Becoming a football god from Arsenal

Chapter 220 A true international superstar! First in the group to qualify! A million-pound offer!
"Leon Mahel?"

It didn't take long for Maher's name to appear on the hot lists of mainstream media in almost all countries, but the rankings varied slightly based on the different situations in different countries that day.

The European Cup has been attracting attention from all over the world during this period, triggering wave after wave of football craze.

At this time, a superstar who already had a certain international influence and had an outstanding performance in the European Cup achieved important success in his career and took a big step forward, which naturally caused a sensation.

However, unlike before, the degree and scope of the sensation this time are obviously higher!
Maher's name has been popular before. In the second half of his time at Arsenal, he often went viral for his celebrations and milestone achievements. Many people who don't follow football have heard of his name.

But it has never happened before that a song has topped the hot lists in almost all countries like this time.

You should know that the national sport of many countries is not football. Even though there are many people among them who are crazy about football, this group of people accounts for a very small proportion of the total population.

In these countries, football news is obviously not competitive compared to other sports news and entertainment news, let alone news that is all about hyping up a single star.

"He looks really handsome. No matter which aesthetic culture you use to look at him, he looks flawless!"

"That's right! I fell in love with it at first sight, and it's so amazing!"

"I just found out that he is the second male spokesperson for Olay, a brand I really like! I seem to have seen his photo before, but I thought he was a model. I didn't expect he was a football star!"

"Ahh! I can't handle it. He's young, rich, and handsome. He fits my perfect fantasy of a significant other."

"18 years old, £1 million! That's crazy."

“I see in the comments section that many new fans don’t know that his net worth is not his net worth, so I’ll explain this.”

"That's true, but with the money-making ability of the players, I estimate that they can earn £2 million in 3-1 years."

"I really want to date him and be patted on the back by him."

"He already has a girlfriend! She's a lady from a wealthy family, the daughter of a British real estate boss, and she's also very beautiful! A match made in heaven!"

“Knock, knock!”

"."

That night, in the comment section of Maher's news, there were visibly many new fans, especially young girls.

They were attracted to the relevant reports by the words "18-year-old worth 1 million pounds", and were surprised by Maher's appearance. Finally, they frantically searched for other information about him to deepen their understanding.

Soon, they found out how outstanding he was in his field and how charismatic he was.

Such a person meets all of anyone's expectations for a fantasy boyfriend and fantasy life, and he will naturally become these people's idol.

And it can be expected that these young girls were definitely not the only outsiders who became Maher’s fans on this day.

It’s just that compared to some very young children and older middle-aged and elderly people, they are more motivated to leave messages on the Internet and seem to be the first tier of new fans.

The majority of people must be those who fall in love with Mahel silently without leaving a message.

As a result, countless people have established a good image of Maher in their hearts and started to pay attention to his news. They also gradually learned about the brands he endorsed and the co-branded sneakers he was selling.

Maybe they won’t buy these just for him right now, but by having a good impression of Maher, they will also have a good impression of these brands.

In the future, when they choose to buy sneakers, jeans, or skin care products, they may give priority to purchasing products from these brands.

Because he is trustworthy, the things he endorses are also trustworthy!

This is also the basic logic behind celebrity endorsements. When a person has more and more fans and his stickiness becomes stronger, the people who trust him and have a good impression of him will increase his commercial value, and naturally, it will rise!

Many industry insiders began to calculate today how exaggerated the offer would be if Maher took on more endorsements in the future.

Procter & Gamble headquarters, USA.

David Taylor, who is in charge of spokesperson affairs in the marketing department, was sitting in front of his computer, browsing the trending data that Maher had created on various social media platforms tonight.

Not only do we observe social media in the United States, we also observe social media in several countries where the company has the best sales.

He read it very carefully, and soon used their big data software to select the information related to Maher and the cleaning company.

As a person who is very sensitive to data and information, he believes he can judge the sales increase he may bring to Olay through these reactions.

After a long while, David Taylor took off his glasses and murmured with shock on his face: "It must be amazing, I'm sure."

This shock soon turned into joy and relief.

As a major brand ranked in the top ten in terms of market value and top twenty in terms of profits in the world, Procter & Gamble is deeply loved by female users all over the world and has hired countless spokespersons.

But due to the characteristics of the brand, they rarely hire male spokespersons, especially for women's products like Olay.

Last year, they invited a Chinese star named 'Xiaoming Huang' to conduct experiments and seek breakthroughs, hoping to tap into the spending power of the male star's female fans.

However, this attempt was obviously a complete failure and failed to cause any splash at all.

This time, finding Maher was actually an unwilling attempt by the company.

