Chapter 360: Nike got anxious and personally offered a 45 million contract!
The victory of the Club World Cup and the achievement of seven championships have increased the calls for Lin Quan to win the Ballon d'Or.
There is less than half a month left before the Ballon d'Or award ceremony. Compared with Messi and Ronaldo, Lin Quan's lead is so huge that even the fans of these two have accepted their fate.
"It doesn't matter. Messi has four Ballon d'Ors. What if Lin Quan has only one?"
Messi's fans are full of confidence. Messi, who once won four consecutive Ballon d'Ors, is far ahead of others in the number of Ballon d'Ors he has won. He is currently the player with the most Ballon d'Ors in football history.
And the most terrifying thing is that Messi is still very young. At the age of 27, he still has at least five years of his peak period.
In these five years, he can definitely make a bid for his fifth or even sixth Ballon d'Or.
In terms of the number of Ballon d'Or wins, Ronaldo's fans are not as confident as Messi's fans.
However, Ronaldo also won the Ballon d'Or twice, ranking fifth in the total number of Ballon d'Or wins along with football emperor Beckenbauer, alien Ronaldo and others.
This achievement is enough to make them proud!
Although Ronaldo is a bit older, he will soon be 30 years old, and his peak period may only last two or three years.
But Real Madrid is now in its heyday and may be able to win the Champions League again in the next few years.
By then, Ronaldo can definitely win another Golden Ball award based on his outstanding performance in the club. In this way, he can squeeze into the third place and be on par with Platini, Cruyff, Van Basten and others.
Even if Lin Quan won this year's Golden Globe Award, it would only be one, which is a long way from being the two greatest players.
There is no shortage of players in football who reach their peak as soon as they debut, but not every genius can have such a stable and long peak period like Messi and Ronaldo!
Maybe next year Lin Quan's performance will plummet and he will be completely forgotten by everyone?
Although Lin Quan has a great advantage in winning the award, Manchester City Club still dare not be careless.
No one in their club's history has ever won the Ballon d'Or, and Lin Quan is likely to break this embarrassing record.
At this time, Manchester City must increase its efforts to build momentum for Lin Quan.
Although winning the Ballon d'Or is closely related to the players' own performance, it is also inseparable from the operation of the clubs they belong to.
The reason why Ronaldo was able to beat Ribery and other opponents to win the Golden Ball last year was largely due to Real Madrid's behind-the-scenes operations.
Manchester City is a rising star, and their connections in the football world are not as deep as Real Madrid, so they have to be more cautious.
Fortunately, Manchester City has one obvious advantage: they are very rich! Even if they cannot directly bribe voters from various countries, they can definitely bribe the media from various countries to help Lin Quan promote his case.
So, after Manchester City started investing money in operations, there were suddenly a lot more reports about the Ballon d'Or around the world.
Without exception, these reports all spoke well of Lin Quan and promoted how he deserved the Golden Globe Award.
With such continuous publicity, people naturally associated Lin Quan with the Golden Globe Awards.
In this way, if Lin Quan is unexpectedly not selected when the Golden Globe Awards are announced in the future, it will inevitably conflict with the public's perception and cause huge doubts.
This undoubtedly reduces the possibility of insider manipulation! After Manchester City Club began to exert its strength, Nike also began to use its influence in the football world to promote Lin Quan.
The reason why Nike wants to do this is, on the one hand, because the Golden Globe Award can greatly increase Lin Quan's popularity and influence, and Lin Quan is a contracted player of Nike, and his rising fame is a good thing for Nike.
On the other hand, Lin Quan's contract with Nike is halfway through, and Nike is promoting Lin Quan in order to please him so as to renew his contract.
Nike's influence in the football world is not as great as Adidas, so they have to offer more favorable conditions to attract players to sign with them.
With Lin Quan's current upward momentum, anyone can see that his future is limitless.
If Nike does not actively seek to renew the contract, Adidas and other sponsors will definitely make a move to snatch Lin Quan.
Once Lin Quan is snatched away, it will be very disadvantageous for Nike to enter the football industry.
After all, another big-name player under their management, Cristiano Ronaldo, is about to turn 30.
Ronaldo's peak period will not last for a few years. Nike must consider other spokespersons after Ronaldo who can support their football strategy!
