Chapter 52 Deal!

Yang Huan was not aware that two people in Gelsenkirchen, Germany were conspiring to conduct door-to-door sales.

Because he is currently in the middle of a negotiation.

Sitting opposite him were Leverkusen's chairman Wolfgang Holzhauser and Leverkusen's sports director Rudi Völler, while next to Yang Huan were his assistant Zhang Ning and the team's executive chairman Nicola Cortes.

In between the two sides are Italian agent Raiola and player Arturo Vidal's agent Felicevich.

This was a very formal transfer negotiation, which took place in the luxurious box on the second floor of Southampton's Riverside Pavilion.

After the renovation, Wangjiang Pavilion has been completely renewed. Not only has the interior decoration become brand new with traditional Chinese flavor, the external environment also borrows the scenery along the Test River, as well as the view of the International Sailing Federation headquarters and yacht marina next door.

This makes Wangjiang Pavilion not only a high-end Chinese restaurant, but also a great place to enjoy the scenery.

The luxurious box on the second floor where Yang Huan and his friends were at this moment was facing the Test River.

Long before the negotiations began, Bielsa had already called Arturo Vidal.

Persuaded by the Argentine madman, Vidal was moved and expressed his willingness to join Southampton to play for his former mentor of the Chilean national team, and Southampton also promised to double his salary.

After doubling, Vidal's annual salary is only 2 million euros.

Good quality and low price are the characteristics of current Bundesliga players. The highest transfer fee record in the entire Bundesliga is that Bayern Munich introduced Gomez last year, spending 35 million euros, which is already a sky-high price in the Bundesliga.

This summer, the Bundesliga's top transfer target is Ozil. Werder Bremen's midfield core performed brilliantly in the World Cup and was brought in by Real Madrid for 18 million euros.

Compared with other European leagues, especially the English league, where transfer fees can easily reach tens of millions, Bundesliga players are quite cost-effective in terms of transfer fees and annual salary requirements.

This is also closely related to the fact that Bundesliga teams generally pay more attention to healthy management.

But this does not mean that it will be easy for Southampton to sign Vidal.

On the contrary, Leverkusen did not want to let the Chilean midfielder go at all, so they were very determined on the price.

He directly offered a high price of 30 million euros.

"This is our bottom line. If you want to get Vidal, you have to pay 30 million." The white-haired and black-bearded Waller expressed a very firm attitude from the beginning.

Thirty million euros, which is also the termination clause of Vidal's current contract.

In other words, if Southampton wants to get Vidal, they have to pay the buyout clause.

Southampton has been fully prepared for the difficulty of the negotiations and has collected a lot of intelligence and information for this purpose. In particular, Raiola, who has been clinging to Yang Huan's thick thigh recently, has been working very hard.

"Mr. Voller, before the negotiations officially begin, we need to inform you that we have reached a consensus with the Colo-Colo Club. We will purchase 30% of Vidal's ownership from the Colo-Colo Club for 5 million euros."

Nicola Cortes smiled and continued Waller's words.

"That is to say, Vidal is now a player jointly owned by Leverkusen and Southampton."

Holzhauser and Voller were both shocked. How did Southampton know about this?

You know, when Vidal was introduced from Colo-Colo in 2007, Leverkusen only got 70% of the ownership, and the remaining 30% was still in the hands of Colo-Colo.

According to the agreement reached between Southampton and Colo-Colo, their valuation of Vidal is around 16 million euros.

The price is quite reasonable.

But it is far from Leverkusen's psychological price.

Everyone knows that Southampton is a big money sponsor in this summer's transfer market. If you don't take the opportunity to make a fortune from them, you will be doing yourself a disservice and you will be embarrassed to tell others about it.

But unexpectedly, they were so smart that they first took over 30% of the ownership of Colo-Colo, which undoubtedly put Leverkusen in a very passive situation in the negotiations.

Yang Huan still remembers that the reason why Juventus was able to introduce Vidal for 12 million euros in the previous life was largely because Vidal had only one year left on his contract with Leverkusen.

Leverkusen did not want Vidal to transfer to Bayern Munich on a free transfer, so they had to sell him at a low price.

Therefore, the transfer fee negotiated in that round is not worth learning from now.

"Mr. Holzhauser, please don't doubt our sincerity in introducing Vidal. I believe the player is also willing to join Southampton." Yang Huan looked confident.

It can be said that when Southampton offered 30% of Colo-Colo's ownership at the negotiating table, Leverkusen's sale of the player was a foregone conclusion, and the key was how much.

"I don't like to talk too much and I don't have time to waste. In short, I am willing to pay 13 million for the 70% ownership of Vidal in your hands. Please consider it."

Raiola is indeed a very shrewd transfer expert, and his style of taking the initiative everywhere caters to Yang Huan's taste, because what Yang Huan hates most is being controlled by others.

Holzhauser and Völler had not expected that the transfer negotiations, which they had thought would be difficult and even protracted, would develop into what they are now.

Thirteen million euros means that Vidal's value reaches 18 million, which is about the same as when Ozil transferred to Real Madrid. This is already within Leverkusen's acceptable range.

This is acceptable to Southampton because Ozil had one year left on his contract before he moved to Real Madrid.

If Vidal is introduced at this time next year, I believe Southampton will be able to take the opportunity to lower the price, but the problem is that Southampton wants him now, so they will have to continue to negotiate with Leverkusen.

Holzhauser knew in his heart that Vidal had to be sold today.

He looked at Waller again, and the latter also gave him a secret look.

