The Young Lion

monaco

The principality with its beautiful scenery and pleasant climate, backed by the Mediterranean Sea is the peak tourist season in summer, and the streets are bustling with people. Aldrich, dressed in sports and casual clothes, put his hands in his pockets and wore a pair of sunglasses, and walked into a cafe with an elegant environment.

In the booth at the corner of the cafe, sat an elegant man in his late fifties, staring at the scenery outside the window in a daze.

Aldridge sat down across from him, took off his sunglasses, smiled sunnyly, and said, Hi, Arsene.

The gentle and elegant man looked at Aldrich with a little appreciation, and said lightly: I haven't seen you in four years, and that kid has become a good-looking talent. You suddenly visited Monaco, and you came at the right time. Otherwise, I will go to London to find you. Tell me. , What method did you use to snatch my person away.

Aldrich pretended to be at a loss, spread his hands and said, Sir, I don't know who you are talking about.

That French young man, I asked the club to make an offer yesterday, intending to bring him back to France from Argentina, but he packed his bags and left. I only found out after asking that he moved to Millwall.

The man sitting opposite Aldridge is the current head coach of Monaco, Arsene Wenger. Aldridge witnessed the glory of Wenger leading the team to win the Ligue 1 championship in Monaco five years ago, but it is a pity that the next five years , Marseille's domineering five consecutive championships, Wenger's life is not easy now.

Aldrich knew that the other party was talking about Trezeguet, and said with a smile: No way, I want to fight for myself, and now I want to rob people. As for the method used, hehe, it's very simple. I did it more than a year ago. My brother already knew David, and besides, I gave him the high treatment of a first-line player, uh, a weekly salary of three thousand pounds.

He's only 17 years old.

Wenger frowned and said in a low voice, as if he was very dissatisfied with Aldrich's approach.

Aldrich played with taste: Well, 17 years old is the age of rebellion. If you want to be independent, you must first of all have an independent source of income. Making a lot of money will not only make you confident, but also proud of your family. Haha, Arsene, times are about to change, you probably thought I was burning money, but do you still remember what we talked on the phone half a year ago?

Wenger showed the look of reminiscence, and after a while he asked in surprise: Boseman's lawsuit?

Aldrich nodded, shrugged and said: This summer, many football critics will ridicule me as a prodigal and a fool. It doesn't matter, time will tell everything. Let's not talk about it. Let's get down to business. The purpose of my coming is very simple. , I want you to hold your hand high and give me someone.

Wenger suddenly looked a little displeased, and said angrily: What? You came to dig my people too, who are you looking for?

The offer of 500,000 pounds has already been sent to the Monaco club. I want Henry. Monaco is earning nothing. They have been on Henry back and forth. I'm afraid they didn't even invest 10,000 pounds.

As soon as Aldridge finished speaking, Wenger stared and said, No! He is the future of Monaco! 500,000 pounds? Do you think Monaco is a small team that has never seen money?

Aldridge grinned, but said nothing.

Wenger continued to frown and said: The Times reported that you have taken charge of Millwall and I have followed a lot of your movements. Recently, most of the players signed by your team are from low-level leagues. It is a helpless move for the team to leave the hopeful star when they see that the money is open, this is the rule of the football market, but Monaco is not the Bundesliga, Netherlands B, Serie B...

Don't get excited,

Don't get excited, let's continue to discuss.

It's not negotiable, Henry won't sell it.

What if I offer 1 million pounds? Will Monaco not let anyone go?

Wenger was silent, and stared at Aldrich helplessly.

In the end, he sighed heavily: Marseille poached me, Paris Saint-Germain poached me, and now, even you little guy poached me...

Although Marseille won the Ligue 1 title for five consecutive years, Wenger was able to lead the team to ensure that the team's performance was among the best in the case of being poached for several years in a row. This is enough to reflect his coaching ability. How similar the situation is for his descendants after Arsenal's glory.

Aldrich couldn't bear to bully this old friend, and said lightly: Thuram.

Wenger looked puzzled, and Aldridge said: 1.5 million pounds, I don't want Henry anymore, don't stop Thuram, Arsene, Thuram Monaco can't keep it, I'm sincere enough to give a defender 1.5 million pounds , you don’t let him go to me, are you waiting for other teams to dig him? I can give him a top salary, a weekly salary of 8,000 pounds.”

Wenger was slightly moved, mainly because of Aldrich's words, Are we waiting for other teams to dig? that stimulated him.

