Chapter 1 Since It's Decided to Sell Götze

Since it had been decided to sell Götze, Dortmund's sporting director Zorc was now focused on maximizing the transfer deal to benefit the team's interests.

If Götze could control the transfer himself, he would naturally want to go to a team he most desired, like Arsenal or Barcelona.

But both of these options were worthless in Zorc's eyes.

Arsenal initially offered as much as forty million, but they quickly backed down. Perhaps that forty million was Wenger's offer while he was still half-asleep. When he woke up, he immediately denounced his extravagance and revised the offer... Now Arsenal's offer for Götze was thirty million euros, matching Liverpool's cash portion.

It was truly laughable!

Years had passed, and Götze had evolved from a mere attacker to a versatile midfielder. How could his value not increase but decrease instead?

As for Barcelona, forget about it. They did make an offer, but their interest in Götze wasn't significant enough to warrant going to "any lengths" because they felt Götze's characteristics were somewhat similar to Messi's, and his role in the team was similar to Iniesta's. Those two were indispensable starters for Barcelona, and there was no guarantee Götze would start after arriving. It would be foolish to spend a lot of money to buy him. If they could acquire Götze for ten or twenty million, Barcelona wouldn't mind acquiring this once-in-a-generation German football talent. But if they had to spend more than thirty million, they didn't think it was worth it.

For Borussia Dortmund, "benefiting the club" ultimately meant that the team's strength couldn't decline, or decline too much, because of Götze's departure. There were two ways to achieve this goal: one was to sell Götze for a good price, allowing Dortmund to buy players and maintain sufficient competitiveness. The other was for the other club to offer players they were interested in or badly needed.

Anyone who's played football manager games knows that if you know which position the other club is interested in when you buy their players, and you can offer them players in that position, then you can increase the success rate of the transfer.

Dortmund had always claimed that Götze was not for sale and had no specific price tag, which led to some confusion in the market regarding his valuation. However, Zorc had a scale in his mind, and his target price was fifty to sixty million euros. If absolutely necessary, forty-five million euros would also be acceptable.

But any lower than that, and he wouldn't let Götze leave, preferring to wait until his contract expired in 2016.

That was Zorc's plan.

However, he overlooked the current economic situation in Europe. Since the financial crisis of 2008, Europe had been mired in the quagmire of economic crisis, with the Eurozone debt crisis erupting repeatedly, plunging the entire European Union into a prolonged crisis.

Football was naturally affected as well.

In today's football world, with the exception of a few well-capitalized clubs, most teams have tightened their belts and implemented austerity measures. Players' values have also declined slightly.

The good old days when any unknown player could be sold for twenty or thirty million euros were gone forever.

Clubs are now much more rational and no longer blindly throwing money around.

This has also made it increasingly difficult for those "black shop" clubs to do business.

Although Götze was a genius, he wasn't actually worth that much due to the current economic climate.

After waiting a few days, Zorc saw that none of the clubs' offers were satisfactory to him. The highest, it seemed, was thirty-five million euros, and no higher.

He was somewhat disappointed.

He was reluctant to sell Götze for that price. Dortmund had painstakingly cultivated this player, and they had finally produced a genius player who was sought after worldwide. How could they sell him off so cheaply?

Damn it! Do you all look down on me?

Then we'll wait until after the World Cup to see!

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Niang's offer had sunk like a stone, with no response from Dortmund.

He was a little confused. Logically, Götze's desire to leave was now very obvious, so how could Dortmund remain so calm? They should be trying to cash in on him as soon as possible...

Niang thought about it over and over again, but he couldn't figure out what the problem was that made Dortmund so confident.

When his gaze fell on the World Cup news on the newspaper, he suddenly slapped his forehead!

How could I have forgotten this?

The World Cup!

The World Cup is a feast for fans, a busy working season for reporters, and a stage for players to achieve fame and success.

And for agents and team managers, it is a good opportunity to bargain.

My luck is really bad!

Why did the World Cup year have to coincide with my desire to make a big purchase? If it had been a year earlier, the players I had set my sights on would probably be cheaper than they are now. What a pity...

But even so, he had to buy them.

Because the problems that the team exposed at the end of last season were quite alarming.

Last season, they were really lucky that the team didn't collapse at the last moment. Niang didn't know how the team's luck would be this season. He didn't dare to gamble on luck.

Even if he might get ripped off, he had to buy them, because he needed them urgently.

But for now, he could only wait until after the World Cup, because the other party would definitely not accept any offers during the World Cup, at least not before the German team's matches were over.

Niang began to hope that the German team would not even qualify from the group stage...

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Niang's wishful thinking was purely one-sided. No matter how bad the German team was, they couldn't possibly not qualify from the group stage, let alone the current German team.

But he could still pray that the German team would do well, but Götze's performance would be average.

Özil was the undisputed core of this German team, and he was responsible for organizing the attack.

And Götze was more like a striker in the team, similar to his role at Dortmund before.

Therefore, Götze could not showcase his attacking organization talent in the German team, which might be good news for Niang.

Because if Götze was just a striker, maybe he wouldn't be worth that much money...

