Chapter 649: Crazy and Poor

"Welcome to Monaco City, Mr. Yang Huan!"

In the castle located halfway up the mountain in Monaco, Prince Albert, accompanied by Michel Pastor, Udrich, Piccinini and others, came to the castle gate to greet them.

As soon as Yang Huan got out of the car, he immediately shook hands warmly with the Prince of Monaco, who had completely lost his head, and was very polite.

But I felt depressed in my heart and decided not to come to this place again.

As for the reason, it’s a bit embarrassing to tell you, it was because I got lost.

Don’t underestimate Monaco because it is a small country. As the saying goes, “small but complete”, it has everything you need.

For example, the protection of royal family members is taken very seriously, so the entire Monaco city does not even have a GPS signal and is completely blocked. In addition, the houses here are densely built and the roads are winding. Even Long Wu has to accept his fate in this maze-like small town.

So, the moment he saw Prince Bald, Yang Huan smiled bitterly in his heart.

I will never tell you that I got lost here, but from now on, even if you ask someone to invite me in a sedan chair, I will never come again!

On the surface, everyone was still laughing and seemed very polite to each other.

After entering the castle, Prince Albert naturally took Yang Huan on a good tour and looked around. He also introduced the princess and the children to each other, and finally came to a spacious oval conference room.

"Mr. Yang Huan, I am very happy to hear that your Yang Group's yacht club has formed a strong alliance with our Monaco Royal Yacht Club. I am also very grateful to Sunseeker Yachts and Aston Martin for sponsoring our Royal Yacht Club!"

Prince Albert smiled happily.

This cooperation was reached last year. The Yang Group joined the Royal Monaco Yacht Club and the two sides started cooperation to build world-class high-end yacht clubs in five cities including Longhai, Tianjin, Ludao, Pengcheng and Sanya.

In addition, the Yang Group plans to build one of the world's top luxury yacht clubs in Monaco. The project has been approved by the Monaco government. Sunseeker Yachts and Aston Martin will both participate in this series of activities and projects.

Not only that, the Yang Group also successfully acquired a large piece of land in the prime area halfway up the mountain in La Turbie, which is far away from the Monaco training base. It will be used to build luxury residences, and its main customers will be wealthy people from China.

Yang Huan doesn't have much interest in these business collaborations, and his father will arrange someone to follow up.

So, after Yang Huan chatted with him for a while, he immediately got to the point.

"Your Highness, the main purpose of my visit is to talk to you about the Monaco Club."

Prince Albert laughed and said, "Mr. Yang Huan, to be honest, I am very grateful for your contribution to the Monaco Football Club. We are very satisfied with the current status of the team. Please believe that we will remember your contribution!"

Yang Huan usually just listened to these polite words and let it go.

"Your Highness, I'm glad to hear you say that!" Yang Huan smiled faintly, not surprised by either praise or criticism.

"But I heard that some people in the French Football Association have complaints about us in Monaco."

Prince Albert was stunned when he heard this, then he glanced at Michel Pastor and others, and he was obviously smiling bitterly.

"I didn't expect that Mr. Yang Huan is so well-informed!"

Yang Huan smiled but said nothing. He was waiting for Prince Albert to speak himself.

"Yes, there are indeed people who believe that Monaco's privileges should be restricted!" Prince Albert nodded.

"I believe Mr. Yang Huan must also know that the Hollande government will begin to levy a new tax called the special solidarity contribution tax, which will be levied on employees with an annual income of more than 1 million euros, with a tax rate of about 50 percent."

According to calculations by Monaco club's financial staff, once this tax rate is levied, players with an annual salary of more than one million euros will pay 75 percent in taxes.

In other words, if any team wants to pay a player an annual salary of one million euros after tax, it must give a pre-tax salary of 1.75 million euros. This is simply the government robbing money from the football club!

Because in all walks of life in France, most professional players, especially those in the French Ligue 1, have an annual salary of more than one million euros. Once the tax is levied, it will exceed 100 million that year!

This matter originally had nothing to do with Monaco, because even if it was paying taxes, it was a matter within France. As a foreign team, Monaco did not need to pay this tax.

In the tiny country of Monaco, there is almost no personal income tax!

But within the French Football League, some people have suggested that Monaco's tax advantage must be restricted. Otherwise, Monaco's zero tax advantage will be enough to attract the world's biggest superstars.

By that time, who in the entire French Ligue 1 can match?

Prince Albert had only received the news two days ago. He didn't expect that Yang Huan would come to him in the blink of an eye.

It can be seen that Yang Huan is also a well-informed person!

"Mr. Yang Huan, can you tell me your specific ideas?" asked Prince Albert.

Yang Huan still did not show any anxiety or anger. He was still calm and composed. He smiled slightly and nodded towards Prince Albert.

"Yes, Your Highness, I personally think that imposing high taxes on French Ligue 1 teams will not benefit the entire league at all. It will only cause more outstanding players to flee French Ligue 1, making the entire league even less competitive!"

Prince Albert and others all nodded.

