Due to the late suspension of La Liga, Gao Shen attended the groundbreaking ceremony of Leeds United's new training base and returned to China with his wife and children for vacation, but the Confederations Cup in Brazil had already started.
A few days after the Confederations Cup started, the World Youth Championship in Turkey also quietly started.
Compared with the Confederations Cup, the World Youth Championship has not attracted much attention. After all, it is not the World Cup.
But this is limited to the media and fans. In the European professional circle, the World Youth Championship is still very important.
After all, this can be regarded as the talent incubation base of world football.
The opening game is Turkey versus El Salvador, but the first game is the day before the opening game, France versus Ghana.
Everyone has high hopes for Paul Pogba, the current star of the French team and the team's captain. Even Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are paying great attention to Pogba's performance.
But what surprised everyone was that the best performer in the first game was Kondogbia.
The whole world knows that Pogba is the core of France, and Ghana naturally knows it, so it has increased its monitoring of Pogba, but in this way, Kondogbia is alive.
The Leeds United midfielder opened the scoring for the French team in the 65th minute, receiving an assist from Kurzawa on the left.
This is also the first goal of this World Youth Championship.
Just three minutes later, he sent another pass and assisted forward Yaya Sanogo to score.
In the end, the French team defeated Ghana 3-1 and got a good start.
Kondogbia was elected as the best player of the match and performed the best.
As the core of the midfield, Pogba's performance is not bad, playing a role between the two penalty areas, showing his outstanding strength, but it is not intuitively reflected in the data. On the contrary, Kondogbia is completely superior.
Shine brilliantly.
…
Not just in the first game.
Three days later, in the second game, it was Kondogbia again, and the scorer was Yaya Sanogo. The French team defeated the United States team 1-0 and scored three points again.
In the last round of the group stage, the French team relied on goals from Pogba and Kondogbia to draw with Spain 2-2.
Jese, who plays for Real Madrid, scored twice and was also one of the best players in the group stage of this World Youth Championship.
No one expected that the most eye-catching performance of the French team was not Paul Pogba, who was the most optimistic before the game, but Kondogbia, which surprised everyone.
In particular, many scouts who came here because of Pogba turned their attention to Kondogbia.
Although the World Youth Championship in Turkey is not a competition for the adult team, it is still equivalent to the World Cup for young players. There are countless stars who stand out here. Who can guarantee that Kondogbia will not be the next one?
Most teams are daunted by players like Jese who play for wealthy clubs, but for Leeds United players, the whole world knows that as long as they are willing to pay, they can basically buy them.
There is absolutely nothing not for sale in this Premier League team.
The so-called not-for-sale product often means that the price you pay is not high enough.
That is to say, after the last game of the World Youth Championship in Turkey, Croatia defeated New Zealand 2-1. Brozovic performed well, passing and shooting, and together with his partner Kovacic, pushed Croatia to finish in the group.
One line out.
After the game, Gao Shen received a call from Lucas in the UK.
…
"Fifty million euros?"
When Lucas told Gao Shen about Real Madrid's offer on the phone, Gao Shen was quite surprised.
Out of suspicion, Gao Shen has been unwilling to get involved in Pogba's transfer, or even inquire about it.
For example, he has no idea what Real Madrid's psychological price is.
Several times, Valdano wanted to talk to him, but Gao Shen didn't answer the conversation because he was afraid that his ideas would be lost.
So when Real Madrid suddenly quoted a high price of 50 million euros, Gao Shen was really surprised.
"How come it's at this time?" Gao Shen wondered.
"This is a good time," Lucas said instead.
After thinking about it deeply, I understood.
To put it simply, Paul Pogba no longer needs to prove his strength. In the past two seasons, he has grown at a speed visible to the naked eye. Especially last season in the Premier League, Leeds United ranked sixth. He took the greatest credit.
In this case, the World Youth Championship is more of a bonus.
The whole world knows that this is Leeds United's attempt to further raise Pogba's price.
Real Madrid also knew it well. After the World Youth Championship group stage, Real Madrid felt that the time was almost up and took decisive action.
Nowadays, Manchester United is in the process of transitioning from Ferguson to Moyes, while Paris Saint-Germain was caught off guard by Thiago's transfer to Bayern.
Ancelotti had hidden it deeply before, but unexpectedly, Guardiola personally took action and convinced Thiago.
Well now, Paris' signing plan has been disrupted.
Under such circumstances, Real Madrid took decisive action and offered a high price of 50 million euros, which was indeed quite attractive.
More importantly, it is now a game between Real Madrid and Leeds United, but if other giants such as Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester United slow down and realize, it will be a multi-party game, which is very detrimental to Real Madrid, who is determined to win.
Instead of doing this, it is better to take advantage of now, the World Youth Championship has just begun, and decisively win Pogba.
Gao Shen also had to admit that Florentino and Jose Sanchez were really smart.
