After winning the FA Cup, Manchester City began full preparations for the Champions League final.
Three days later, in the 37th round of the Premier League, Manchester City played away against Newcastle.
Yaya Touré scored twice, helping the team secure a 2-0 victory over the Magpies.
…
This weekend marked the decisive 38th and final round of the Premier League.
Heading into the final matches, both the battle for the top four and the relegation fight remained full of suspense.
Arsenal, Tottenham, and Newcastle all had a shot at finishing in the top four. At the same time, Queens Park Rangers, Aston Villa, and Bolton were still fighting to avoid relegation, making the final round intensely dramatic.
In a media interview, Gao Shen made it clear that the team would not alter its strategy and would continue to rotate the squad.
The starting lineup was focused entirely on preparing for the Champions League final on May 19.
Manchester City's final league opponent was Queens Park Rangers.
Thanks to Van Persie's hat-trick, along with goals from Sturridge, Jérôme Boateng, Hazard, and substitute Giroud, Manchester City crushed QPR 7-0 at home.
Mark Hughes' side launched a frenzied counterattack after conceding the first goal, but this only gave Manchester City more chances. City ruthlessly capitalized and completely dismantled QPR.
According to Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray, "Gao Shen clearly wants to push Mark Hughes into the relegation zone!"
Unfortunately, Bolton just weren't up to the task.
Before this round, Bolton were 18th, two points behind QPR.
In their away match against Stoke City, Bolton conceded in the first half but quickly scored two goals to turn the game around. It should have been a promising situation.
But who could have predicted they'd concede again in the second half?
In the end, they drew 2-2 with Stoke.
QPR were overjoyed.
Everyone had thought they were destined to go down, but no one expected Bolton to be that useless.
What else could be said?
Gao Shen was truly speechless.
As Ferguson once joked, he was beginning to wonder if he had overestimated how hard it is to get relegated in the Premier League.
Bolton absolutely deserved to go down. They were appalling when it mattered most.
The other two relegated teams were Wolves and Blackburn Rovers.
As for the top-four race, Arsenal and Tottenham had the last laugh.
Both London clubs held their nerve at the crucial moment. Arsenal in particular managed to return to the Champions League. Wenger's old face really lit up like a blooming chrysanthemum.
Liverpool and Chelsea, meanwhile, suffered serious setbacks this season. Managerial changes and team overhauls are already on the summer agenda.
The Reds have even made a bold announcement: they plan to invest £150 million this summer.
Having missed out on the top four, both Liverpool and Chelsea are facing heavy losses. It's urgent that they rebuild, strengthen their squads, and return to Champions League contention.
At the same time, Arsenal and Tottenham are bracing themselves to defend their top-four spots.
This fierce and thrilling battle is expected to carry into the summer transfer market.
…
With the Premier League season concluded, the Championship has also wrapped up.
The result came as a bit of a surprise to Gao Shen.
Actually, the regular season in the Championship had already ended on April 28, followed by the promotion play-offs.
Leeds United, coached by Sarri, won the league title with a dominant lead and finally returned to the Premier League after an eight-year absence.
The night Leeds secured the title saw wild celebrations across the city.
Countless fans flooded the streets to celebrate the club's promotion.
According to the Yorkshire Post, the night's festivities left the city in total chaos.
Due to a shortage of large-scale garbage removal equipment, sanitation workers had to clean up the mess manually.
In response, Leeds United issued a public call via their official website and Twitter, urging fans to stay calm and rational, and encouraging them to help clean the city.
Su Qing personally led the club's management in a cleanup effort starting from the area around Elland Road Stadium, setting a public example.
Many civically minded fans appreciated the gesture and joined in the clean-up.
Although some questioned whether it was just a PR stunt by the ownership, Leeds legend Lucas Radebe said in an interview, "We're not afraid of a show. We're only afraid that they're not even willing to show up."
The three relegated teams from the Championship this season were Portsmouth, Coventry, and Doncaster. Portsmouth were relegated due to financial problems, receiving a 10-point deduction. Without it, they wouldn't have gone down.
Gao Shen specifically looked at the squads of these three relegated Championship teams, as well as the three Premier League relegation sides. He had to admit, there wasn't much to gain.
Last year's relegated teams had several talented players. This year's crop was clearly inferior.
This made Gao Shen's idea of picking up bargains from the relegated teams harder to realize.
