The Young Lion

Millwall is a fantastic club, at least in Aldridge's eyes.

Millwall hated Chelsea, even though they were far away in west London.

Although Aldrich is from East London, the Millwall club is in southeast London.

Geographically, West Ham United and Charlton are closer, as is Millwall, but Millwall and West Ham United have become sworn enemies in the East London derby for a century, which will go back a hundred years ago.

And Millwall has a derby relationship with Crystal Palace in South London, and Millwall is in the South London Derby. On the contrary, Charlton, who is in the middle, no matter who he meets, the atmosphere of the derby is only a little bit.

Aldridge took the club's transfer team to South London, where Millwall's South London derby opponent, Crystal Palace, won the League One title last season and will set foot on the Premier League in two months.

However, at this time, Millwall submitted a transfer offer to Crystal Palace.

The target is Gareth Southgate.

The first offer was £1 million.

This offer did not get a response from the Crystal Palace, and I thought it was a sneer.

Southgate is only 23 years old this year and is an excellent central defender. Although he is now playing in the midfielder for Crystal Palace, he is the hero of Crystal Palace's breakthrough and has a background of Crystal Palace blood.

However, when the second offer of 2 million pounds was faxed to the Crystal Palace Club, only half an hour later, the other party responded.

£5 million!

Faced with such a reply, Aldrich smiled.

Don't be afraid that the other party's lion will speak loudly, but you are afraid that the other party will not counter-offer.

In the end, after some back-and-forth negotiations, Millwall's offer of £2.8 million made Crystal Palace surrender.

2.8 million pounds, this is even the worth of a top shooter!

Is Southgate worth the price?

From a purely competitive point of view, it may not be worth it. Andy Cole, who can score 41 goals in a season, transferred to Newcastle United for only 1.75 million pounds, although next spring, he transferred to Manchester United for 6 million, setting a new transfer record.

But the value of the current players has not been hyped up. Of course, the real value is the striker who can score goals.

Aldridge bought Southgate for two reasons. One is that Southgate is young, able to fight, and will be the main member of the England national team in the future. There is a local international player in the team locker room. Derich needed. Second, poaching the star of the mortal enemy is very beneficial to boosting the morale of the fans.

In the small apartment where Southgate lived in South London, Aldrich and Andrew came to interview Southgate in person.

Southgate knew Andrew, and he was just an acquaintance. Southgate was not enthusiastic about the arrival of the two Aldrich brothers. His wife poured tea for them, and then left the living room to men.

After introducing himself, Aldridge put a contract in front of Southgate.

Southgate didn't even look at it, and said calmly: Please go back, I'm not interested in going to Millwall, a club that doesn't even have a head coach, I don't see any future.

Head coach, yes, I am.

Aldrich also said calmly.

Surprise flashed across Southgate's expression,

Immediately, a ridiculous smile appeared.

He naturally thought that Aldridge was joking, if it wasn't a joke, then it was nonsense.

Aldrich opened the contract, put it upright in front of Southgate, and said indifferently: The weekly salary is 6,000 pounds, and the contract has been successfully renewed. Bonuses will be issued at the end of the ranking season. The contract period is five years.

Southgate's expression was stunned. He didn't expect that the contract in front of him was so generous!

This is a lot more than the money he made in Crystal Palace.

He was a little moved. Professional athletes eat youth food, and their sports life is not only short, but also has the risk of injury and other conditions.

It is human nature to make more money, and there is nothing to be proud of.

He still hesitated and said: You are so young, head coach?

Aldridge closed the contract document and put it on the table, looking at Southgate with unimpressed eyes. Both of them are men with a height of about 1.85 meters, but neither of them is condescending.

Gareth, I'm not here to beg you to join Millwall, I'm here in person, just to express my sincerity. Crystal Palace will allow you to transfer after receiving my offer of 2.8 million pounds. If it were me, I would not I will hypocritically say that players are priceless, but you, in my eyes, at least 15 million pounds, I know your value, and I think you deserve this contract, I have a coaching qualification certificate, I don’t need to show it to you Look, I don't have time here to prove to you whether I will coach the team. If time permits, I can show you more than 20 corner kick tactics, more set-piece tactics, and the concept of offensive and defensive sports. But, I am Boss, I'm the manager of the team, I don't need to prove anything to you, my team is called Millwall, the most successful England team in the future, I don't care what you think, the opportunity is in front of you, you missed it It's your loss.

Although Andrew kept a smile on his face, he was really sweating for Aldrich in his heart.

Listening to Aldrich's tone, there is a feeling of superiority, which is in line with the usual arrogance of the British.

Aldridge's indifferent expression at the same time showed a confidence that was definitely not a disguise, which made Southgate stare at Aldridge for a long time before recovering.

