Chapter 185: Endorsement Prices Soar
After easily defeating Hull City, Manchester City currently has three wins in three games,
occupying the first place in the Premier League standings with nine points.
Considering they have a goal difference of +10, even if teams like Liverpool and Tottenham beat their respective opponents and achieve three consecutive wins,
they wouldn't be able to move from their position.
After this match, Premier League teams finally began to take Manchester City seriously.
Before the game, everyone thought that Manchester City had made too many acquisitions in the summer,
and that these players would need some time to integrate into the team, so Manchester City's results at the beginning of the season might not be very good.
But no one expected them to start with three consecutive wins and directly place themselves at the top of the standings.
This made the rival teams not underestimate them, placing them along with other big teams in the group of title contenders.
The recognition from rivals towards Manchester City is a form of acknowledging their strength,
but this recognition will also lead to greater challenges in their upcoming matches.
The key matchup of this Premier League round is in the last two games: Manchester United visits Liverpool, while Arsenal hosts Tottenham at home.
After beating the powerful Chelsea, Moyes' Manchester United still couldn't triumph at Anfield.
In the clash between the two city teams, Liverpool has always achieved above-average performance at home against the Red Devils.
Although in recent years, Liverpool's performance in the league and the Champions League has been far below Manchester United's,
at Anfield, the Red Devils simply cannot find an advantage.
In the last six encounters of Manchester United at Anfield, their record is one win, one draw, and four losses.
This record is quite one-sided.
And this season, with Moyes newly arrived and still not having fully controlled the team,
the result of their visit to Anfield was predictable.
Just four minutes into the match, Liverpool captain Gerrard assisted his teammate Sturridge to score the only goal of the game.
Although there was only one goal in this match, it was enough for the Red Devils to return home empty-handed.
This defeat in the match was very unfavorable for Moyes.
After facing two of the BIG4 in the first three rounds, Manchester United's record is one draw and one loss.
This record can be considered quite poor.
And after only winning one game in the first three rounds, Manchester United is currently in seventh place in the standings,
directly out of the title contention.
Considering that in the fifth round of the league they will have to face Manchester City in energetic form, if Manchester United loses again in the city derby,
then surely their ranking will continue to fall, and they are likely to say goodbye to the Premier League title this season.
Joy and sadness, Moyes felt disillusioned at Anfield, while Arsenal's Wenger managed to defeat their eternal North London rival, Tottenham, with the same score.
After a surprise defeat in the first game, they stopped the negative trend with two consecutive wins.
Currently, Arsenal has achieved two consecutive wins and occupies fourth place in the standings.
Although they are three points behind Manchester City and Liverpool, the gap is not that big,
and as long as the opponents make mistakes, they can regain the lost ground.
Based on his crazy performance in the first three rounds of the Premier League, Lin Quan was chosen as the Premier League Player of the Month.
This was his first award since joining the Premier League, and also the youngest foreign player to receive this honor.
The Premier League is undoubtedly much more popular than the Bundesliga. After joining the Premier League,
the number of Lin Quan's followers on Twitter increased rapidly.
After the Confederations Cup, the number of followers had reached around 2.8 million and stabilized,
but after just three games with Manchester City, the number of followers increased by more than a million, and now it is close to four million in total.
Influenced by this, Lin Quan's commercial value has also skyrocketed.
Sponsors who came looking for him to endorse their products formed a long line, and Pele was already almost overwhelmed by the number.
Following the principle of "better to have less but better," Lin Quan had Pele reject most of the commercial contracts.
"Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola have approached me, they want to cooperate with you."
According to Lin Quan's request, Pele retained some high-profile international brands that offered reasonable prices and sincerity.
"How much are they offering?"
Lin Quan doesn't drink many carbonated soft drinks, as they can be harmful to professional athletes.
However, as an ordinary person, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are very popular beverages worldwide.
Partnering with them could help expand his influence and notoriety.
This mutually beneficial cooperation is what he desires.
"Coca-Cola has a bit more influence, so their offer is more conservative, they offer a 3-year contract for 9 million euros.
Pepsi-Cola has a bit less influence, so they offer more in the promotion budget, their contract is 4 years for 14 million euros."
After calculating, Coca-Cola offers 3 million euros per year, while Pepsi-Cola offers 3.5 million euros.
However, Lin Quan prefers Sprite, which is part of Coca-Cola. Drinking an ice-cold Sprite in summer is very refreshing,
but if you drink too much before eating, it can make you feel full quickly...
So he told Pele: "We can sign with Coca-Cola, but ask them if they are willing, I'm only willing to promote Sprite."
"Yes, I will negotiate with them."
"Also, Nike and Adidas are not standing still, they have contacted me to offer you new contracts."
"This is not urgent, we'll wait until the Champions League starts and then talk to them, let's take our time."
A few months ago, Lin Quan rejected offers from Nike and Adidas. At that time, he had not yet decided on his next team,
and his fame was limited to the Bundesliga, so he didn't have many followers worldwide.
Therefore, the two major sports brands only considered him a young prospect and didn't offer a very high price.
But now it's different, although only a summer has passed.
However, after winning the Confederations Cup and joining Manchester City for a record transfer fee, his influence in the football world has increased significantly.
At this moment, both Nike and Adidas no longer consider him just a young player.
Although he is really young, his current influence is no longer inferior to that of top football stars and may even surpass them.
Therefore, they need to show sincerity again.
But Lin Quan is not anxious about these kinds of things because he knows his influence has not yet been maximized.
If he can maintain his excellent performance in the Champions League and the World Cup, the two most prestigious and followed tournaments,
then his influence will expand even further, truly becoming a superstar rivaling Messi.
