Chapter 1035: Creating a prosperous era for the Chinese Super League
?Ibrahimovic?
It was Ibrahimovic?
When Pierre Menez exclusively revealed on his official WeChat public account that the world-class center forward that the Chinese Super League giants Beijing Guoan wanted to introduce turned out to be Ibrahimovic from Paris Saint-Germain, the whole world was shocked.
Almost all media outlets reprinted the report crazily, especially the mainstream media in Europe, and no one dared to believe this fact.
Indeed, Ibrahimovic is already 34 years old and has entered the twilight of his career, but his form is obvious to all, and he is still the top scorer in the French Ligue 1.
The former world No. 1 football player is still the star player of Paris Saint-Germain, why should they sell him?
French media flocked to Paris Saint-Germain to find out the inside story.
Paris Saint-Germain officials also responded quickly and urgently the next day, stating that Ibrahimovic would indeed leave the team during the winter break, but did not give a clear explanation as to the reason for selling the Swedish center.
An official spokesperson for the French Ligue 1 giants said that selling Ibrahimovic was a sad decision because he has been a vital member of the team and a benchmark for all the players in the team over the past two years.
But considering his age, the team's youth strategy, and the player's personal wishes, the club had to make this painful decision.
At the same time, Paris Saint-Germain also expressed the hope that Ibrahimovic can have a good career in the new team.
If before, the media and fans were still a little skeptical and hoped that this was fake news, then now, with the official announcement from Paris Saint-Germain, this news has basically been confirmed.
That is, Beijing Guoan from the Chinese Super League will introduce Ibrahimovic from Paris Saint-Germain!
This is definitely a groundbreaking transfer deal!
It's not just because of Ibrahimovic's influence, but also because he still represents some of the top superstars in today's football.
If, before, European media and commentators generally believed that capital from China could only buy second- and third-tier players, or quasi-first-tier players in Europe, then Beijing Guoan used a series of transactions to tell everyone that as long as there is money, Chinese Super League teams can buy the most popular superstars.
All the media outlets reported this incident like crazy, digging deep into the ground to find out the truth.
Why did Ibrahimovic leave Paris Saint-Germain and go to the Chinese Super League?
Everyone knows that by going to the Chinese Super League, his career in Europe has basically come to an end.
Soon, Pierre Menez’s official WeChat public account broke the news again.
This time they interviewed an anonymous person close to Ibrahimovic.
According to anonymous sources, there are many main reasons why the Swedish center forward switched to the Chinese Super League. Both the club and the player basically agreed to the deal, which was the reason that led to the Swedish center forward's move to the Chinese Super League.
What Paris Saint-Germain is considering now is rejuvenation. After buying Diego Costa, the center position is a bit bloated.
Losing the French Ligue 1 title last season and falling behind Koeman's Monaco this season has made Paris Saint-Germain learn from their mistakes and decide to promote rejuvenation. Therefore, after introducing Diego Costa, selling Ibrahimovic has become possible.
As for Ibrahimovic himself, going to the Chinese Super League was not a difficult decision.
Because the boss of Jingcheng Guoen is exactly the boss of Southampton, Yang Huan.
Since Master Huan personally came forward and convinced Ibrahimovic that he could play a more important role in the Chinese Super League than in the French Ligue 1, the Swedish center decided to go to China for adventure.
"He believes that Beckham failed to conquer America, but he can conquer China!"
According to the anonymous person, the entire transfer is not as simple as the outside world imagines. The main reason why it has not been announced to the public is not the players and the transfer itself.
"Many ordinary fans think that superstar transfers are easy. One party is willing to pay, the other party is willing to sell, and the player is willing to leave, then it can be done. In fact, it is not."
"The real factor that determines whether a superstar transfer can be successful lies in the sponsor."
"Ibrahimovic's actual transfer fee is very low, not to mention compared with Diego Costa, even compared with players like Jackson Martinez who went to the Chinese Super League, it is far inferior, but his annual salary is very high, almost reaching the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, and he holds 50% of his image rights."
"Why is this happening?"
"The reason is simple. Sponsor Adidas is willing to help Beijing Guoan cover most of Ibrahimovic's annual salary."
"In the past few years, the jersey sponsor of the Chinese Super League has been Nike, which has enabled Nike to develop very quickly in the Chinese market. Adidas is at a disadvantage in this regard, but German equipment suppliers are actively seeking opportunities to reverse the situation."
"Yang Huan has had very close cooperation with Adidas and Nike. Southampton even successfully got sponsorship from the two major sponsors at the same time, which became a great feat in European professional football. This time, Jingcheng Guoen is also in close contact with sponsors."
"The requirements put forward by Beijing Guoan are very simple. They want to operate superstars, and the biggest superstars. Since the jerseys already belong to Nike, the players' shoe sponsorship has become the main battlefield for the struggle."
"Ibrahimovic previously belonged to Nike, with an annual sponsorship fee of 5 million euros, but that has expired. Kaka's contract with Adidas has also expired. Xabi Alonso's sponsorship contract belongs to Adidas, and Terry belongs to Nike."
