Chapter 438 Buy One Get One Free

Pini Zahavi appeared in Saint-Etienne, France, and sat opposite Romeyer.

The Israeli looked at the Frenchman in front of him with a kind smile, and the joke that Master Huan said yesterday came to his mind.

Three pieces of advice for smart men: Don't play mahjong with your mother-in-law; don't go to bed with a woman who has more ideas than you; don't start a company with your best friend. The last one is the most serious.

At this moment, Saint-Etienne chairman Romeyer, who was sitting in front of him, was a typical example.

In French football, when talking about Saint-Etienne, most people feel strange about the team's dual chairman configuration.

Interestingly, the two presidents, Romeyer and Caiazzo, each hold 50% of the club's shares.

Before they acquired the club in 2004, they were very good friends. However, after they joined hands to acquire Saint-Etienne, they had conflicts one after another. In the end, they not only stopped being friends, but became enemies.

It was not until the last two years that the situation has improved, but the contradictions between the two sides are still obvious.

The two sides now have a very clear division of labor. Romeyer is responsible for the team's sports affairs, finances and personnel appointments, including the head coach.

Caiazzo is responsible for the daily operation and supervision of the team.

People who are familiar with Saint-Etienne know that if you go to Caiazzo to discuss a transfer, and you have reached an agreement but Romeyer immediately comes out to object, then nothing will happen.

But if we want to discuss business cooperation, there is no point in looking for Romeyer, as Caiazzo has a veto power.

Pini Zahavi knew this very well, so he appeared in front of Romeyer.

"I'm here this time to represent Mr. Yang Huan!" Pini Zahavi immediately brought out his backer.

Yang Huan, who in the world doesn’t know him?

“We just completed the acquisition of Monaco!”

Romeyer was a little surprised. He had received information before that Monaco had been acquired by foreign capital.

But no one expected that the person behind it was Yang Huan from Southampton.

This Chinese person seems to be trying to emulate what Abramovich did back then, only becoming more secretive.

"When sorting out Monaco's finances, we found that Saint-Etienne had a transfer debt of 2 million euros that had expired, so Mr. Yang Huan entrusted me to find out the situation."

As he spoke, Pini Zahavi took out a letter of authorization in a very serious manner.

Romeyer quickly took it with both hands, took a quick look at it, and politely returned it to Pini Zahavi.

Although the Israelis do not have a very good reputation in the European football circle, they are at least considered top figures and it is impossible for them to fake it.

Romeyer said with a smile: "Mr. Zahavi, there is indeed a balance of 2 million euros, but we have already discussed it with Monaco in advance. Besides, you know what's going on in the transfer market. We are a small team. We didn't sell any players in the summer transfer market this year, and we don't dare to introduce any."

After a pause, the Frenchman gave a wry smile with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Two million euros, can you delay it a little longer?"

Pini Zahavi is of course aware that the French Ligue 1 teams are indeed very poor.

For a team like Saint-Etienne, if they don't sell players, they won't have enough funds to sign new players.

Their biggest income in a season is the share of the Ligue 1 broadcasting fee, plus the match day income.

But what is the one thing that doesn’t cost money when running a football team?

So, 2 million euros is a drop in the bucket for Europe's top teams, but it is a huge sum of money for them.

"When Rufair transferred last year, the two teams agreed to pay in three installments within a year, but Saint-Etienne has only paid the first installment, and the second and third installments are still in arrears. I'm afraid this is not just a delay, right?"

Pini Zahavi spoke with his back straight and his tone a little heavy.

After all, we are in the right.

Think about it, you took advantage of Monaco's relegation to kick them when they were down and tried every possible means to poach their players.

Okay, now Monaco has been torn apart by you, but you still owe them the transfer fee. Is this acceptable?

Romeyer was a little embarrassed. Ruffaire was a local goalkeeper cultivated by Monaco and a popular candidate for the national team. He was also young. If Saint-Etienne had not made a strong effort to poach him, he might not have been brought in.

However, when he saw the other party's tough attitude, Romeyer began to complain.

Who is Pini Zahavi?

He has been relatively low-key in recent years, but in the past few years, he was a big figure in European football.

He couldn't even praise such a person enough, so how dare he offend him?

Not to mention that there is a wealthy young master Yang Huan standing behind him!

Pini Zahavi looked at Romeyer's expression and knew what was going on.

"Last season, Saint-Étienne finished seventh in Ligue 1 and received at least 30 million euros in broadcasting fees, so they should not be short of money."

Romeyer's face turned bitter. "Mr. Zahavi, you don't know the difficulties of our small team. Running a team now, which one doesn't cost money?"

Although Saint-Etienne plays in France, there will always be some expenses for playing away games, right?

There will be round trip expenses, right?

The club’s staff need salaries, right?

Which of these doesn’t cost money?

Three or four thousand euros is not enough for a small team!

Pini Zahavi listened and laughed, "You and Caiazzo are both rich people. Two million euros is not a small amount, but it is not much for you either. One million euros each..."

At this point, Pini Zahavi paused deliberately, "Or, I can invite Caiazzo to talk as well. He should be able to afford 2 million euros."

"No!" Romeyer shook his head almost without hesitation.

Are you kidding? The two of them have been quarreling for four or five years and have finally reached an agreement to ease the situation. How could something like this happen again?