In fact, they wanted to talk before the World Youth Championship, but Lucas kept delaying.
"What do you think?" Gao Shen asked.
"I returned a psychological price."
"How many?"
"Sixty million euros."
"What did Real Madrid say?" Gao Shen was a little excited.
Real Madrid already has Toni Kroos, Modric and Verratti. Although Pogba is young and talented, he will probably be a rotation player when he comes to the team. Paying such a high price is not like Real Madrid's style.
Of course, if you are playing as the main force, signing Pogba is actually very cost-effective.
"José Sanchez said we should think about it," Lucas chuckled.
Gao Shen nodded, Jose Sanchez might not pay attention to such a big thing.
"Real Madrid wants to sign Yinlia Ramendi, and the price will be 32 million."
Everything is a matter of comparison.
For example, if Yinlia Ramendi is worth 32 million euros, is it possible to sign Pogba for 50 million euros?
As for Pogba's technical characteristics and playing style, anyone with a discerning eye can see his talent and role, which are completely different from Yinlialamendi, and his tactical value on the court is also much higher than Yinlialamendi.
This kind of genius is rare.
"I think Real Madrid will agree. If they refuse, then hold off. Paris will definitely be interested by then. They are not short of money this season, and at the same time they urgently need local players to supplement their lineup."
Real Madrid just don't want Paris to get involved.
In European football, no one is willing to compete with Paris Saint-Germain for financial resources. That is simply seeking death.
It’s really amazing, you can get it at any price.
The oil consortium behind Paris Saint-Germain will care about this little money?
"What do you say about Naples?" Gao Shen asked.
De Laurentiis asked Marino to go to Leeds because he wanted to discuss Jorginho and Alan with Leeds United.
Sarri has hand-picked four players, one after the other who cannot or do not want to buy. If they cannot get these two midfielders, Naples will not be able to explain to Sarri.
It's okay not to mention Naples, but when it comes to mentioning it, Lucas sneers.
"Unexpectedly, after several years, De Laurentiis is even more stingy than before."
"Tell me about it." Gao Shen guessed.
"Do you know how much they paid for Jorginho and Allan?"
"explain."
"Thirty million euros."
"one?"
"You think so well, pack it up!"
"Damn it!" Gao Shen almost cursed, "Is De Laurentiis stingy like crazy?"
"Isn't that true? We really think we are Kaizi. He wants to pack away our two core midfielders for 30 million euros. He is so beautiful!"
When it comes to excitement, Lucas blurts out profound quotes.
"To be honest, Paris Saint-Germain's reaction and actions are really slow. I'm just waiting for Paris Saint-Germain to enter the game." Lucas complained.
After Thiago went to Bayern, there are not many organizational midfielders in European football. Jorginho is also in Ancelotti's plan. If Paris joins the game, it can really raise the player's value.
.
This is what many people say, the quotations given to wealthy teams are different from the quotations given to other teams.
The reason is that everyone likes to kill the rich, but who makes the rich rich?
"I have already made an offer. If Paris really makes an offer for Jorginho, I will directly use Naples' 30 million euros to repay it. I will disgust the old Italian man!" Lucas said with a bad taste.
Gao Shen couldn't help but smile.
But it must be said that Naples’ offer is indeed too low.
Logically speaking, De Laurentiis has made a lot of money in recent years, so why is he still so stingy?
"The offer for Paris needs to be higher," Gao Shen reminded.
The current transfer market is all about one thing: asking for prices all over the place, and then paying back the money after landing.
Especially popular players are often marketable but priceless.
Who makes European football have so many tycoons now?
If we don’t fight now, when will we wait?
"Monaco is also contacting us and asking about Kondogbia." Lucas said excitedly, "What do you think?"
According to Leeds United's original plan, Kondogbia was unwilling to sell.
After all, Pogba is gone, Kondogbia is left, and paired with Coutinho, Leeds United's midfield strength will not decline much.
"If the transfer fee is attractive enough, then sell it and we will introduce other midfielders." Gao Shen made a quick decision.
He is short of money now.
Just to prepare for the construction of that new stadium.
This is the second most important thing for Leeds United at the moment.
The first big thing is to avoid relegation in the Premier League.
After playing for a season, Gao Shen is well aware of Leeds United's situation and the current Premier League relegation competition.
Even if he does sell, he is confident that he will bring in good reinforcements to help the team avoid relegation.
"I understand, I'll be in charge." Lucas said excitedly.
If we really do this, Leeds United might really be able to sell for a lot of money this summer.
Of course, this amount of money is more of just a book figure, and they must pay it in installments over several years.
Leeds United will definitely not accept installments of five years or longer, and will only give it three years at most.
If money can be generated from summer transfers, Leeds United's new stadium plan can be launched.
It will start this summer, take one year to prepare, and take three years to complete. It will take 17 years to complete.