In addition to endorsement contracts, Lin Quan is also thinking about how to spend the money he has on hand.
Last season, his salary was not high, so he hadn't considered much investment.
But this season, after joining Manchester City, Lin Quan received a record transfer fee of 100 million pounds.
This is not a small sum of money!
Considering that the pound will continue to depreciate, if he doesn't spend this money soon, when the UK exits the European Union in a few years,
the exchange rate will plummet, and that will mean significant losses.
But what to invest in?
Spain has spent more than a month since the Confederations Cup ended.
They were originally going to have a friendly against Ecuador, but Del Bosque didn't call up any starters,
instead promoting a group of young players from the youth team and handing them over to assistant Tony to lead the match.
Tony led these youngsters to beat Ecuador 3-0, which left Del Bosque very satisfied.
The score doesn't matter so much; what matters is that the coach is already looking for players for the next generation of Spain's starters.
In Spain's current lineup, there are many players born around 1985.
After the next World Cup next year, it is unlikely they will be able to participate in the 2018 World Cup.
Therefore, Spain needs to start planning ahead.
However, with Lin Quan on the team, the reconstruction will be easier, as the core of the team is already secured.
"Look who's here, our big star!"
Lin Quan arrived at the national team training camp and met Ramos, Casillas, and others.
Morata ran towards Lin Quan, first bumped his chest and then hugged him.
"How's the Premier League? Are you having fun?"
"It's okay, do you also want to come to the Premier League?"
"How is that possible? I'm completely dedicated to Real Madrid, my favorite club is Real Madrid, I'll never go anywhere else in my life except Real Madrid!"
Morata spoke firmly, like a loyal Real Madrid supporter.
Lin Quan looked at him sideways, not believing a word Morata said.
This guy is a "dreamer" in the football world; when he left Real Madrid to join Juventus, he said his dream since childhood was to join Juventus.
When he returned to Real Madrid after being bought back, he said that since he was a child, he dreamed of playing for Real Madrid.
When he left Real Madrid for Chelsea and Atlético Madrid, he repeated the same story.
Since Morata has so many teams he dreams of joining, fans have given him the title of "dreamer."
As for which team he really likes, aside from himself, no one knows.
Seeing that Lin Quan had arrived, Ramos and Casillas also came over to greet him.
Ramos circled around Lin Quan, squeezed his muscles, and said:
"You're in good shape, it seems my previous worries were unfounded. With your physique, even Premier League defenders probably can't handle you."
Casillas advised:
"Don't get complacent, Premier League defenders are rough and commit many fouls, don't confront them directly to avoid getting injured."
Mentioning this, everyone thought of David Silva, who was absent due to injury, and sighed.
Silva was injured during a Premier League match and will be out for at least three months.
For a professional player, being out for three months due to injury can mean losing their starting position.
Before the injury, they might be a key and irreplaceable player for the team, but once they return from injury, their starting position might already be occupied.
Additionally, many players suffer mental aftereffects from an injury, and their physical condition can also be affected, which may impact their performance in the game, and from then on, they go unnoticed.
It's no exaggeration to say that injuries are the worst enemy of a professional player.
This time, there are many newcomers in the national team training.
Nacho from Real Madrid and García from Manchester City were called up to the national team for the first time, along with Negredo and Navas from Manchester City.
Including David Silva, Manchester City has five Spanish players.
"Busquets is injured, García is here to replace him," Del Bosque explained deliberately.
But this is only the superficial reason.
Spain does not lack midfielders, and García is 26 years old, not exactly young.
Besides replacing Busquets, another important reason for bringing García into the team is to help Lin Quan.
Del Bosque has been following Lin Quan's matches in the Premier League, but after watching three games of Manchester City, he realized that the midfield support for Lin Quan is not enough.
The core of Manchester City's midfield is Yaya Touré, but he doesn't like to assist his teammates, instead preferring to carry the ball himself.
The number of direct passes he gives to Lin Quan is very few, let alone assists for Lin Quan.
In these three matches, most of Lin Quan's goals were the result of his own individual skill, with relatively little support and help from his teammates.
The one who provided the most assists was not Manchester City's midfield, but the team's forward, Agüero.
Originally, when David Silva wasn't injured, he could still help Lin Quan.
But now that he's injured, he can't help.
Given this, Del Bosque decided to promote more Spanish players from Manchester City.
Give them more opportunities in the national team to play more with Lin Quan.
This way, when they return to their clubs, they can provide greater support and help to Lin Quan.
Navas and García don't know this, both are excited to be called up to the national team.
The World Cup is getting closer, and football players from all countries are fiercely competing for starting spots in their teams.
Even if they don't get a starting spot, being on the 23-player roster is also good.
Especially for the national team favored to win the title, like Spain, if they can be on the national team list.
Once Spain wins the World Cup next year, they will have the opportunity to lift the World Cup!
The thoughts of the other national team players are similar. In the team's training, everyone can clearly feel that they are taking things much more seriously.
In fact, because the players are taking things so seriously, in the team's training matches, there were even some players who almost got into conflicts over a too strong tackle.
Del Bosque is satisfied and worried about the players' state.
He's happy to see the players so dedicated, but he's worried because the size of the national team roster is limited and he can't take all these excellent players to the World Cup stage.
This time, many starting players are out due to injury, but that doesn't mean they are always out.
Therefore, many of the players called up this time may not be here the next time the national team gathers.
It is unknown if they will be able to accept this cruel reality.
After training in Madrid for three days, the entire Spanish national team took a plane and headed to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, to face the Finnish national team in a group match.
This game is the third and second-to-last group game for Spain. If they can beat Finland, they will qualify for the 2014 World Cup with two rounds to go.
(End of chapter)
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