i want to be king

Chapter 599 I have nothing else but a lot of money!
A Spanair Airbus lands slowly at Dubai International Airport.

Ferran Soriano disembarked in the farewell of the crew.

He is the chairman of Spanish Airlines.

After staying at the airport for half an hour and drinking a cup of coffee, the phone call came.

Before long, he boarded a luxury private jet and flew directly to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The first half of Soriano’s journey was public. Everyone in the company knew that he was going to Dubai for a short vacation of three or four days, but no one knew that this unexpected vacation was actually just to cover up the second half of the itinerary.

He was going to meet someone in Abu Dhabi.

A man who made him feel unbelievable.

……

From the vice chairman of Barcelona to the chairman of Spanish Airlines, this change of status is nothing to Soriano.

He is a native of Barcelona, ​​but unlike most Barcelona people, he does not have a strong tendency. This is related to his family education. His father is a businessman, and his mother runs a hairdressing shop. The family is not very rich, so that he did not become a member of Barcelona until he was 13 years old, which is already a bit late.

He has been excellent since childhood, and he studied business management at university. Then he entered ESADE Business School, one of the top three business schools in Spain. In addition to Catalan and Spanish, he is also proficient in English, French and Portuguese. He has worked in different companies on three continents and has developed a strong personal ability.

In [-], as Laporta's backbone campaign team, he, Rosell and Inguera helped Laporta defeat his opponent in the campaign and successfully became the chairman of Barcelona. The three of them also became the vice-chairman of Barcelona, ​​and Soriano was in charge of finance, which he was best at.

In just four years, Barcelona has transformed from heavily indebted during the Gaspart period to the richest team in European football. Especially after Su Dong joined, Barcelona has done a good job in the entire financial management system, and the player's annual salary structure is also well established, which allows Barcelona to make great strides on the court and in the mall.

It can be said that all of this is inseparable from the promotion of Soriano.

The high-level intrigues, coupled with the departure of the most commercially appealing Sudong, made Soriano feel disheartened. He clearly knew that without Sudong, Barcelona would also lose the most commercially attractive star. The future development is limited. It happened that Russell counterattacked Laporta, and Soriano left Barcelona sadly.

However, his excellent work experience in Barcelona allowed him to directly enter Spanish Airlines as the chairman of the board without any vacant period. This is undoubtedly a leap in the workplace.

Soriano has done a good job at Spanair, a company that has undergone a marked transformation in a year, but unlike at Barcelona, ​​the job at Spanair is too easy and uninteresting.

This is also a characteristic of many established European companies, relaxed and comfortable, but not everyone likes it.

The 40-year-old Soriano began to think about his career, and he kept asking himself, is this all right?
But not long ago, he suddenly received a call from a famous headhunter in Europe.

"Do you want to really run a wealthy family?"

Now, a few days later, Soriano is flying to Abu Dhabi on vacation.

……

The person who picked him up was a man named Mubarak, who said he was Mansour's representative.

Sitting on the extended Rolls-Royce at the reception, there were police cars clearing the way at the front and back, which made Soriano feel emotional.

Powerful and powerful is cool!

Came straight to a grand and luxurious building, Soriano felt a bit like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

He was well-informed when he asked himself, but he was still very surprised by the luxury of this palace.

The owner of the palace is quite ordinary, not tall, slightly dark, wearing a suit, with a beard, a typical Arab, always smiling, looking very kind, and speaks English very well. When he learned that Soriano could speak English, he immediately communicated in English without even having to translate.

After a while of pleasantries, Mansur straight to the point explained why he found Soriano through headhunting.

"I am planning to acquire a Premier League team, and the headhunter recommended you to me. They think you are the most suitable candidate." Mansur said his intention with a smile.

Soriano is not surprised, he can come here because he knows all this.

And that club is Manchester City.

Outside news has been reported for a long time, but it has always been just a rumor.

"I want to know, why do you want to buy Manchester City? Instead of other teams?"

Mansour and Mubarak looked at each other and laughed at the same time, "Actually, there is no other reason, but I want to invest in the Premier League. Manchester City is one of the few choices, and the price is more suitable. You know, Thaksin is very short of money now."

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is now the boss of Manchester City, but after acquiring Manchester City, he was overthrown by domestic forces in Thailand. He is now in exile overseas, let alone investing in Manchester City. What he wants to do most now is to quickly sell Manchester City and withdraw funds.

"Then why buy a Premier League team?"

