Chapter 412 Lin Quan takes action and signs old teammate Harvey

The population in Miami is relatively complex, with Mexicans, Cubans, and immigrants from various European countries gathered together.

The gathering of so many ethnic groups not only brings diverse cultures, but also greatly enriches the local cuisine.

After negotiating the matter with Beckham, Beckham, as the host, took Lin Quan to a high-end restaurant for a banquet.

The hand that takes from others is short-handed, and the mouth that eats from others is soft-hearted.

Lin Quan not only received benefits from Beckham, but also enjoyed Beckham's top-level hospitality.

This made him feel a little guilty, so he thought about adding some more money or something.

"Mr. Beckham, isn't this a good idea? How about I pay a little more so that you don't have to explain to other investors?"

"It doesn't matter. I will explain to the other partners. They will definitely support your joining us!"

Although Beckham explained again and again, Lin Quan still insisted on injecting capital.

Beckham finally had no choice but to compromise and agreed to let Lin Quan invest 25 million US dollars.

This amount of money is just enough for the team to buy a team spot from the Major League Baseball.

As early as 2007, Beckham joined the Los Angeles Galaxy Football Club of Major League Soccer.

He had reached an agreement with the Major League Soccer to purchase an expansion team to join the league.

And this spot is worth 25 million US dollars.

Of course, the normal price is much more than this number. This price is what Beckham got in return for playing in the MLS for five years.

According to Beckham and his team's original plan, the registered capital of the newly established club should have been US$100 million. Including the cost of purchasing quota places, the total cost was 125 million.

Now Lin Quan has paid an additional US$25 million, and if other partners do not withdraw their investment, their total registered capital has reached US$150 million.

Therefore, according to the investment ratio and the previous equity promise to Lin Quan, after Lin Quan increased his capital, his shares increased to 35%, which was almost the same as Beckham's shareholding ratio, and he became the largest shareholder of Miami International.

However, there is basically no hope for a return on investment in football. Both Beckham and the investment partners he brought in only participated in this matter out of their love for football and did not really expect to make money from it.

Lin Quan's original intention was similar to theirs, but he knew that this club would be able to make money in the future, or at least not lose money.

So the money has been invested and there is no psychological burden.

But since it is his own team, he as the big boss must use his advantage as a time traveler to recruit some talents for the team.

"How are we going to recruit players for the new team? Do you have any candidates?"

After all, Miami International was founded by Beckham, so Lin Quan did not express his opinion blindly, but planned to understand Beckham's plans first.

"I have some connections in the UK and know some well-known football stars. I plan to lobby them first to see if I can persuade them to join our team."

Having been in North America for almost ten years, Beckham has fully understood the characteristics of this place.

Back then, it was the MLS that offered generous conditions to bring him in, which made the MLS famous, making it a retirement destination for top stars and attracting countless stars to join.

After that, major football teams followed the example of the Los Angeles Galaxy and spent a high price to buy a star player to establish their own brand, expand the team's influence, and use the star's fame to drive sales of footballs and peripheral products.

This type of investment has a very high return rate, and I have almost never seen anyone lose money.

Moreover, unlike the five major leagues that have promotion and relegation, the MLS does not have a last-place relegation system, so here there is no need to worry about the team being relegated and causing previous investments to go to waste.

Coupled with strict salary cap restrictions, you may not make much money, but it will also be difficult to lose money.

Of course, it is precisely because of the existence of the salary cap that the team has problems in recruiting players.

According to MLS rules, the salary cap for each team in 2015 is $3.5 million.

Please note that this is the salary cap for all players on the team combined, not the salary cap for a particular player.

Considering that a team may have as many as 20 to 30 players, including substitutes and rotation players, the average annual salary of the players is less than $150,000.

This annual salary is almost catching up with Lin Quan’s daily salary.

Of course, in order to attract international stars to join, the league also opened some exemption places for the teams.

According to MLS rules, each team can have three special quota places each year.

Players who enjoy these three special quotas will not be subject to salary cap restrictions, and their income will not be included in the team's total salary cap.

Moreover, the MLS is different from the European leagues. Here players can be traded freely as commodities, and there is no need to seek the players' consent, just like in the NBA.

