August 1.
Arsenal welcomed Celtic to their home ground once again.
Li Yufei continued to start this match.
Given his excellent performance against AC Milan in the previous game, the old man had every reason to keep him on the pitch.
Even if the Moroccan Chamakh was unhappy, he still did not dare openly defy the Professor.
All he could hope for now was that Li Yufei would reveal his true colors and make a complete fool of himself!
Only then could he firmly hold on to a starting spot.
One had to understand that Arsenal's three forward positions did not have any absolutely guaranteed starters.
Even Van Persie, who had the greatest ability in pure footballing terms, was only half a starter at Arsenal because of his injury-prone nature and rebellious personality.
Not to mention Chamakh, whose ability was inferior to Van Persie's.
Wenger had always chosen Arsenal's forwards based on their form.
When healthy, Van Persie had the highest priority.
The "Tsar," Arshavin, came second, while Chamakh was last.
Bendtner was a pure backup striker. Unless all the players ahead of him were injured, he would never get the starting nod.
As for Little Tiger Walcott, that depended on the opponent.
Under normal circumstances, however, he still ranked second in priority, behind only Van Persie and level with Arshavin.
After all, as the fastest winger in the entire Premier League, his core competitive advantage was obvious.
Even after Li Yufei joined the first team and knocked him down to second place in speed, he was still far faster than the other players!
Li Yufei had made a guess. If Walcott's speed were rated by the system, it should be around 97.
Let alone the entire Premier League—even across Europe, there was no one faster than him.
Even Gareth Bale, who was gradually making a name for himself at Tottenham, could not match Walcott in terms of absolute speed.
One could only say that although Little Tiger had plenty of flaws, his speed alone was enough to establish him at a European powerhouse.
In the friendly against Celtic, Wenger directly switched to a 4-3-3 formation, with Li Yufei, Arshavin, and Walcott forming the front three.
The midfield consisted of Nasri, Alex Song, and Fabregas.
The back four remained Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, and Clichy.
Almunia was still in goal.
Celtic might have been the dominant force in the Scottish Premiership.
But compared with a powerhouse from the Top Five Leagues like Arsenal, they were still considerably weaker in pure ability.
In this match, Li Yufei first assisted Arshavin in scoring in the 25th minute.
Then, in the 56th minute of the second half, he dribbled past Celtic defenders Lovenkrands and the South Korean Cha Du-ri in succession before cutting inside and shooting. The ball struck the leg of Celtic goalkeeper Boruc and ricocheted into the net.
In the 65th minute, Celtic midfielder Ledley assisted striker Hooper in pulling one back.
In the 71st minute, Song intercepted the ball from Ledley in the middle and sent it straight to Walcott.
Little Tiger Walcott tore forward like lightning, cut forcefully inside, and scored.
In the 82nd minute, substitute Van Persie seized on a passing error in Celtic's defense. His long-range stunner from the top of the penalty arc extended the score to 4–1 and essentially sealed the win.
In the 84th minute, Celtic crossed from the left, and striker Samaras headed the ball into the net, cutting the deficit to two goals.
In the 89th minute, substitute Wilshere unleashed a long-range shot that caused Boruc to spill the ball. Van Persie followed up with a shot into the net to score twice in the match.
The final score settled at 5–2.
It had to be said that Arsenal's back line was truly terrible.
They had conceded two goals even against Celtic.
When Li Yufei thought of the Five-time Champion Barcelona, the final big boss of this season in the original timeline, his scalp began to tingle.
He remembered all too clearly how miserable Arsenal had been during these years.
Every time they qualified for the Champions League group stage, they either ran into FC Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
With Arsenal's current squad, they would have virtually no chance against either team!
Especially against the current ruler of Europe, Barcelona.
But Li Yufei's fragmented memories told him that Arsenal had not played badly against Barcelona in this season's Champions League.
They had even come close to eliminating Dream Team III.
It could be said that they were the strongest opponent Barcelona encountered on its road to the Champions League Title that season.
If things really were as he remembered, then Arsenal had tremendous potential this season!
At the very least, they should harbor greater ambitions instead of merely settling for a top-four finish.
Li Yufei had not come to Arsenal just to fight for fourth place.
As someone devoted to becoming the football GOAT, how could he tolerate his team slacking off?
"By then, I wonder if I can hint to Li's father and get him to put some money into the club. He is my biological father, after all. There's nothing wrong with supporting his son's career, right?"
Li Yufei had already set his sights on Li's father.
Little did he know that Wenger had the exact same idea.
If Wenger knew that Li Yufei did not need his hint and had already taken the initiative to ask Li's Father for money, Wenger would definitely be moved to tears.
It had not been easy. It really had not been easy!
Who knew the bitterness Wenger had carried in his heart all these years?
He had watched his old rival, Alex Ferguson, lead Manchester United to championship after championship. Even the neighbors, who had originally posed no threat at all, had begun harvesting honors after taking on a Russian Oligarch.
And what about Arsenal?
Trapped by their debt problems, they could not possibly spend big in the transfer market.
Wenger's "best available lineup" had largely been a forced choice, born from his inability to sign the players he wanted.
If he could truly obtain an ample transfer budget, how could Wenger possibly be satisfied with the squad he had now?
August 7.
Arsenal welcomed their final friendly before the season began.
Legia Warsaw, a Polish top-flight club hosting the match, faced the visiting Arsenal.
In this game, both sides immediately threw open the doors and practically abandoned defense, putting on a thrilling goal-fest.
In the end, Legia Warsaw lost 5–8 to Arsenal.
The two teams scored thirteen goals between them.
Li Yufei scored a hat-trick in the goal-fest, instantly making a name for himself.
If an ordinary young player played a friendly against an unknown Polish team, he would have to score five, six, or even more goals in one go.
Otherwise, no media outlet would bother reporting on it.
But Li Yufei was different.
Ever since arriving at Arsenal, he had become the focus of numerous European media outlets, especially Fleet Street.
Along with his rampage through the Youth Training matches and the added attention from having a superstar girlfriend, even the slightest flash of form in a game would lead to extensive media coverage. Even an utterly ordinary performance would be reported.
The difference was that the former brought praise, while the latter brought attacks and disparagement.
Fortunately, Li Yufei understood this bunch of media outlets all too well and did not take them seriously at all.
After the match against Legia Warsaw ended, Arsenal flew back to London that very day and began their preseason preparations.
Before the season began, Li Yufei invested his system points into his ability stats.
Before you continue