Super Marshal

"Why do you have to ask me this kind of thing?"

In the office of the Chinatown Youth Training Center in the southern suburbs of Madrid, Gao Han asked Jorge Mendes sitting in front of him with a wry smile. The Portuguese had just asked a question that he felt he had no way to answer.

Paris Saint-Germain wants to poach Aubameyang!

"Shouldn't you go with Carlos and Armando to close the door next door and have a meeting to discuss this kind of thing?" Gao Han felt helpless in his heart. The thing he least wanted to encounter happened after all.

The team he coached finally dug into Chinatown.

When he coached Manchester City before, Gao Han held the two positions of chief technical officer and head coach. This caused an uproar after Chinatown entered the Champions League. Many media reporters expressed concern about Gao Han's identity, believing that it violated the European Union. Football Association rules, even UEFA had to clarify this.

But later Gao Han left Manchester City and coached Paris Saint-Germain. Although Paris Saint-Germain can only play in the Europa League, while Chinatown can play in the Champions League, he is still very sensitive. As long as Chinatown gets third in the group stage, it will fall. Entering the Europa League, what if you meet Paris Saint-Germain coached by Gao Han?

Therefore, from the beginning, Gao Han refused all appointments from Paris Saint-Germain. He only served as the team's head coach and did not care about other positions. This also became UEFA President Platini's response to questions from media reporters. answer.

"He is just a head coach, not the core decision-maker of Paris Saint-Germain. This does not violate the rules."

But everyone knows that this is a cover-up.

With Gao Han's status, even if he is just the head coach and has no other positions, he can still influence all decisions of Paris Saint-Germain. However, with such wording, media reporters can do nothing and can only hope that if Paris Saint-Germain draws. Go to Chinatown and see how Gao Han plays.

But what they don't know is that Gao Han, the head coach, basically doesn't care about anything except the team's competitive affairs. Even the transfer power, which he originally valued most, has been handed over to the technical director Antero. Enrique is solely responsible.

Just before the end of last season and the disbandment of the team, Antero Enrique sent Gao Han a reference list for players in two positions that Gao Han wanted to introduce.

In the right wing position, Barcelona's Messi is ranked first, followed closely by Sanchez of Manchester City and Robben of Bayern Munich. These three superstars are all candidates for Paris Saint-Germain's right wing support. .

But as a result, the three major football teams refused to release him, so Antero Enrique had no choice but to settle for Aubameyang in Chinatown.

The Gabonese international has performed well for several consecutive seasons, especially last season. He scored 24 goals in La Liga, which is comparable to superstars like Torres. He has attracted the attention of Real Madrid and naturally also attracted the attention of Real Madrid. Due to the attention of Antero Enrique and the absence of a superstar, Paris Saint-Germain targeted Chinatown for poaching.

Last season, Chinatown finished fourth in La Liga, semi-finals of the Champions League, and the Copa del Rey final. This impressive record was enough for Chinatown to attract the attention of teams from all over Europe.

Mendes is such a shrewd person. He and Gao Han have been working together for so many years. Why doesn't he understand Gao Han's thoughts at this moment?

"Old rules, do you want to hear the truth or be polite?" Mendes asked seriously.

This is a consistent characteristic of Gao Han, and Mendes imitates it.

"Tell the truth." Gao Han said with a slight smile.

He won't even be able to listen to the truth for the sake of Aubameyang.

"You should not keep Aubameyang this summer." Mendes replied with certainty.

"Why?"

Mendes thought for a while and replied: "As far as I know, Real Madrid and Chelsea are both interested in him. Aubameyang is already 23 years old. Although Chinatown's performance has improved rapidly in the past two seasons, but you Do you think you have an advantage compared with wealthy teams? But for Aubameyang, he missed the opportunity to go to a wealthy team. God knows when he will get it again?"

There is a saying in football that you have to become famous early.

If a player like Aubameyang, who is now 23 years old, cannot take advantage of these two or three years to go to a stronger team, or even a wealthy team, what will happen when he is 27 or 28 years old? Is a wealthy team willing to pay such a high price for him?

Under the attack of Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Chelsea, even if Chinatown succeeds in forcing Aubameyang to stay, not to mention paying Aubameyang a higher annual salary, the players may not be happy. If it is serious, the impact will be When it comes to his game state and development, it's not worth the loss.

Such cases can be said to be everywhere in European football.

Gao Han has been coaching in European football for so many years. Of course he understands this. Otherwise, how could he formulate a pragmatic transfer strategy of "sell if you can't keep it" for Chinatown?

But he is the head coach of Paris Saint-Germain and the owner of Chinatown. It is difficult for him to say or make decisions on such things.

"How is the transfer market this year?" Gao Han did not answer directly, but changed the subject.

Mendes was also aware of Gao Han's temper and did not ask further questions. He smiled and said: "It's very lively. I just came back from Russia."

"Russia?"

"You should still remember the Brazilian center from Porto, right?"

"Hulk." Gao Han certainly remembered him. He had caused trouble for Chinatown in the Champions League group stage.