They replaced entertainment stars with sports stars and spent more money to find stars with a wider influence. They no longer experimented in a single market, but directly attempted to break into this field from the global market!

David Taylor thought that Maher's endorsement would be better than that of the Chinese star, but he didn't expect it to be so much better.

Is it just luck?
He felt that there was some truth to this, because not long after they found a star athlete to be their spokesperson, the star won championships one after another, performed well in major competitions, made a breakthrough in his net worth, and after accumulating value time and time again, he completely became popular.

But no matter what, they achieved their goal and saw a broad and bright road ahead!
David Taylor quickly dialed a number and said immediately after the call was connected: “Taking advantage of the European Cup, we should focus our publicity on Maher, the spokesperson for the sports industry.

“The opportunity has emerged, and we must strive to open up the channel for male spokespersons to endorse the company’s female products in one fell swoop.

“Yes, it’s working very well, and we may see this in the sales data in the next month or two.

“Well, I know we have a lot of spokespersons, and he’s not the most expensive or the main one.

"But we have to understand that this is a new successful attempt, he is a pioneer, and we need to get feedback data through his endorsement for future use."

After saying this, David Taylor hung up the phone and continued to browse the news about Maher.

As he watched, he suddenly felt that this matter could not end like this, and he had to pay more attention to Mael.

Because they have the potential to achieve greater and more successful cooperation!
David Taylor immediately stood up, left a message to the company's chairman, A.G. Lafley, and after receiving the invitation, he rushed to the chairman's office at lightning speed.

More than ten minutes later, he sat opposite Lafley and described the blueprint in his mind with his hands and feet, "He is phenomenal, not only in Europe, but in the future, he will become a phenomenal superstar all over the world.

"People like Madonna, Beckham, Kobe, even Michael Jackson. Of course, that's a stretch."

He raised his eyebrows sheepishly, then continued: “Anyway, I think he will become one of the most famous few in the future, and he will be sought after by everyone.

"As a young man with both talent and good looks, he will definitely be one of the most ideal partners for P&G!"

Lafley put his hands together, listened to him quietly, and nodded slightly, "He is already our partner. Do you mean to upgrade the level of cooperation?"

"Yes." David Taylor nodded, with anticipation in his eyes. "We can let him endorse other brands under the company to deepen cooperation and lay a good foundation for the relationship.

"Based on his development in the future, we will consider whether to make him our international spokesperson."

Lafley thought for a while, shook his head and said, "Taylor, I agree with the first half of your sentence, but no matter what, we can't let a football player become an international spokesperson.

"In this position, we have more options, even all the celebrities, even the outgoing president."

Lafley smiled, stood up and took a few steps, then turned to look at Taylor again, and saw the disappointment in his eyes and a little bit of dissatisfaction with his proposal not being fully accepted.

"Haha." The smile on his face became even wider, "Taylor, we don't know what will happen in the future, and we can't know how this player's career will develop.

“But out of trust in you, I can promise you that we will give it a try first.

"You will be fully responsible for this matter. I must say that you are the young person I think most highly of in the entire company. I hope your decisions and choices will give me more confidence."

David Taylor raised his head, a hope running through his whole body, giving him new energy and motivation. "I will definitely do it well, and do it beautifully. Thank you for the opportunity, boss!"

Lafley waved his hands, then said after remembering something: "By the way, speaking of the players, I remembered one thing. The players seem to be shareholders of Instagram. Zuckerberg is having a headache over them recently."

David Taylor's eyes moved. He had read the report and the rumor was that the rate was 10%. In other words, even in the financial world, Maher was considered a rising star?

This was surprising, given his youth and apparent lack of knowledge.

"There is no mandatory takeover bid under U.S. securities law. It looks like Zuckerberg is going to bleed a lot."

Lafley lit a cigarette, looked out the window at the busy streets, and joked, "I heard he also likes to watch football. I wonder if he will appreciate this young superstar, or hate him?"

David Taylor smiled, scratched his brown hair, and looked out the window as well.

It's hard to guess what Zuckerberg thinks, but as far as he's concerned, he really, really admires this superstar who lives far away in Europe, and he really hopes to see him play football in person one day.

Leon Maher, a player who just made his debut two years ago, has really gone too fast.

This is an 18-year-old international superstar, and a superstar with great personal brand value!

He hopes that one day, as soon as this name appears, it will attract people's attention because on that day, he will most likely be able to reach a higher level.

In a high-end restaurant in Donetsk, Ukraine.

The French players came in chattering, everyone with a smile on their face. They were going to celebrate here.

Maher walked at the front of the crowd with a happy look on his face. He learned the news that his net worth exceeded 100 million on his way to the restaurant.

It is difficult to describe his feelings at this moment. If someone asked him, he might only tell the other person with a little shame that he felt taller, saw the scenery of different places, and breathed a different air.

