章 113: Manchester City Offers Record Salary to Lin!
"Stop looking, no matter how much you pay, I won't go to Chelsea!"
Guardiola was firm in his decision, not even bothering to look at the number on the check, completely unmoved.
This made Emenalo a bit disappointed; such a high salary couldn't tempt him, so it seemed truly impossible to bring him to Chelsea.
Emenalo shook his head, stood up to leave, and said:
"Mr. Guardiola, Chelsea's door is always open to you. If you ever change your mind, you can contact me with this number!"
He left a business card and then departed.
Guardiola didn't even glance at the business card, asking Lin to toss it in the trash, then he hurried upstairs to watch Bayern's videotapes.
Lin took a look at the business card before casually throwing it into the trash.
Tsk tsk, a 20 million euro salary, Abramovich is really generous.
But unfortunately, in the stubborn world of Guardiola, Abramovich's money offensive lost its effect.
...
As the winter break approached for major leagues, the transfer market reopened on January 1.
Compared to the crazy summer transfer window, the winter transfers seemed more sensible.
The biggest transfer still came from the Russian Premier League.
Russian powerhouse Anzhi paid 35 million euros to snatch Brazilian midfielder Willian Borges from Shakhtar Donetsk, away from Chelsea's grasp.
It's worth mentioning that the last three transfer windows' record signings all came from the Russian Premier League.
The Russian league is drawing Europe's attention with its astounding spending power.
Besides the 35 million for Willian, Manchester City's forward Balotelli, due to disagreements with the coach, was sold back to Serie A for 20 million pounds.
However, he didn't return to Inter Milan but went to another local club—AC Milan.
Seemingly realizing they couldn't snag Lin, AC Milan started scouting for excellent forwards on the transfer market.
Balotelli's skills and physicality are unquestionable, but his mentality is a concern.
Such a player, world-class from the neck down, is truly a love-hate figure.
However, AC Milan seems to think they can manage Balotelli well.
Inter fans are furious about Balotelli's transfer, as he had previously declared himself an AC Milan fan during his time at Inter.
Now, actually transferring to their city rivals made the Nerazzurri fans livid, with some radical fans even issuing death threats to Balotelli.
However, Balotelli didn't care at all, flaunting around in his convertible, completely indifferent to the threats from Inter fans.
Apart from these significant transfers in the Premier League, other notable ones included:
Liverpool purchased Chelsea's forward Sturridge for 12 million pounds and bought young attacking midfielder Coutinho from Inter Milan for 8.5 million pounds.
Liverpool might not realize it, but this Brazilian, bought for only 8.5 million pounds, would later help them earn over a hundred million euros, providing enough transfer budget to buy key players like Van Dijk, truly revitalizing the Reds.
Additionally, Arsenal paid 8.3 million pounds to Malaga for their main defender Suraez.
Chelsea spent 7 million pounds to take young forward Demba Ba from Newcastle...
Overall, the Premier League's spending this winter was relatively restrained.
Yet, their investment in the transfer market still far exceeded that of other leagues.
With the Premier League's operational revenue and commercial broadcasting income growing, the gap with other leagues is widening, allowing Premier League clubs to have more funds to splurge on the transfer market.
Even mid-lower teams like Queens Park Rangers could afford to spend 20 million pounds on several strong players this winter.
Due to the high broadcasting income, all clubs strive to remain in the Premier League, with relegation-threatened teams often exhibiting formidable strength at the end of the season, occasionally causing upsets against the top teams.
In contrast, Bundesliga teams were more conservative in their signings.
Werder Bremen, following their principle of frugality, spent 650,000 euros to bring in Croatian youngster Mateo Pavlovic from NK Zagreb.
This tall center-back, born in 1990 and standing at 194 cm, was brought in after Bayern's striker Mandzukic posed a significant aerial threat to Werder Bremen's defense in a German Cup match, highlighting the team's weakness against aerial attacks.
After buying him, the coach planned to purchase a quality defensive midfielder next.
However, such players were scarce on the market, and the good ones were too expensive, while the cheaper options were subpar, so he ended up not buying the player he wanted.
Lin had recommended the 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder Casemiro to the club, but Real Madrid had already snapped him up, taking him to the Bernabeu.
Thus, Werder Bremen concluded the winter
transfer window with just one signing.
Bayern Munich, with their strong squad depth, didn't plan on making any signings, and Guardiola didn't want to disrupt Heynckes' stable locker room during the winter, so he shelved his own transfer plans.
