Super Marshal

Professional football is always particularly cruel.

There is no so-called emphasis on participation at all. Its evaluation criterion is the winner or the loser.

Even players as strong as Barcelona and Guardiola have to lower their arrogant heads in the face of this evaluation standard.

This past season brought both smiles of success and tears of failure to Chinatown.

After experiencing a trough at the beginning of the season, the team quickly adjusted well and worked hard to catch up all the way in the league. It returned to fourth place in the league and retained its qualification for the Champions League. This basically ensured that Chinatown could win from the Champions League next season. Earning at least tens of millions of euros in revenue from the tournament is also a big plus for the club's finances.

The Champions League reached the semi-finals and suffered a big upset. Chinatown not only made its name in European football, but also gave the team ample training opportunities. From the head coach to the players, the overall strength has been significantly improved.

But this also brings a hidden danger, that is, everyone from the head coach to the players is coveted by many teams.

The King's Cup performance also improved a lot, entering the final, but was defeated by Barcelona with a huge advantage. This game had the biggest impact on Chinatown, and also allowed the team to see with their own eyes the difference between themselves and the top giants. Huge disparity.

Gao Han is very confident in his team. With the current lineup, as long as he trains for two or three more years, he will definitely have the strength to compete with the top giants. He can hope to compete for the La Liga championship, and even if the condition is better, it will be completely It is possible to compete in the Champions League, but the current Chinatown is far from that.

This season's performance can be considered a high level of performance.

But more importantly, the wealthy teams will never give Chinatown such a chance.

As soon as the season ended, poaching hands came through the door of Chinatown.

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"I just asked the Finance Department to make statistics. The total prize money for the Champions League that we allocated from UEFA last season reached 40 million euros. This is the game prize money plus the TV broadcast share."

The team disbanded immediately after the game. Many players had to rush to the national team, especially several Spanish internationals in the team, who had to return to the national team to prepare for the upcoming European Cup.

But the core management of the club cannot. They must carefully calculate the income and expenditure of the past season, and also summarize some of the problems and lessons learned last season.

Head coach Pochettino also started taking a vacation, and technical director Cantarero participated in the meeting as the head of the technical department.

At the beginning of the meeting, general manager Armando Marcos took the lead in disclosing the club's financial balance sheet, with Champions League revenue being highlighted, which surprised everyone who attended the meeting, including Gao Han.

"so much?"

Gao Han's surprise made Armando Marcos happy. He nodded with a smile and said: "Yes, we have reached the semi-finals. We are the last among the four teams in La Liga, so we have the most winning prizes."

Forty million euros, if it were put in the past, this would definitely be something that Chinatown would not even dare to think about.

"However, it is a pity that although our income in terms of bonus sharing exceeds that of Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, if we include the match day income from Champions League games, we have the lowest income among the four teams. The main reason is that our home revenue is too little.”

The income brought by the Champions League is not only divided into match bonuses and television broadcast fees, but the other two incomes are commercial sponsorship income and match day income.

Chinatown has received a bonus of 40 million euros from UEFA, which is indeed very good. It ranks third in European football, even more than Manchester City, because Manchester United receives the most from the bonus pool in England.

In terms of commercial income, Chinatown has always been operating very well, but in terms of match day income, it is not at the same level as other La Liga teams, let alone the three giants, even Sevilla, Teams such as Valencia are better than Chinatown.

The match-day revenue from Champions League games is also quite generous, and ticket prices are higher than those in the league. However, Chinatown has suffered a lot in this area, and this loss will continue until the new stadium is opened.

It can be said that if it were not for the commercial sponsorship system that Armando Marcos has worked so hard to establish in the past two or three years, as well as selling the team's stars every year to fill the financial shortfall, Chinatown would not be able to support the current situation. line-up.

"Due to our outstanding performance in the Champions League this season, I am pleased to report that in the past season, our club truly achieved breakeven for the first time."

Armando Marcos's words immediately made all department heads in the entire conference room applaud.

What a difficult thing it is!

There are many teams in European football who dream of breaking even, but they can't do it anyway. Chinatown has done it. Although this is only temporary, it is also a very exciting thing.

"We will officially publish it on the official website, Twitter and China's Weibo tomorrow. I believe this will greatly inspire our supporters and also make the players on the team more confident in our management."

Armando Marcos's words once again received a round of warm applause.

"Of course, this is only temporary. One season's balance of payments does not mean anything. The difficulty is how to maintain long-term balance of payments. Moreover, our overall salary structure is still low even in La Liga. Therefore, our The test has just begun," Armando Marcos said earnestly.

