Chapter 36: Legend ends, Lin Feng joins Inter Milan
Contract negotiation cannot be completed in one day, especially when it comes to detailed terms. In order to avoid traps in the contract, you must find a professional to carefully analyze each clause.
The eldest brother Lin Feng did have some connections in this area. He used his personal relationships and invited a legal professional to help Lin Feng with research.
After a careful study, the other party did not find any major problems and basically ruled out the possibility that there were landmines in the contract.
"At present, there is no big problem with the contract offered by Inter Milan, but there are a few details that need special attention!"
After hearing his elder brother's analysis, Lin Feng sat up straight, looking as if he was listening carefully.
“First, the contract is too long, it’s five years long.
Inter Milan offers you such a high annual salary, in large part because of the long contract period. "
"Secondly, your image rights are all with Inter Milan, which is not good for your commercial development. After all, you have a huge market with a population of 13 billion!"
"So, my suggestion is to shorten the contract and try your best to obtain all or part of the image rights."
Because of his job, he has been tracking and observing the trends of commodity prices and fluctuations in the prices of daily necessities for a long time.
So he knows better than anyone how serious inflation has been in Europe and the United States in recent years.
And this inflation is bound to be transmitted to football.
The evidence is the soaring transfer fees in football in recent years.
Before the millennium, the highest transfer record in football was when Inter Milan brought Vieri from Lazio for US$5000 million, equivalent to 4250 million euros.
But just two years later, nine players broke the record.
Zidane almost doubled the record for the highest transfer fee with a sky-high price of 7600 million euros!
Corresponding to the rapidly rising transfer fees like a roller coaster is the players' annual salary.
Before 2000, there were very few players in the entire football world whose annual salary exceeded 500 million Euros.
But today, the highest annual salary in football has already exceeded 500 million, and the average annual salary of some top clubs even exceeds million euros.
Judging from today's point in time, the 300 million annual salary offered by Inter Milan is indeed very high.
But what if it’s five years later?
Such an annual salary may become the norm, and any young player with a little bit of ability may be able to get such an annual salary.
Lin Feng never doubted the professional ability of his elder brother. He always adhered to one principle: leave professional matters to professionals.
As a person who was reborn, he naturally knew that the players' value and annual salary would skyrocket in a few years.
But the eldest brother was able to keenly perceive this based on the trend of commodity futures prices.
As expected, he is a top student at Cambridge University, awesome!
Following his elder brother's advice, Lin Feng informed Inter Milan of his conditions.
He mainly put forward two requirements:
1. The annual salary can be appropriately reduced, but the contract period must be shortened to 3 years.
2. He demands % portrait rights!
Facchetti was very angry when he saw the two conditions proposed by Lin Feng.
"Who does this guy think he is? Raul is the only one in the entire football world who has 100% image rights. He is the flagship figure of Real Madrid, and not everyone can have the same treatment as Raul!"
The reason why Facchetti was so furious was mainly because of Lin Feng’s second condition.
Inter Milan chose to sign Lin Feng at a high price. In addition to Lin Feng's own strength that attracted them, what attracted them the most was the huge market behind Lin Feng.
Many European teams choose to introduce Chinese players, and their behavior itself carries the intention of developing the Chinese market.
Of course Inter Milan also wants to get a piece of the pie!
Under such circumstances, they are certainly unwilling to hand over Lin Feng's portrait rights.
If they give up all their portrait rights, how can they develop the Chinese market?
But the other party made concessions on annual salary. If Inter Milan does not make any concessions, the two sides will not be able to continue the talks.
Seeing Facchetti lose his temper, Blanca and Oriali looked at each other with helplessness in their eyes.
Chairman Moratti specifically asked for Lin Feng to be signed. They came with Chairman Moratti's mission and did not have much autonomy. Facchetti could lose his temper, but it would not help solve the problem at all.
If they mess up the negotiations, they won't be able to deliver their mission when they return.
So, after Facchetti calmed down a little, Blanca asked tentatively:
"Chairman, if you think this matter is difficult and beyond your authority, perhaps you can call Chairman Moratti and ask for his opinion."
……
Italy, city of Milan.
In a luxurious villa on the shore of Lake Como, Inter Milan's helmsman Moratti is entertaining a guest, a legendary veteran - Sinisa Mihajlovic!
"Have you really decided?"
Moratti looked at Mihajlovic with a serious expression and confirmed again and again.
"Well, I'm old and can't play anymore. The era of us old guys is over. It's time to make way for the young people."
Mihajlovic nodded seriously, his eyes revealing infinite nostalgia, as if he was missing the fifteen years he spent in Serie A.
Morati sighed and did not continue to try to persuade him to stay.
Mihajlovic, who was born in 1969, is 36 years old this year and has indeed reached the age to retire.
Although he still has some gas in the tank, he can last another one to two years.
But as Mihajnovic himself said, he wants to leave the field as a great player, rather than leaving until he is too old to play anymore.
Although Moratti felt very sorry, he did not try to persuade him to stay, as he did not have the heart to destroy the other party's last bit of dignity.
However, the departure of yet another veteran player made him feel very emotional.
With Mihajlovic's retirement, players born in the 1960s will completely exit the stage of history.
Those familiar names are gradually forgotten as generations pass by.
The continuous death of veterans like Mihajlovic has made Moratti's desire to find fresh blood for the team more urgent.
So after receiving Facchetti's call, Moratti quickly responded:
“The annual salary remains the same, and I agree to their request to shorten the contract, but with a penalty clause.
We will give the other party a 50% concession in terms of image rights. If the other party is willing to give up all the image rights, we can give him a raise. "
After hanging up the phone, Morati thought of the conditions proposed by the other party and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
He refuses the tangible annual salary and insists on the illusory right of portrait.
You know, the value of many players' image rights is not that great. After all, not everyone can have huge commercial value like Beckham.
But the other party insists on doing this, then there is only one possibility:
He is very confident in his own abilities and firmly believes that he can earn far more than his annual salary through commercial development.
"What an ambitious guy. He's becoming more and more interesting."
……
After getting Moratti's approval, Facchetti finally breathed a sigh of relief.
With the latest conditions in hand, the two sides launched a new round of negotiations.
After some tug-of-war, the two sides finally reached an agreement.
Inter Milan shortened the contract with Lin Feng to 3 years. The annual salary remains unchanged at 300 million euros per year, but there is a penalty of 8000 million euros.
As compensation, Inter will also pay the player an additional signing fee, the total amount is about 150 million euros.
In addition, the club and the player each own 50% of Lin Feng's personal image rights, and Inter Milan promised to take some care of Lin Feng in commercial development.
After the terms were agreed upon, Lin Feng readily signed the contract and officially became a member of the Nerazzurri.
(End of this chapter)