Neither coach made any signings, so Bayern had no personnel changes this winter.
Dortmund brought back Nuri Sahin, an excellent product of their youth system, from Real Madrid.
After not getting much playtime at Real Madrid, he sought a loan return to Dortmund.
Other teams also made generally low investments, with transfers mostly ranging between 200-400 thousand euros, without any major signings.
Overall, they were making minor adjustments to specific positions within an already complete main framework.
This year's quiet transfer market wasn't because the big clubs didn't want to buy players.
Instead, it was because almost all of them were eyeing a player who hadn't yet decided on his next club, making them hesitant to spend their money recklessly.
This player was none other than Lin himself.
On January 10, AC Milan made the first move.
They offered Barcelona 45 million euros, hoping to secure Lin.
Once AC Milan made their move, other clubs stopped waiting and started acting.
Real Madrid followed closely, activating Lin's release clause with an offer of 50 million euros, which was practically an insult to Barcelona given AC Milan's 45 million euros.
Their offer implied they didn't intend to give Barcelona any face, choosing to activate the release clause directly and then negotiate with the player.
If the player agreed to move to Real Madrid, they would pay the release clause to buy out his remaining contract.
If the player disagreed, they wouldn't raise their offer, waiting instead for his contract to expire, ensuring Barcelona wouldn't make any extra money from them.
Seeing the approach taken by AC Milan and Real Madrid, other clubs began to divide.
Some offered the same 50 million euros, while others with good relations with Barcelona symbolically offered more than the release clause to save face for Barcelona.
However, they all had plans to bypass Barcelona and deal directly with the player.
Since the release clause was so low, of course, they weren't willing to be the sucker.
Their strategy was to convert the transfer budget into a salary and signing bonus, offering it directly to the player.
This way, with better salary conditions, their offers were obviously more attractive.
The first to make contact with Lin were two Premier League clubs.
The Manchester rivals almost arrived in Spain simultaneously to find Lin.
Manchester United's representatives praised Lin extravagantly, claiming he was a phenomenal player and a long-desired target for United.
They even said Ferguson highly rated him and wanted to bring him to Old Trafford to become the new king of Old Trafford.
To this, Lin just chuckled.
Did they think he didn't know?
Ferguson was set to retire at the end of the season, and Manchester United was about to enter a long rebuilding period.
Why would he trick himself into going there, into a potential pitfall?
He was known as "Lin Emperor" to fans, but he wasn't Lingard; he didn't want to play "happy football" at Manchester United too early.
So, he politely declined Manchester United's offer.
Just after sending off Manchester United's representative, Manchester City's came calling.
The approach of the wealthy Middle Eastern owners of City was different.
Without the heritage of a traditional powerhouse, City didn't make any grand, empty promises.
They boldly pulled out a checkbook, stating that if Lin was willing to play at the Etihad Stadium, they were ready to offer him a record-breaking football salary of 15 million euros.
Honestly, hearing this number, Lin was somewhat tempted.
Money was a minor issue, but the status represented by the highest salary in football was significant!
Of course, money was also important, as a player's career is relatively short, and it was natural to seize the opportunity to earn more.
Seeing his hesitation, Manchester City's representative upped the ante:
If Lin was willing to come to Manchester City, they would offer him a signing bonus of 30 million euros, along with a mansion and a limited edition sports car worth at least 3 million euros, taking care of all his needs from clothing and food to housing and transportation.
They even stated that the club would not take any of Lin's image rights.
All of Lin's image rights would belong to him!
Lin felt almost dizzy from their financial onslaught.
Manchester City really was extravagant!How could Middle Eastern tycoons be so wealthy?The salary they offered was twice as high as that of other teams.
If he had been a bit older, Lin might have accepted right there.
But unfortunately, he was too young and had not yet acquired the talent for injury immunity, so he couldn't go to Manchester City just yet.
He decided to wait, train in the Bundesliga for a
few more years, and upgrade his skills before considering a move.
Thus, he declined Manchester City's offer like he did with Manchester United's, though he was more polite and even hinted that he might consider collaborating with City in the future.
While Manchester City's representative didn't succeed in signing him, the hint from Lin was enough to leave them satisfied.
After the Manchester clubs, other powerhouses also sent representatives.
Because there were so many visitors, some were there for Lin and others for Guardiola.
In fact, more people were there for Lin than for Guardiola!
With so many disturbances, Lin and Guardiola couldn't even live normally.
So, they discussed and decided to go on a vacation, temporarily leaving Spain, a land of disputes.