In Europe, if a club wants to sell a player, if the other party does not agree to the transfer, then the sale cannot be made, just like when Sneijder was in Real Madrid. He didn't want to leave, but Real Madrid couldn't send him away.

In the end, he was not even allowed to enter the locker room. After Inter Milan’s constant lobbying, they barely moved him and sent him away.

But this kind of thing is impossible in the NBA and the Major League Soccer (MLS). Two years ago, Cooper, the teammate of Highbury King Henry, was traded in this way in front of him, which made Henry exclaim that it was outrageous. He then criticized the MLS policy and believed that it was disrespectful to the players.

How can people be treated as commodities and traded at will?

Where are the basic human rights?

Henry asserted that if the MLS does not change the salary cap system, draft, and trades, the MLS will definitely not be able to rise.

After all, most of the world's football stars come from South America and Europe, and in these places, people are not used to being submissive like Americans and treating themselves as commodities to be slaughtered.

Especially those top stars, they will not tolerate MLS's practices. If they dare to trade them like this, the reputation of MLS will be ruined immediately and it will never be able to attract international stars again.

Generally speaking, the main reason that limits the competitive level of the MLS is still salary.

If the salary cap is canceled or relaxed, the MLS will definitely be able to attract more stars.

And it's not just the stars. Because the average salary is too low, the technical level of most players in the team is not very high. Even if there are some potential players in the country, they will tend to go to Europe.

After all, the average salary in Europe is higher. Even for ordinary players who can play in the top five leagues, the salary they can get is much higher than that in the MLS.

In 2012, when Lin Quan was playing for Werder Bremen, a mid-to-lower-level Bundesliga team, the average salary within their team exceeded 1 million euros, which is more than 10 times that of MLS teams.

With such a huge salary gap, any domestic player with some ability would probably choose to run away if they can't get the three special places, right? Beckham mentioned some names, and Lin Quan, who is playing in the Premier League, knows about the names on the list he mentioned.

Most of them are stars playing in the Premier League, and many of them are old players who have passed their prime.

Such players cannot get big contracts in the top five leagues and will most likely go overseas to seek gold.

These players are well-known and can boost the football market. They are also strong enough in the MLS. In addition, they are basically free agents, so teams do not need to pay transfer fees to sign them.

This will undoubtedly save a lot of money.

But after listening to Beckham's list of candidates, Lin Quan frowned.

To be honest, he really looked down upon these people.

Isn't his fame a little too small?

The British media industry is very developed, so it is very good at using public opinion to create stars.

Any player who is slightly outstanding can easily be hyped up as a British star.

They can hype up ordinary players into ordinary stars, ordinary stars can be hyped up into big-name stars, and big-name stars can be hyped up into top stars.

But as long as these players leave the UK and lose the support of the Fleet Street media, they will soon be reduced to their original form.

Of the British players who leave the Premier League to play in other leagues overseas, very few become famous.

Even the likes of David Beckham and Michael Owen never topped their own peaks.

This can be reflected from the Three Lions' performance in recent years. In the last World Cup, the British team was eliminated at the bottom of the group and did not even win a single game. It could not be more miserable.

Therefore, Lin Quan really looks down upon the players from the UK.

Moreover, the candidate in his mind is definitely better than those on Beckham's list in terms of strength, qualifications and influence.

"Mr. David, you are also a midfielder and have played for Real Madrid. What do you think of Xavi's ability?"

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Beckham was stunned for a moment. Weren’t they discussing the new season’s signing list?

Why is it suddenly about Harvey? How is Harvey? Is this even necessary?

If it was Xavi in ​​his prime, he would be the second in the midfield with the hope of becoming the first when Zidane retired.

What's more, Xavi is the holder of 28 championship trophies including two World Cups, two European Cups, one Confederations Cup, three Champions Leagues, seven La Liga titles, etc.

There is no need to ask about his strength and influence. Just ask any player watching the game. As long as they are not Xavi haters, they will be able to give an objective answer.

Wait, Harvey is Lin Quan’s teammate on the national team, and he just looked at the list he was given.

Could it be that? "You want to convince Xavi to join us?"

Beckham suddenly realized that Lin Quan was planning to recruit Harvey to join him?

