Chapter 107: Bayern's Concession
"You keep negotiating with Bayern. If they really want to sign for five years, we must make concessions in terms of signing fees and annual salary, otherwise we'd rather not sign with them!"
On the phone, Pere nodded: "I understand, but to negotiate with Bayern, I suggest you also contact other clubs more. At least let Bayern know that we're not exclusively interested in them!"
Because Bayern had already signed an intent contract with Guardiola, negotiations between Lin Quan and Bayern were somewhat passive.
Having secured Guardiola's situation, it seemed they assumed Lin Quan would definitely transfer to Bayern to join Guardiola.
This made them a bit arrogant!
If they didn't cause a little trouble for them, let them know that Lin Quan wasn't exclusive to Bayern, then they wouldn't easily compromise.
"Well, okay, when I return to Spain during the winter break, I'll go to the Bernabeu to watch a few matches!"
There are more teams in La Liga than in the Bundesliga, so their schedule is longer, and the winter break is shorter.
When the Bundesliga is on break, there are still several matches to be played in La Liga, with Real Madrid playing at home in the 18th round.
When the time comes, as long as Lin Quan takes a turn at the Bernabeu, even if he doesn't interact with the president and club officials of Real Madrid, it's enough to arouse speculation from the outside world.
The media will find various angles and reasons to hype his potential joining of Real Madrid!
At that time, Lin Quan can remain silent, neither admitting nor denying it, letting the outside world speculate. He didn't believe Bayern could sit still!
"Good idea, as a player, it's best not to contact people from Real Madrid. It's easy to violate regulations and give others handles!"
According to the Bosman Act, professional players cannot privately contact other clubs before certain conditions of their contract are met.
However, the law also stipulates that once a contract has only six months remaining, it is legal to contact other clubs without violating regulations.
Lin Quan's contract still has six months left, so technically, by January next year, he can legally contact other clubs.
But it's not appropriate for the player himself to handle such matters. It's better to let the agent handle the contact and negotiation.
...
Midweek, the highly anticipated Bundesliga transfer market released the latest player valuation rankings.
Lionel Messi, who equaled Gerd Muller's calendar year goal record, saw his value soar to 150 million euros! This valuation means that anyone who wants to buy him has no hope without paying at least two or three small goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a hat-trick at Old Trafford in the Champions League, saw his value increase by 5 million euros, reaching 105 million euros, second only to Messi for now.
From the thirteenth to the twentieth places were Andres Iniesta at 70 million euros, Wayne Rooney at 65 million euros, Falcao at 60 million euros, Cavani at 60 million euros, Fabregas at 55 million euros, Bale at 55 million euros, Aguero at 51 million euros, and David Silva at 50 million euros.
Apart from Gareth Bale, whose value increased by 15 million euros due to rumors with Real Madrid.
Falcao and Cavani, the two super shooters from South America, saw their values rise by 10 to 15 million euros each, depending on their prolific goal-scoring records at their respective clubs.
The top ten on the list are mostly familiar faces.
But between the thirteenth and twentieth places, two new faces appeared:
Neymar, the Brazilian rising star from Santos, reached a value of 45 million euros, ranking thirteenth.
Lin Quan from Werder Bremen reached a value of 43 million euros, ranking fourteenth.
These two players are very young, with at least ten years of prime ahead of them, one being 17 years old and the other 21 years old by February next year.
Especially Lin Quan, his prime may last for more than 15 years, if he doesn't get injured!
The latest valuation from the Bundesliga transfer market immediately sparked heated discussions online.
However, this time the most discussed player was not Lin Quan, but Neymar.
"Who is this Neymar? His value is higher than our Lin Quan, is he that good?"
"Neymar is the star player of Santos, he's won the Brazilian Footballer of the Year and South American Footballer of the Year awards. He was also ranked tenth in last year's Ballon d'Or. He's not exactly a newcomer; he's well-known!"
"Is this Neymar the one rumored to be joining Barça?"
"Yes, that's him. According to rumors, it seems that Barça has already reached an agreement with Neymar. If nothing unexpected happens, he'll be playing at the Camp Nou next year. Rumor has it that Barça spent a hefty sum to bring him in!"
"Wow, such a high fee for Neymar, how much would it cost the clubs to buy Lin Quan if he were to transfer?"