Mansour smiled again, "There are two reasons. First, you know, the US subprime debt crisis has seriously spread to the whole world, and all countries have been affected, especially Europe. Now is the best time to buy bottoms. In addition to high-quality assets such as real estate, hotels, and banks, we are also very interested in sports. We are very optimistic about this prospect."

"Second, the whole world knows that the Middle East is rich in oil, but few people know about Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and Abu Dhabi. We have this demand, just like Dubai."

Soriano nodded. It can be summed up in two points, profit and advertising effect.

"What are your long-term plans?" Soriano asked again.

"This requires you to operate for us, because you are an expert, and we are laymen, but I can promise you, don't worry, we are not Thaksin, we will not just say a few words and invest in it. We are not blindly entering football, but hope to work in this field for a long time, ten years, 20 years, or even longer. We believe that football will be a long-term high-quality industry."

Soriano asked a lot of questions, and finally he began to believe that Mansour's acquisition of Manchester City really wanted to invest in the long-term operation, but he hoped that Manchester City could become a top European giant as soon as possible, and then realize their own profits, instead of blindly relying on blood transfusions from the consortium.

This is also a very realistic idea.

Soriano doesn't think that's out of the question.

Today's Manchester City looks like a waste of time, but precisely because his foundation is poor enough, the cost of tearing down and rebuilding is lower.

The advantage is that Manchester City has a brand new stadium that can accommodate nearly 5 people. It is in Manchester with Manchester United, and even the influence of fans in this area exceeds that of Manchester United.

The advantage of this is obvious, that is, Manchester City can bundle Manchester United for intra-city marketing, such as intra-city derby.

London is undoubtedly the most influential city in the UK, but there is a problem with London football, that is, there are too many teams in the same city, which seriously weakens the significance of the same city derby, but Manchester is different. There are only two Premier League teams, and Manchester United is the most successful giant in the world. It is not too cool to tie them up.

There is a certain risk in tying Manchester United. If one's own strength is too weak and abused too badly, then the loss outweighs the gain.

Soriano believes that after the acquisition of Manchester City, the first step should be the transformation of the management.

Premier League teams lag behind continental European teams in this regard, because the British are still very conservative in terms of professional football management, such as technical directors. This is very common in other European leagues, but it is still very new in the Premier League.

One advantage of setting up a technical director is that it can control the club's long-term planning and development.

Head coaches change frequently, which is inevitable for any team, but how to avoid changing styles every time a head coach changes?
This requires a professional in this area to carry out long-term control.

Soriano recommended Begiristan. He believes that the former technical director of Barcelona is a very good professional talent. More importantly, the entire European football world now knows that Barcelona's passing style will be the long-term trend in the future.

It's just that no one thought that Barcelona would choose Mourinho and go back on their own.

……

Soriano talked a lot with Mansour, basically talking about the club's management, daily operations, and commercial brand promotion.

This is also due to his in-depth knowledge of professional football.

Both Mansour and Mubarak were very satisfied with Soriano's opinion. When talking about commercial promotion, Mansour suddenly pulled out a newspaper from his side and gently pushed it in front of Soriano.

The photo above is clearly Su Dong.

The background is that Sudong visited India on behalf of Bayern, which aroused the enthusiastic pursuit of Indian fans.

This is the big news for the whole world this year, because no one believed before that there are so many fans in India.

"My people told me that he is the best player in the world. Is there any way to recruit him to my team? Let the best player in the world play for us, contribute the best football in the world to our fans, and create the best football brand in the world." Mansour said at the end, his tone was a little excited.

Soriano suddenly had a feeling that he suspected that the reason why Mansur contacted him was not a strong recommendation from a headhunter, but because of his relationship with Sudong.

Of course, the ability must meet the requirements, but there are many people who meet the requirements, and he was chosen because of Su Dong.

Everyone knows that when Su Dong was in Barcelona, ​​the relationship between the management was relatively good, that is, Soriano and Begiristan.

At least, he didn't get tickets through Soriano.

Soriano immediately laughed, "He is my friend and the most influential superstar in the world. His commercial value is far underestimated. If he can come to Manchester City, it will definitely make Manchester City famous all over the world overnight!"

Mansoor immediately laughed, which is what he wanted.

"But..." Soriano changed the subject and hesitated, "He's very expensive!"

"Expensive?" Both Mansour and Mubarak laughed.

"It's okay, I don't have anything else, just a lot of money!"

As long as it is a problem that can be solved by digging a few more barrels of oil, is it still a problem?
(End of this chapter)