They might have left, but that didn't mean the transfer saga calmed down.
Barcelona was furious; they rejected Real Madrid's insulting offer and publicly stated that Lin was not for sale.
But this response seemed somewhat feeble as Lin had yet to renew his contract, leaving his future uncertain—a decision not up to Barcelona.
Knowing this, Barcelona sent representatives to find Lin's agent to discuss renewing the contract.
"Pere, this is the team's latest contract offer for Lin, it's really sincere. I hope you'll consider it carefully!"
Subisareta urged earnestly, appearing genuinely concerned for his well-being.
Pere was no child; how could he fall for that?
He feigned a look at the new contract from Barcelona, then shook his head:
"I can't make this decision. As you know, Lin is more influenced by his foster father. I'm just his agent, I can't change his decisions."
Hearing that they needed to talk to Guardiola, Subisareta's face showed unease.
He was a direct descendant of Rosell, and Guardiola's departure was orchestrated by Rosell.
Asking him to find Guardiola, aside from whether he could swallow his pride, even if he was willing to step down and seek him out, Guardiola might not be willing to see him.
"Could you please arrange a meeting with the player himself? I have some things I'd like to discuss with him face-to-face."
Subisareta hadn't given up; he planned to talk directly with Lin about renewing the contract instead of going through Guardiola.
In his view, the player was just a seventeen-year-old kid, easily influenced by others.
If he could get him away from Guardiola and use his eloquence, there was a chance he could persuade him to sign the new contract.
"I can't help you with that!"
Pere's head shook like a bobblehead; he wasn't foolish enough to let Barcelona's people contact Lin.
"Why not? He's still our Barcelona player, can't we even meet him?"
Subisareta was clearly losing his composure, truly angered because he felt like he was being played.
"Calm down, buddy. Lin and Guardiola have gone on vacation. I don't know exactly where, but I can send your new contract to him online and ask for his opinion over the phone."
...
After leaving the Barcelona club, Pere immediately took a flight to Madrid to meet with Real Madrid's president Florentino.
"Sorry, Mr. President, Lin is not interested in transferring during this winter break."
"Hehe, no problem. Then, after his contract expires this summer, could he possibly come to Bernabeu?"
Florentino was not surprised by this outcome; he had guessed that Lin wouldn't transfer to Real Madrid as a Barcelona player.
The rivalry between the two teams made direct transfers almost impossible.
If anyone dared to make such a move, the label of traitor would be stuck on their head, never to be removed.
When Figo transferred to Real Madrid and returned to Camp Nou to play, Barcelona fans made extremely aggressive and humiliating gestures.
"I don't want to deceive you, but the possibility is very low!"
Florentino raised an eyebrow, wondering if someone had gotten there first and made an agreement with Lin.Who could it be?...
"The new contract from Barcelona is an improvement over the previous one. They promise you a starting position, guaranteed playtime, and are willing to increase your annual salary to 7 million euros."
While looking over the new contract Pere had sent from Barcelona and listening to him describe his conversation with Barcelona's sports director, Lin gained a new understanding of Barcelona's eagerness to renew the contract.
But, with Guardiola no longer at Barcelona, why should he go back?To let Rosell make life difficult for him?It might seem like they were being very polite now, but that's because they needed something from him.
As long as he didn't renew, the power was in his hands.
But once he signed the new contract, that power would return to Barcelona's hands.
Locked in by a contract, wouldn't Barcelona be able to manipulate him as they wished?
Unless someone was willing to pay a high price to buy him out, but the new contract from Barcelona didn't include a fixed release clause.
Thus, even if someone wanted to buy him out, Barcelona could refuse to sell.
"From now on, you don't need to show me any renewal contracts from Barcelona!"
Since he had already decided to sign with Bayern, there was no need to be distracted. It was better to focus on improving his own skills.
In a previous match against Bayern in the German Cup, he had spent 10 points to upgrade his physical fitness talent to level two.
This had pushed back the timing of upgrading his injury talent even further.
After winning against Bayern, he had 10 points left.
Werder Bremen didn't have many matches, only the German Cup and the league, without the Champions League to play in.
And their strength wasn't particularly strong; even against Bundesliga teams, they couldn't guarantee a win every time, and those five victories weren't easy to achieve.
In the second half of the season, Werder Bremen had 17 more league games, and if they made it to the cup final, that would be 3 more games.
Together, that was only 20 games, even winning them all wouldn't be enough to fully upgrade his injury talent.
Why is earning points so hard?
If it's not feasible through the club, what about the national team?
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