"Haha, that's right. How's it going? Is there any progress?"

Lin Quan said with a smile.

Beckham laughed and said: "If it can be done, then of course it will be possible. This is Xavi, don't you know how huge his influence is internationally?"

Beckham complained in his mind that although both were midfielders, Xavi was better than him in all aspects except that he was not as handsome and not as tall as him.

If such a player could join Miami, the effect would be even greater than the combination of Villa and Lampard in New York City.

After all, Villa and Lampard are not as good as Xavi in ​​terms of football status, personal strength and honors.

Moreover, Barcelona has achieved excellent results in recent years, and the fans of the Dream Team III dynasty are all over the world.

While countless fans are fans of Messi, they also remember his teammates.

A midfield master like Xavi, Messi's top assistant, naturally has the highest exposure.

For players like this, even if they are older and their strength has declined, coming to the MLS is like frying fish in a fish pond.

Compared with the international stars currently playing in the MLS, whenever Xavi comes, he is the coolest guy in the village and all attention will be focused on him.

This is very beneficial for the first shot of Miami International! Lin Quan nodded. He was a fan in his previous life. How could he not know how great Harvey's influence was? "In that case, I will call Harvey to test his attitude!"

Lin Quan did what he said and immediately took out his cell phone and called Harvey.

Just when Lin Quan was making the call, Xavi was negotiating with the Al Sadd Club in the Qatar League about joining the club.

"Mr. Xavi, if you join our club, we are willing to pay this amount!"

The negotiator of Al Sadd Club raised one finger, which represented 10 million euros! Xavi's salary in his last year at Barcelona was 7.5 million euros, ranking fifth in the Barcelona team, lower than Messi, Neymar, Iniesta and Suarez.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that he signed the contract relatively early. The previous four players have renewed their contracts in recent years, and the contract amounts have increased.

If Xavi is willing to renew his contract, Barcelona will definitely give him a salary increase.

But Xavi knows that his form is declining and he is unwilling to stay in Barcelona as a burden.

If he leaves, Barcelona can free up the money to train a group of outstanding youth players.

In the past twenty years, Barcelona's youth training has achieved remarkable results and produced a large number of top stars. He himself, Alessandro, Busques, Pique, Fabregas and others all came from the La Masia youth training camp.

In addition to them, La Masia also gave birth to two superstars, Messi and Lin Quan! This gave Xavi and Barcelona an illusion that stars could be produced wholesale.

And thanks to the birth of so many stars, La Masia youth training camp has already become world-renowned. Over the years, they have attracted a large number of talented players from all over the world.

With Barcelona's emphasis on youth training and La Masia's scientific training methods, it is not impossible for stars like Lin Quan and Messi to emerge among these players.

This is Harvey's simple idea.

He doesn't want to retire for the time being. After all, he still wants to play for a few more years and earn some pension at the same time.

But Barcelona cannot pay this money themselves, so they can only go to lower-level leagues to make money.

The reason for choosing the Qatar League is that the Qataris have been willing to spend a lot of money on football in recent years in order to build momentum for the 2022 World Cup.

If you go to play for them, you don't have to worry about the situation like Drogba being owed wages in the Chinese Super League. At least before the end of the World Cup, the Qataris will not do such a stupid thing to damage their own reputation.

Moreover, the Middle East is not too far from Europe, and Qatar's aviation industry is extremely developed, making it convenient for him to return to Spain at any time.

Taken together, these factors made Xavi determined to sign with Al Sadd Club.

However, just as he was about to put pen to paper, the phone rang at an inopportune time.

"Sorry, let me take a call!"

Xavi glanced at the name on the caller ID and said to the people from Al Sadd Club with a smile.

“It’s your freedom!”

The representatives of Al Sadd Club were in a very relaxed mood. Xavi had just been tempted and it was only a matter of time before he signed the contract.

His mission on this trip would be completed soon! With the boss' usual generosity, he should be able to get a considerable bonus for helping the team sign a big star like Xavi, right? He had already started thinking about what to do with the bonus.

However, after answering the phone, the first words Harvey said when he came back woke him up from his sweet dream.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mohammed, I'm afraid I can't sign a contract with you."

(End of this chapter)