Lin Quan, who is young, capable and capable, is undoubtedly the most suitable or even the only candidate.
Considering that Lin Quan's advantage in the Golden Globe Award is so great, in order to increase the attractiveness of Lin Quan's contract renewal, Nike privately contacted Lin Quan's agent and expressed that it would arrange for him to win the Laureus Award next year.
"Lawrence Award?"
Lin Quan was a little surprised when he received a call from his agent Pere.
Of course he had heard of the Laureus Award, but this award had previously been awarded to racing, tennis and golf.
It has never been awarded to a football player.
Therefore, Lin Quan had almost never had any expectations for this award, so he was so surprised when he heard Pere mention the Lawrence Award.
"Yes, Nike hopes to make you their top athlete to compete for the Laureus Award next year!"
The selection criteria for the Laureus Awards are very strict. The winners must have achieved outstanding results in international sports competitions in the past year and be unanimously recognized by the members of the selection committee.
The sports fields participating in the selection include football, basketball, track and field, swimming, tennis and many other events. The scope is very wide and the competition is very fierce.
In recent years, most of the winners of the Laureus Best Male Athlete Award have been in track and field and tennis.
Bolt, Nadal and Djokovic are regulars on the list of winners.
As for football players, although Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi have been included in the final list many times, they have never won the award.
There are rumors that because of the existence of the more prestigious Golden Globe Award, the judges of the Laureus Awards are reluctant to vote for football players, which makes it extremely difficult for football players to win this award.
Of course, this is not absolute.
Lin Quan remembers that Messi had won the Laureus Award twice for his outstanding performance.
But that was all after 2020. Before that, no player had ever stood on the podium of the Laureus Award.
Nike is a giant in the sports category. They sponsor many events and have a large number of athletes.
Therefore, Nike's influence in the sports world cannot be ignored.
If he could really get their full support, Lin Quan might really have a chance of winning the award.
After all, looking at his performance in 2014, Lin Quan did almost the best a football player can do.
He has won all the team awards including the league, cup, Champions League, World Cup, Club World Cup, etc.
In terms of individual awards, Lin Quan won almost all the awards that can be won, including the League Golden Boot, League Best Player, Champions League Golden Boot, Champions League Best Player, World Cup Golden Boot and World Cup Best Player.
Whether in terms of group or individual honors, he is not inferior to those competitors.
Coupled with Nike's huge influence, Lin Quan suddenly felt that if Nike was not fooling him, then he would really have a chance to win the Laureus Awards next year.
“Any conditions from Nike?”
There is no free lunch in the world. If the other party is willing to do this, he must have some intention.
"They want to renew your contract or re-sign you to a longer sponsorship contract."
Lin Quan's contract with Nike was signed in 2013, with a contract value of 18 million euros and a term of 3 years.
It's almost been two years and the contract is about to expire. It's understandable that Nike is anxious.
After all, superstars like Lin Quan have always been very good at shooting.
"What price did they offer?"
If someone can't wait to give you money, no one will refuse such a good thing.
Of course, at this time, the initiative of contract renewal is in Lin Quan's own hands, and he will definitely take this opportunity to gain more benefits for himself.
Sponsors may be strong when facing other players, but they cannot be strong when facing top players, because super stars have no shortage of suitors, just like beautiful women have no shortage of lickers.
"They offered you a five-year, $45 million contract!"
On the other end of the phone, Pere's voice sounded a little excited.
Compared with the previous three-year, 18 million contract, the new contract offered by Nike is full of sincerity.
The previous contract was worth only 6 million euros per year, but the new contract has increased the unit price by half, bringing the annual sponsorship fee to 9 million euros.
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This price has already exceeded that of Cristiano Ronaldo.
When Ronaldo renewed his contract with Nike in 2013, he signed a 5-year, 40 million euro contract, which was 1 million euros lower than Lin Quan's.
The price of the sponsor's contract is directly related to the player's status with the sponsor.
Lin Quan's unit price exceeds that of Cristiano Ronaldo, which means that in Nike's eyes, his status and commercial value exceed that of Cristiano Ronaldo, and he is the number one star under Nike's football strategy!
This is where Pere felt Nike was sincere! However, Lin Quan was not very satisfied with the amount.