After playing football for nearly two and a half years, he has finally entered a whole new field!

From today on, he is truly the third best player in the world!

And unlike the group of third-best players in the world that followed, he was truly competitive when facing Melo!
Maybe he won’t be 20 as previously estimated, but at the age of 19, he will have a chance to challenge for the Ballon d’Or title!

"Oh, ha, oh, la, la!" The French players surrounded Mahel, shook their heads and screamed, pushed him into the big box, and then danced around him. Their enthusiasm was unimaginable.

"The living billionaire!"

"Hahaha!"

"What do you mean alive?!"

"Who cares? Anyway, I never thought that I would be able to play football with Mr. Billionaire one day!"

"2 goals in 4 European Cup games, which team can withstand this kind of firepower? Not even Spain!"

"Don't praise me anymore. Look at Maher. He's already embarrassed. Haha!"

Many people were genuinely happy for Maher's 100 million-dollar value and his two goals in consecutive games. Of course, there were also many people who just wanted to integrate into the group and celebrate for the team's victory.

Mahel looked around with a smile, and seeing many happy faces, he also jumped with them and was completely immersed in this atmosphere.

He has experienced many such moments since he started playing football, but he always feels happy every time.

He believed that these joyful scenes would be deeply imprinted in his mind and would never disappear.

After retirement, if he puts them together, he will be able to see a slide show of the glorious and happy moments of his entire career, which make up his wonderful first half of life.

Deschamps walked in, put his hands in his pockets and watched the scene with a smile. After everyone stopped dancing, he said: "Today is an important day, for Mahre, for the French team, or for everyone.

“You can order whatever you want to eat, and you can also drink some wine and cocktails, but don’t drink too much and don’t get drunk.

"To express my respect and gratitude for all you have given on the field, I will pay for all your expenses today!"

"Oh oh oh!!" As soon as he finished speaking, cheers rang out in the box and the players laughed and raised their arms again.

What they value is not the money for the dinner, which may be less than their income for a few days. What is important is the act of the head coach treating the players to dinner and drinks, which is a respect that puts them on an equal footing.

The players sat down next to each other, all clamoring to have a big meal with Deschamps. They ordered many expensive ingredients and took 5 bottles of the most expensive wine.

"Cheers!" Soon, more than 20 players and more than 10 coaching staff members raised their glasses in front of the round table, and everyone drank the celebratory wine with a smile.

While eating, many people watched the match between England and Sweden to observe the qualifying situation.

England took the lead early on with Andy Carroll's goal, but Glen Johnson scored an own goal shortly afterwards.

Immediately at the beginning of the second half, Sebastian assisted Mellberg to score, helping the Swedish team to overtake the score!

England is on the verge of losing 2 games in a row!

"You're not going to go home right away, are you?" Maher looked at Gilbert's depressed face in the broadcast camera and couldn't help but mourn for him for a few seconds in his heart.

For them, the best outcome would certainly be a draw between the two teams or a win for England.

The qualifying rules for the European Cup group stage are that if the points are the same, the points of the matches against each other are compared, followed by the number of goal differences.

This means that if these two teams without points draw, or if the England team they have beaten wins, they will directly secure the first place in the group and advance!

There is no need to even play the third round, because no matter who wins the final round between Ukraine and England and scores 3 points, they will not be able to surpass them.

If Sweden wins this round and then the final round, they will be able to surpass them and qualify for first place in the group.

Although he was not afraid of Sweden, since everyone happened to be sitting together celebrating at this time, he certainly hoped to learn the news that they had qualified as the first in the group during the celebration, which would add to his joy.

Seeing the game time exceed 80 minutes and Gilbert came on as a substitute, Maher could not help but raise his right hand with his mobile phone and shouted: "Gilbert, save me! Save yourself and save the England team!"

A miracle really happened. In the 88th minute of the game, Gilbert's long pass found Walcott on the right, who then made a cross.

"Oh!"

Welbeck scored with a header from the middle, equalizing the game for England and keeping their hopes of qualifying alive.

"Yeah!" This goal also ignited the mood of the French players, because it also helped them regain the hope of qualifying as the first in the group.

The French players spent the next three minutes in a nervous mood until the referee blew three long whistles.

The game is over!
Two to two ties!

With 2 points in 6 rounds, they advanced to the quarterfinals as the first in the group!

In that game, their opponent will be the second place in Group C!
Judging from the current situation in Group C, it could be Italy or Croatia, but it is unlikely to be Spain, the super favorite to win the championship.

This will greatly increase their chances of reaching the semi-finals. Once they enter the semi-finals, the team's mentality and other aspects will be different, and when they meet a strong enemy again, the chances of winning will be greater.