At the beginning, Caiazzo's shares were 52%. After Romeyer took over, the two sides had many negotiations over the shares and finally reached a consensus that both parties would hold 50% each and jointly own Saint-Etienne.

If I ask Caiazzo to pay now, I will definitely have to exchange it for shares. By that time, my shares will be inferior to Caiazzo's. Won't I be stepped on by him in the future?

As for the two of them contributing 1 million euros each, that's not impossible, but...

Pini Zahavi knows what's going on.

When the two acquired Saint-Etienne, they originally took out debt to acquire it. Otherwise, with just that little money to acquire Saint-Etienne, would they have needed two good friends to come together to acquire it?

Over the years, they have been paying off their debts, a bit like the Glazer family's acquisition of Manchester United.

But Saint-Etienne is not as famous as Manchester United!

The Israelis didn't say anything, and Romeyer felt very stressed.

There’s nothing you can do about it, people are short of breath when they are poor!

"Mr. Zahavi, how about you talk to Mr. Yang Huan? Or, let's just do this, we, Saint-Etienne, will be a satellite of Southampton and help the Saints train young players for free, and you will get a proper salary in one year... hehe, you know!"

Of course Pini Zahavi understands.

These days, satellites require some subsidies a year, ranging from tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of euros to even hundreds of thousands of euros.

After hearing this, Pini Zahavi first sighed deeply, then shook his head heavily.

"It's not that I won't help you, but you don't know Master Huan. He does things cleanly and efficiently. He doesn't like to drag things out, and he especially doesn't like others to owe him money. Even if you really want to cooperate, you have to pay the transfer fee first!"

Romeyer felt depressed after hearing this.

If he wasn't really afraid that the other party would complain to the French Ligue 1, he would have simply replied with the truth: I don't have the money, but can I eat human flesh?

But he didn't dare to say this!

"Ah!" Pini Zahavi sighed again, "Well, it's not that I don't want to help you, I'll give you a trick!"

"Well, okay, you say it, you say it!" Romeyer immediately became excited.

Pini Zahavi looked around like a thief.

"I have a good relationship with Southampton's scouts and have heard them mention your players before."

"Who?" Romeyer's heart tightened.

The Israeli had been paying close attention to Romeyer's expression, and being as shrewd as a fox, he secretly laughed to himself.

"Kurt Zouma, and Aubameyang!"

"Ah?" Romeyer was stunned.

Kurt Zouma is a product of Saint-Etienne's youth training system. He is a very promising local talented central defender and is only seventeen years old.

As for Aubameyang, the Gabonese player, now 23 years old, was originally loaned to Saint-Etienne from AC Milan, but half a year ago, the team saw his good performance and bought him out directly.

The buyout price is very cheap, only one million euros.

Pini Zahavi had already planned it out.

Young Master Huan originally specifically asked for Kurt Zouma, saying that this talented central defender from Saint-Etienne was worth 2 million euros and was used to make up the number.

But Pini Zahavi feels that with only Zouma, he cannot show his abilities.

So, he took the initiative and asked for an extra Aubameyang.

Aubameyang is the main striker of Saint-Etienne. He has very good speed. In the past season, he scored 16 goals in 36 games and was very successful. The player was also loaned to Monaco by AC Milan for a season and had no problem integrating into the team.

Speaking of genius, Aubameyang can be considered a genius, otherwise AC Milan would not look down on him.

I guess Master Huan wouldn’t mind having a few more!

Buy one get one free, Master Huan will definitely be happy!

While Pini Zahavi was happily thinking about how to take credit, Romeyer was in a dilemma.

On one side is 2 million euros in cash, and on the other side are Kurt Zouma and Aubameyang.

How to choose?

Pini Zahavi looked at Romeyer's expression and decided to add more firewood, so he sighed and stood up.

"Forget it, forget it, just pretend I didn't say anything!"

As soon as Romeyer saw the Israelis stand up, he panicked.

"I'm going back to Monaco now and telling Master Huan that I won't interfere in this matter anymore. You guys can handle it yourselves!"

Romeyer was dumbfounded.

Is this to let Yang Huan take action himself?

My goodness, what level of person is Yang Huan?

The British media have said that people would spend millions or tens of millions of euros at any time, so how could he care about two million euros?

If you are annoyed by such a small matter and get angry and directly sue the French Ligue 1, how can you deal with it?

Besides, I want to climb up the ladder and start cooperating with Southampton in youth training!

Thinking of this, Romeyer gritted his teeth and stomped his feet. Okay, two is two!

"Mr. Zahavi, it's a deal!"

At this moment, his heart was bleeding!

Kurt Zouma and Aubameyang are now unknown in European football, but they have a good reputation in the French Ligue 1.

Even if they were sold, the value of both players would be at least over 2 million euros.

Forget it, Aubameyang was only worth one million euros half a year ago, so just treat it as if Zouma was also sold for one million euros!

Although it was a little bit of a loss, if I could establish a relationship with Yang Huan, then...

Thinking of this, Romeyer immediately grabbed Pini Zahavi and insisted that the other party say a few more good words to promote the youth training cooperation between Southampton and Saint-Etienne.

Pini Zahavi nodded and agreed with a smile, saying that he would definitely help.

As for whether it will succeed or not, who knows?