The Young Lion

Monaco.

The Principality with a beautiful scenery and a pleasant climate backing to the Mediterranean Sea is the peak tourist season in the summer. The streets are crowded. Adrich in a sportswear wears pockets in his hands and wears a pair of sunglasses. He walks into a quiet cafe.

In the deck at the corner of the cafe, there was an elegant man of nearly fifty years old, who was staring at the scenery outside the window.

Aldridge came across to sit down, took off his sunglasses, smiled like a sun, and said, "Hi, Arcena."

The gentle man looked at Aldridge with admiration and said lightly: "I haven't seen it in four years, and the kid has become a talented person. You suddenly visited Monaco and came just right, otherwise I will go to London to find you, let's say , What way did you take my people."

Aldridge pretended to be confused, and said, "Sir, I don't know who you are talking about."

"The young Frenchman, I asked the club for an offer yesterday, intending to take him back from Argentina to France. As a result, he had already packed his luggage and left. I inquired and found out that he transferred to Millwall."

The man sitting opposite Aldridge is now the head coach of Monaco, Alsena Wenger. Five years ago, Aldridge witnessed the glory of Wenger leading the team to win the Ligue 1 championship in Monaco. Unfortunately, the next five years , Marseille 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 beat myself up, and now I want to grab people. As for the method used, hehe, it’s very simple. My brother knew David. In addition, I gave him high treatment for first-line players, er, a weekly salary of three thousand pounds."

"He is only 17 years old."

Wenger frowned, and seemed dissatisfied with Aldridge's approach.

Aldrich played with the taste: "Well, 17 years old, it is the age of rebellion. If you want to be alone, first of all, of course, you must have an independent financial source. Making a lot of money not only makes you confident, but also proud in front of your family, huh, huh, Alsena, the times are about to change. You probably thought I was burning money, but remember what we talked about on the phone half a year ago?"

Wenger reveals the color of his memories and wonders after a while: "Bosman's lawsuit?"

Aldridge nodded and shrugged: "This summer, there will be a lot of critics who laughed at me as a prodigal, a foolish egg. It doesn’t matter, time will prove everything. Not to mention this, to return to the legend and to do the right thing, my purpose is very simple , I want you to raise your hand high and give me someone."

Wenger suddenly looked displeased, and he was not angry. "Why? You come to dig me, who do you like?"

"The offer of 500,000 pounds has been delivered to the Monaco club. I want Henry. Monaco is simply a profit. I haven't even invested 10,000 pounds on Henry."

As soon as Aldridge's voice fell, Wenger suddenly glared: "No! He is the future of Monaco! £500,000? Are you a Monaco team that has never seen money?"

Aldridge smiled toothlessly without saying a word.

Wenger continued to frown and said, "After the Times reported that you were in charge of Millwall, I also followed a lot of your movements. Most of the players that your team signed recently are from low-level leagues. It’s a frustrating move for the team to see the money and open the star of hope. This is the rule of the football market, but Monaco is not your German second, Dutch second, Italian second...

"Don't be excited, don't be excited, let's continue to discuss."

"No negotiation, Henry does not sell."

"What if I pay £1 million? Will Monaco still let go?"

Wenger was silent, staring at Aldridge rather helplessly.

In the end, he sighed heavily: "Marseille digs me, Paris Saint-Germain also digs me, and now, even you little one digs me..."

Although Marseille has won five consecutive Ligue 1 championships, Wenger has been able to lead the team's top results under the circumstance of being dug out for several consecutive years, which is enough to demonstrate his coaching ability. Unfortunately, the clever woman can't cook without rice. How his future generations were in a similar situation after Arsenal's glory.

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

Wenger looked puzzled, Aldridge said: "1.5 million pounds, I don't want Henry anymore, don't stop Thuram, Arsena, Thuram Monaco can't keep it, I'm sincere enough to give a defender 1.5 million pounds , Don’t you give him to me, don’t you wait for other teams to dig? I can give him a top salary of 8,000 pounds a week.”