So, the chairman of Leverkusen looked at Yang Huan again, "Then I also say one thing, 15 million."

"Deal!" Yang Huan made the decision on the spot.

"But I don't want to see any additional clauses in the transfer contract!"

20 million euros, Southampton will not lose out by introducing Vidal at this price!

At the very least, Yang Huan, who knew Vidal's strength, knew very well that this deal was worth it.

…………

…………

After the transfer price was finalized, the other details were left to Nicola Cortes.

But there are still many issues that need to be negotiated.

Yang Huan was not interested in these things and walked out of the luxury box, leaving Zhang Ning to assist Nicola Cortes to continue the negotiations.

Raiola also came out.

The two went down to the first floor, left the restaurant, and came to the open-air restaurant by the river.

After finding a seat next to a lamppost and a railing, Raiola looked at the Chinese restaurant inside with interest.

He has traveled a lot and been to many Chinese restaurants, but this one is undoubtedly the most upscale.

The elegance of Wangjiang Pavilion does not lie in how luxuriously it is decorated. On the contrary, its decoration is simple, but thoughtful. With the riverside scenery, it gives people a sense of light elegance, tranquility and nobility.

"I heard that you are planning to hold a trial run, offering it free of charge to Southampton season ticket holders for seven days?"

Sometimes Raiola doesn’t understand Yang Huan’s approach and always feels that he has never thought about making money.

But if you think about it carefully, you will find that his actions seem to have profound meaning.

Just like when he acquired Southampton, he only spent a total of 15 million pounds, but he was able to build a training base on a large scale. The recently added budget has reached 50 million pounds. This summer, the team has successively introduced players such as Ibrahimovic, Neymar, James Rodriguez and others. If Vidal is included, the team's recruitment efforts are very strong.

At first glance, he was burning money, but the problem was that he had attracted the attention of all of England and even the world.

After introducing Ibrahimovic, jersey sponsor Umbro promised to increase the sponsorship fee to 5 million pounds a year, and Southampton is now only willing to sign a one-year contract with Umbro.

I still remember that when Yang Huan was negotiating with the CEO of Umbro, he directly explained the reason.

“Because we’re going to raise prices next year!”

This sentence reveals his strong confidence in the team's upgrade and the team's strength.

Yang Huan looked at Raiola. This fat man was indeed a very capable assistant. Without him, Vidal's transfer negotiations would not have been so smooth, and Southampton might even have to beg for help.

He is a rare talent.

"There is a saying in my hometown that you have to get rich before you get poor. If you only think about making money from the beginning, I believe there will be many rich people in this world, and many great companies will no longer exist."

Raiola agrees with this statement, it is indeed true.

"Let's change the context. If we are a top team, such as Manchester United, with such a strong recruitment force, what do you think the media will think?"

After hearing this, Raiola first wanted to say that of course it was just hype, but he soon understood the deeper meaning of Yang Huan's words.

Yes, it is normal for a giant club like Manchester United to introduce superstars like Ibrahimovic, or even Neymar. The media will also hype it up, but after the hype, things will become dull.

The reason is very simple. In Manchester United, even if Ibrahimovic is introduced, the most valuable thing about the team is still the golden signboard of Manchester United, not Ibrahimovic.

Under the glory of Manchester United, the sensation created by Ibrahimovic's transfer is actually greatly reduced.

But Southampton is different. The Saints are in the English League One, the third-tier league in England. For a team like this to have introduced the world's number one center forward is something that in itself makes countless people feel incredible and even shocked.

So what will they do next?

focus on!

Both supporters and opponents will continue to pay attention to Southampton and Ibrahimovic.

It’s just that supporters want to see them succeed and prove their foresight, while opponents want to wait until they fail and then kick them when they’re down.

"In this era, we need to do something different from others. As for football, if we want to attract more fans, we have to give them something to be proud of."

"You are in a low-level league, you are a weak team, it doesn't matter, as long as you give the fans capital to be proud of, they will be as loyal to you as always."

"It's like a few years ago, when Manchester City was poor, there were still a lot of local fans in Manchester who supported Manchester City more than Manchester United. Why? A group of poor people couldn't afford Manchester United tickets, so they chose to support Manchester City. Then they said, 'We choose to support tradition, unlike Manchester United, which has become completely commercialized.'"

This was the first time Raiola heard this kind of understanding, because in the past everyone thought that this was a belief.

"Manchester City's tradition has given their fans the capital to be narcissistic and proud, so they look down on Manchester United, even if Manchester United's performance is good, so what? Can you let Manchester United compare with Manchester City's traditions from more than a hundred years ago?"

To this day, Manchester City fans are still criticizing Manchester United, believing that more than a hundred years ago, Manchester United, which was still a weak team at the time, rose to prominence by poaching talents from Manchester City, which was already a famous strong team at the time.

The tradition from more than a hundred years ago has become their capital for narcissism and attacking their opponents.

"The same thing happened with Liverpool and Everton, isn't it?"

"A few years ago, Chelsea became rich and upstarts. Many people said they had no tradition, but Chelsea fans were still very narcissistic because they had money and could do whatever they wanted with their stars. So they looked down on those who talked about tradition, thinking that it was because of the current failure that they were using past traditions as an excuse to rebel."

"The logic of the business world in the past was how to give your customers benefits, so everyone competed madly on price, cost, and quality. But now the business logic is how to give your customers the capital to be narcissistic, so you have to compete on innovation, experience, and sense of participation."

Football Giants