Chapter 770: The Black Shop Is Not Black
"From the current general situation, the third-party institutions that hold players are usually agent companies."
"When we sell players, we not only have to share the player transfer fee with the third-party agency according to our shareholding ratio, but we also have to pay the transfer agency fee and a certain percentage of commission to the agent company."
"For example, when Javi Garcia was brought in from Real Madrid, it cost 7 million euros, which was paid jointly by us and the agent. When he moved to Manchester City, the transfer fee was 16 million euros, and we made a profit of 9 million euros. If we divide it according to shares, we can make a transfer profit of 4.5 million euros."
"But after deducting the agency fees, commissions, and a series of other follow-up costs, we only made less than 3 million euros at most, and the rest was all earned by the agent."
Yang Huan could fully imagine this situation. After all, third-party agencies and agents have always existed in a vampire manner, especially big agents like Mendes, who are not easy to deal with.
But then, Rui Costa's words surprised Yang Huan.
"Master Huan, perhaps you think that no matter how much you earn, isn't it still worthwhile?" The former Portuguese superstar said this with an awkward smile.
Yang Huan also found it a bit strange, because Rui Costa gave him the impression of an artist-like figure, but now, he was talking about the extremely materialistic reality and snobbery. If the fans outside really knew about this, they would definitely be shocked.
"But you know what? Xavi Garcia played for Benfica for two years. During these two years, his salary, bonuses and a series of other supporting benefits were all borne by the club. If these were taken into account, we would not be able to make money from this deal, and we might even lose money."
These words did surprise Yang Huan.
Because of Rui Costa's calculation, Benfica really suffered a big loss.
On the contrary, third-party agencies can take commissions from players' salaries, bonuses, and benefits, as well as transfer fees, as well as agency fees and a series of other handling fees, and they also make a lot of money.
In the end, it was the club that suffered the most!
"In fact, Javi Garcia's situation is good. After all, he has made contributions to the club and the team's performance is also very good. Although we didn't make money from the players, the club has gained results."
At this point, Rui Costa changed the subject, "But you know what? Players like Saviola and Garay, the club has lost a lot of money."
"Why?"
"Saviola transferred from Real Madrid to Benfica in 2009 for 5 million euros, which was also paid by a third-party agency. However, his salary was very high, and the club originally hoped that he could live up to his value and then be sold for cash. However, his performance at Benfica was not satisfactory."
"But what is even more outrageous is that in 2012, Malaga was scrambling to recruit stars in European football, Saviola was one of them, and at this time, Saviola's third-party ownership agency came to Benfica to negotiate on behalf of Malaga, and they asked Benfica to let Saviola transfer freely."
"Benfica was eventually forced to let him transfer on his own due to pressure from the agent and the player. In addition, Saviola's salary was too high and it was too luxurious for him to stay as a substitute. However, Benfica lost a lot of money in this deal, but the agent made a lot of money!"
This time, Yang Huan understood without Rui Costa's explanation.
During his three years at Benfica, the agent took commissions from Saviola. The money was given by Benfica. Even if Saviola performed poorly and was unable to play as a starter, he still had to pay his salary and the agent could still take commissions.
After the free transfer to Malaga, on the surface, the third party represented by the agent also lost money, but what is the reality?
The commissions collected in the past three years have already recovered some of the costs. The player transferred to Malaga on a free transfer and took the opportunity to ask for a big contract. Add to that the agency fees, signing fees and so on. After going through this circle, the agent cannot say that he made a big profit, but at least he made a small profit.
On the contrary, it was Benfica that suffered a huge loss!
As for Garay mentioned by Rui Costa, he is also from Real Madrid, worth 5 million, and is currently playing for Benfica, but it is said that he has signed with Russia's Zenit team in advance, with a value of 6 million euros.
This is too cheap for the main central defender of the Argentina national team!
It is entirely foreseeable that the Russians must have paid a hefty commission and agency fee to the agent who arranged for Gare to go to Zenit.
Benfica was also very passive in this transaction, with no autonomy and could only watch being slaughtered.
"The one who made the most money was Witsel. The Belgian transferred to Zenit for 40 million euros, and we can probably get about 20 million euros. If we deduct the agency fee and commission, it will be about 15 million euros, which is considered a profit."
Yang Huan could only smile bitterly at this.
He really didn't expect that the so-called third-party agency was even darker than he had imagined.
No wonder Atletico Madrid, after so many years of training so many stars and selling one star player after another, still suffered losses every year and was unable to make ends meet.
Vieira, sitting at the side, also smiled bitterly, "Master Huan, you are a Premier League giant and don't understand our situation. Players' salaries are generally high now. If we want to compete for the Champions League income, we have to attract a group of talented players. Salaries and bonuses have become a heavy burden for us."