Mendes nodded, "Our company owns half of his ownership, and now Russia's Zenit is interested in him. I went to talk to him. Zenit's boss is very rich. He bought him for 60 million euros."

"60 million?" Gao Han was surprised.

Although Hulk has indeed performed well in the past two seasons, it is a bit outrageous to say that he is worth 60 million euros.

"You also know Benfica's Witsel, right?"

"Yes, a Belgian midfielder with good strength."

"40 million euros." Mendes was very satisfied with Gao Han's surprise, because these were the two transactions that he was most proud of so far this summer. With these two transactions alone, Mendes earned more than 40 million euros in transfer fees for the company. If the agent's commission is included, it would be even more.

According to the company's shares, the money earned will be divided equally between Mendes and Gao Han.

"It's true that agents make a lot of money." Gao Han laughed.

Mendes raised his eyebrows at Gao Han, "Then why don't you just stop coaching? Why work so hard? Let's work together. With your vision and ability, and my connections, I can guarantee that the entire world of football will belong to us."

When he said this, Mendes' eyes showed a sense of dominance.

This is the hottest super agent in the world of football. It can be said that he can shake the European football world with just a stomp of his foot.

In the past few years, Mendes has said the same persuasion to Gao Han countless times, but Gao Han has never agreed, but Mendes has never given up. The two have become accustomed to such exchanges, and each time Gao Han ends with a smile and a wave of his hand.

"According to the news I got in Russia, Russian fertilizer tycoon Rebolovlev quietly completed the acquisition of French Ligue 2 Monaco. You know, his net worth is also tens of billions, and in recent years, teams in Russia and other second-tier leagues have also made efforts and invested astonishingly." Mendes said here, paused, and then continued: "I predict that soon, the players' net worth will rise again on the existing basis, probably in the next few years." The economic depression, various safe-haven funds have poured into professional football. With the help of hot money, various teams have spent a lot of money, and professional football has ushered in a period of rapid development. On the one hand, major leagues and major giants have globalized their operations, their global influence has increased rapidly, and their income has risen steadily, but on the other hand, players' transfer fees and annual salaries have also continued to rise. Gao Han had foreseen this situation a long time ago, and now it is just the beginning. Just like Fulham's midfielder Dembele in the Premier League, this player performed well in Fulham, but due to the overall level of the team, he did not attract much attention, but attracted the attention of London teams such as Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.

The Belgian midfielder has only one year left on his contract with Fulham. In this case, Fulham still holds on to the price of 20 million euros, which is the price of the termination fee in Dembele's contract.

In this regard, Arsenal took a wait-and-see approach, hoping to put pressure on Fulham, or negotiate a more advantageous price during the winter break, or even sign him for free after a year, but Tottenham Hotspur made a direct move and bought Dembele directly for 20 million euros.

Hulk, who plays for Porto, can be sold at a sky-high price of 60 million euros, so how much should Aubameyang, who plays for Chinatown and has shown his strength in La Liga and the Champions League, be worth?

Witsel can be sold for 40 million euros, and Dembele, who has only one year left on his contract, can be sold for 20 million euros. What about Herrera and Rakitic? How much can they be sold for?

"This transfer market is too crazy." Gao Han shook his head and sighed.

Mendes laughed and asked, "Isn't it good to be a little crazy?"

For him, madness is of course a good thing, and even for Gao Han and Chinatown, it is not a bad thing.

At least in the past few years, Chinatown has made a lot of money by selling players and cashing in. Armando Marcos has outlined for the club to build a Chinatown that integrates tourism, shopping, leisure and entertainment around the new stadium in the southern suburbs of Madrid, which also requires the club to continue to increase investment.

In the planning of Gao Han and the club, they hope to build this place into a landmark attraction in the southern suburbs of Madrid and a distribution center for countless Chinese and even foreign tourists to Spain.

And all of this requires money.

"Have you told Carlos and Armando about Aubameyang?" Gao Han asked.

Mendes nodded, "Your technical director and general manager both agreed."

"Oh, then you are asking me?" Gao Han was a little amused.

"But they all said that you have to nod your head before it works."

Gao Han nodded, "Okay, since they all agreed, then I have nothing to say, but I have a request."

"You say."

"Aubameyang's liquidated damages are 60 million euros, but I think it's too cheap, add Kante."

"Kante?" Mendes racked his brains and finally remembered, "Is it the short midfielder you brought in from Boulogne?"

This player has not received much attention since he was introduced to Paris Saint-Germain, and he has only played a few times in the French Cup and a few times as a substitute in the league and Europa League. He is not as good as the midfielder Ma Tuidi received so much attention that no one cared about him at all.

"Marcos Senna is retiring. A major league team has invited him to play for a high salary. We need a defensive midfielder to compete with Illarramendi and rotate."

Although Gao Han only said a faint word, Mendes keenly smelled something abnormal.

With Gao Han's emphasis on Chinatown, this Kanter must be extraordinary.