"Beijing Guoan holds 50% of the players' image rights. They have already reached an agreement with sponsors to bring superstars to the Chinese Super League, but sponsors have to bear part of the costs, especially the players' annual salaries."
"This time, Ibrahimovic switched to Beijing Guoan. In order to snatch the shoe sponsorship rights from Nike, Adidas reached an agreement with Beijing Guoan. The Swedish center wore Adidas shoes and competed in the Chinese Super League. Adidas was willing to pay more than half of Ibrahimovic's annual salary and launch matching Ibrahimovic peripheral products."
"All in all, after this transaction, I'm afraid that the actual amount paid by the capital city Guoen is not that much."
“But did Adidas lose money?”
"It's not a loss, because they hope to establish a good relationship with Beijing Guoan, especially Yang Huan behind Beijing Guoan. Once the Nike contract expires, they will do everything they can to snatch the sponsorship rights of Beijing Guoan, the top Chinese Super League club, and revive Adidas' sales market in China."
"It's the same with Ibrahimovic, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and John Terry!"
"If we see Ibrahimovic, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Terry wearing Nike jerseys but Adidas shoes in the new season, don't be too surprised because these are all commercial operations."
Following Pierre Menez's revelations, people in the European football circle were less concerned, but ordinary fans were stunned to find out how the transfer of a superstar actually works.
My God, doesn’t that mean Beijing Guoan didn’t spend much money but was so willful as to introduce superstars?
Pierre Menez also revealed that Beijing Guoan is not considering introducing foreign players from Asia because they believe that introducing non-Chinese players from Asia has little cost-effectiveness and is not worth considering.
If the conditions are the same, they would rather spend more money to introduce the country's popular first-line local stars.
When the overwhelming news from abroad reached back home, it immediately caused a huge response on the Internet and in newspapers. All the fans stared at Beijing Guoan's continuous big-money signings in amazement and found it unbelievable.
If Terry and Kaka were exciting enough, then the arrival of Xabi Alonso shocked all domestic fans, and Ibrahimovic was crazy.
Countless fans were cheering wildly, believing that Beijing Guoan’s continuous big moves would usher in a golden age for the Chinese Super League.
Especially such a big-name signing is bound to disrupt the pattern of the Chinese Super League.
With big investments in both foreign and domestic players, it would be unimaginable if Beijing Guoan were not the strongest contender for the league title in the new season.
The fans' madness is also reflected in the sales of Beijing Guoan season tickets.
According to the original club arrangement, 25,000 season tickets could no longer meet the needs of the fans.
In order to better serve the fans, Beijing Guoan had to temporarily increase the number of season tickets by 5,000. However, after the announcement of the introduction of Xabi Alonso and Ibrahimovic, the football market was further stimulated. The application for season tickets skyrocketed and the club had to add another 5,000 tickets.
However, the supply of 35,000 season tickets is still far from enough to meet the needs of fanatical fans.
Not to mention that Beijing Guoan's capacity is only more than 40,000, even Barcelona's Camp Nou may not be able to meet the needs of this group of fanatical fans.
Fang Wei had to hold a press conference in person to clarify the club's helplessness and said that a maximum of 35,000 season tickets could be supplied. Taking into account the current fans' frenetic demand for tickets, in addition to giving priority to the club's die-hard fans, the club will adopt a lottery method.
This move is not much different from the past, except that the chances of winning were higher before, but now, with four people competing for one ticket, you can imagine how difficult it is.
Fang Wei also stated at the press conference that the team will officially launch a membership system in the near future. The membership fee will not be increased. The main purpose is to establish a management system for member fans so that the club can better serve the fans.
As for the specific operations, the club will give a special detailed introduction.
The media and fans generally praised the Beijing Guoan team for its timely public relations efforts, believing that this was a major positive progress.
The hot ticket sales are obvious to all, and no matter how they are divided, it will definitely cause some controversy and opinions.
There is nothing wrong with what Jingcheng Guoen is doing now, and it has also given specific relief measures, which is quite convincing.
Therefore, after this press conference, both the media and the fans generally gave positive feedback.
At the same time, many fans are amazed at Beijing Guoan's operational capabilities. They believe that although both teams are recruiting players, Beijing Guoan has introduced bigger names and received more attention, but the actual investment is not much more than that of other teams.
Basically all the fans attributed this series of operations of Beijing Guoan to Master Huan and the entire operation team behind him, and believed that Beijing Guoan set a benchmark for domestic transfers and signings.
Not only domestic media and fans have high praise for Beijing Guoan, but even foreign media have also believed that Beijing Guoan's operational capabilities are indeed astonishing, reflecting the outstanding capabilities of the entire management team behind it.
That is, under the widespread attention of the media and fans around the world, and with the unanimous farewell of the Beijing fans, Beijing Guoan officially set off for Barcelona, Spain, to start summer training.