"It's not just us, Benfica. If you deduct player transfers, Porto's annual income is about 80 million euros, but their annual expenditure is nearly 100 million, which means a loss of nearly 20 million euros!"
Yang Huan still believed what Vieira said.
Many fans only see teams like Porto shining in the European arena, but they ignore that behind their eye-catching performance, they also have to bear heavy pressure, especially player salaries.
no pain no gain.
Investment may not necessarily bring rewards, but if you don’t invest, there will definitely be no rewards.
Therefore, every achievement of Porto in the Champions League is built on the heavy debt behind the club.
This is the case with Porto, Benfica, and countless teams like them!
After sorting out this issue, Yang Huan further understood why the Portuguese Super League team would do this to a third party.
To put it bluntly, without third-party investment institutions, they don’t even have the money to recruit players!
On one hand, the team has to rely on selling its star players to make up for the losses, but on the other hand it has no money to recruit new players. So the choice left for the club is very simple: either introduce a third party or suffer a loss of strength.
The latter seems to be very principled, but in this day and age, can principle be used to make a living?
It is particularly worth noting that when a team falls into the quagmire of a vicious cycle, no one can save it!
Therefore, they clearly know that cooperating with a third party is like drinking poison to quench thirst, and they clearly know that they will be exploited by the third party, but they still have to accept it, because if they refuse the third party, they will have no way out!
And if someone were to talk about youth training, that would be even more naive.
If there is any professional club these days that places all its hopes on its youth training camp, then this club would have died long ago and would have no chance of surviving!
To put it bluntly, youth training is a gamble of luck. No one knows what they can gain after investing so much.
Maybe even nothing!
Let me ask, is this operating model reliable?
If Yang Huan remembered correctly, Benfica still had a debt of 100 million euros!
As for Porto, the debt is also tens of millions!
Of course, don't think that Vieira and Rui Costa are victims just because they are complaining now.
Don't be naive!
Maybe, like Porto's Da Costa, they are the beneficiaries of this system.
Because they are who they are and Benfica is Benfica.
Who says that if Benfica suffers losses and is heavily in debt, they will also suffer?
But after this conversation, Yang Huan really gained a better understanding of the Portuguese Super League.
The Portuguese Super League's advantages are its appeal to players from South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, as well as its excellent scouting network in South America, which ensures they have an endless supply of talent.
However, in recent years, the South American economy has taken off and the value of players has also increased. It is no longer the era when talents can be recruited for a few hundred thousand or one or two million.
Therefore, neither Porto nor Benfica can afford the transfer fees of South American players, which can easily reach several million or even tens of millions, and they can only turn to third parties for help.
Are you kidding me? How much is your annual income? Can you afford these players?
But in the Internet age, as soon as a player shows some talent, he will immediately attract attention and his value will soar, making it difficult to find good quality and cheap goods.
So, to some extent, third-party institutions can also be considered a kind of football-related venture capital.
It’s just that what they invest in is people.
This behavior of treating people as slaves and selling them like commodities will be banned sooner or later.
However, Yang Huan was thinking that the current situation of teams like Benfica and Porto was exactly the same as that of Atletico Madrid. They were overly dependent on third parties, but they had strong capabilities in training players and had a very good scouting network.
The only thing they lack is money!
More importantly, their market capitalization on the stock market is quite low, probably only around 30 to 40 million euros.
At Benfica's current share price, the purchase price would have to be incredibly low given the club's willingness to take on debt.
At that time, if we can follow the example of Atletico Madrid, eradicate the cancer of third-party institutions, and invest a sum of money to operate them, I believe there will be great success.
Thinking of this, Yang Huan had an idea in his mind and decided to ask Zhao Yuanfang to study it further.
With UEFA and FIFA both cracking down on third-party ownership, the Portuguese Super League will certainly be cleaned up, and if we can take advantage of this opportunity to seize this ideal natural springboard for South American players, it will undoubtedly be a very good opportunity.
With this idea in mind, Yang Huan became interested.
Caught Vieira and Rui Costa and asked them for more inside information and news.
Benfica really wants to cooperate with Yang Huan. They even mentioned the Brazilian players from Shakhtar Donetsk, hoping that Yang Huan could loan them to Benfica.
This immediately made Yang Huan smile bitterly. There is really nothing new under the sun.
As for the purchase of the talented player from Shakhtar Donetsk, it was done secretly by Yang Huan, with Pini Zahavi, Joorabchian and Bertolucci in charge, and the deal was only completed not long ago.
The total price of the seven players selected by Yang Huan is close to 60 million, which is considered a very good deal.
But who could have thought that Benfica had already received the news just after the deal was completed.
This is true for Benfica, and certainly for other European teams.
Damn, with the quality of this group of Brazilian players, will there be a lot of teams scrambling for them?
It’s really a headache just thinking about it!
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