Chapter 116 Transfer Window Opens, Manchester City Offers Record Salary to Poach Lin Quan!
"Don't bother looking, no matter how much salary you offer, I won't go to Chelsea!"
Guardiola's attitude was resolute, not even bothering to glance at the amount on the check, completely unmoved.
This left Emenalo somewhat regretful; even with such a high salary offer, it seemed impossible to recruit him. It appeared that bringing him to Chelsea was truly out of the question.
Emenalo shook his head and prepared to take his leave:
"Mr. Guardiola, the doors of Chelsea are always open to you. If you ever change your mind, you can contact me at this number!"
He left behind a business card and then departed.
Guardiola didn't even bother to look at the business card, instructing Lin Quan to throw it in the trash bin, before returning upstairs to watch Bayern's video recordings.
Lin Quan glanced at the business card and casually tossed it into the trash bin.
Wow, a salary of 20 million euros, Abramovich is really generous.
But unfortunately, even with such a hefty sum, Abramovich's financial assault was ineffective against Guardiola's stubbornness.
...
With the winter transfer window approaching in major leagues, January 1st marked the reopening of the transfer market.
Compared to the frenzy of the summer transfer window, the winter transfer window appeared much more rational.
The biggest transfer deal came from the Russian Premier League.
Russian powerhouse Anzhi snatched Brazilian midfielder Willian Borges from Shakhtar Donetsk for 35 million euros from Chelsea.
It's worth noting that for the last three consecutive transfer windows, the transfer record has been set by the Russian Premier League.
The Russian league, with its astonishing spending power, has attracted attention from across Europe.
Apart from the 35 million euro deal for Willian, Manchester City's forward Mario Balotelli was sold back to Serie A for 20 million pounds due to conflicts with the head coach.
However, he didn't return to Inter Milan but instead went to another club in the same city, AC Milan.
Seemingly realizing they couldn't sign Lin Quan, AC Milan began scouting for outstanding forwards in the transfer market.
And Balotelli's skills and physical attributes were undeniable, but the only concern was his mindset.
With such talent, his mindset is truly love-hate.
However, AC Milan seemed confident they could tame him.
Inter Milan fans were furious about Balotelli's transfer. When he played for Inter Milan years ago, he openly declared himself a fan of AC Milan.
Now, actually transferring to their city rivals, it ignited fury among Interisti, with some radical fans even issuing death threats to Balotelli.
But Balotelli was unfazed, cruising around in his convertible every day, completely disregarding the threats from Inter Milan fans.
...
In the Premier League, aside from the aforementioned major transfers, other significant deals included:
Liverpool buying Chelsea's forward Daniel Sturridge for £12 million and purchasing young midfielder Coutinho from Inter Milan for £8.5 million.
Liverpool might not have known it then, but this Brazilian they acquired for just £8.5 million would eventually earn them over €100 million, giving them enough transfer budget to buy players like Van Dijk and a group of core players, truly realizing the revival of the Reds.
Arsenal purchasing Malaga's main defender Isco for £8.3 million.
Chelsea spending £7 million to bring in young forward Demba Ba from Newcastle...
Overall, the spending in this winter transfer window in the Premier League was relatively restrained.
Yet, their investment in the transfer market still far exceeds other leagues.
The gap in league operations and commercial broadcasting revenue between the Premier League and other leagues is widening, allowing Premier League clubs to receive more money each season and have more ample funds to spend in the transfer market.
Even mid-table teams like Queens Park Rangers could spend £20 million to buy several quality players this winter transfer window.
Also, because of the high broadcasting revenue in the Premier League, all major clubs strive to stay in the league, with relegation-threatened teams often displaying formidable strength at the end of each season, often causing top clubs to stumble.
Unlike the Premier League's big spending, Bundesliga teams' signings were relatively restrained.
Werder Bremen continued their prudent approach by spending €650,000 to bring in Croatian youngster Mateo Pavlovic from NK Zagreb.
He's a 1990-born, 194cm tall center-back.
In the German Cup match against Bayern Munich, the opponent's towering striker Mandzukic posed a significant threat to Werder Bremen's defense, prompting Shaaf to realize that the team had a weakness in defending high balls.
So, he spent money to buy this young and promising player, who not only has potential but also immediate ability.
After buying this player, he planned to buy another better defensive midfielder.
But this type of player is not abundant in the market, and the good ones are too expensive while the cheap ones are not good enough. After selecting for half a day, they didn't buy the player they wanted and had to give up.
Lin Quan once recommended 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder Casemiro to the club, but he had already been snatched up by Real Madrid.
So, this winter, Werder Bremen only completed one transfer, marking the end of the transfer window.
Bayern Munich's strength is formidable, and their bench is strong enough, so Heynckes doesn't plan to make any signings.
And Guardiola doesn't want to disrupt Heynckes' locker room stability by signing players during the winter transfer window, so he shelved his transfer plans.