I believe that the government and the French Football Federation must have considered this, but they still decided to levy the levy.

After all, they are crazy because of poverty!

But the French Ligue 1 teams have made a lot of money recently, including a TV broadcasting order of more than 400 million euros from Al Jazeera. This is equivalent to a big cake given to the French Ligue 1 for free, so naturally they want to have a piece of it!

Ultimately, it is a question of how to distribute the benefits!

"In the past few years, more and more foreign capital has entered European leagues, first the Premier League, then La Liga, and now Ligue 1. I believe that Serie A will also have foreign capital in the future. The benefits brought by foreign capital are obvious, especially the continuous large-scale signings of teams such as Southampton, Chelsea and Manchester City, and the sensational effect created, which have greatly increased the influence of the league."

This statement was once again recognized by everyone present, because it was true!

As Yang Huan said before, the positioning of a club determines the success or failure of a team.

Some teams are born to win the championship, so they are willing to spend a lot of money to introduce stars to enhance their competitiveness.

Some teams want to operate in a long-term, orderly and healthy manner, so they take the human trafficker route of training players and then selling them.

Some teams fight purely to avoid relegation.

Well, the emergence of teams like Southampton, Chelsea and Manchester City has brought a benefit.

First of all, the championship-winning team felt the pressure, so they needed to increase their recruitment. However, because of their wealthy competitors, the difficulty of recruiting players increased, and the transfer fees also rose. As a result, the team that sold players made money!

Sell ​​the star players, get a generous transfer fee, then introduce suitable semi-finished products, process them, and sell them at a high price after they become successful.

This has become the way of survival for many teams in the mid- and lower-level leagues.

Just like Everton, Aston Villa, and even the former Tottenham Hotspur, didn’t they all follow this route?

Therefore, the emergence of foreign-funded teams, as long as they are well guided, will be beneficial to the entire league!

On the contrary, if foreign teams and foreign capital are restricted, will it be good for the league?

Look at the Bundesliga, why is Bayern Munich able to buy the entire Bundesliga?

It’s because they have the strongest financial resources and no one can compete with them!

Then why does Bayern Munich have the strongest financial resources and the healthiest finances?

To put it bluntly, the Bundesliga prohibits foreign investment and even prohibits capital operations!

They say that they suffered a big loss more than ten years ago, but does that mean they should restrict capital operations?

This is called throwing the baby out with the bathwater, not rational management!

Therefore, Yang Huan dares to conclude that if the Bundesliga continues on this path, in another ten, twenty, or even thirty years, no team except Bayern Munich will be able to keep up with the pace of the European giants.

Why only Bayern Munich?

Because Bayern Munich treats the entire Bundesliga as its own youth training backyard, and can take whatever they want!

From this we can see that closure will not work and only openness can bring a future!

Let me ask, if there had not been openness in the early years, would the Premier League have the influence it has today?

"Then the question is, whether it is foreign capital or local capital, any league that wants to grow must rely on stars, and stars must be paid high salaries. Without high salaries, they will leave. Therefore, the emergence of this new tax completely cuts off the possibility of the French Ligue 1 retaining popular superstars!"

When Yang Huan said this, he sneered slightly.

"The widow of former Adidas president Dreyfus wants to sell Marseille, Lyon, which has won seven consecutive championships, has also expressed its willingness to sell part of its shares, and Lille chairman Seydoux is openly selling. These all prove the future trend."

When Prince Albert heard this, he naturally understood what Yang Huan meant.

That is, Yang Huan is a thorough opponent of the new tax!

"Mr. Yang Huan, I understand your feelings, but this is an internal French government matter. I'm afraid..."

Yang Huan was waiting for this sentence, and immediately said with a smile: "What about Monaco?"

"Monaco has no intention of imposing new taxes!" Prince Albert quickly explained.

"But they want to limit Monaco's tax advantages, and at the same time require us to move our headquarters to France outside Monaco!" Yang Huan said without giving in.

"This is impossible, absolutely not allowed!" Prince Albert was also anxious.

Monaco Football Club has always been the exclusive team of the Monaco royal family, and even there is a crown on the team logo.

If the Monaco Football Club leaves Monaco, where will the royal family's reputation be?

Moreover, in the past year, Monaco has also made considerable progress in the management of the Stade Louis II. In the short term, if Monaco can perform well in Ligue 1 and European competitions, it will surely attract more fans.

"So, my attitude towards the new taxes is that they can collect them if they want, it has nothing to do with us because we belong to Monaco!"

Prince Albert felt warm at the sight of these words.

This is our own language spoken by our own people!

"But if the French Football Federation insists that we pay taxes according to their standards, then I will only make one choice!" Yang Huan said this in an unusually sonorous and powerful voice.

Everyone present immediately looked at Yang Huan. They only now realized that this young man was very powerful when he got angry.

It really proves the saying, if the tiger doesn’t show its power, don’t treat me as a sick cat!

Everyone was also curious, what exactly was Young Master Yang Huan's trump card?