Eight Hundred and Seventy-Four Little Secrets in the Transfer Market

From coaching Real Madrid to 874 little secrets in the transfer market

Gao Shen once saw such a question in his previous life: When you have a billion, what do you want to do?

The answers were varied, but they were all joking anyway.

The idea of ​​most people is to save in the bank, earn interest, and then play games desperately to experience the thrill of a RMB player. Some people say that they should smash walnuts with their iPhones every day, and some people say that they should save the interest to buy a house and marry a wife...

Obviously, these people don't have a billion, so they're all talking nonsense.

The problem Gao Shen is facing now is that he really has a billion!

Adam Lallana for £25m, Schneiderlin for £20m, Paulinho for £20m, Benteke for £20m, Kline for £15m, Kool Tuva is 20 million pounds, Bolasie also sold 10 million pounds.

In the end, Leeds United earned 130 million pounds in the transfer market this summer.

Compared with the income of Atletico Madrid, Ajax, Monaco and others of two to three hundred million euros in the next few years, Leeds United's little money is actually nothing, and the key is whether it can guarantee continuous output.

Teams like Monaco, Ajax, and Porto can sell 100 to 200 million euros every year, which is amazing.

In contrast, Leeds United has just begun.

However, Gao Shen is also facing a problem now.

How will the money be spent?

It can't really be withdrawn, just throw it in the bank to eat interest, and change a mobile phone every day to smash walnuts, right?

...

"Honestly, it's the first time I've dealt with so much money."

In the meeting room of Elland Road Stadium, Gao Shen faced the club's core executives and said with a wry smile.

Everyone else smiled and nodded.

In fact, they have been waiting for Gao Shen to make a decision.

Who would have thought that this player sold for so much money.

A year ago, Gao Shen bought Leeds United and spent a total of less than 50 million pounds. Now, they sold 130 million pounds in one summer sale. If this is said, who will believe it?

Of course, the money did not arrive in full.

Real Madrid gave cash, which Gao Shen did not expect.

And according to Lucas, Real Madrid didn't even bargain at all.

Leeds United originally meant to raise the price first and let Real Madrid negotiate the price, but unexpectedly, Real Madrid agreed directly.

It is said that Florentino made the decision.

Buying Courtois at this price is a lot of premium, but overall, it is not bad.

The players that Leeds United sold this summer all have one thing in common, that is, they are young.

Youth is the biggest capital, and their annual salary is relatively low.

In other words, after the club bought,

There is not much pressure on salary expenditure, even compared to the players in the team, it will be small, so these big teams are also willing to pay a relatively higher price.

Another factor is that of staging.

Most are paid in installments over one to two years.

For example, Adam Lallana, Benteke and Klein paid in five installments over two years.

In other words, after selling these three players, Liverpool claimed to have spent 60 million pounds. In fact, they only paid 12 million pounds for the down payment.

So, when these big teams spend money, aren't they lavish?

This is a little secret in the transfer market, but for Leeds United, it is not a big problem.

If the team really needs money, they can take these contracts from Liverpool and go directly to the bank for a loan with very low interest.

This is why it is said that current club operations are more about capital operations.

In contrast, Leeds United can only try to live within their means.

...

Gao Shen is not the kind of local boss who has never seen money.

In fact, apart from spending his own money on the acquisition of Leeds United, he basically didn't invest much money in Leeds United.

On the one hand, it is because of salary control, and on the other hand, it is due to selling people last season.

This is also what Su Qing and Lucas requested.

Public money and private money still need to be clearly distinguished.

What is the difference between high-spirited blindly investing and local tyrants such as Abramovich?

To put it bluntly, professional football is a bottomless pit, and it is thankless to keep shooting like this.

This season, Leeds United has been promoted to the Premier League. Contract renewal and salary increase must be on the agenda. In addition to the refund of the tickets promised by Leeds United last year, Su Qing, Lucas and the finance department calculated that it was about 300. Thousands of pounds.

This is mainly because the refund rate for the largest number of low-price tickets is only 30%.

For the current Leeds United, the more than three million pounds is within the acceptable range, and the club does not need to pay for this money at all, it just gives discounts on the tickets.

It is equivalent to erasing the more than three million pounds in revenue from season ticket sales.

Instead, the biggest investment this summer is in youth training.

A complete set of youth training system was formed at once. Leeds United poached people everywhere in the surrounding area, recruited talents, and invested a lot of money. In addition, supporting coaches, staff, and venue facilities, etc., all these need money.

Ten million pounds is not enough to cover it.

This is not counting the second phase of the big data center project, the continuous investment in the methodology department, and the further upgrade of the Thorpe Arch Training Base, which are another large expense.

