"You're joking, Mr. Li. This price is too low; the board of directors will never agree to it!"
Upon hearing Li Shiguang's offer, Galliani immediately pouted and shook his head vigorously. If he agreed to the price tonight, he would be directly executed by Berlusconi when he returned to Milan tomorrow.
After carefully observing the man in his sixties who was still trying to act cute, Li Shiguang confirmed that he wasn't putting on an act and handed the ball back to him: "Mr. Galliani, what is your expected offer for Kaka? Give me a price, and I'll see if I can meet it."
“60 million euros.” Galliani answered Li Shiguang’s question without hesitation, clearly indicating that they had already set this price before arriving in Switzerland.
However, this price is truly outrageous!
After Galliani quoted the price, Li Shiguang first gave Simone a wink, and Simone, realizing what he meant, took out a notebook bag from his briefcase and handed it over.
After opening the notebook, Li Shiguang looked at Galliani and slowly said, "Mr. Galliani, to be honest, 60 million euros is a bit excessive."
"But Mr. Li, Kaka..."
Li Shiguang waved the notebook in his hand at Galliani, then raised his left hand to stop the old man from adding anything more.
“Mr. Galliani, I'm different from you. Besides being the owner of Leeds United, I'm also a head coach. I usually like to use data when discussing player-related topics! So before coming to Switzerland, I asked my colleagues at the club to compile Kaká's statistics from when he joined AC Milan in 2003 until two days ago after your match against Reggina. This includes, but is not limited to, goals, assists, probability of creating key passes, and distance covered, etc. Would you like to take a look?”
Galliani hadn't expected Li Shiguang to be so well-prepared. After exchanging a glance with Ancelotti, he smiled awkwardly and said, "Uh... there's no need for that. Carlo and I are already very familiar with these things."
OK!
After moving the coffee away, Li Shiguang first placed the notebook on the table facing Galliani before continuing to express his views.
"Since you and Mr. Ancelotti are so familiar with each other, I won't go into details. But I'd like to ask you, based on these figures, from what standpoint do you think Kaká is worth 60 million euros right now? You know, Real Madrid only spent 76 million euros to buy Zidane, who played the same position as him and also won the World Cup, the Ballon d'Or, and the FIFA World Player of the Year award."
"This..." For a moment, Galliani, who was known as a "negotiation expert" by outsiders, was also speechless by Li Shiguang's reasonable and well-founded remarks, and did not know how to refute him.
But since it was still a negotiation, Galliani and Ancelotti exchanged glances before sticking to their previous stance: "Mr. Li, I admit you have a point. But Kaká is on the rise, and his importance to Milan is undeniable. If we can't sell him for a suitable price, Milan would rather keep him. We still have a year and a half left on his contract, and Kaká himself prefers to stay in Serie A, so there's still a possibility of a contract extension!"
"Come on, Mr. Galliani." Seeing Galliani still stubborn, Li Shiguang's face showed a cold smile. "You don't need to keep emphasizing that Kaka doesn't want to leave Serie A. We all know that he doesn't want to leave Milan, not Serie A! Serie A is no longer the 'Little World Cup' it used to be. Your appeal to star players is getting lower and lower, which is no secret in the entire European football world. It's no exaggeration to say that Spain and England are the future centers of world football! And last year, Milan's financial revenue also made your big boss very dissatisfied, right? I heard that Mr. Berlusconi also significantly reduced investment in the team? To put it bluntly, can Milan still afford the annual salary Kaka wants for this contract renewal?"
In Li Shiguang's memory, this year could be considered AC Milan's last moment of glory. They avenged their loss to Liverpool in the Champions League final to win the title, but this only delayed the team's decline. However, things are different now. Due to Li Shiguang's presence, Liverpool's Champions League qualification has been taken by Leeds United, so whether Milan can ultimately win the championship is another matter entirely!
Galliani hadn't felt this frustrated in a long time. Perhaps it was because the air conditioning in the café was too high, but his cheeks were flushed and his lips kept moving as if he wanted to say something but couldn't open his mouth.
Seeing Galliani's slightly embarrassed expression, Li Shiguang put on a smile again, crossed his arms, and leaned back comfortably. He pressed his advantage and said, "How about this, I'll raise the price for you. Mr. Galliani, I have two offers here. You can go back and discuss with your board of directors to see whether you want to accept them, or which offer to accept."
"First, 45 million euros. I'll bring Kaká to Leeds United after this season!"
"Secondly, 50 million euros. Let me bring Kaká to Leeds United before the winter transfer window closes this month!"
"Of course, you can continue to look for other clubs, but barring any unforeseen circumstances, there shouldn't be any club offering a higher price than mine. After all, when Real Madrid made their offer to you, they only offered a little over 20 million euros, hahahahahaha."
"How did you know..." Galliani was still weighing the pros and cons of the two options in his mind, but Li Shiguang's last question shocked him. "Mr. Li, how did you know the specific price Real Madrid offered!?"
How would I know?
Nonsense! Raiola had already gotten all that information out of Kaka's agent, who was eager to make a fortune.
But Li Shiguang just smiled mysteriously and didn't answer the question directly: "I've said it before, the scouts I've paid so much money to hire aren't just sitting around doing nothing."
“Alright, Mr. Li.” Seeing that Li Shiguang remained silent, Galliani didn’t want to dwell on the matter any longer. “I must admit that your offer this time does seem very sincere! But as you said, I must go back and report to Mr. Berlusconi first. As you know, he is the one who ultimately makes the final decision!”
"Of course! I've always been clear about that."
Having received two decent offers, Galliani put aside his slight hostility towards Li Shiguang and instead kindly reminded him: "But there's one more thing I need to remind you. Even if we agree to let him go, you might need to convince the player himself! As I've always emphasized, Kaka doesn't want to leave Milan."
Galliani's words are indeed true.
But Li Shiguang had already figured out how to control Kaka, so he smiled and nodded, his tone full of confidence.
"No problem, Mr. Galliani. When it comes time to sign the contract, I will personally pay a visit to Milanello. You'll just need to do a little something to help me out..."
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