novelhk Chapter 196
Chapter 196
The visitors were AC Milan's vice president Adriano Galliani and head coach Carlo Ancelotti. Like Li Shiguang, they were also here to attend the Champions League round of 16 draw ceremony tonight.
After talking to Li Shiguang on the phone on New Year's Day, Raiola quickly contacted Galliani and conveyed Li Shiguang's intention. Just three days ago, Galliani finally sent a reply.
Then, with Raiola's matchmaking, there was today's meeting in Zurich.
After the few people sat down, Galliani first looked at Ancelotti next to him and introduced him to Li Shiguang: "Mr. Li, this is our AC Milan head coach Carlo, Carlo Ancelotti."
Li Shiguang nodded to Ancelotti and took the initiative to extend his right hand: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Ancelotti, I like your coaching style very much."
At this time, Ancelotti did not look as fat as when he was in charge of Real Madrid.
Even though he knew that today's meeting might determine the fate of one of his most important players at this stage, he still had a warm smile on his face.
Seeing Li Shiguang take the initiative to greet him.
Ancelotti, who had just sat down, stood up again, then took off his hat with his left hand and put it on his chest, leaned forward slightly, and then bent over to hold Li Shiguang's hand: "Mr. Li, it's my honor to receive your praise!"
? ? ?
WTF? So humble?
Ancelotti's politeness really surprised Li Shiguang.
I've heard before that the reason why Ancelotti can completely control the locker room wherever he goes is because of his extremely high emotional intelligence and meticulous care for every player.
Even some fans, when talking about Ancelotti, said that he was the only coach who could strike a balance between the club president's "interference" and his own tactical requirements, the requirements of the big names in the team and his own tactical choices, and then achieve his tactical intentions on the court and satisfy all parties off the court. Although he does not have the "iron fist" of Ferguson or Capello, as long as he is there, there will be basically no discordant voices in the locker room!
Seeing that the big guys had almost finished their greetings, the waiter also brought two cups of hot coffee to the table. Raiola, who was sitting in the middle, broke the silence first and let everyone at the table get to the point.
"Mr. Galliani, as the middleman between you and Mr. Li, I have already conveyed Mr. Li's general intention to you. I wonder if you have discussed with Carlo?"
Galliani did not answer Raiola directly. His eyes flickered between Li Shiguang and Raiola. Instead, he sneered and asked, "Mino, I'm curious, are you helping Mr. Li now?"
"You are joking, Mr. Galliani! It is my work discipline not to get too close to the club management." Raiola quickly waved his hand to explain.
"Oh?" Although he was questioning Raiola, Galliani's eyes were fixed on Li Shiguang, "But I heard that in addition to Zlatan, you were also the one who helped Fabio go to Leeds United last summer. Moreover, the fact that our negotiations with Kaka were not going well is a secret of AC Milan... I can't figure out why it was spread to England for no reason..."
"This..."
Raiola didn't want to ruin his reputation among these giants, and was thinking about how to explain Galliani's questioning. Li Shiguang spoke up in time to save him: "Ha Hahaha, Mr. Galliani, you misunderstood. Regarding the issue of Kaka's contract renewal not going smoothly, Leeds United has its own intelligence channels. The scouts I spent a lot of money to raise are not just for show, right? "
"I found Mino after learning the news. After all, we had a good cooperation before, and I still trust him. He also conveyed my meaning to you at the first time. You also saw that no one in the middle spread the news. "
Galliani actually wanted such an answer. Too many people knew that this news was not a good thing for AC Milan and Kaka's contract renewal negotiations! And he was fed up with the greedy Gaetalo. If he hadn't interfered, Galliani, who was proficient in negotiation, would have completed the contract renewal with Kaka at a lower salary.
Regarding Kaka's stay or departure, AC Milan's board of directors has actually discussed it for a long time. Most people want to keep Kaka, including Ancelotti who is sitting next to him.
A player like Kaka who is handsome, extremely self-disciplined and talented is a great help to the club's image.Huge! Even though AC Milan already has a large number of fans around the world, as the actual helmsman of this Italian century-old giant, Galliani does not want to give up the team's hope for at least the next five years so easily, and the players themselves do not want to leave AC Milan.
If there is no other way, Galliani will definitely not appear in this cafe tonight.
Since around 2000, Serie A has gradually shown a downward trend, and many teams' star players have gradually been poached by La Liga or Premier League teams. The poor financial situation, backward stadium facilities, and high taxes have made Serie A less attractive to stars year by year, and last year's "Phone Gate" incident became the last straw that broke the camel's back for Serie A.
Before the start of the new season, the sales of AC Milan's home tickets were much worse than before.
At first, Galliani thought it was affected by the "Phone Gate" and thought that the situation would improve as the league progressed, but who knew that now that the season is halfway through, there are still large areas of empty seats in the audience seats of the San Siro Stadium.
In addition to the fact that the team's financial income is not as good as in previous years, AC Milan's big boss Berlusconi has also reduced his investment in the team for some reasons. If it weren't for the team's good performance on the field under Ancelotti's leadership, Galliani would have wanted to quit!
Half a month ago, when he heard that Li Shiguang wanted to buy Kaka, Galliani immediately convened a board meeting to discuss the feasibility of this matter.
Kaka's contract has one and a half years left, and AC Milan now gives him an annual salary of 6 million euros before tax.
Originally, in this contract renewal negotiation, Galliani sincerely wanted to increase Kaka's annual salary to 9 million euros before tax, which is also the upper limit that AC Milan can bear. But Kaka's damn agent opened his mouth and wanted to fight for Kaka's annual salary of 13 million euros, and also threatened Galliani with the reason that Real Madrid wanted to introduce Kaka.
This made Galliani very upset. He knew Kaka didn't want to leave now, but if a club really offered him a sky-high annual salary, it was hard to say. Professional athletes only have a few years of youth, and it makes no sense for them to not make more money during their rising period. Moreover, Kaka's contract will enter its last year after the end of this season.
By then, even if he wanted to sell him, he probably wouldn't be able to get a good price.
So after some discussion, Galliani decided to meet with Li Shiguang first to see what good price he could offer...