He remembered that when NBA star James just debuted in 2003, he signed a huge contract with Nike for 7 years and 93 million US dollars.
After renewing his contract with Nike in 2010, the industry generally speculated that James' sponsorship contract exceeded 200 million US dollars, and the unit price may have reached a terrifying 40 million US dollars a year.
Compared with Lin Quan's 9 million euros a year, James' contract is about four times his.
Such a huge gap made Lin Quan feel a little unhappy.
James is currently the number one player in the NBA, and his status may be slightly higher than his.
But the gap in status between the two is definitely not as exaggerated as 4 times.
So the question is, why does Nike pay such a high sponsorship fee to James, but such a low sponsorship fee to itself?
"Uh, this..."
Pere was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to explain to Lin Quan.
Compared to football, basketball's influence around the world is indeed much smaller.
Even in the United States, basketball is not the number one sport.
Judging from the global frenzy caused by last year's World Cup, football is undoubtedly the world's number one sport in the sports world.
However, football has a fatal flaw: sneakers are hard to sell!
Most of the contracts of basketball players are for sneaker endorsements, and some sponsors will even work with them to develop exclusive sneakers.
After fans buy the sneakers worn by these stars, they can wear them in sports or daily life. Therefore, the audience group is huge and there is no need to worry about sales.
Sponsors can make huge profits from the sales of sneakers, so naturally they are willing to spend money to sign players.
But football shoes are too professional. This kind of shoes with studs are not suitable for wearing in daily life except on the court.
Professional football shoes are expensive and have limited uses, so only fans who like to play football will buy them.
Ordinary fans will at most buy a jersey, and most likely will not buy sneakers, which undoubtedly limits its audience and market size.
Therefore, the amount of sponsorship contracts for football players will naturally be limited and not as high as that of the NBA.
"That's not a problem. I don't wear sneakers all day long. I can definitely endorse Nike's daily sports shoes. There's no need to limit the scope so strictly!"
Pere was speechless for a moment. Lin Quan's idea was really wild.
"Okay, I'll give Nike some feedback and see what they say!"
After Nike received Pere's reply, it immediately held an emergency meeting to discuss the matter.
They have no idea about the effectiveness of letting football players endorse other sports products that have little to do with football.
They usually choose track and field athletes or simply invite movie stars to endorse this kind of sports shoes, and rarely invite football players to endorse them.
Moreover, Lin Quan's contract amount has already exceeded that of Ronaldo. If it is increased further, it may cause serious dissatisfaction among Ronaldo.
Therefore, Nike declined Pere's proposal.
In order to compensate Lin Quan, they promised to do their best next year to help Lin Quan win the Lawrence Award.
"Then let's wait until the results of next year's Lawrence Awards are announced!"
After receiving Nike's reply, Lin Quan was somewhat dissatisfied.
The other party was essentially painting a pie in the sky for me and tricking me into renewing the contract in advance.
As for whether the big promise can be fulfilled after the contract renewal, the other party did not make any guarantee.
Naturally, he would not believe such a blank check. Coincidentally, the shortlist for the Lawrence Awards will be announced at the beginning of next month.
The award ceremony will be held at the Shanghai Grand Theater on April 15, 2015. We will know how sincere Nike is then.
After rejecting Nike's contract extension, Lin Quan turned his attention back to the game.
On January 10, Manchester City will visit Liverpool's Goodison Park to challenge Everton.
Manchester City received good news in this game. Aguero and Kroos both returned from injury and entered the team's roster. They were replaced by Guardiola in the second half.
Manchester City, with all their main players in the field, led their opponents 3:0 in the first half thanks to goals from Lin Quan and De Bruyne.
In the second half, Lin Quan scored another goal, completing a hat trick for two consecutive games, and his form was hot.
Shortly after completing his hat-trick, Lin Quan was replaced by Aguero by Guardiola.
When Lin Quan was substituted off the field, Guardiola seemed to be afraid that he would be angry, so he hugged him and explained to him why he substituted him early.
"You've already scored three goals, and Everton's players are getting angry. If I keep you on the field, they might retaliate and foul you, which would be dangerous, so I replaced you."
Lin Quan glanced at Guardiola and asked curiously:
"Will you also explain this to Messi when you replace him?"
(End of this chapter)