"Who knows? But the valuations from the Bundesliga transfer market can't fully reflect the true value of players in the transfer market. Some may be overpriced, and some may even be discounted. So it can only be used as a reference!"
"Lin Quan's style is very similar to Messi's, so we can refer to the offers from various clubs for Messi to estimate his value."
"Lin Quan definitely doesn't have King of Coal's value right now, but he has a European passport, doesn't take up a foreign player slot, which gives him an advantage over Messi. So when he comes of age, his transfer price may even exceed Messi's!"
...
Just as the Bundesliga transfer market released the latest player valuation rankings, in the Bayern Munich club, club manager Hoeness was reporting the latest progress of the transfer negotiations with Lin Quan's agent to chairman Rummenigge.
"Lin Quan's agent said he doesn't want to sign a long contract with us, only a three-year contract. And he hopes to include a release clause in the contract and also demands a higher signing fee."
Hoeness was clearly dissatisfied with the various demands from Lin Quan's side. He felt that they were just a young player, and Bayern had offered them such generous terms. They should be content and grateful to sign.
But now, they were haggling with them.
After listening for a while, Rummenigge tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the chair.
Hoeness knew this was the other party thinking, so he kept quiet and waited for their decision.
"Guardiola and our intent contract is for three years. If Lin Quan is really here for Guardiola, then it's understandable that he wants to sign a three-year contract."
In fact, Bayern had only signed an intent contract with Guardiola, and both parties could terminate it at any time without much cost.
Considering that Guardiola only agreed to a three-year contract, and Lin Quan also agreed to a three-year contract, Bayern was a bit unsure of the other party's attitude.
Was this three-year period something they had privately agreed upon with his father? If that were really the case, if their negotiations with Lin Quan fell through, would it affect the intent contract they had with Guardiola before?
If Guardiola didn't sign with Bayern because of this, then Bayern might end up wasting their time.
Where would they find a suitable head coach then? Thinking of this, Rummenigge became cautious.
For Bayern, Guardiola was now more important. They must stabilize him no matter what.
As for Lin Quan, Rummenigge had watched Lin Quan's games in person before and was deeply impressed by his performance on the field, which is why he had the idea of buying him in the first place.
Now, with Lin Quan's unstoppable performance in the Bundesliga, this only strengthened his determination to bring him in.
Such a highly promising young player, even if not used immediately, would be a guaranteed profit just as an investment.
Moreover, according to Lin Quan's agent, he would join Bayern as a free agent, and Bayern wouldn't even have to pay a penny in transfer fees!
Since that's the case, it's normal to compensate him with a signing fee, just like when Eto'o transferred from Barça to Inter Milan for a low fee, Inter offered him a super high salary and signing fee.
Bayern wasn't short of money, Hoeness as the manager wanted to save money, he could understand that.
But they couldn't mess things up just to save money. In that case, they couldn't buy players, they would only have money in their hands, without a suitable head coach and potential players, what's the use of having money?
Players like Lin Quan, who are phenomenal, are never easily available. Their value cannot be measured by money.
It's precisely because he's young that his value isn't high. If he were to reach the age of 21 this year, his value might exceed 100 million euros, and Bayern would have to spend a lot to acquire him.
Now, without a transfer fee, even if they give him a large signing fee, in the future, if they want to cash in, they can easily sell him and recoup their costs.
As long as he doesn't encounter catastrophic injuries, his value will only steadily rise, not fall.
When Guardiola was at Barça, he had a Messi who could take the city. If he could have a similar setup at Bayern, he could likely replicate the miracles he achieved at Barça, winning more championship trophies for Bayern.
If you think the signing fee is too expensive, then when his contract is about to expire in the future, you can sell him and recoup the costs.
With his current state and huge potential for growth, if you want to sell him in a few years, you won't have trouble finding buyers, and buyers will be willing to pay a high price. Bayern might even make over a hundred million euros.
At that time, deducting the costs, they could still earn a big profit!
If he's willing to stay with the team, then Bayern would have their own Messi. Just Lin Quan's presence alone would be enough to guarantee their performance floor!
Such players are like high-quality financial products, why not buy them? Thinking of this, Rummenigge made a decision:
"Alright, tell his agent that we'll compromise, Bayern agrees to their demands for the signing fee and release clause, but they need to extend the contract term by one year, signing a four-year contract with us. If they agree, then sign with them as soon as possible, lest we lose out in the long run!"
(End of this chapter)