Chapter 865 Crazy Football
"Jorge, you've spent a lot of money on news lately, haven't you?"
At Sudong's estate in Cheshire, Pepe saw Mendes who had come from Portugal and asked with a joking smile.
There was still a hint of resentment in Pepe's tone.
It’s not about what Mendes did to him, but what he did to Su Dong.
Several Portuguese players have been obviously over-hyped recently. For example, Falcao, Cardozo, Hulk and Gaitan have all been hyped up by the Portuguese media. Even Falcao has said that he wants to end the Soviet and Eastern European era.
As Su Dong's good brother, Pepe really wanted to pull those players out and ask them why they did it. "Misunderstanding! Really misunderstanding!" Mendes was a little embarrassed. It was really like a flood that washed away the Dragon King Temple.
"To be honest, I did ask some media to hype up Falcao. You know, in the Europa League semi-final, he scored four goals, so I definitely took advantage of it, but I didn't expect it to become so outrageous. Also, the Cardoso and Gaitan incidents have nothing to do with me."
"Aren't Cardozo and Gaitan your players?" Pepe looked at me with a look that said I'm very suspicious of you.
Mendes clicked his tongue and said, "See, I misunderstood again, didn't I? I only own 20% of Cardozo, and the remaining 80% is in Benfica's hands. It has nothing to do with me. I have already made my money back. I will make a profit no matter how much the rest is sold. On the contrary, Benfica is the one who is most worried."
What he said was quite heartfelt and reasonable, and Pepe really couldn't say anything more.
In fact, Su Dong is not worried that Mendes will use him for hype. At his level, he doesn't know how many people are hyping him up every day. The addition of Falcao and Cardozo is nothing. It will not harm Su Dong's interests at all and may not be a bad thing.
Besides, Mendes' business is indeed getting bigger and bigger, but he can't give up his interests in Sudong either. How could he be so stupid as to let players like Falcao and Cardozo damage Sudong's interests? Isn't this the same as cutting his own flesh?
Su Dong didn't believe from beginning to end that the shrewd Mendes would do such a thing, so he stopped Pepe from continuing and signaled to Mendes not to worry, it was no big deal.
"Is business good recently?" Su Dong asked with a smile.
Su Dong knew Mendes' character. He was very shrewd and would not do anything without benefits.
Needless to say, he must have seen some opportunity when he hyped the player so vigorously.
Mendes smiled and nodded. "In the past few years, European football has been in a slump. After the subprime mortgage crisis, there was the European debt crisis. Most teams were in dire straits and had to tighten their belts. Fortunately, Florentino Perez returned to Real Madrid, and Manchester City was acquired, making it a hot spot in the European transfer market."
"Now, both Real Madrid and Manchester City are relatively stable, and they are basically strengthening their positions, but this summer, there may be big moves in European football."
"What big move?" Marcelo became excited when he heard it.
This guy is a dedicated supporting actor.
Mendes smiled at the Brazilian left-back, "Remember, there was news not long ago that a Qatari consortium wanted to acquire Manchester United?"
Su Dong and others nodded in unison. This news was widely circulated in the Premier League at the time. It was said that they had already made contact, but the Glazer family behind Manchester United asked for too high a price, which scared the other party away, so it was unsuccessful.
“The consortium actually did not give up the idea of acquiring European clubs, but went to Ligue 1 instead.”
Mendes nodded, and Su Dong just remembered a piece of news that Wang Chuqing recommended to him not long ago, and blurted out: "Paris Saint-Germain!"
"Yes, the entire acquisition is almost completed. There are too many interests involved, including Ligue 1, French football, and even UEFA and the World Cup bid. Anyway, it is very complicated. I only know a little bit about the details, but what is certain is that after Paris Saint-Germain is acquired, it will definitely set off another wave."
"So, the players' value and annual salary can increase further?" Marcelo became excited.
This is also human nature.
When it comes to playing football, although liking it is important, professional football is ultimately about profit.
From 2009 to now, the players' value has really increased.
Not to mention anything else, the salaries of Pepe, Marcelo, David Silva and others have at least doubled after coming to Manchester City from other teams, and if they perform well this season, everyone will receive a generous bonus.
It can be said that they are all beneficiaries of this wave.
If you think about it this way, things become very clear.
Mendes saw the business opportunity and wanted to take advantage of it to drive up the value of his players and make some money.
"In addition to the Qatari consortium's acquisition of Paris Saint-Germain, I have also received reliable information that a wealthy person from Russia is also looking to acquire a European football club, but they are still in the contact stage."
"Are you the major shareholder of Arsenal?" Pepe asked.
