International Champions Cup, a renowned tournament, featuring powerhouse clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, and Juventus.

But in reality, it's just a friendly match, mostly played by substitute players, with the starters just warming up if they're lucky.

Zhao Gang therefore got a lot of playing time.

However, before the matches, he and Guardiola reached a shared understanding.

He wanted to use these friendly matches to improve his chemistry with his teammates and his defensive skills.

Zhao Gang had ulterior motives. Facing these top European clubs, even with their reserve squads, could greatly improve his defense.

This would give him opportunities to use system points to improve his rating.

In Guardiola's tactical system, everyone except Messi had to participate in defense, so Guardiola readily agreed to Zhao Gang's request.

Thus, under the gaze of numerous fans, Zhao Gang became a free agent in midfield, appearing mostly as a defensive midfielder, and getting his ass handed to him by the reserve players of various European powerhouses!

When he rushed forward to attack with the ball, large gaps appeared behind him, and his speed in returning to defend was insufficient. He became a defensive black hole for Manchester City.

If it weren't for a few very beautiful through balls that gave Sterling and Aguero excellent opportunities, showing a few flashes of brilliance, Zhao Gang might have been greeted by Manchester City fans with knives at his door.

Outsiders watch the excitement, but insiders see the details. Guardiola could clearly see that Zhao Gang's defensive movements had greatly improved in those few friendly matches.

Coupled with the special training from the assistant coach, his defense, while still not comparable to top players, was visibly improving.

But the fans and the media didn't see these things.

They only saw Zhao Gang on the field, getting bulldozed by the opposing attacking players like a kindergarten kid, and the large gaps behind him when Zhao Gang went forward!

One friendly match, two Champions Cup matches, Manchester City suffered one draw and two losses!

Even Werder Bremen, a mid-table Bundesliga team, was able to defeat Manchester City!

This was unacceptable for Manchester City fans!

They spent seventy million, only to buy a sieve?

The key was that this kid didn't seem to recognize his own limitations, often making gambling challenges, causing serious problems for the team's defense!

Manchester City's players were almost in complete disarray on the field, ultimately relying on individual player abilities to score goals.

Was this Guardiola's tactics?

It was a joke!

Manchester City fans were extremely disappointed, but because Guardiola's level was well-known, most fans were able to restrain themselves.

But the media and some extreme fans didn't feel the same way.

Especially the media who previously thought this transfer was a robbery, a theft, a crime, were overjoyed.

"Manchester City only made two relatively important signings this season, Zhao Gang, a Dragon Country player bought from Norwich for a Manchester City transfer record.

And Gundogan, bought from Dortmund for 23 million euros.

Now it seems that Guardiola should have earned at least 60 million from those 70 million!"

"Guardiola became a world-class coach because of Messi, so he is somewhat superstitious about players similar to Messi, but there is only one Messi!"

"Zhao Gang's highlights at the last moment of the Europa League tricked Manchester City out of 70 million pounds!"

"What did they buy? What did I say? Zhao Gang is a Championship player and simply cannot adapt to the Premier League. Now it's proven that I'm right!

If Guardiola wants to succeed, he has to listen to me, believe me!

Three games, and Zhao Gang only had a few passes that were worth watching, but Manchester City's defenders could do those passes!"

"The biggest flop in history has been born! The players from Dragon Country really are useless!" The Bang country media cursed, overjoyed in their hearts.

The emergence of such a high-priced player from Dragon Country made them extremely jealous. From the announcement, they hadn't stopped predicting his failure, and now that they saw Zhao Gang's performance, they immediately began to attack.

"Guardiola succeeded in Barcelona, and really thought he was good, didn't he? Doesn't he know what he turned the Bundesliga giants into?

Now, it's finally proven again that he's also a flop!!"

"His performance at Norwich was entirely due to luck, due to the sacrifice of his teammates, due to the opponent's carelessness!

His reputation is entirely built in lower-level leagues. When he got to the Premier League, he was exposed! How can he be compared to Son! Hilarious!"

The media and fans were calling for Manchester City to get rid of this burden as soon as possible.

Although there was no definite news about Zhao Gang's contract at Manchester City.

Some media speculated and revealed that Zhao Gang had a five-year contract with Manchester City, with a weekly salary of 120,000 pounds and a release clause of 100 million pounds!

This salary was already top-tier in the Premier League.

If they didn't get rid of him, they would lose all the transfer fees, and Manchester City would also bear huge salary pressure for the next five years, which would soon lead to locker room conflicts.

Manchester City would be completely finished because of his performance!

And some Arsenal fans, seeing these reports, immediately piled on.

After all, because of Zhao Gang and Lightman, Arsenal fans had frantically cursed Zhao Gang.

