Jorge Mendez.

A controversial name in European football.

On April 19, 2004, at a restaurant 40 kilometers north of Porto, four people were having a very low-key meal, but the restaurant even closed for this.

These four people are Chelsea boss Abramovich, CEO Kenion, Mourinho, then Porto coach, and Mourinho's agent Jorge Mendes. The person who organized the game was Mendes.

Mourinho originally wanted to coach Liverpool, who was his dream team, but Mendes convinced Mourinho that he believed that London had more resources and freedom.

So after successfully sending Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United in 2004, Mendes sent several players and Mourinho to Chelsea. While replacing Porto with the largest income in history, he also completed the first explosion of his career.

From then on, the whole of Europe knew the name of Mendes.

Europe has different comments on this.

In the football brokerage industry, Mendes is a guiding light that represents success.

In the professional player industry, many people want to sign with Mendes, which means that ‘maybe they can become stars in the future’ and ‘can be operated into giants too’.

The club-level impression of Mendes is polarized.

Most of the club owners and managers who have poor economic conditions have negative comments on Mendes, because Mendes represents the interests of the players and always strives to earn income, bonuses, etc. for players, which will definitely harm the interests of the club. They call the agent a "vampire", and Mendes is a vampire among vampires and a "cancer of football".

Those rich clubs have a completely opposite impression of Mendes. They think Mendes is a "friend who must be dated". Mendes has many excellent players under his command, and many top clubs want to get these players.

Newcastle United is not a giant club. They have barely a brilliant history, but the past is over. In the eyes of most fans, they are just the second-tier club of the Premier League, which is equivalent to Tottenham Hotspur and Everton. The competitiveness is weaker than the top four of the Premier League Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

It is difficult for such a team to welcome Mendes.

But it's hard to say.

Newcastle United is a little different this year. The club's equity was acquired and the new boss Michael Ashley took office, which made Newcastle United fans look forward to it.

Michael Ashley runs a massive sporting goods company with revenues of more than 100 million pounds per year and total assets of more than 3 billion pounds.

What kind of rich people of this level can bring to Newcastle United is indeed worth looking forward to.

Many Newcastle United fans have already followed the rising Chelsea.

They were a little overthinking.

Michael Ashley is a pure businessman, not a football fan, who acquired Newcastle United Club just because he saw the money-making ability of Premier League clubs.

That's all.

Michael Ashley still has experience in investing in sports clubs. He knows that he must invest first to produce continuously. After officially taking over the club, Ashley also has a fund use plan. The most important job is to repay past debts. The second point is summer transfer.

Summer transfers are important.

When a new boss takes office and wants to get support from fans, he must have some investment in the transfer market. Ashley has prepared about 40 million pounds.

Ashley's statement to Allardyce was, "You have the power to sign and you can decide to sign any player, but the transfer investment cannot exceed 30 million pounds."

He left room for ten million pounds.

In fact, before Allardyce took office, Newcastle United started the competition for Zhen Shaolong, and the manager of the transfer department also recommended Zhen Shaolong to Ashley.

After witnessing the League Cup final with his own eyes, Allardyce immediately decided to sign Zhen Shaolong. Asheli also agreed with this. Whether Zhen Shaolong can adapt to the Premier League and what will be his future performance? It is not Ashli's professional job, but he has given it to Allardyce and other professionals to evaluate. He only needs to consider the money factors involved.

How much is the transfer fee?

What is the salary?

So it was Asheri himself who negotiated with Mendes, who was also a cunning businessman, and he had a few days of dealing with Mendes.

The focus of the negotiations between the two sides is not on transfer fees.

Mendes knew about the situation of St. Pauli Club and Zhen Shaolong, and the transfer fee was basically set at 25 million euros.

This price will satisfy St. Pauli.

The dispute between the two parties only lies in the salary contract. Mendes emphasized Zhen Shaolong's strength, performance, and the commercial value of Zhen Shaolong.

Zhen Shaolong signed a contract with Pepsi and the Centenni brand, which was also Mendes' confidence. Both signings show that world brand companies value him.

Mendes asked for an annual salary of 12 million pounds.

"Zhen Shaolong scored forty-one league goals, and is the winner of this year's European Golden Boot Awards. He also scored 33 goals in the League Cup."

"A striker with the highest efficiency in the world and recognized as the first in footwork should get the highest salary!"