Among Arsenal’s major shareholders is a Russian tycoon who has always wanted to take over Arsenal, but has never succeeded.
Wenger supported selling the club to this Russian tycoon back then. It was said that if successful, Arsenal would get a large transfer fee to transform the team. But in the end the acquisition was unsuccessful. Wenger was forced to tighten his belt in recent years, and David Dunn, who supported him, also left the team in disgrace.
"It's not him, it's another one, but he also has strong financial resources and is currently considering teams in the Premier League and Ligue 1," said Mendes.
Britain, France and Germany are major European countries with strong economic power, but German clubs are subject to clear regulatory restrictions and are basically impossible to be acquired by foreign capital, so naturally no one is interested.
As for Spain and Italy, although they are also football powerhouses, their economies are relatively poor.
La Liga is in trouble because of the existence of the two Spanish Super League giants. Any team that acquires a La Liga team will have to survive under the shadow of the two Spanish Super League giants, and it is difficult to change the situation. As for Serie A, let alone the economy, it doesn’t even have its own stadium, so how can it develop? "The economy outside is very depressed now, and the sports industry is a good safe haven, so a lot of hot money has poured in. In addition, professional football has entered the era of globalization, and the advertising effect is very obvious, so it is very popular with investors."
Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about the Abu Dhabi consortium and Mansour. From the perspective of advertising effect alone, investing tens of millions of euros in advertising may not necessarily cause much waves, but investing tens of millions of euros to buy a superstar will let the whole world know in an instant, and the media will even dig deep to find out all the details.
This is the influence of football! Today's European football is no longer just about football.
Or it should be said that ever since football became professional and commercialized, it has ceased to be simple.
With the influx of hot money, the players' values and annual salaries will increase again, which is not a bad thing for people like Su Dong and Pepe.
As practitioners, they can profit greatly from it, which is actually a good thing.
Of course, if you worry more, you should start to care about the development and future of the entire football industry.
Football transfers are ultimately a matter of supply and demand. With supply remaining basically unchanged, the addition of Paris Saint-Germain and other teams with high demand will disrupt the original balance of supply and demand, and the players' value and annual salary will naturally increase.
After the price has risen to a certain level, a new supply and demand balance is reached.
However, doing so will likely make it more difficult for some teams to operate, or even lead to their closure or bankruptcy.
But these are not things that Su Dong and others should worry about as players.
To put it bluntly, they just play football.
As long as you can play football well, why worry about not having a place to play football?
…
Mendes certainly didn't come to Cheshire to explain the hype.
In fact, he came to tell Su Dong that the American sports brand had agreed to the offer they had made before, and had begun discussing Su Dong's lifetime contract with Mendes and Ma Dawei's team.
This will be the most important lifetime contract in the history of global sports.
Su Dong knew clearly that this was because the other party valued the Chinese and Asian markets in the next few years. The reason why his commercial value was valuable was because he had an increasingly powerful motherland behind him. Therefore, he also clearly reminded Mendes to strictly control the terms of the contract.
Wang Chuqing will personally represent Su Dong to negotiate the details of the contract. There is one clause that Su Dong insists on and he will never give in.
That is, American sports brands must never engage in anything that damages China's national interests or hurts the feelings of the Chinese people. Otherwise, Sudong has the right to pursue accountability and terminate the contract without compensation.
Mendes finds this difficult to understand, but he respects it.
As Su Dong said, it is difficult for people from other countries to understand his deep identification and love for his motherland.
It's like many people can't understand Su Dong, wondering why he doesn't want to represent other countries in the World Cup? If he represented a strong country to play in the World Cup, he would have a chance to win the World Cup and become the king of football, but Su Dong refused Germany, Spain, Portugal and England, and everyone else.
They all couldn't understand this, only Su Dong himself knew the answer.
He is a Chinese first and a player second.
He may not play football, but he will never betray his country or do anything that is detrimental to his country's interests.
This may be considered quite stupid in the eyes of many foreigners, but the family education that Su Dong received since he was a child required him to do so.
Wang Chuqing understood him and agreed with his views, so she would personally review various business contracts for him.
…
After sending Mendes away, Su Dong also sent Pepe and Marcelo away, and ran into the gym to train alone.
This season, Manchester City's frontcourt has been supported by Su Dong, which has resulted in him having heavy game tasks, great pressure and great consumption.
In the long run, it is not good for Su Dong's career, especially in terms of maintaining his form after the age of 30.
Begiristain has promised that the team will introduce wingers and forwards to relieve Su Dong's pressure to the greatest extent possible and try to give him more rotation and rest time.
After all, Su Dong is the most important core force of this Manchester City!
(End of this chapter)
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