With both managers refraining from signing players, there were no changes to Bayern's personnel this winter transfer window.
As for Borussia Dortmund, they brought back Nuri Sahin from Real Madrid, a promising player from their own youth academy.
After he failed to get many appearances at Real Madrid, he sought a loan move back to Borussia Dortmund.
Other teams' investments were generally not high, mostly between €2-4 million, with no major signings.
In general, the reason why this winter transfer market was so quiet was not because major clubs didn't want to sign players.
But because there's a player in the transfer market that almost all major clubs are watching who hasn't decided on his next destination, preventing everyone from spending their money recklessly.
And that player is none other than Lin Quan himself.
On January 10th, AC Milan couldn't wait any longer.
They took the lead by offering €45 million to Barcelona, hoping to sign Lin Quan.
After AC Milan made their move, other clubs also stopped hesitating and took action.
Real Madrid quickly followed suit, activating Lin Quan's release clause with a €5 million bid to Barcelona.
With AC Milan offering €45 million, Real Madrid's bid was essentially a direct insult to Barcelona.
Their offer meant they weren't giving face to Barcelona; they were directly activating the release clause and then approaching the player themselves.
If the player was willing to go to Real Madrid, they would pay the release clause and help the player buy out the rest of his contract.
If the player disagreed, they wouldn't increase the offer; they would wait until the contract expired, not giving Barcelona any opportunity to earn more money.
Seeing AC Milan and Real Madrid's approaches, other clubs began to diverge.
Some clubs also offered €5 million, while others, who had a good relationship with Barcelona, gave a symbolic offer exceeding the release clause to save face for Barcelona.
However, their real intention was to bypass Barcelona and directly approach the player.
Since the release clause was so low, no one wanted to be taken advantage of.
They intended to convert the transfer budget into wages and signing fees for the player.
This way, with better salary offers, their bids were obviously more attractive.
The first clubs to contact Lin Quan were two Premier League clubs.
Both Manchester giants arrived in Spain almost simultaneously to meet with Lin Quan.
Representatives from Manchester United first praised Lin Quan, saying he was an exceptional player and a long-time target for Manchester United.
They even mentioned that Ferguson had high hopes for him and hoped to bring him to Old Trafford to become the new king of Manchester United.
To this, Lin Quan just chuckled.
Others might not know, but does he still not know?
Ferguson is retiring after this season, and Manchester United will enter a long period of rebuilding after Ferguson's retirement.
At this time, deceiving oneself, isn't that digging one's own grave?
Although he's jokingly called the "King Lin" by fans, he's not Lingard. He doesn't want to play happy football at Manchester United early on.
So he politely declined Manchester United's invitation.
Just after sending off the representatives from Manchester United, representatives from Manchester City arrived.
The way the Middle Eastern tycoons do things is quite different from others.
Manchester City, without the pedigree of a top club, doesn't bother with empty words.
They boldly presented a check, expressing that as long as Lin Quan is willing to play at Etihad Stadium, they are willing to offer him a first-year salary of €15 million.
Honestly, upon hearing this figure, Lin Quan felt a bit tempted.
Money is one thing, but the status represented by the highest football salary is another! Of course, money is also important; a player's career is relatively short, so of course, he wants to seize the opportunity to earn more!
Seeing that he seemed to hesitate, the representative from Manchester City continued to sweeten the deal: They stated that if Lin Quan is willing to join Manchester City, they will offer him a signing bonus of €30 million, in addition to giving him a luxury villa and a limited edition supercar worth at least €3 million, solving all his living and transportation problems.
Even more, regarding the commercial interests involving the player's image rights, they stated that the club wouldn't claim any image rights. Lin Quan's image rights would all belong to him personally!
Lin Quan felt like he was being overwhelmed by their financial assault.
Manchester City is truly audacious! How come Middle Eastern tycoons are so rich?
The salary they offered is not worth double that of other clubs.
If he were a bit older now, perhaps Lin Quan would really agree to their offer.
But unfortunately, he's still too young, and before he exchanges for the talent of immunity to injuries, he can't go to Manchester City for now.
It's better to stay in the Bundesliga for a few more years and then consider upgrading!
So, he politely declined Manchester City like he did with Manchester United before, but with a slightly more courteous attitude, even hinting that there might be opportunities to consider cooperation with Manchester City in the future.
Although the representative from Manchester City didn't poach anyone, after receiving Lin Quan's hint, he left satisfied.
After Manchester City's two representatives, representatives from other top clubs also arrived.
Because there were too many people visiting, some came for Lin Quan, while others came for Guardiola.
Even more people came for Lin Quan than for Guardiola! Being disturbed by so many people, Lin Quan and Guardiola couldn't carry on with their daily lives normally.
So, they discussed and decided to go on vacation, temporarily leaving Spain, a place full of troubles.
