Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

"Is Barcelona really going to sell Ronaldinho?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out!"

Mendes' answer made Lin Feng raise an eyebrow. Really going to sell? And during the winter break, no less? Has Barcelona gone mad?
"Ronaldinho's market value has plummeted. Last summer, someone offered 6500 million euros, but after half a season, his value has dropped below 6000 million. If this drags on any longer, he might not even be worth 5000 million!"

Mendes explained that Barcelona's performance this season has been poor.

Currently, they are too far behind Real Madrid in the league, making it extremely difficult to overtake Real Madrid in the second half of the season.

In the Champions League, when Ronaldinho is not in good form, it is difficult for Barcelona to make a breakthrough.

Therefore, Barcelona will likely end the season empty-handed.

The fact that Ronaldinho failed to achieve any notable honors at the club for two consecutive years has significantly impacted his market value.

If he was a superstar that every club wanted to acquire in 2005-2006, then now, among the top clubs, probably less than a third are still interested in him.

In this situation, if AC Milan is willing to spend money to buy players, Barcelona should be secretly happy.

Lin Feng did not doubt the information Mendes revealed. Although these were all internal secrets of Barcelona, ​​he had been in the football world for so many years and naturally had his own sources of information.

He just remembered that when Ronaldinho transferred to AC Milan, Milan only spent 2100 million euros, which was less than half of the 5000 million euros that are now widely rumored.

So, what happened in the middle of this?

Mendes's special visit was certainly not to discuss these matters with Lin Feng.

He took out two contracts from his briefcase and placed them in front of Lin Feng.

"This is?"

Lin Feng curiously picked up a contract from the coffee table and casually flipped through it.

"Adidas and Nike have offered you contracts. They wanted to work with you a long time ago, but as you requested, I declined their offers before the Ballon d'Or results were announced. Now that the Ballon d'Or is decided, I think it's time to finalize the cooperation with them."

As the two largest sports brands, Adidas and Nike have always had a fierce competition for sports stars.

As the most sought-after player in the football world today, Lin Feng has naturally been targeted by the opposing team for a long time.

In fact, when Lin Feng first joined Inter Milan in Serie A, both companies had already extended offers to him, but Lin Feng declined them both times.

At that time, he was not famous and had no honors.

Nike and Adidas were simply casting a wide net, treating him like many other promising young players.

Even if they sign with Nike and Adidas, they will most likely only get a very cheap contract and won't make much money.

But things are different now. After winning the Ballon d'Or, Lin Feng can now be considered the number one player in the football world.

The fact that both companies approached him for cooperation at this time shows a level of importance they attach to him that is completely different from when he was still a nobody.

Therefore, from the perspective of timing, the conditions are now ripe for cooperation.

Which company is more sincere?

Just like last time, Lin Feng was most concerned about who offered the higher price.

"Nike is offering a higher price!"

Mendes succinctly stated that Americans have money and are willing to spend it on endorsements.

The Germans are rather stingy, or rather, rather rigid. Given that they already have a large number of established stars under their wing, it's unlikely they would offer Lin Feng a very high endorsement fee.

"Then sign with Nike!"

Nike had previously invited Lin Feng to participate in events in North America, and had also contributed to the Chinese national football team's training camp in North America.

Lin Feng is a sentimental person. Even if both sides offer the same price, he will choose Nike because of these things. Moreover, Adidas's offer is lower, so there's nothing more to say.

Back in 2007, there weren't many competitive sports brands in China.

Whether it's Li Ning, Anta, or 361 Degrees, they are all small brands with very small scales, with annual turnover of only a few hundred million euros. They simply cannot afford to sign a spokesperson of his caliber.

However, after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Chinese sports brands will enter a period of rapid development, and the size and strength of these companies will increase dramatically in the next decade or so.

The inability to cooperate now does not mean there will be no opportunity in the future.

After confirming the partnership with Nike, Lin Feng glanced at the offer from Nike: $2000 million over three years, which is about 1500 million euros, averaging $500 million per year. This price was indeed not low.

