Chapter 550 Not for Sale

While Yang Huan was sitting in the presidential suite, talking with Sun Yue and others, downstairs, Barcelona president Sandro Rosell was waiting for the long-awaited knock on the door.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw my right-hand man Bartomeu standing outside.

"Josep, come in!" Roselle quickly made way and welcomed his right-hand man in.

As soon as Bartomeu walked into Rosell's room, he went straight to the sofa in the reception area and sat down.

"What's the situation?" Russell closed the door and chased after him.

Bartomeu shook his head and said: "I talked to Bert Hoyte about Neymar. Nike's attitude is that the sponsorship fee is negotiable, but they will not intervene in this transfer."

"Why?" Russell was a little disappointed and curious.

You know, the official sponsor of Southampton, where Neymar is, is Adidas.

From a certain perspective, Nike should be eager for Barcelona to sign Neymar.

In this way, can't we work together to develop the Brazilian and South American markets in the coming years?

In addition, Barcelona currently has South American stars such as Messi, Sanchez, Mascherano, etc. This is a great opportunity. How could Nike miss it?

"Bert Hoyte said they have a good cooperation with Southampton and do not want to have a conflict over this matter."

Bartomeu's words suddenly reminded Rosell that when Southampton built a new training base, Nike sponsored 30 million pounds to the Saints to build a mysterious Nike training center.

Sports media around the world went crazy over this incident, believing that Nike had disgusted Adidas.

No one knows what kind of cooperation is involved here, but we heard that it is very high-end and advanced.

Seeing Rosell's disappointed expression, Bartomeu added: "I got some news from other channels. I heard that Nike is scrambling with Adidas for the sponsorship rights of the International Champions Cup."

"Sponsorship rights? Didn't Adidas sign it?" Rosell was a little surprised.

The football used in last year's International Champions Cup was officially sponsored by Adidas. When the organizers were promoting the game, they focused on introducing the two major sponsors, Etihad Airways and Adidas.

Bartomeu shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Nike even fired a senior executive for this matter because he was incompetent!"

"What's going on?"

"As early as the planning stage of the International Champions Cup, Miracle Media contacted Adidas and Nike separately, but no one knew at the time whether the International Champions Cup would be successful, after all, there was also a North American Challenge Tournament."

Rosell nodded. He joined Barcelona because of the generous appearance fee.

"So, neither side paid much attention to this event, so in the end Adidas signed it, but only for two years. As a result, the first International Champions Cup last year was a huge hit, directly igniting the American football market. Now the second edition is back again. According to a survey by an authoritative external organization, the momentum and attention it has received are even greater than last year!"

After Bartomeu said this, Rosell immediately understood.

It's a two-year sponsorship contract, which means this year is the last year.

Now that the International Champions Cup is popular, Adidas is of course trying its best to renew the contract, but the United States is Nike's base camp, and now that it has suffered a big loss, of course it wants to catch up immediately. How could it let go?

Furthermore, the International Champions Cup may expand next year. Once expanded, the next battlefield will definitely be in Asia.

That is the strategic high ground that the world's economy is developing at the fastest pace right now, and both Nike and Adidas are scrambling to capture.

In this case, the International Champions Cup is undoubtedly a powerful weapon for conquering cities and territories.

Thinking of this, Rosell couldn't help but shook his head and smiled bitterly. No wonder Nike was unwilling to offend Southampton!

In this way, the greatest help Nike can give to Barcelona is sponsorship fee negotiations!

"Oh, Josep!" Rosell seemed to have thought of something, "Did Real Madrid also launch an offensive against Neymar?"

"Well, according to the accurate information I got, the purpose of Sanchez's trip is to talk about Neymar, and they have already made an offer to Southampton!"

Russell's eyelids jumped, and he panicked, "How much?"

“The exact amount is not clear, but I heard it is no less than Cristiano Ronaldo!”

Russell was so surprised that his mouth opened so wide that a fist could almost be stuffed in.

No less than Cristiano Ronaldo?

That’s over 100 million!

This will make him the first football player in the history of world football to have a transfer fee exceeding 100 million!

"Is the news reliable?" Roselle's voice trembled.

"It should be reliable, but I don't know exactly how much Sanchez offered Southampton."

What is the bottom line that Real Madrid can accept and what is the offer they make to Southampton are two different things.

But in Rosell's view, Barcelona is completely passive.

"When I offered Yang Huan 70 million euros just now, did you notice his expression?"

Bartomeu frowned, a little confused, he didn't notice.

"I think the offer made by Real Madrid is definitely higher than ours, and much higher!"

"What should we do?" Bartomeu was also panicked.

If Neymar is taken away by Real Madrid, Barcelona will be too passive.