Now that they saw Zhao Gang's performance, how could they spare him?

"This guy doesn't know who he is after a few highlights. A release clause of 10 million, and he dared to ask for 70 million!! Luckily, Arsenal couldn't afford it, otherwise Arsenal would have become a complete joke!"

"I don't know what Wenger was thinking, actually thinking he was better than Lightman. If Manchester City had bought Lightman, how could they have been defeated by Werder Bremen??"

"Exactly, if he had really agreed to join Arsenal, and Wenger had sold Lightman, Arsenal would really be fighting relegation this season!!"

"Looking at the money, at such a young age, wanting high transfer fees and high salaries, with this kind of mentality, he'll be completely useless in two years!!"

And extreme Chelsea fans, feeling like they had escaped a disaster, even put up a banner.

"Thank you Manchester City, thank you Guardiola! Otherwise, your team would have been finished!"

How could Lightman, who barks on social media, be absent at this time?

He tried to cripple Zhao Gang, and even managed to twist the truth after he himself was crippled. How could he stand by and watch this opportunity?

"A record signing? A piece of shit from Norwich, worthy of playing in the Premier League? I'll never hide what I think. I'm talking about Zhao Gang from Dragon Country. You people who don't understand football can come and spray me."

This message immediately brought his fans to a climax.

"Lightman is manly enough!"

"Got guts!!"

"The players from Dragon Country are good at opportunism, how can their football compare to you Lightman?"

"He better be able to play in the game against Arsenal, so he knows what the Premier League is, and what a real man is!"

Some Dragon Country self-media outlets with no principles also began to exaggerate, saying anything to earn traffic.

"If you don't have the ability, don't go to the Premier League, it's embarrassing us."

"I said he couldn't do it. You were all so happy when he transferred. He's flopped as soon as he reached the top league."

"Sixty million of that seventy million was because he was from Dragon Country. After signing a big contract, he doesn't even donate a bit to his countrymen. He's so ungrateful!"

Zhao Gang, of course, saw what the media said. It was a bit annoying, but it didn't affect him too much.

He didn't see the people in his own country echoing the same sentiments, otherwise he would really be depressed for a long time.

Perrin and Guardiola, however, felt that something was wrong. At this age, facing so much criticism, his mentality could easily be affected, and his confidence would be greatly undermined.

So they both found him, wanting to enlighten him.

"I can understand why Josep is looking for me, but why are you coming to me because of this kind of thing?" Zhao Gang was puzzled when Perrin drove directly to his house.

"I know you said that those enemies won't affect you, but you're only eighteen years old. Even established stars will be upset by these voices and lose confidence. How can you possibly withstand it?"

Because I have experienced countless failures, been disheartened, and even thought about leaving that world!

Zhao Gang said in his heart, but didn't say it out loud.

"Emmm... because I have a teammate, Xylo. The more people罵 him, the more excited he gets, and then he uses goals to hit back at those people. He has had a big influence on me. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, it's better to prove yourself.

Those who罵 me only want to hurt me, destroy me. I won't let my enemies succeed.

Believe me, a hard stick can break my bones, but vicious words can't hurt my skin."

Perrin believed in Zhao Gang and their relationship. If Zhao Gang was affected, he would definitely say it.

Since Zhao Gang was so calm, there shouldn't be any problems.

"I've said it many times, you will definitely become a cosmic superstar."

Josep Guardiola was best at working on players' minds. He prepared his tried-and-true routine to stabilize Zhao Gang's emotions.

But he found that Zhao Gang didn't seem to have seen those criticisms and insults at all.

"I have always studied Dragon Country culture and know that a Dragon Country sage said, 'The unity of knowledge and action.' This is also the most difficult thing to achieve in football. There is always a huge gap between knowing and doing.

All players know that they should have a calm attitude and prove themselves in the face of criticism from the media and fans. But almost no one can really do it.

Many geniuses are destroyed by fans and the media.

Zhao, it's really rare for you to be able to know and do this at your age. So... I decided that you will be in the starting lineup for the first league game. You will definitely let those who question you know that my buying you for 70 million was indeed a robbery, a theft, but it wasn't Norwich robbing Manchester City, it was me robbing Norwich!"

Normally, new signings mostly come on as substitutes in their first game, especially for a team like Manchester City. The players in the same position as Zhao Gang are all world-class stars.

He was new, and whether it was for tactical reasons, locker room stability, or the pressure on the player himself, he should come on as a substitute and then gradually adapt, and only start after he performed well.

And Guardiola had originally planned to have Zhao Gang come on as a substitute, and then start in the League Cup and FA Cup, but now it seemed that Zhao Gang was ready.