Ashley could not accept it at all. His bottom line was about 8 million pounds. Michael Irving, who played for Newcastle United, had an annual salary of only 6 million pounds. The annual salary of 8 million pounds is already quite amazing. It can be compared with Barack, who signed with Chelsea. (Barack's free transfer to Chelsea, and his annual salary after tax is 'reported' is 6.2 million pounds, which is converted into nearly 10 million pounds before tax)

Asheli still considered that Zhen Shaolong's transfer fee was "discounted". If he bought it at a normal price, the club would have to pay more, so naturally it would not be possible to give such a high salary.

The two sides had a long stalemate.

In the end, Mendes consulted Alice and used the "one-year poor salary cut clause" to convince Ashley to grit his teeth and agree to a contract of tens of millions of pounds.

"A salary cut clause for poor performance in one year" means that if the performance is not good in one season, the salary will decline by percentage, and the salary will be reduced by 20% per year.

This clause lists detailed descriptions of poor performance, which means that Zhen Shaolong's average goal rate of 90 minutes is lower than three games and one goal, and the total number of goals in a single season does not exceed 12, and the automatic salary reduction clause will be activated.

at the same time.

Mendes also talked about the "salary increase clause", which is similar to the "salary decrease clause". Zhen Shaolong scored more than 30 goals in a single season and will automatically activate the salary increase clause, and the salary increase in each year is also 20%.

The contract signing period is four years.

Use data to illustrate salary—

Zhen Shaolong performed well in a row. He could get 10 million pounds in the first year, 12 million pounds in the second year, 14.4 million pounds in the third year, 17.28 million pounds in the fourth year, and 53.68 million pounds in the highest four years.

Zhen Shaolong performed poorly in a row, with the first year being 10 million pounds, the second year being 8 million pounds, the third year being 6.4 million pounds, and the fourth year being 5.12 million pounds, with the total minimum salary being 29.52 million pounds.

All of the above are before tax.

This contract was very satisfying to both parties. Next, it depends on whether Zhen Shaolong decided to sign the contract.

After hearing the details of the new contract, Zhen Shaolong felt extremely satisfied.

Anyone wants to make more money.

A heavyweight contract with an annual salary of tens of millions of pounds was something I never dared to think about before. The "salary increase clause" made him even more satisfied. No one was more confident in his performance than he was.

Thirty goals in a season?

If you only consider the 38 Premier League games, and some games are not allowed to play, it seems that there are still some difficulties. However, there are still two cup games in the Premier League, and the team has better results, so you can participate in the Champions League and League Cup games. With so many games, thirty goals are not considered too much.

"It will definitely be achieved!"

Zhen Shaolong was determined to agree directly, but decided to think carefully, mainly waiting for the results of Arsenal's negotiations. Newcastle United and Arsenal made the choice, and he was more inclined to Arsenal.

This is not a "wealthy family plot".

Arsenal is the "Premier Four" and will be eligible to participate in the UEFA Champions League next season. The UEFA Champions League is the big stage. He also hopes to stand on the big stage quickly. In addition, he has also talked carefully with Wenger himself, and he feels that Wenger is a good coach.

The news came the next day.

Arsenal is only willing to pay a weekly salary of 100,000 pounds, and a lot of treatment is promised. Head coach Wenger personally received Mendes, which also shows that he would value Zhen Shaolong very much.

With Wenger's permission, Mendes also specially made a recording.

"He will definitely be the core force!"

"He will be the most important player in the tactical system, and I will create tactics specifically for him!"

"He will be the pillar of Arsenal's forward in the next ten years!"

“…”

If an ordinary young player, who received such a passionate promise from the world's famous coach and received the maximum salary from the Arsenal club, he would definitely decide to join the decision to fly into the flames.

Zhen Shaolong only felt that Wenger was 'lirting' himself, mainly because he compared the treatment of Newcastle United. Newcastle United was willing to pay a four-year contract of 50 million pounds, and Arsenal paid more than double the salary.

Is this still necessary to consider?

"It's Newcastle!"

After a whole night of struggling, Zhen Shaolong finally decided to come down.

Alice's comment on this is, "Indeed, no one can refuse a tens of millions of annual salary, and the unit is still pounds, even before tax, it is very attractive."

"So...I'm finally going to achieve my dream of buying a sports car!"

Alice couldn't help but give Zhen Shaolong a warm kiss.

Zhen Shaolong enjoyed the tenderness, then curled the corner of his mouth disdainfully and secretly said, "Women are money, money, money! Buy sports cars? Buy bags? Buy this and that. I chose Newcastle not because of money, but... to lead Newcastle United to glory!"

"I'm a great player!"

"I'm a player with dreams!"

certainly.

Zhen Shaolong just thought about it, and just let it go and he could only curse secretly, "Damn the system, it's not possible to install a b!"
Chapter completed!