In the past few years, with the continuous influx of external capital and the advent of the information age, European football has experienced explosive growth, and the financial income of each club has also increased by leaps and bounds, but the consequences are also obvious. Even as stars are a scarce resource, their worth is getting higher and higher, and their salaries are also rising rapidly.

The Premier League is a leader in this regard. When relegated teams in the Premier League are able to spend tens of millions of pounds in transfer budgets, it is conceivable to what extent the value of Premier League players will soar.

In addition, teams owned by local tycoons such as Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, and Malaga have all increased their investment. When established giants such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​and Manchester United also have to start an arms race, players in European football have switched to Dues continue to hit new highs and player salaries continue to hit records.

Gao Han had predicted this situation very early, so he reached an agreement with Armando Marcos early on that he would rather sell players than maintain the club's salary structure. It can be increased, but not skyrocketing.

The reason is simple. Only slow growth leaves a way out. Once there is an explosive salary increase, when the team's income fluctuates, the club's finances will face a huge crisis. Moreover, once the salary structure is raised, it will be difficult to lower it, so it must not be Not treated with caution.

In this regard, everyone, including Armando Marcos, admired Gao Han so much.

Don't look at Gao Han spending money like water in Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, spending hundreds of millions without blinking an eye, but in fact he is smarter than anyone else and sees more clearly than anyone else, which is why he was able to create China's success this season. The city's balance of payments.

"According to the reliable information we have received, Barcelona is planning to renew Messi's contract, and the annual salary may reach 15 million euros, while Manchester City will also renew Cristiano Ronaldo's contract soon, and the Portuguese's salary may also reach 15 million euros. This is an astonishing number.”

When Armando Marcos said this, his face became serious.

"Based on our analysis, we have absolutely reason to believe that in the next few years, the salaries of European football players will once again experience a rapid increase, so we must take countermeasures in advance."

This is not difficult to understand at all.

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the two leading superstars in today's world football. If they are compared to the locomotive for star players to increase their salaries, then when this locomotive continues to rush forward, the phalanx of stars behind them They will also rush forward. Although the increase is not as good as theirs, a salary increase is inevitable.

Let me ask, if the two superstars have increased in price, will Kaká, David Silva, Modric, Sanchez, Benzema, Xavi Alonso and Cech of Manchester City increase in price? Will Barcelona's Ibrahimovic, Xavi, Iniesta, Pique and Alves rise?

If these two teams have increased, will the annual salaries of the ace stars of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and other teams increase?

In an environment of rising voices, it is difficult for Chinatown to remain alone.

"Last season, the team renewed contracts with many players in the team. Some players have just joined the team, but salary increases and contract renewals must be put on the agenda again. For example, Pellet, his annual salary and termination The money is low, and players such as Rakitic, Hazard, and Isco must renegotiate contract extensions.”

The team performs well and the players shine, but the consequence is that they face more poaching.

For example, Pellet was only worth one million euros when he joined Chinatown a year ago, but what about now?

After this season of training, the Italian center's performance and tactical role have been recognized, and his value has increased by fifteen times. An authoritative German organization has evaluated the price at 15 million euros, and Pellet's liquidated damages It was only 20 million euros, which was very high a year ago, but now it seems very dangerous.

Many Italian teams, including Juventus, AC Milan and Roma, are interested in Pelle. If they really try to poach someone, wouldn't they be willing to pay a liquidated damages of 20 million euros?

Of course, these three teams have not had any contact with Chinatown yet, but there are rumors in the transfer market. Obviously, they are still not confident enough about Pellet, and are worried that the center who has not proven himself in Italy is just It just happens once in a season.

But the transfer market is changing rapidly. Who can say that they will definitely not poach Pelle?

What if we make a move on the last day of the transfer period?

Even if they don't take action, based on Pellet's performance last season, does it make sense not to give him a salary increase?

Without a salary increase, can he continue to perform at this season's level next season?

To put it bluntly, players work for the club and should be paid as much as they perform. Otherwise, it will inevitably dampen their enthusiasm and may also encourage them to change jobs.

There are many others in the same situation as Pellet, such as Aubameyang, Hazard, Rakitic, Isco, Carvajal and other players, who are all facing the situation of having to increase their salaries.

That's one of the consequences of the team's stellar performance last season.

And once it reaches the point where it can’t rise any further, it can only sell people.

Of course, there is also a situation where the conditions offered by the other party are too generous, and Chinatown cannot offer them at all, so it can only reluctantly sell them.

For example, Barcelona wanted Alba.