He trained many good players in Monaco, but they couldn't escape the fate of being poached. Even George Weah, who was grateful to him, still left him.

My captain, do you want to take away £1.5 million?

Well, I'm not going to be long-winded, 3 million pounds, isn't that enough for a defender?

In the current era, 3 million pounds is already the value of a first-class star. Although there is still a gap between superstars, you must know that Maradona's transfer value was only 3 million pounds at that time more than ten years ago. It is much stronger than today's equivalent purchasing power, and just seven years ago, the world record worth of Gullit was no more than 5 million pounds, and just two years ago, the transfer value of top Premier League stars was only about 3 million pounds , plus the transfer value of offensive players is generally higher, Aldridge's price is enough to impress the Monaco club.

And he believes that the contract treatment he offers can also tempt Thuram. In this era, if you want a player like Juventus to offer Baggio tens of thousands of weekly salary, what kind of pride must he be? How many stars can let a TV station track life reports as a program like Gascoigne, and still have extremely high ratings in the UK?

What's more, there are annual salary increase clauses and bonuses in the contract offered by Aldridge.

Wenger just sighed heavily and agreed to Aldridge's proposal.

As for Henry, Aldridge wanted it, but he knew he had no chance.

When Henry becomes famous in Ligue 1 next season, I am afraid that 1 million pounds will not be able to take away. After the dust settles on the Bosman Act next year, he will have no loopholes to take advantage of. Stop the person in your hand.

After chatting with Wenger in the cafe all day, Aldridge rushed to Nantes, an Atlantic city in western France the next day, where he also had an important transfer agreement to be reached.

An offer of 1.5 million pounds has been sent to the Nantes club for Claude Makelele!

The final negotiated price was fixed at £2 million.

Aldridge also successfully tempted Makelele with a high salary, but for these outstanding players, Aldridge also did not hesitate to include in the contract a clause that cannot be promoted to the next season and automatically terminated.

After returning to London, Aldridge received a call from Italy.

Mr Hall, please forgive my presumptuousness, but your team is chasing my son. I don't know what that means. Although your team is in the second division of England, I think the level of competition should be high. It is higher than the Italian third division, I hope my son can get better exercise, but, I want to know your sincerity and the construction plan for the team.

Listening to the broken English on the other end of the phone, Aldridge was confused, but asked calmly: Excuse me, may I ask who you are?

Oh, forgot to introduce myself, my name is Giuseppe Materazzi.

Aldrich suddenly realized, and then said respectfully: Hello, sir, I do intend to introduce your son. I have high expectations for the team next season, the next season, and even the next 5 to 10 years. I need a lot of young talents. Jun to make it happen, your son, Marco, is an important part of my plans and if you follow my club, you know we have signed some quality players recently.

But I don't want Marco to develop in the UK for a long time.

But as you said, he stayed in Italy and only played in the third division. When he comes to Millwall, he will play in the English first division next season. After a year, he will appear in the top game in England. Wouldn't it be better for his growth to compete with top teams like Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool? Excuse me, if Marco stays in Italy, how many years will it take before he can compete with top teams?

Marco is going to England, can you guarantee his main position?

Sir, there are 46 league games in one season of League One, plus two cups. It is conservatively estimated that there are 50 games in a season. If Marco can play 20 games, he will make great progress.

The other end of the phone pondered for a while, and finally, Giuseppe Materazzi said: Mr. Hall, thank you for your sincerity, but I also want to get a guarantee from you. If one day, one day, Italy will be more competitive. The team wants Marco and you won't stop it.

Aldridge sighed in his heart, the opposite Giuseppe Materazzi was not the father of an ordinary player, but a well-known coach in Italy, it was reasonable to imagine his son's future, and in his bones, I definitely don't look down on English football, but I just hope that my son's development will have a bigger springboard. No matter how you compare it, it is better than the Italian C League, and the salary is also good. Coupled with the experience in different environments, Marl Co-Materazzi has accumulated richer experience.

However, in the future, we should go back to Serie A, the highest arena in the minds of Italians.

Sir, I can assure you that if Marco wants to leave one day, I will not stop him. I run the club and coach the team with a simple philosophy: get together and leave.

Oh? Mr. Hall, are you going to coach the team yourself?

Yes, I was preparing and waiting for this day eight years ago.

Hehe, then I wish you good luck, and I look forward to seeing you commanding from the sidelines. I won't bother you, goodbye.