In the end, if the transfer income of 130 million pounds is not included, from the perspective of the Premier League alone, Leeds United is estimated to be flat, after all, it has invested too much in hardware and software facilities.

In other words, what Leeds United can use in the end is the 130 million pounds, but the actual amount they get is only more than 40 million pounds.

The rest will have to wait a year or two.

However, both Su Qing and Lucas believe that after being promoted to the Premier League, Leeds United will further expand its investment channels. They believe that the attractiveness of the Premier League will allow Leeds United to significantly increase their commercial income, especially in terms of jersey sponsorship.

The jersey sponsorship for the new season was replaced by Adidas, and the contract was signed for five years and 6 million pounds per year.

This is actually not bad. The main reason is that Leeds United has an old brand and a good fan base. If you add the jersey sales share, it is still quite good.

Of course, it is definitely incomparable with those rich teams that cost tens of millions of pounds.

No way, Leeds United is just a newly promoted team.

However, in terms of jersey sales share, Leeds United has negotiated a very good share, 40%.

This ratio is the highest in the Premier League. Even if many giants cannot get it, it is basically 20%, and some even only 10%.

In fact, the logic behind this is similar. The sponsorship fees of wealthy teams are high, so the sales share ratio is low. Leeds United’s sponsorship fees are not bad, but jersey sales are hot, so it is normal to require a high share ratio.

Just like now, after Leeds United’s jersey sponsor changed to Adidas, they began to launch new jerseys. Due to reasons such as materials and brands, Adidas’ jerseys are more expensive than before. The fan version is 55 pounds. Players The version is at 100 pounds, which is the price of the short-sleeved jersey, and the long-sleeved will be more expensive.

According to the club's preliminary estimate, Leeds United can sell at least 150,000 jerseys, that is to say, Leeds United can get at least more than three million pounds in the sale of jerseys alone.

This will be better than last season.

Speaking of which, Leeds United's jersey sales have always been very hot.

Many people probably don't know that in the history of professional football, Leeds United was the first club to sell jerseys. That was in 1973. At that time, a jersey was only sold for 5 pounds, and now it is 10 times more expensive.

Among the many Premier League teams, Leeds United's jerseys are not expensive, such as Manchester United, which sells for 65 pounds.

On the one hand, it has a long history and fans have a tradition of buying jerseys. On the other hand, jerseys are affordable, so Leeds United’s jersey sales have always been very hot. Even in low-level leagues, jersey sales can rank among the top ten in England.

I believe that promotion to the Premier League this season may create a new record.

However, compared with Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea and other teams with sales of one or two million pieces at every turn, Leeds United's sales are still not on the table.

It can only be said that there is still a long way to go in this respect. Stay in the Premier League and slowly tap the potential.

...

With more than 40 million pounds of funds on hand and nearly 100 million pounds in revenue in the next two years, Leeds United had to start studying the use of funds.

Is it impossible to really just put it in the bank to eat interest?

Besides, the current team is a poor and poor team, and needs money for everything.

It is the consensus of everyone in the club to build a new training base.

Although the Thorpe Arch is barely usable after the transformation, it is far behind the pace of the times.

As early as when Gao Shen first acquired Leeds United, it was already clear that the stadium may not be built, but this training base must be built.

And when Gao Shen mentioned this, everyone in the audience looked at him with piercing eyes.

Their eyes projected anticipation and worry.

More than 100 million pounds is really not a small sum.

Is Gao Shen willing to take it out?

But if Leeds United wants to stand firm and lay a solid foundation, this training base must be built.

Gao Shen understood their thoughts, turned his head, looked at his wife, and nodded slightly.

Su Qing smiled, "We have discussed before that all the surplus from this summer and the new season will be invested in the construction of the new training base, not only the training base, but also a stadium for the youth team."

At present, there are only two youth teams in Leeds United, and the games are played at Thorpe Arch. In the future, there will be youth teams for every age group. Not to mention the serious lack of competition venues, even the training venues are seriously insufficient, only two or three age groups Segments squeezed together.

After hearing this, Lucas and others cheered up, and looked into Gao Shen's eyes with admiration.

More than 100 million pounds, really just pay for it.

Of course, according to Su Qing's intention, the built training base will still be owned by the Gaoshen couple's private company, and then leased to Leeds United. She will use some financial means to let Leeds United bear the construction costs.

This is actually a disguised withdrawal of funds from the club.

But no one will care.

Whether it's the fans or the management, what they want to see is a brand new modern training base exclusively for Leeds United. As for who owns it, they don't care.

What's more, the entire Leeds United is profound.

"This time, we plan to invite Norman Foster to do the design." Gao Shen announced with a smile.

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