade even cooled down, Cristiano Ronaldo boldly demanded a contract renewal at the clubhouse.
He requested a pay rise along with a long-term contract of four years, but.
The Manchester United board expressed concerns about his aging curve and instead offered a two-year short-term contract with a pay cut.
The club and Ronaldo couldn’t bridge their differences, resulting in a stalled negotiation.
[Cristiano Ronaldo criticizes his club. “Manchester United is not a team that treats legends well.”]
Once negotiations fell through, Ronaldo attempted to play the public relations game, claiming the club was not treating him fairly.
[Anonymous Manchester United board member: “Ronaldo's greed is excessive...”]
The club criticized Ronaldo for being overly greedy.
The conflict between the club and Ronaldo only got resolved after club owner Son Jinho and Manchester United ambassador Alex Ferguson stepped in, barely returning them to the negotiation table.
‘Hoo…’
Son Jinho sighed quietly at the negotiation table.
For a club owner, legendary players in the team are like a double-edged sword.
If they renew a contract and the performance tanks, fans will scream about why they renewed it, and if they release them, they’ll complain about the poor treatment of legends.
‘Well. Still, Ronaldo has been performing quite well until 37. A four-year renewal should be alright.’
Manchester United accepted Cristiano Ronaldo's terms, adding a clause that he would actively participate in club events.
Cristiano Ronaldo readily accepted the club's renewal terms.
[Manchester United decides on a Northeast Asia tour….]
After renewing Ronaldo's contract, Manchester United decided on a Northeast Asia tour to recoup the renewal costs.
[‘Rumored Reckless Challenge Fan’ Son Jinho, ‘Reckless Challenge.’ Is he reviving after a year coinciding with Son Jinho's visit?]
They actively promoted the preseason tour through their Northeast Asia SNS accounts.
The schedule for Manchester United's tour was planned to be tougher than usual.
This was because club owner Son Jinho realized that if COVID-19 hit again soon, the club's revenue would crash.
[Manchester United players visit Korea.]
Manchester United players had to endure a tougher preseason schedule than usual.
“Son Jinho, please sub me, I’m dying here.”
“Chris, 'no-show' isn’t in my vocabulary.”
Cristiano Ronaldo, trapped by the tyrannical Son Jinho, had to play full-time matches and attend various events and entertainment programs throughout the preseason in Korea, China, and Japan.
“Why does Son Jinho's pepper look particularly heavy?”
“Because it’s water weight.”
“…Son Jinho suddenly started feeling dizzy.”
“It’s fine. You won’t die.”
# New Trafford Completion.
On August 12, 2019.
Just before the Premier League opening match, the renovation of the club that started with Manchester United's acquisition finally came to an end.
The ceremony to celebrate the completion was attended by local citizens and the mayor of Manchester.
During the renovations, various options were added, leading to significant additional costs.
[Manchester United, ‘1.1 trillion won’ New Trafford completed.... “The world’s best stadium.”]
[Manchester United owner Son Jinho expresses pride in the stadium. “New Trafford isn’t just a football stadium; it’s a landmark representing Manchester.”]
The grand stadium, accommodating up to 100,000 spectators, brought immense satisfaction.
[Son Jinho, “From now on, New Trafford will be known as Jinho Son Trafford.”]
Son Jinho tried to engrave his name on the completed New Trafford, intending to call it Jinho Son Trafford.
But,
[Red Devils oppose the new stadium name. “It’s a violation of Manchester United’s tradition.”]
He had to step back due to the fierce backlash from the fans.
[Dortmund fans comfort Son Jinho. “That name, we'll use it later!”]
# Owner Son Jinho.
Owner Son Jinho's daily life was extremely busy.
Most tasks, including signings and releases, were handled by subordinates, but he had one critical task left.
That was the personal asset growth of the club owner.
For soccer fans, a great club owner was one who generously poured personal funds into the club.
In other words, to be a good owner, the personal assets of the owner needed to be substantial.
It would be nice if some oil struck, allowing his assets to grow effortlessly, but unfortunately, Son Jinho was not a Middle Eastern prince.
He had no choice but to work hard to earn every penny.
“Long time no see. How have you been?”
“Oh, I’ve been well. Always keeping an eye on the matches.”
Meeting his wealth manager after a long time, Son Jinho organized his investment portfolio and decided on investment directions.
“Tesla, Bitcoin, Nvidia, let’s go.”
The wealth manager said he should also invest in safe assets like gold and bonds, but Son Jinho didn’t listen.
“Going to Mars, let’s go.”
Time passed, and around the start of 2020.
News broke out about a pandemic starting in China.
Son Jinho immediately stopped buying stocks and shorted the market worldwide.
Then in March 2020.
The world economy plunged into hell.
# COVID-19
The coronavirus that started in Wuhan, China quickly spread worldwide.
In March 2020, the Premier League was suspended due to COVID-19 and resumed in June.
Despite hate crimes against Asians due to the pandemic, Manchester was largely spared.
This was because most citizens that made up the city of Manchester were fans of United.
Anyway, the year 2020, which terrified the whole world, ended, and 2021 began.
COVID-19 was still rampant, but people slowly began to regain their daily lives.
Then in August 2021.
Once again, shocking news hit global football fans.
[Lionel Messi unable to renew his contract with FC Barcelona.]
Due to salary cap issues, FC Barcelona failed to renew Lionel Messi's contract.
[What is the salary cap preventing Messi’s renewal?]
└ What’s a salary cap?
└ It means clubs can only spend as much as they earn.
└ I see.
FC Barcelona, due to Bartomeu's reckless management of club funds, was already in financial ruins when the pandemic struck further ruining club revenue.
FC Barcelona couldn’t resolve the reduced salary cap, leading to their failure in renewing Lionel Messi's contract.
In any case, with Lionel Messi now available on the transfer market.
Among the few clubs still able to pay Messi’s salary amidst the financial tremor caused by COVID, Manchester United, who had amassed astronomical profits, was one of them.
The club most likely to sign Messi, consisting entirely of staff from FC Barcelona, Manchester City was now busy with the signings of Jack Grealish and Harry Kane after failing to secure Messi's transfer last April.
Lionel Messi's options narrowed down to PSG and Manchester United.
- Ho-woo: This letter starts in England, and if you've read this but you still don’t choose Manchester United as your next destination, you won't lift the World Cup in this life.... [more.]
Through relentless persuasion by Son Jinho, the ultimate victor of the Lionel Messi transfer saga turned out to be Manchester United.
[Manchester United forms the strongest attacking line in history.]
And a few days later.
The opening match at Old Trafford was also Lionel Messi's debut.
[Manchester United crushes Tottenham 6-0 at home.]
└ Why does Shin-doo look so creepy, it’s kind of perverted.
└ Shin-doo laughing is heaven lolololol.
With Messi and Son Jinho dishing out killer passes like it’s their everyday meal, wouldn’t that be great?
└ For real lol, even I would go crazy.
[Lionel Messi 1 goal 2 assists, Son Jinho 1 goal 2 assists, Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick.]
With Lionel Messi joining, Manchester United’s attacking line, boasting a total of 12 Ballon d'Ors, bombarded the Premier League.