In front of him, Aldridge has a kind of temperament, unlike the kind of clown who talks about hype. This kind of arrogance and self-confidence is sometimes what is most needed on the court, and it is also what a coach needs most.

Southgate pondered for a moment, then asked: My status in the team?

The other party was relieved, and Aldridge said in a deep voice: You are my captain when you come to the team, but in the future, your position will change. In Crystal Palace you were playing midfielder, but when you come to Millwall , you will be the main central defender, believe me, I have videotapes of your performance throughout the season, and I know your role and strength better than you.

Southgate was silent for a long time, and finally nodded in agreement.

When leaving South London and getting into the car, Andrew said in a trance: This is the first time I have seen such a negotiation.

Aldridge sat in the co-pilot seat and said calmly: I am the boss, I am the head coach, I don't need to look at anyone's face, if I beg players to come to my team, what authority do I have?

Hehe, where is the next stop?

Andrew asked with a smile. He felt that his younger brother was beginning to be a little prestige.

Aldridge said casually: Send me back to the club, I will stay in the club, you can work hard and run around, your company should also take this opportunity to sign some players, just right, I will give you a high salary, you Matchmaking, win-win.

Andrew readily took the order. Although he had contacted Southgate before, when he contacted, Southgate was already the main player of Crystal Palace, and the relationship was as pale as water.

But on the list of players that Aldridge wants to acquire, most of Andrew has had contact with him in the past two years. Just taking advantage of the opportunity of Aldridge's recruitment and high salary temptation, he also officially took the step of being an agent.

Aldridge returned to Millwall and began faxing transfer offers to clubs across Europe.

The team is tearing down and rebuilding, so he's starting to network talent from every position.

As for the goalkeeper, the club has kept Carceri Keller. This player has the ability, but he can't say that he is not enough to deal with the level of the Premier League, but he is definitely not a top goalkeeper.

As a result, Aldrich asked the German second team Oldenburg to buy the opponent's young goalkeeper: Hans-Jörg-Bout.

The future German third goalkeeper has only just been promoted to the team's first team. He only had two chances to play in the Bundesliga last season. Not to mention becoming famous, maybe even Oldenburg is still testing his strength.

The offer of 100,000 pounds is a lot of money for a small team, let alone a goalkeeper who has no reputation and strength test.

Soon, the transfer of the 20-year-old goalkeeper Bout was allowed, and the final offer was 150,000 pounds.

Southgate has joined at the central defender position, but Southgate's height of 1.80 meters is not enough for air defense. Aldridge directly sent a transfer to Kamble, who was relegated to the Dutch second division last season. Will offer: £200,000 to buy central defender Jaap Stam.

After raising the transfer price to £350,000, Millwall's negotiating team flew to the Netherlands to discuss contract treatment with Stam.

£100,000 received 18-year-old Patrick Vieira from AS Cannes, France.

Perugia had just been promoted to the Italian second division, and when they needed money, Aldridge took away their young player Gattuso with 300,000 pounds, which made Perugia's chairman Sharani laugh in front of the Italian media Aldrich is an idiot.

Because Gattuso signed the contract with Perugia only a month ago, Perugia earned 300,000 pounds for almost nothing...

Michael Ballack, who was only 17 years old and had not yet signed a formal professional player contract, was lured to London by Andrew with a weekly salary of 3,000 pounds.

The transfer application of 1 million pounds directly shocked the chairman of Sparta Prague. The transfer of Eastern European football is naturally not as expensive as the European mainstream. Therefore, after Aldridge only raised the price to 1.2 million pounds, Millwall Got the opportunity to discuss transfer with Sparta Prague star Pavel Nedved.

If it weren't for Andrew Nedved's contact with the opponent before he entered the first team of Sparta Prague, I am afraid that this transfer would be a failure.

But Aldridge's high salary is enough for the stars to consider the gains and losses first.

It was not enough for Andrew to describe Aldridge's grand vision to Nedved. Aldridge expressed his sincerity after calling Nedved himself, and offered to add an automatic termination clause in the contract that would not allow him to be promoted next season. Only then did Nedved express his willingness to join, which can be regarded as trying to make a living in England. If it fails, it is also very cost-effective to leave after earning a year of money.

Aldridge then offered the French Metz club £500,000 to buy the opponent's Robert Pires.

300,000 pounds brought back 20-year-old Bernd Schneider from Jena of the German second division.

£100,000 took the 18-year-old Luca Toni from the Italian third-tier team Modena.

350,000 pounds from the Dutch Den Bosch Club won their youth training, the 18-year-old king of the small restricted area, Ruud van Nistelrooy.

£200,000 brought a 17-year-old French youth from Platense, Argentina, back to Europe. His name was David Trezeguet.

When Aldridge was about to leave for France to meet a friend, Andrew gave Aldridge another surprise.

The 17-year-old Zambrotta was abducted by Andrew to London before he was about to sign with Cuomo.