They left, but it didn't mean the transfer storm subsided.
Barcelona was very angry. They rejected the humiliating offer from Real Madrid, publicly stating that Lin Quan is not for sale and will not be sold externally.
But this response seemed lacking in confidence. With Lin Quan not renewing with them yet, where he goes next is not something they can decide.
Barcelona obviously knew this, so they sent someone to find Lin Quan's agent, wanting to discuss the issue of renewing his contract with him.
"Pere, this is the latest contract the club offers to Lin Quan, it's really sincere, I hope you can consider it seriously!"
Subisaretta earnestly persuaded, looking like he was doing it for his good.
Pere wasn't a three-year-old child, how could he be fooled? He pretended to look at the new contract handed over by Barcelona and shook his head:
"I can't decide on this, you know, Lin Quan's decisions are heavily influenced by his adoptive father. I'm just his agent; I can't change his decision."
When he heard about finding Guardiola, Subisaretta's face looked somewhat unnatural.
He belonged to Rosell's direct line, and Guardiola's departure was facilitated by Rosell.
Letting him go find Guardiola, let alone whether he could swallow his pride, even if he was willing to lower himself to find Guardiola, Guardiola might not be willing to see him.
"Could you please arrange for me to meet the player in person? There are some things I want to talk to him about face to face."
Subisaretta hadn't given up yet. He didn't plan to go find Guardiola but instead intended to discuss the issue of renewing the contract directly with Lin Quan.
In his view, the other party is just a seventeen-year-old kid, lacking in independence, and easily influenced by others.
If he could get him away from Guardiola and then use his eloquence, there might be a chance to convince him to sign the new contract.
"I can't help you with this favor!"
Pere shook his head like a drum, he wasn't stupid, how could he let Barcelona's people contact Lin Quan?
"Why? He's still our Barcelona player at the moment, can't we even meet him in person?"
Subisaretta seemed a bit agitated. He was really a bit angry because he felt like the guy in front of him was treating him like a fool.
"Take it easy, buddy. Lin Quan and Guardiola have gone on vacation. I don't know where exactly, but I can send the new contract to him online and ask for his opinion over the phone."
...
After leaving the Barcelona club, Pere immediately flew to Madrid to meet with Florentino, the president of Real Madrid.
"Sorry, Mr. President, Lin Quan has no intention of transferring during this winter transfer window."
"Hehe, it's okay. So, after his contract expires in the summer, is there a possibility he'll come to the Bernabeu?"
Florentino wasn't surprised by this outcome; he had already guessed that Lin Quan wouldn't transfer to Real Madrid as a Barcelona player.
The identity of the two teams' archrivals makes direct transfers between the two clubs almost impossible.
If anyone dares to take the risk and transfer from one club to another, the traitor label will be pinned on him, and it won't come off easily.
When Figo transferred to Real Madrid and returned to Camp Nou to play, the Barcelona fans made very radical and humiliating gestures.
"I don't want to deceive you; this possibility is very low!"
Florentino raised his eyebrows. Could it be that someone preempted him and talked to Lin Quan ahead of time? Who could it be?
...
"Barcelona's new contract is slightly improved compared to the previous one. They promise to give you a starting position, guarantee your playing time, and are willing to raise your annual salary to €7 million."
While flipping through the new contract Pere passed over and listening to the description of the conversation between the other party and Barcelona's sporting director, Lin Quan gained a new understanding of Barcelona's current eagerness to renew.
But Guardiola is no longer at Barcelona, why go back? To let Rosell give him a hard time? Don't be fooled by their current polite behavior; it's because they need something from you.
As long as he doesn't renew, the initiative remains in his hands.
But once he signs on the new contract, the initiative will return to Barcelona's hands.
After being locked into the contract, can't Barcelona do whatever they want with him?
Unless someone is willing to pay a high price to buy him out, but Barcelona's new contract doesn't include a fixed amount of liquidated damages clause.
So even if someone is willing to buy him out, Barcelona can refuse to sell.
"Don't need to show me any future contracts from Barcelona!"
Since he has decided to sign with Bayern, it's better not to have second thoughts and focus on improving his own strength.
During the previous match against Bayern in the German Cup, he spent 10 points to exchange for a second-level physical talent.
This delayed the time for him to upgrade his injury talent by a lot.
After winning against Bayern, he now has 10 points left.
Werder Bremen's matches are relatively few, with only the German Cup and the league, without the Champions League to play.
And their strength is not particularly strong; even against Bundesliga teams, winning isn't guaranteed, so these five victories are not that easy to get.
In the second half of the season, Werder Bremen still has 17 league matches, and if they reach the cup final, there will be three more matches.
Added together, there are only 20 games; even if they all win, it's not enough to upgrade his injury talent to the maximum level.
Why is it so hard to earn points?
If the club side doesn't work, what about the national team side?
(End of this chapter)