Chapter 326: Emperor Lin, Team in Danger, Return Quickly!
Walker himself is not opposed to arranging for his players to transfer to Real Madrid, as after all, Real Madrid is one of the most successful clubs on this planet. In terms of influence in the football world, Manchester City still has a significant gap compared to them.
However, he also has concerns. That is the fact that Real Madrid's team is filled with superstars, and the competition is very intense. Many players at Real Madrid end up not playing and have to sit on the cold bench. The most famous case was Kaka a few years ago, who joined the team for a transfer fee of 75 million euros but rarely got a chance to play.
This makes many players hesitant about transferring to Real Madrid, as a player's prime is so short, and spending years on the bench could ruin their entire career.
But Walker's worries soon disappeared when Florentino showed his sincerity. He promised Walker that as long as Kroos joined Real Madrid, he would be a main midfielder and wouldn't have to worry about not getting playtime! Florentino was clearly aware of the other party's concerns and addressed them right from the start. No wonder he has been able to bring so many stars to the team; in negotiations, the old man truly has a unique personal charm.
Although Real Madrid was very sincere, Walker did not immediately agree. He said he needed to discuss with the player himself before making a decision. Florentino expressed his understanding and promised that Real Madrid's doors would always be open to Kroos.
After the meeting, Walker hurried back to Germany. He went to Kroos' home and had a detailed talk with him. Kroos seemed hesitant after hearing Walker's words; he hadn't been at Manchester City for long, only six months, so he didn't have deep feelings for the club.
But the team's current performance is excellent, and the atmosphere within the team is good. Here, he could also earn a very high salary. Last year when he transferred to Manchester City, the club offered him an annual salary of 11 million euros. According to the contract they signed, Kroos' salary this year could rise to 12 million euros. This salary would be hard to match in other clubs, including Real Madrid. For example, James Rodriguez transferred to Real Madrid for a fee of 82 million euros, and his annual salary at Real Madrid was revealed to be only 7 million euros. If Kroos were to move to Real Madrid, even if it were higher than this figure, it probably wouldn't be much higher.
However, Manchester City can't compete with Real Madrid in terms of commercial development. Moving to Real Madrid could allow him to earn income from other aspects. Weighing it up, both sides seemed about the same.
If the income is roughly the same, then the internal status and the difficulty of obtaining honors need to be considered. "Mr. Walker, what is the atmosphere like in Real Madrid's locker room compared to Manchester City?" Kroos is a very rational player; he rarely makes impulsive decisions based on emotions. If he cannot fully weigh the pros and cons of both teams, he won't make a decision lightly.
This is what Walker really appreciates about him, unlike another player, Royce... Alas, thinking about Royce's injury, Walker feels a headache. Royce needs rest, which is a clear matter for the German national coach Löw, hence he did not call up Royce.
Lewandowski announced early that he would not renew his contract with the team, leaving Dortmund without a penny, transferring for free. This left Dortmund financially and spiritually drained! In the new season, after losing Götze and Lewandowski, Dortmund will rely more on Royce, which means he won't get much rest. Moreover, he himself might not want to rest, because he wants to lead the team to achieve good results and prove to those who left that even without them, Dortmund is still that strong Dortmund.
If it were someone else, this trait would be admirable, and Walker would sincerely applaud. But Royce is a player under Walker, which makes him very troubled.
Fortunately, Kroos is not like that. So hearing Kroos' words, Walker smiled and said, "Every team's locker room atmosphere is related to the team's leader. The leader in Manchester City's locker room is Lin, whose character and temper you are already very familiar with, so I don't need to say much."
Kroos nodded; Lin Quan's character is very easy-going and a good person to get along with. The atmosphere in Manchester City's locker room is also harmonious, without much scheming.
Speaking of which, Kroos quite likes the atmosphere in Manchester City's locker room. And because the team has a superstar like Lin Quan, whenever the team faces difficulties, he always steps forward, giving a very solid sense of security. This is also what he fondly remembers about Manchester City, just for Lin Quan, Kroos doesn't really want to leave.
"The locker room atmosphere at Real Madrid has always been poor, because they have too many top stars. And these players are divided into different factions, such as the native gang and the foreign gang, within the foreign gang there are the continental faction and the Latin American faction. These factions scheme against each other, openly and secretly; Real Madrid is far from being as calm as it appears.
However, I heard that Real Madrid plans to handle the internal issues and is going to send Casillas, the leader of the native gang, away. Once Casillas leaves, the unquestionable leader of the Real Madrid locker room will be Cristiano Ronaldo. You must have heard about Ronaldo's personality; he's quite dominant and not easy to get along with. But since you're a midfielder, there won't be a conflict of positions, and you could even provide assists for these forwards.
So, his attitude towards you won't be bad, he might even deliberately seek to win you over. Therefore, if you go to Real Madrid, you don't have to worry too much about this aspect."
After hearing Walker's analysis, Kroos felt relieved. Honestly, given Kroos' technical characteristics, he thinks the pace of La Liga would be more suitable for him. The Premier League's actions are too rough, players' fouls are too harsh, and the physical confrontations are too intense, making it easy to get injured here. Like other players, Kroos really dislikes the feeling of being injured, as it can have a huge negative impact on a player's form and even their entire career.
Besides, without a winter break, the dense schedule in December and January is a bit overwhelming. What's more uncomfortable is the awful weather in Manchester; it's cold and rainy here, and it can rain several times a day, which feels very unpleasant.
It's clear that in the half year at Manchester City, Kroos has accumulated a lot of resentment. However, every place has its pros and cons. The Premier League is not entirely bad, and La Liga is certainly not a paradise.
