There are still more than two months left in the season, so Gao Bo is in no rush to agree to any offers.
He needs Charlie Austin to maintain his brilliant performances, it's like packaging a product. The better Charlie performs, the higher his value. Since club owner David Morton has promised that all transfer fees will go into next season's transfer budget, Gao Bo is now working hard to make Charlie shine and attract the attention of potential buyers.
On February 28th, in the 34th round of the league, Luton played at home against Shrewsbury.
As Brentford, who are second in the league, and the league leaders, Wycombe Rovers, both lost in their earlier matches, and Burleigh, third in the league, suffered their second consecutive loss, a win for Luton against Shrewsbury would allow them to overtake Brentford to take second place, just seven points behind Wycombe Rovers!
This prospect fired up the Luton team, and Charlie Austin was in incredible form. He scored two goals in this game, bringing his total to 12 goals in four matches. This kind of insane performance caught the attention of the English media. The Epl Two is a professional league, and scoring 12 goals in four matches, averaging three per game, essentially four consecutive hat-tricks, is an incredible feat! Such a form is enough to attract the interest of even mainstream media outlets.
Blackburn had withdrawn from the race to sign Charlie Austin, but now top-tier giants, including Manchester United and Liverpool, have shown interest in him.
After all, he's only 19 years old, and more importantly, he's English!
This alone makes Charlie Austin very appealing.
Luton's win in this round brought them closer to the top of the league. Four days later, on March 4th, the team played Port Vale away in the 35th round.
Interestingly, Port Vale also has a forward with ties to Luton: Sam Parker, who was traded by Gao Bo for Matt Schmidt.
However, Sam Parker has lost his starting role at Port Vale. The team has struggled this season, sitting only two points above the relegation zone. Their defense is decent, but their weak attack has led to far too many goalless draws.
In the second half of the season, Port Vale's coach reshuffled the attacking lineup, leaving Sam Parker on the bench for this game.
On the other hand, Matt Schmidt, who was brought in from Port Vale, started this game. While Schmidt is a backup striker at Luton, he's had plenty of playing opportunities. Unlike Parker, who barely gets a chance to play, Schmidt regularly appears as a substitute under Gao Bo.
With the FA Cup quarterfinals just three days away, where Luton will face Coventry at the Ricoh Arena, Gao Bo prioritized the cup competition over the league and decided to rest some of his key players.
But Charlie Austin wasn't rested, he continued to rack up impressive stats.
In the 27th minute, he scored again. Schmidt headed a cross into the box, and Charlie Austin was perfectly positioned at the far post to score and put Luton ahead.
Port Vale couldn't find a way past Luton. Early in the second half, Austin drove into the box on a counterattack, and later, Schmidt scored a header from a corner to extend the lead.
Luton comfortably defeated Port Vale 3-0 away from home, taking their points total to 67 after 34 rounds. And with Wycombe Wanderers being held to a draw by Notts County, Luton are now just five points behind the league leaders!
Five points!
From a -30-point deficit at the start of the season to now being only five points behind the top of the table, Gao Bo's team is closing in on a miraculous achievement. With 12 matches remaining, they have plenty of time to chase the Second Division title.
Meanwhile, they also aim to make history in another competition.
On March 7th, the team traveled to Coventry for the FA Cup quarterfinals. Reaching the semifinals would mean playing their next match at Wembley.
Coventry, located in England's West Midlands, was once a major textile hub and one of the UK's four largest cities, but those days are long gone. Although it remains a large city with a population of 350,000, by Chinese standards, Gao Bo considered it no more than a small county town.
Gao Bo hails from Meizhou, Guangdong, a small city in China that is little-known nationwide but has a registered population of over five million.
For a city of 350,000 to be called "big," Gao Bo could only mutter, "EMMMMMMM…" to express his amusement.
John, one of his assistants, found it hard to believe that Gao Bo came from a "small" city of five million. John couldn't even comprehend the idea that cities outside of Beijing and Shanghai could have populations exceeding one million.
To settle John's skepticism, Lin Sen chimed in, saying, "John… I'm from Donghai County in Jiangsu Province, China. It's a small county town that many people haven't even heard of, yet it has a population of over one million."
John and the other British staff members were stunned. To them, this was simply unbelievable, proof that China truly is a country of massive population.
This anecdote was a lighthearted moment as the team prepared for the Coventry match. Gao Bo, however, remained focused on analyzing their FA Cup opponent.
Coventry is coached by Chris Coleman, whose claim to fame is his friendship with Mourinho. However, Gao Bo had no strong impression of Coleman from his previous life and instead relied on his current data analysis to evaluate the team.
For Gao Bo, this was a critical game but only the beginning of the challenge. His ultimate goal was to win the FA Cup, and Coventry represented the weakest opponent on that path. Should Luton reach the semifinals, their next opponents would undoubtedly be a Premier League giant.
Would it be Arsenal, Liverpool, or Everton?
These three teams were the likely semifinalists, and Luton's potential opponents.
Although Gao Bo exuded confidence, he wasn't entirely certain of victory against such formidable opposition.
For now, though, Luton had to focus on beating Coventry, a Championship side, and advancing to the semifinals of the FA Cup!