“Chiellini: 7 million euros, Deisler: 11 million euros.” Morse answered Li Shiguang’s question without hesitation.
Li Shiguang was taken aback by the quick response. It seemed that Morse was determined to buy, and he didn't even consider the offer. However, Morse's offer still did not meet Li Shiguang's expectations.
So he replied calmly, "Mr. Morse, 12 million euros for Chiellini and 18 million euros for Deisler is an ideal price."
The market today is nothing like it was a decade or two ago. The era when defenders were worth 60 to 70 million euros is still far off. AC Milan's purchase of Nesta from Lazio for 30.5 million euros in 2002 was already the peak value of a defender in recent years. However, in Li Shiguang's mind, Liverpool's offer must be 3 to 4 times the price he paid for Chiellini last year before he will agree to it; otherwise, there's no point in discussing it!
However, for Deisler, 18 million euros was Li Shiguang's bottom line. It wasn't that the player was worth that price, but mainly because he had used his only injury recovery card on him, a product of the system, so it was worth at least 9 million euros.
In fact, Deisler has indeed put up impressive numbers in the past two months, otherwise Liverpool wouldn't have made an offer. Moreover, given Liverpool's current squad, they really lack an attacker in the midfield and forward positions who can dribble, pass, shoot, and organize attacks. Therefore, Li Shiguang thinks the price is very reasonable.
But Morse immediately retorted: "Mr. Li, aren't those two prices a bit exaggerated? Manchester United only sold Stam to AC Milan for 10.5 million euros this year. Do you think that Chiellini, a 21-year-old kid, is worth more than Stam? And as far as I know, you only spent a few million euros to bring Deisler from Bayern Munich. In just two or three months, his value has doubled???"
Li Shiguang remained calm: "Mr. Morse, isn't it the data that speaks for itself on the football field? I believe you also have the specific data of these two players on the field. I think this price is very reasonable!"
This reply brought silence to the other end of the phone; the only sounds that could be heard were Morse's soft breathing and the rustling of papers.
A moment later, Morse's voice came through the phone again: "Chiellini 10 million euros, Deisler 15 million euros, that's the highest price I can accept."
Seeing that Morse was softening, Li Shiguang didn't press too hard, but his tone remained firm: "I accept Chiellini's offer, but for Deisler, I will only accept an offer of no less than 18 million euros. If Liverpool can't reach that offer, I would rather keep him. I believe there are other clubs watching him."
Li Shiguang had Moors figured out his mind. After all, Liverpool's current performance was not very good, and he needed to strengthen the squad in the winter. Moreover, Li Shiguang's asking price was not too outrageous.
But this is all real money being spent, and if you can spend less, which fool would be willing to spend more?
So the two then engaged in a fierce negotiation, eventually settling on a transfer fee of €10 million for Chiellini. However, due to Li Shiguang's insistence, the two ultimately failed to reach an agreement on Deisler.
Later, Morse didn't insist anymore. According to Li Shiguang, only Liverpool was interested in signing Deisler. Since the winter transfer window was still some time away, and since Li Shiguang wasn't working out, he could try another approach: secretly contacting the player. Liverpool was a powerhouse, and few players would refuse an offer from such a prestigious club. If the player himself wanted a transfer, he could put pressure on the team.
After returning home that day, Li Shiguang received a call from Chiellini.
“Boss, I just got a call from my agent. He said Liverpool contacted him and asked if I would like to transfer to Liverpool. You brought me to England, and I don’t want to hide this from you.” Chiellini’s tone was a little excited, but at the same time, Li Shiguang could also sense the unease in his words.
While cursing Morse in his heart for acting so quickly—the moment he agreed, Morse had already contacted Chiellini's agent!—Li Shiguang also felt a bit emotional. After all, Chiellini was among the first group of people to follow him, and he had informed him of such a sensitive matter for the players immediately.
So Li Shiguang didn't want to put pressure on him, and said with a slightly joking tone, "Gio, I already knew about this beforehand. As long as you don't have any objections, I support you. Don't feel guilty; you're not leaving as a free agent. Liverpool paid for it. But you can't just slack off for the rest of the time, or I'll have to bench you. Hahahaha~~"
Before making the call, Chiellini was actually quite embarrassed. On one hand was his mentor, and on the other hand was the temptation of a higher salary and direct entry into the Champions League. In particular, next year is a World Cup year, and without the boost of the Champions League, he might not even be able to make the bench for Italy's defense! So after receiving the call from his agent, Chiellini's heart immediately burned with excitement.
But after hearing Li Shiguang's answer, Chiellini's guilt was dispelled, and he immediately said that he would still train hard during the rest of his time at Leeds United, and would give his all in the game as before, without slacking off!
In the following days of training, Chiellini did indeed live up to his promise and was not affected by the impending transfer. He remained diligent and serious, and Li Shiguang appreciated his professional attitude. His previous worries disappeared, so he still included him in the starting lineup for the away game against Portsmouth.
But he noticed that Daisler had been acting a little strangely these past few days.
After learning that a verbal agreement had been reached, Liverpool quickly contacted Chiellini's agent. Li Shiguang also wondered if they would contact Deisler privately.
Although the FA has explicitly prohibited clubs from communicating with players privately before reaching a concrete agreement, such incidents are still quite common. Chelsea's contact with Ashley Cole without informing Arsenal caused a major uproar, and Ashley Cole was ultimately punished by Arsenal. Moreover, Li Shiguang himself has done similar things before.
In the past few days of training, Deisler seemed a bit absent-minded. At first, Li Shiguang thought he was feeling unwell, but after checking the system, he found that Deisler's panel had not changed at all.
This forced Li Shiguang to consider that possibility...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