Wenger was slightly moved, mainly due to Aldrich's phrase "Would you like to wait for other teams to dig?" stimulated him.

He trained a lot of good players in Monaco, but in the end he couldn't escape the fate of being poached, even if he was grateful to George Weah of Zade, he still left him.

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

"Well, I'm not too verbose, £3 million. 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 from superstars, you must know that Maradona’s transfer value was only 3 million pounds at that time. Of course, also 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 Premier League’s top star transfer value was only about 3 million pounds. In addition to the fact that the value of offense players’ transfer is generally higher, Aldridge’s price is enough to impress the Monaco club.

And he even believes that the contract treatment he has made can also make Thuram tempted. In this era, if you want Juve to give Baggio tens of thousands of weekly players, what kind of arrogance must it be? How many stars can let a television station follow life reports as a program like Gascoyne and still have a very high rating in the UK?

What's more, Aldridge's contract also includes annual salary increase clauses and bonuses.

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

As for Henry, Aldridge wanted, but he knew there was no chance.

When Henry becomes famous in the Ligue 1 next season, I am afraid that it will not be able to take away 1 million pounds. After the dust of the Bosman Act is settled next year, he will have no time to drill. Then he will have more headaches about how to stay. People in their hands.

After chatting with Wenger in the cafe for a whole day, Aldridge rushed to the Atlantic city of Nantes in western France the next day, where he also had an important transfer and needed to reach an agreement.

A quotation of £1.5 million was delivered to the Nantes Club for Claude Makelele!

The final negotiated price was fixed at 2 million pounds.

Aldridge also successfully seduce Makelele with a high salary, but these outstanding players, Aldridge did not hesitate to add a clause in the contract that cannot be promoted to automatic termination next season.

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

"Mr. Hall, please forgive me for taking the liberty, but your team is chasing my son. I don’t know what it means. Although your team is in the English second-level league, I think the level of competition should be It’s higher than the Italian Serie A. I hope my son will get better exercise. However, I want to know your sincerity and team building plan."

Listening to the crappy English on the other end of the telephone receiver, Aldridge was confused, but asked quietly, "Excuse me for offending, may I ask you?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Giuseppe Matrazzi."

Aldridge suddenly realized, and then respectfully said: "Hello, I do intend to introduce your son. I have high expectations for the team next season, next season, and even the next 5 to 10 years. I need a lot of young talents. To come to achieve this goal, your son, Marco, is an important member of my plan. If you pay attention to my club, you will know that we have signed a lot of powerful players recently."

"But I don't want Marco to develop long-term in the UK."

"But as you said, he stayed in Italy and only played in the C-League. He came to Millwall. He will play in the English First Division next season. A year later, he will appear in the top English arena. Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and other top teams compete. Isn't this better for his growth? Excuse me, if Marco stays in Italy, how many years will it take to compete with the top teams?"

"Marco goes to Britain, can you guarantee his main position?"

"Sir, there are 46 games in the league in a season of the League One, plus two cup games. It is conservatively estimated that if there are 50 games in a season, Marco can play 20 games and get a lot of progress."

The other end of the phone pondered for a moment, and finally, Giuseppe Matrazzi said: "Mr. Hall, thank you for your sincerity, but I also hope to get a guarantee from you that if one day, one day Italy will be more competitive The team hopes to get Marco, you will not block."

Aldridge sighed in his heart. Opposite this Giuseppe Matrazzi was not an ordinary player father, but a well-known coach in Italy. It was reasonable to envision the future of his son, and in his heart, the opponent I definitely don’t look down on English football, but I hope that his son’s development has a bigger springboard. How can it be better than the Italian third league, and the salary is also good, plus the experience of different environments, can make Marl Ko Materazzi has accumulated more experience.

It's just that in the future, you should go back to Serie A, the highest arena in Italian minds.

"Sir, I can assure you that if Marco wants to leave one day, I won't stop it. I have a simple philosophy of running clubs and coaching teams: get together and get together."

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

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

"Oh, I wish you good luck, and I look forward to seeing you on the sidelines. I won't disturb you, bye."