Niang could still bargain with Dortmund, so that the other party wouldn't ask for an exorbitant price, and he wouldn't be able to do anything but accept it.

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It had to be said that Niang had good luck in the transfer market.

Götze had been playing as a striker in the World Cup, and due to his position, his performance was not outstanding, but only mediocre.

However, glimpses of his genius could still be seen.

There was even a voice saying that Götze's performance in the national team was not as good as his performance in Dortmund.

When Niang saw this kind of voice appear in the media, he was very happy. He wasn't worried that Götze was a dud. Götze's level was obvious and had already been proven. He was happy because these voices could help him lower the price.

He even hoped that Götze's performance would be even worse. Now it was just "mediocre," but it would be best if it was "sleepwalking."

But unfortunately, Götze's performance was neither better nor worse.

Niang's hopes of continuing to lower the price were dashed.

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Besides Götze, Niang was also paying attention to Pepe.

In contrast to Götze, Pepe's performance was outstanding, but it was also quite controversial.

After the foul in the first game, everyone seemed to be observing Pepe with a magnifying glass, and any of his actions could be criticized.

Niang was also happy about this.

The more the media attacked Pepe, the more likely Pepe was to leave Real Madrid.

He also didn't forget to keep in touch with Mendes.

Mendes patted his chest and assured Niang that he would definitely bring Pepe to Anfield, and that he had already called Pepe and heard from Pepe that he wanted to leave Real Madrid.

Next, Liverpool only needed to make an offer to Real Madrid.

And one advantage was that because Real Madrid was rich, they weren't too calculating when selling players. In many cases, they were doing business at a loss, selling players they had bought at high prices for bargain-basement prices after a few years.

It was as if they didn't care about money at all.

On the one hand, Real Madrid wanted to get rid of players as soon as possible, and on the other hand, it was because these players' salaries were too high. If they stayed at Real Madrid, it would cost Real Madrid even more money. So in many cases, Real Madrid was often more eager to get rid of this burden than the players themselves.

As long as Pepe wanted to leave the team, there were basically no obstacles.

The only problem was Mourinho.

But Mendes smiled and comforted Niang: "Don't worry, José won't be a problem at all."

Niang rolled his eyes at the other end of the phone after hearing this.

Before the two reached an agreement, Mendes had said that José Mourinho was an insurmountable obstacle, but now he had changed his tune and said there was no problem at all. It seemed that money really could make the world go round. The previous words were all excuses, and the purpose was to get money. If things were said to be simple, Liverpool would think that since it was so easy, then I don't need to give you too much money. You always have to make things sound very, very difficult in order to make Liverpool willingly pay more money.

Why did Mendes dare to say that Mourinho was not a problem? Because he knew too much about the internal affairs of Real Madrid's top management.

Don't look at how Mourinho is now calling the shots in Real Madrid, getting whatever he wants, wielding great power, and acting like he is "second only to one person and above everyone else" in the club. But Mendes was very clear that the person who really called the shots at this club was always Chairman Florentino Pérez, and not anyone else.

The reason why Mourinho was always able to get Florentino's support before was because Florentino had something to ask of him, needing him to break Barcelona's monopoly and needing him to complete Real Madrid's tenth Champions League title. So whatever he asked for, Florentino would satisfy him.

But the situation was different now.

Barcelona's monopoly had been broken, and the tenth European Champions Cup had also been won. So what else was there to pursue for Real Madrid?

Florentino was definitely not the kind of person who was very patient, let alone tolerate a head coach who always wanted to seize his power...

Back then, in the season of the club's centenary celebration, Bosque won a European Champions Cup for the team, and later led the team to win the league title. He had a very high prestige in the dressing room, and the players all listened to him, and he had good interpersonal relationships. But even such a meritorious coach of the team, Florentino dismissed him as soon as he wanted to.

In fact, when Mourinho won the tenth European Champions Cup for Real Madrid, Mendes had once advised Mourinho to leave here.

But at that time, Mourinho was unusually confident in himself. He felt that he had finally created such a situation in Real Madrid, and he was really reluctant to leave. If he could be given more time, he could definitely build Real Madrid into a super battleship like Barcelona back then.

So he insisted on staying and renewing his contract with Real Madrid.

He didn't not know what kind of chairman Florentino was, but he felt that as long as he could keep bringing him championships, then he should still be able to guarantee his power.

Mendes didn't see it that way. In fact, he really hoped that Mourinho would transfer, because this way he could make a fortune from it and earn a large commission and agency fee.

Who doesn't like money?

An agent's income is divided into two parts: the transfer agency fee and the salary commission. The bulk of it is the commission and agency fee from the transfer fee.

If his agent doesn't transfer, how can he make money?

Why was he willing to agree to Niang and help Liverpool poach Real Madrid's starting center back? It wasn't just for that three million commission.

This was a two-birds-with-one-stone strategy. He helped Liverpool poach Pepe, and Mourinho would definitely have a conflict with Florentino, which would accelerate Mourinho's departure from Real Madrid. In this way, when Mourinho left, he could take the opportunity to make a killing again.

A plan to earn money twice, and without any risk, only a fool wouldn't do it.

He didn't tell Niang any of this. He just said confidently: "Just wait for my good news, Lou!"