But that's normal. Manchester City are a Premier League club now. They can't just go bargain-hunting all the time.
Your vision and thinking must also rise to a higher level.
If you're going to pick something, pick something more high-end!
According to Championship rules, the top two teams earn automatic promotion. This season, those were Leeds United and Reading.
Teams finishing third to sixth enter the promotion play-offs.
What's different from Gao Shen's previous life is that, due to the variables his presence introduced—especially the departures of key players Adam Lallana and Morgan Schneiderlin—Southampton only finished fourth this season, behind even West Ham United.
In Gao Shen's original timeline, the Saints had been promoted automatically.
In the play-offs, Southampton beat Cardiff to reach the final but lost 2-1 to West Ham and failed to secure promotion.
In terms of overall strength, Southampton were indeed slightly weaker than West Ham.
After failing to win promotion, Leeds United moved quickly, signing 28-year-old Portuguese centre-back José Fonte from Southampton for £2 million.
Although the season wasn't even over, Manchester City couldn't sit still.
The transfer immediately attracted industry attention.
Everyone knew that failing to earn promotion would spark chaos at Southampton, and they were no exception this time.
Fonte was one of the Saints' best players in the Championship, so it wasn't surprising that Leeds targeted him. What did surprise people was how quickly Leeds made their move.
Clearly, this had been agreed in advance. If Southampton failed to win promotion, they would let Fonte leave.
Two years ago, Fonte moved from Leyton Orient to Southampton for just £1 million.
Now, Leeds United had doubled that fee to sign the 28-year-old "veteran," which at first glance seemed like an odd deal.
Aside from Su Qing, Lucas, Borrell, and Sarri, no one else knew that this transfer had been personally requested by Gao Shen.
José Fonte wasn't just a solid, reliable centre-back. He would eventually earn a very cool nickname: the "centre-back incubator."
What did that mean?
He made every centre-back who partnered with him better.
Sounds a bit far-fetched?
Gao Shen thought the same at first. But some things are hard to ignore once you see the pattern.
Fonte first started making waves at Southampton.
He came through Sporting Lisbon's youth academy, a contemporary of Cristiano Ronaldo. But unlike Ronaldo, Fonte didn't rise to stardom and ended up moving to Leyton Orient on a free. He made his name at Southampton.
Look at the centre-backs he partnered with there: Lovren, Alderweireld, Van Dijk…
Alderweireld, for example, was loaned to Southampton from Atlético Madrid. After a season alongside Fonte, his market value skyrocketed. He returned to Atlético and was immediately bought by Tottenham.
Some might still say, what's the big deal? Southampton were a strong team at the time. Fonte was just riding the wave.
Hold on, there's more.
After a brief spell at West Ham, Fonte moved to the Chinese Super League, but then joined Lille in Ligue 1.
That's where things really got interesting.
According to Transfermarkt data, once Fonte started playing for Lille, the value of Lille's centre-backs surged. Gabriel, for instance, went from €540,000 to €23.4 million in two years before transferring to Arsenal.
During the same period, Adama Soumaoro's value climbed from €2.7 million to €10 million.
In 2020, after selling Gabriel, Lille signed Sven Botman from Ajax for €7.2 million. Two years later, he was sold to Newcastle for €33.3 million.
If the Southampton examples weren't convincing enough, how do you explain this surge at Lille?
There's only one explanation: Fonte didn't just know how to defend. He knew how to work with teammates and help them maximize their potential.
In simple terms, playing next to Fonte made you look better and helped you level up faster.
The better you played, the more valuable you became.
What's interesting is that everyone was focused on the centre-backs around Fonte, but no one really paid attention to the man himself.
That's the fascinating part.
Gao Shen now had young centre-backs like Maguire, Koulibaly, and Stones in the team. Woodgate had ability, but his body was too fragile. They urgently needed a strong, experienced veteran to lead them.
There was no doubt. Fonte was the perfect fit.
He had already proven himself in the Premier League in Gao Shen's previous life, and he could provide invaluable experience to Manchester City's younger defenders—a win-win.
Why wait for the New Year when you could grab a deal like this right now?
Gao Shen spotted early signs of trouble at Southampton and immediately instructed Lucas to make contact.
Once the Saints failed to win promotion, Leeds United acted right away and secured Fonte's transfer.
Gao Shen let out a sigh of relief.
Was it just about signing a player?
No. Signing him was like getting a knife.
(To be continued.)