Chapter 84 - International Champions Cup

With the victory achieved by Japan, this team managed to rank first in Group B in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, the fourth round of the AFC zone. After this match was over, Kazuki also prepared to enjoy his vacation. The league was still far from the start, before Southampton's pre-season training comes, it's good for Kazuki to enjoy a vacation first, of course without neglecting daily training.

Meanwhile, the Japanese media acknowledged that Kazuki's performance in these three qualifying matches was very good. The other Japanese players also praised Kazuki. Kazuki's fans in Japan and other Asian countries are also slowly increasing. This can be seen from the surge of followers on several of his social media accounts.

On the other hand, summer transfers were heating up. Numerous European clubs have completed their first transfers. Meanwhile, a major transfer is still very difficult considering there is still more than a month before the 2012 summer window will close.

The transfer saga that has attracted the most attention is the transfer of Mattheo Rodrigues. Zaradona's successor is now increasingly clear that he will move either to Man City or Real Madrid. Barcelona's fans may not be willing to see the player of their dreams go to a rival club, but their current coach Jürgen Klopp would spend money on some good price player rather than buy the exorbitant price of Mattheo.

Meanwhile, Quaresma's agent spoke about the transfer of Mattheo, he said that Real Madrid did not respect him as a player, and made it a bargaining chip so Quaresma decided to move to another club regardless of whether Real Madrid got Mattheo or not.

This made a drama. After all, if Real Madrid fails to get Mattheo then they will be at a loss because they also lose Quaresma. In the Premier League, Van Persie is officially in the red devil uniform. Instead, Arsenal managed to get Welbeck and 30 million euros. Arsenal, who continue to release their star players certainly make the Gunners supporters feel disappointed.

In addition, Chelsea finally got Fabregas. Barcelona officially releases Fabregas to Chelsea for 50 million euros. This release has been approved by Jurgen Klopp himself because Fabregas is no longer interested in continuing to be in the Catalan club. On the other hand, Chelsea also released several players who did not get enough playing time, such as Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne. Romelu was released to West Bromwich Albion, while De Bruyne was released to Wolfsburg.

On the other hand, Tottenham hijacked a young player from South Korea who plays for Bayer Leverkusen, Son Heung Min. This transfer certainly makes the South Korean media very happy, they hope that Son can compete with Kazuki in the English league. Some media are realistic and choose to wait for Son Heung Min's performance in the future.

The lively transfers in the Premier League also cannot be separated from Kazuki. Even though he has repeatedly refused transfers proposed by other clubs, there are still various clubs that continue to try to tempt him, even they directly call Kazuki himself instead of his agent, Furochi.

This made Kazuki angry, and he warned them to do not to keep in touch with him or else he would report the actions of the clubs to UEFA. It's illegal to officially contact players before a transfer happens, but of course, this is just bullshit as many clubs still do it.

***

In early August, Southampton gave notice to Southampton players who were on holiday for pre-season training. Kazuki who was on vacation with Shiraishi was also preparing to return to England. The surprising thing about pre-season training this time around was the invitation of Southampton to the International Champions Cup to be held in the United States. The ICC has become the biggest pre-season tournament since the ICC started in 2010. In previous years, the International Champions Cup would only invite big clubs in Europe, but this time the International Champions Cup also invited some lucky middle-class clubs to be selected.

A week later, Kazuki and Shiraishi arrived in the United States, Los Angeles. They came to an apartment near a training center that had been rented by Southampton. There are still a lot of players yet to come, so most of the current players are reserve players that follow Southampton's first team in pre-season training.

Coach George Eastgate welcomed Kazuki, he congratulated Japan on winning at the world cup qualifier. George also said that he watched the match between Japan and Australia, he saw that Kazuki had improved again in less than a month.

The training carried out in the early days was to return the body of a player who just had a holiday to its best form. Kazuki saw several players who had accumulated quite a lot of fat in just a month, he could imagine the vacation that these players had for over a month must have been very enjoyable.

Fortunately, Kazuki himself was able to control food and exercise continuously even during vacations, so his body was actually in the best condition.

A few days later, Joe Bennet, one of Southampton's new signings this season, arrived in the United States. The arrival of Bennet certainly brought its memories to Kazuki. As soon as Bennet arrived, Kazuki immediately greeted him.

The two hugged for a moment, then shook hands. "I never thought that I would reunite with you," Kazuki said to Bennett. Actually, Kazuki thought that Bennet would stay at Manchester United all the time without thinking about moving or going on loan.

Bennet said lightly, "You are progressing very fast, I certainly don't want to be left behind. Ethan, who saw you have been successful and known in England, is now training hard at Manchester United, I think he will also be called up to the Manchester United first team, unfortunately, he didn't want to leave Manchester United."

"It's not like you go from Manchester United. You're just on loan, I mean, you still haven't moved from Manchester United." Bennet's talent was quite striking since childhood, of course, Manchester United would not let him go that easily.

"It's true, but thinking realistically, it's very difficult for me to compete with players in the Manchester United first team, especially with Pogba coming in midfield."

"Anyway, welcome to Southampton buddies."

Bennet's arrival made Southampton's squad rejuvenate. Now at Southampton, there were a lot of young players who had good talent. The inclusion of young players certainly had its advantages and disadvantages. It is up to Southampton coach George Eastgate to manage Southampton's young players.

Meanwhile, Southampton's first pre-season match will be against Arsenal. This match would be Kazuki's second time meeting Arsenal. He remembered in the league last season, Arsenal had beaten him. Even though it was only a pre-season game, but Kazuki wanted to win this match and avenge Arsenal.

The match will be held in three days, Southampton still had plenty of time to adjusted their tactics and the new formation or strategy that will be used in the league next season.. This will also be a test for Kazuki, the extent to which Southampton can currently advance will probably determine how far Southampton could struggle in the 2012/2013 league season.