All in all, his feelings about Manchester City are just okay. If it weren't for the invitation from Real Madrid, he probably wouldn't consider other teams.
But it just had to be Real Madrid...
At Manchester City, it's not just Kroos who is being targeted. Thanks to his outstanding performances in the Champions League and World Cup, De Bruyne's value has skyrocketed. Teams that didn't value him before are now taking a second look.
AC Milan made the first move, offering 35 million euros to Manchester City for him. Hearing that AC Milan had made a move, Inter Milan immediately joined the fray, raising the offer by 1 million to 36 million euros.
Manchester City didn't hesitate to reject all these offers. De Bruyne has a good relationship with Lin Quan, and the club wouldn't easily sell him. Moreover, he provides significant help in the attack, and his combination with Lin Quan has already proven its powerful effect on the Bundesliga field!
Such a player, Manchester City absolutely wouldn't sell for a mere 35 million euros!
After rejecting these two teams' offers, the Bundesliga side, Dortmund, also joined the fray. After consecutively losing Götze and Lewandowski, Dortmund's front line was left with only Royce.
This makes the outlook for Dortmund's new season very worrisome, and in a rush to strengthen the team, Dortmund offered a high price of 40 million euros to bring the Bundesliga-proven De Bruyne to the team.
This price is actually not high, but transfer fees in the Bundesliga are generally lower. Dortmund previously sold Götze for only 37 million euros.
And Lewandowski left as a free agent, meaning that after losing two core players, Dortmund only earned a mere 37 million euros.
Now, they're offering 40 million euros for De Bruyne, meaning they'd still have to pay an extra 3 million euros in the transfer market. As expected, Manchester City still refused Dortmund's offer.
But the continuous offers from other teams made Manchester City's coach Pellegrini a bit uneasy. The club spent less money this summer, but that doesn't mean, as outsiders think, that Manchester City is giving up.
Rather, they couldn't find suitable players on the transfer market. They currently don't lack forwards or midfielders, only the defense line needs strengthening.
Manchester City's main central defender, Demichelis, is already 34 years old and is preparing to retire. After playing in the World Cup, he called Pellegrini to tell him he was thinking of leaving.
Demichelis was a confidant Pellegrini brought from Malaga; although he is a bit old, he really is like a stabilizing pin on the defense line. Last season, Manchester City's captain, Kompany, made several mistakes on the defense line, and if not for Demichelis stepping forward to help his teammates, Manchester City might not have gone so far.
So, Pellegrini persuasively urged him to stay. Demichelis hesitated and wasn't completely convinced.
This made Pellegrini worry, and he had to continue to bring in reinforcements to prevent a shortage of personnel on the defense line. But good defenders are really hard to find, like David Luiz, who costs 50 million pounds, and other teams' main defenders cost so much that Pellegrini dares not even think about it.
Moreover, other teams always ask for a bit more when negotiating transfers with Manchester City, making it even more disadvantageous for Manchester City.
"By the way, didn't Lin want to recommend a player to me before, what was his name?"
Just as Pellegrini was troubled by the team's defense line issues, he suddenly remembered something. Lin Quan had told him that in the Scottish Premiership's Celtic team, there was a young defender with potential worth noting.
Pellegrini had noted this at the time and had arranged for professional scouts to go to Celtic to observe this player named Van Dijk.
It's been so long now, the scout's report should have been submitted by now, right?
Sure enough, after flipping through the scout reports for a while, Pellegrini found the report on this young defender named Van Dijk.
Van Dijk: 23 years old, Dutch, height 1.93 meters, weight 90 kilograms. Currently playing for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.
Advantages of the player: Strong positional sense, excellent physical condition, strong heading ability, high success rate in one-on-one defense, strong support defense, good at compressing space.
Disadvantages: Tackling, chasing back, and slide tackling abilities are average, turning speed is slow, easy to be exploited from behind.
Estimated transfer value: 8 million pounds.
After reading the scout's report, Pellegrini furrowed his brows. This defender's basic skills seem average?
Why would Lin Quan recommend such a player to him? From the scout's report, aside from an excellent positional sense that slightly interested him, other aspects did not attract him.
However, the scout's report might not be accurate, and he planned to personally watch Van Dijk's match videos.
...
After the transfer market's value was announced, Lin Quan once again became the focus of fans' discussions. Actually, since he successively won the Champions League and World Cup, Lin Quan seemed to have never left the front pages of major media.
Thanks to the media's tireless reports and hype, Lin Quan's global fame has greatly increased. Although he is not very active on social media, the number of fans following his account still skyrocketed to 15 million like a rocket!
With such a large fan base, Lin Quan truly caught up with Messi and Ronaldo in terms of influence.
This greatly increased Lin Quan's commercial value, and sponsors came to him in droves. Now he doesn't lack sponsorship contracts, so he needs to select the sponsors.
As much as possible, he should not choose those cooperations that would have a negative impact on his personal image, because his personal image is closely related to his commercial value.
He cannot smash his long-term brand for short-term benefits.
Seeing Lin Quan's clear-headedness, Guardiola felt very relieved. What he was most worried about was that Lin Quan, because of becoming famous too early, would be dazzled by the outside praise and degenerate too early.
Such a talented player is hard to come by in decades; it would be a real pity if he fell so easily!
Vacation time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it was the end of July. The new season's training for Manchester City was getting closer, and Lin Quan had to end his vacation.
However, the last time Lin Quan shared a bit about his vacation at the beach on social media, it drew countless comments from fans.
"Emperor Lin, the team is in danger, return quickly!"
(End of Chapter)