Adidas has already made a tough statement that it will fully support teams such as Real Madrid, Chelsea and Bayern Munich in poaching Messi. If Messi is poached and Neymar cannot be signed, what will Barcelona do?

You know, Messi is currently the most commercially appealing star in Barcelona and also the most threatening attacker on the football field. Without Messi, not only will Barcelona suffer heavy losses, but even Rosell and Bartomeu will probably have to resign.

At the very least, fans who are unaware of the truth will definitely vent all their anger on them.

But, they couldn't say a word about these things.

Thinking of this, a hint of determination flashed in Russell's eyes.

"Josep, we only have one choice now!"

Bartomeu's eyes flashed with surprise, "Are you... going to..."

"Yes, this is the only way, get Neymar at all costs!" Rosell said fiercely.

Bartomeu thought about it again, sighed inwardly, and nodded.

In the current situation, this is their only choice.

"Although the team has performed well in the past few years and has been able to offer a lot of transfer fees, it is still far from being able to compete with Real Madrid for Neymar."

When it comes to borrowing money to buy stars, Florentino's ability is far ahead of theirs.

Without saying anything else, Florentino can be on good terms with the heads of all the major banks in Spain. Can they?

"Southampton has always required cash transactions when buying and selling players. I'm afraid..." Bartomeu said worriedly.

Rosell nodded. "Then try to include existing players as bonus points in the transfer deal, or ask Southampton to show mercy and allow us to pay in installments!"

In the European transfer market, it is quite normal for player transfer fees to be paid in installments.

On the contrary, it is unusual for a club like Southampton to pay in full for all transactions!

But because the payment is in full, Southampton always has an advantage in signings and the price is relatively cheaper.

"Any player?" Bartomeu asked tentatively.

After all, Russell authorized him to negotiate, so he had to make sure how much bargaining chips he could control, right?

"Anyone except the core players like Messi, Xavi and Iniesta!"

Russell said this weakly, but he was helpless.

The situation has developed to this point and he has no choice but to do nothing!

"Okay, I'll talk to Ron Gourlay tomorrow morning!"

"It's better to make some progress in the next two days!"

"Yes, I understand!"

…………

…………

The next day, more than a thousand media outlets from all over the world gathered at the Miami Suncity Arena.

Just like last year, this year’s draw ceremony will still be broadcast live via WeChat video to all netizens for free.

Not only that, the organizers also specially organized some live performances and invited entertainment superstars including Psy and Yoona to perform. Even the draw guests were very famous football stars like Beckham.

Overall, this was a draw ceremony of very high standards, even not inferior to the knockout draw ceremony of the Champions League.

Although there are relatively few participating teams, each of them is one of the top teams in Europe.

In addition, the second International Champions Cup naturally attracted much attention as it caused a huge response in the United States last year.

Southampton eventually drew three opponents: Barcelona, ​​Juventus and Manchester United.

Real Madrid are in the same group as Manchester City, Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

This also made many fans excited, believing that the teams in both groups are quite strong and are truly strong teams in Europe. Such a game will undoubtedly be quite interesting.

But what makes fans even more excited is that during the days of the International Champions Cup draw, messages are constantly being sent from the United States to all parts of the world.

For example, Manchester United has taken a fancy to Southampton's Chilean midfielder Vidal, with a transfer fee of up to 60 million euros.

But in the blink of an eye, news came out that Arsenal and Real Madrid also had their eyes on the Chilean international.

But soon, this news was overwhelmed by Neymar's transfer rumors.

The Sun was the first to break the news, taking photos of Ron Gourlay and Barcelona vice-president Bartomeu having dinner together at a branch of the Wang Jiang Ge Chinese restaurant in Miami, revealing that Neymar is very close to Barcelona.

But Marca soon gave another piece of news, that is, when Real Madrid's general manager Sanchez was interviewed by Marca, he made no secret of the fact that Real Madrid's number one transfer target this summer is Neymar!

Even the new coach of Real Madrid in Spain, Ancelotti, said in an interview with AS that Neymar is an exciting superstar and a player that all head coaches dream of getting!

But in just two or three days, when the media around the world were excited about Neymar's transfer, Yang Huan reiterated in an interview with a New York Times reporter, "Neymar is not for sale!"

This also made Neymar's transfer confusing again.

In the following days, Neymar's father and his agent also came out for interviews, saying that Neymar was excited about the invitations from Barcelona and Real Madrid, but the most important thing at the moment was to help Southampton continue to chase Manchester United.

Just when Neymar's transfer rumors were heating up, the Sun, which is always known for its omnipresence, once again broke the news.

Not only Neymar is being targeted by the two giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​but another player of the devil's wing, Gareth Bale, has also been listed as Manchester City's top transfer target this summer, with the transfer fee expected to be as high as 50 million pounds.

This once again excited the media around the world.

Is it possible that Southampton will be poached by top teams again this summer?