"pretty!!"

"Ciel! Ciel!"

"Cheers!"

The French players are celebrating the New Year, and their faces are red as they raise their glasses to celebrate again.

It didn't take long for Maher to feel a little tipsy. He took the opportunity to check the number of fans on social media and found that the number of fans on Twitter and Facebook had exceeded 4000 million respectively.

The number of likes for the latest tweet has exceeded 110 million!
He laughed. If he could perform better next year, he wondered if he could gain followers at a faster rate and reach 1 million fans on a single platform.

Surely by then, he would truly be one of the most famous people in the world, right?

Maher messaged Mendes on Facebook, asking how much he planned to raise the advertising rate for a single post after the current wave of popularity died down.

Mendes quickly replied, "I'll be waiting for you at the entrance of the hotel. Come out after dinner, take a walk and chat together, and then go back to the base in Poland tomorrow."

--"good."

He sent the message, looked up and saw everyone toasting again, and smiled and raised his glass again, "Come on!"

After finishing his meal, Maher came to the door and saw Mendes, dressed in black, smiling at him, "Drinking?"

"Not much." He shook his head and followed Mendes for two steps. He felt the breeze blowing and sobered him up a little.

It feels good to walk on the quiet streets with people you are very familiar with and close to after celebrating, enjoying the tranquility.

"1 million euros."

Mendes couldn't help but glance at Maher and said happily, "A fraction of that can basically buy you from two years ago. Are you happy?"

Maher raised his eyebrows with a smile, the meaning was self-evident, and then continued: "You must be very happy too, there are only three football stars in the world worth over 3 million yuan, and your agency has two of them."

"Of course." Mendes did not hide his joy, he looked up at the sky, "Isn't this what I have been looking forward to, the peak of my career as an agent?

"It feels so good, I feel like I really control European football, my tentacles are enough to cover the sky and the sun."

"Haha!" The two of them laughed together. No matter what age a man is, he will suddenly become a middle school student when he is with the people he is close to.

Mendes took a few more steps, and as his smile faded, he said, "You just asked me about the price per post. The moment I saw the transfer, I knew that even if the price was 100 million pounds, someone would come knocking.

"At least that's the case during the European Cup. Next season, whether it will go up or down depends on Arsenal's performance."

100 million pounds. Satisfaction once again showed in the corners of Maher's mouth and eyes. This was also a milestone he had been thinking about for a long time. On the day when his net worth exceeded million, it was officially achieved.

"Huh!" He let out a long breath, looked at Mendes and didn't know what to say. He just shook his head and patted his shoulder to express his joy.

"But a little."

Mendes holds up a finger. “When one of your posts is worth enough to buy a house in central London, it’s definitely different than before.

"You need to record videos and post them on all platforms to help brands advertise, including some accounts we help you operate on your behalf. Of course, this is not a problem, it's just a video."

"Yeah." Maher spread his hands and smiled, "One video and one apartment in central London, who would find that troublesome?"

The two walked forward a few more steps, feeling the tranquility of the night and the spirit of walking on the uphill road of life, and smiled at each other from time to time.

Mendes asked again: "After spending so much time with you, I seem to have discovered that you don't care about money, right?"

Without waiting for Maher’s answer, he continued, “After your successful investment in Instagram, you were not in a hurry to cash out, nor did you get involved in other industries.

“This is extremely abnormal, because you should become extremely confident in the financial markets because of this success and invest more recklessly.

"But you didn't. What makes me unsure is that you seem to be very concerned about the price of a single post and the endorsement offer, and you show obvious happiness when the price goes up."

Maher looked ahead and smiled. He had thought about this question a long time ago. "It's shameless to say that I don't really care about money now, and I don't want to invest in other industries.

"In the football world, I feel like I live such a comfortable life, where I can get all the emotional value I want.

"So when I had a lot of money, I definitely didn't want to open up other fronts outside of football, which would distract me and prevent me from enjoying the joy of football.

"I am a simple person. If I have to invest, I will invest in a sports team, not other industries."

After walking a few more steps, he stopped because he saw a stream full of life. "As for the happiness I told you, I might think that this is an increase in my value? I am doing well in my industry?

“That may be the case. Sometimes value is more than just money, but it also needs to be measured in money.

"Improvement in this area would make me happier than a large sum of money."

"Why?" Mendes also stopped and accompanied Mahel to look at the small river in front of them.

"because."

Maher did not answer in a hurry, but thought for a long time before smiling at Mendes, "Because in this kind of feedback again and again, I deeply feel that I live in this world."

Mendes' body trembled slightly. He looked at Maher and felt that there must be something about the other party that he didn't know.

(End of this chapter)