Mendes brought with him more than one contract. In addition to Nike and Adidas, after he won the Ballon d'Or, many companies, including Banco Santander, Telefónica, Mastercard, Siemens, Darren, and Sony Ericsson, extended offers to him.

"Many of these companies were originally Ronaldinho's sponsors, but after news broke that he was leaving Barcelona, ​​they changed their targets and set their sights on you, who are younger and have a better image and temperament!"

After hearing this, Lin Feng joked, "In that case, I should thank Xiao Luo!"

Mendes smiled and then said seriously, "I have to remind you of something. Some of these sponsors who come to us for cooperation are attracted by your influence, but others are benefited by the Real Madrid platform."

Just like Barcelona and AC Milan, both are top-tier clubs, but Barcelona's appeal is simply greater than AC Milan's. If Ronaldinho were to leave Barcelona, ​​his commercial income would likely be significantly impacted; conservatively estimated, he would lose $1000 million annually!

Lin Feng nodded. The main reason why so many top stars flock to Real Madrid is that they earn more money there.

The high salaries at Real Madrid are not only due to the high wages they pay, but also the various commercial revenues generated by the Real Madrid brand.

The bigger the star player, the more substantial their commercial income.

Players like Beckham and Ronaldinho earn far more from commercial ventures than from their actual football salaries.

According to Mendes's estimate, even with his less-than-ideal image, Ronaldinho still managed to sign more than 20 endorsement deals in the past two years, thanks to his status as the world's number one footballer and a football genius. His endorsement income alone reached more than 3700 million euros in those two years, which is much higher than his salary!

Lin Feng's appearance and temperament are far superior to Ronaldinho's. In addition, he has the huge market of 1.3 billion people behind him, as well as Real Madrid's huge reputation and influence worldwide.

Mendes estimates that Lin Feng's future income from commercial endorsements will easily surpass that of football legends like Ronaldinho. If he lowers the bar a little, earning over 100 million euros a year is not a dream.

Of course, if he really wants to achieve this goal, he will probably have to spend a lot of time shooting commercials and attending various commercial events, which will have an adverse effect on his competitive performance.

His commercial income is based on his ability and the honors he has achieved at Real Madrid. He should not neglect his main job just because he is busy making money. That would be putting the cart before the horse.

So even if Lin Feng doesn't mention it, Mendes will help him strictly control the number of endorsements to avoid affecting his competitive state.

...The transfer market was very active during this year's winter break.

Seeing how well Mourinho is doing at Real Madrid, Abramovich seems to have gotten anxious and has started spending money on big sprees again.

At the start of the winter transfer window, Chelsea splashed out £1500 million to sign Anelka from Bolton, and then spent £900 million to bring in defender Ivanovic from Lokomotiv Moscow...

Mourinho's three years at Chelsea helped him win two Premier League titles, but not the Champions League.

If Chelsea can win both the Premier League and the Champions League after the other team leaves, it proves that what Chelsea can't do without is not Mourinho as a coach, but Abramovich's money!
Abramovich is burning through money, and Mourinho isn't idle either.

In the first half of the league season, Real Madrid suffered greatly from the lack of a defensive midfielder.

So after the winter break started, Mourinho submitted offers for four defensive midfielders in one go!
They offered 2400 million for Liverpool's defensive midfielder Mascherano, 4000 million for Chelsea's defensive midfielder Essien, 3000 million for Roma's defensive midfielder De Rossi, and 1500 million for Inter Milan's defensive midfielder Vieira.

Although Diarra has recovered from his injury and returned to the field, there are still quite a few players lying in Real Madrid's injury camp!

Currently, only he and Pepe are capable of playing the defensive midfield position, with perhaps half of Baptista added at most.

In Mourinho's tactical system, a double defensive midfield is the basic configuration, and it is not surprising that he would field a triple defensive midfield if the opponent is strong.

Therefore, the current situation of having only two defensive midfielders available is absolutely unacceptable to Mourinho.

Although defensive midfielders do the dirty work and don't stand out on the field, they are crucial to the team. A good defensive midfielder can greatly improve the team's defensive capabilities.

This has been clearly demonstrated in Real Madrid's previous matches!

The players Mourinho is eyeing are either seasoned veterans who have already proven their abilities in the football world, like Vieira of Inter Milan.

They are either young players who have shown outstanding talent and potential, such as Liverpool's Mascherano.

However, Vieira is past his prime, and Mascherano is too young, so for Real Madrid, Essien and De Rossi, who are in their prime, are obviously better choices.

However, it will be extremely difficult to snatch these two players from Chelsea and Roma.

As expected, Chelsea rejected Real Madrid's offer without hesitation.

Are you kidding me? Chelsea are aiming for the treble this season, how could we possibly sell our key defensive midfielder at such a crucial time?

If it were another team, perhaps there would be some possibility, but selling to a team managed by Mourinho?

Even if Abramovich had to hold onto Essien until he rotted, he wouldn't sell him to Mourinho.

After Chelsea rejected Real Madrid's offer, Roma unsurprisingly also rejected theirs.

De Rossi is seen as Totti's successor, so why would he easily sell out his successor?
Moreover, De Rossi himself did not want to leave Rome, so even when faced with an offer from Real Madrid, he remained unmoved.

After these two clubs rejected Real Madrid's offers, Real Madrid now only has two targets left.

Vieira is not untouchable for Inter Milan, and with Cambiasso available, selling Vieira is not out of the question.

However, Real Madrid's offer was too low, and Inter Milan was not keen to release the player.

As for Vieira himself, he really wants to join Real Madrid and fight alongside Lin Feng again.

Unfortunately, the team wouldn't release him, and there was nothing he could do.

After being rejected by three clubs in a row, Real Madrid now only has one option left!

"Mascherano's situation is more complicated. Although he is a Liverpool player, his contract with Liverpool is a loan contract, and the player's ownership is held by an agency in South America."

To sign him, you first need to reach an agreement with this company to buy out the player's ownership rights!

This situation is quite common in South America. One of the main reasons why South American football is so developed is because there are a large number of such agencies there.

They searched everywhere for young, promising players, bought out their ownership, and then used their connections to send them to professional clubs for professional training.

Once they've made a name for themselves in the Brazilian and Argentine leagues, these agencies will then facilitate their transfers to Europe, profiting from the transfers.

"Liverpool is reportedly already in negotiations with them and was close to reaching an agreement. However, after we submitted our offer, the situation changed slightly. Now they are holding back, waiting to see who can offer the higher price!"

Those talent agencies hoard players just to make money, so they don't care about the players' long-term future. They just sell the players to whoever offers the highest price. It's that simple.

What's Liverpool's asking price?

He had watched Mascherano's game footage. Although the opponent was still very young, he had a very high level of talent in the defensive midfield position, and Mourinho was very optimistic about his future.

"Liverpool's latest offer seems to be 2500 million euros!"

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter:
"Benitez is so stingy! He just added a million to our offer!"

"Why don't we add another million back and give him a hard time?"

"Real Madrid has plenty of money. I don't think we need to get entangled with them. Just offer 3000 million and make Liverpool back down!"

Time is precious, and Mourinho has been spoiled by Abramovich, developing a habit of spending money extravagantly.

Since it's the club that's paying, not him, there's no need to save the club money.

So he took his assistant's advice and directly offered 3000 million to Corinthians.

Corinthians, who own partial ownership of the player, were thrilled to discover such a great opportunity!
They were ready to accept Real Madrid's offer immediately!

They originally expected that selling Mascherano for 2000 million euros would be a huge profit.

Liverpool somehow figured out their bottom line, and their initial offer was only €1900 million, leaving them in a dilemma, unsure whether to sell or not.

Fortunately, Real Madrid came along unexpectedly and thwarted Liverpool's plan to lower the price.

Otherwise they would lose ten million!

As if afraid that Real Madrid would change their minds, Corinthians immediately accepted Real Madrid's offer.

On January 12, Real Madrid announced on its official website that the club had reached an agreement with the agency that owns Mascherano's personal rights to buy out the player's ownership. Mascherano officially joined Real Madrid and signed a four-year contract.

Real Madrid has completed its first signing of the winter break, but the transfer work is not yet over! (End of Chapter)