Simon Cooper raised a soul-searching question in his famous book [Football Economics].
Why are most football clubs’ signings so nonsense?
There are often transfers worth several million euros, over ten million euros, or even tens of millions of euros, but you never want to do a serious market survey?
Just because of a tournament? Or even because of a game? Many times, even just because a lot of people compete for it?
As a result, everyone rushed forward at once.
He believes that this is the most obvious difference between professional football and modern enterprises.
To put it bluntly, risk management in professional football is still too unprofessional.
Gao Shen has always felt that many of the ways of thinking in this book are worth learning and referring to.
For example, the book says that "stars" who emerge from many competitions can often be sold for higher prices, but it is difficult to get out of the price. The reason is that this player happened to encounter the tactics that are most suitable for him in this competition.
environment, play your best, and perform at a super level.
If he leaves this environment and his condition drops, he won't be able to play at this level.
In fact, this point makes perfect sense.
This is also the biggest difference between competitions such as the World Cup and European Cup and club leagues.
For example, Arshavin, even at Arsenal, failed to produce the most dominant performance he had in the European Cup.
But what Simon Cooper doesn't know is that the club actually understands this truth.
Maybe some people are wondering, since they understand, why do they still buy it?
The reason is very simple, the needs are different and the way of looking at the problem is also different.
For example, in Gao Shen's previous life, Real Madrid bought James Rodriguez. Some said it was in exchange for a 7 billion euro infrastructure contract.
Gao Shen didn't believe this rumor.
Any large-scale infrastructure contract of this kind, especially if it is a cross-border cooperation, must be promoted at the national level, and it must be a protracted negotiation.
Is this possible just by buying a star?
It is impossible to say that before playing in the World Cup, Real Madrid was very sure that Ronaldo would take the lead?
In other words, if any famous Colombian player emerges, Real Madrid will buy it?
It is absolutely impossible for Ronaldo to have such an influence. It's just that the transfer and the contract happened to be completed at about the same time.
Anyone familiar with Real Madrid knows that Florentino's business experience is based on eyeball effect, and Ronaldo not only played well in the World Cup, but is also handsome, which meets Real Madrid's business and economic needs, so he would rather pay a higher price.
Buy it.
For clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona, we cannot treat them as regular clubs because they are membership systems and are not allowed to make profits.
While other clubs are struggling with how to make a profit, the most painful thing for Real Madrid and Barcelona is how to not make a profit. This is why the two teams often make some bizarre transfers.
From two points of view, there is nothing wrong with Real Madrid spending a lot of money to buy Ronaldo, right?
And the facts have proved that Ronaldo is an incredible player, a player worth 40 to 50 million euros. Real Madrid spent the highest price to buy him when he was the most popular.
This is a losing business!
In contrast, in fact, after the European Cup in 2008, the major football teams were much more cautious towards Arshavin. This resulted in Arshavin not being able to create the highest sky-high transfer price when he was at his most popular.
He went to a wealthy team and finally went to Arsenal.
Think about it again, in 2008, what kind of environment was it?
…
After Gao Shen acquired Leeds United, he had to worry about funds, so when Fernando Lucas proposed an idea, Gao Shen was really tempted.
That is how to sell the players currently owned by Leeds United for as high a price as possible?
Jonathan Howson is undoubtedly the most valuable one, and Lucas operates with him as the focus.
This is actually the routine operation of many European teams.
To put it bluntly, behind the transactions in the transfer market, there is also the packaging of players and the bombardment of all kinds of information.
Richard Naylor is a 34-year-old veteran who has spent his entire career in low-level leagues, playing from center to centre-back. He came to Leeds United just for retirement. Now that he is almost the same age, he is not in line with Leeds United's long-term goals.
According to his plan, wouldn’t it be normal to let him transfer on a free transfer?
Jonathan Howson is a rising star on the team and is loved by the fans, but now he is also bent on going. He wants to take advantage of his youth, especially after playing the best season of his career, to prove on a higher stage.
Own.
This is understandable.
Therefore, what Gao Shen and Lucas meant was to send Richard Naylor away and try their best to show their efforts to retain Jonathan Howson. At the same time, they also tried to release as much news as possible, including what Gao Shen said he was Lan.
News such as Parde II attracts more teams to be interested in the game, creating excitement and thus driving up the value of the players.
It is true that Howson performed very well last season, otherwise, no matter how much he is promoted, it will be useless.
Several other players who want to leave the team, including McCormack, Schmeichel, Snodgrass and others, basically follow this routine, but they certainly cannot sell them at a price like Howson's.
To put it bluntly, professional players must ultimately rely on their performance to speak for themselves.
It is worth mentioning that Schmeichel Jr. is currently Leeds United's highest-paid player, with a weekly salary of 15,000 pounds, which is considered a very high level among the English Championship teams.
But now, Jonathan Howson's agent is offering the club a weekly salary of 25,000 pounds and a commitment to upgrade. Otherwise, reasonable offers from other teams will not be rejected next summer.
Just imagine, in this case, how could Gao Shen agree?
Knowing that Manchester United is renewing Pogba's contract, what is the weekly salary proposed by the French midfielder?
Fifteen thousand pounds.
In other words, the weekly salary that Pogba wants to renew his contract is similar to that of Schmeichel Jr., while the weekly salary that Jonathan Howson wants is almost twice that of Pogba.
A situation like this is basically unsolvable.
Even if Gao Shen is famous, none of these players will stay because of his name, unless Gao Shen himself comes to coach.
In this case, it's better to just sell it at a good price.
Not to mention, under Lucas's operation, Jonathan Howson, Schmeichel Jr. and others really attracted a lot of attention, especially Howson.
Gao Shen is waiting to see who will be the first to make an offer!
…
The night is as deep as water.
All London began to fall asleep.
Everyone is looking forward to the Champions League final tomorrow night.
Only in the Fulham district of London, in the suite of the hotel where Barcelona stayed, Guardiola still sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.
He specially pulled a sofa chair for himself and sat there, basking in the moonlight and looking out the window at the night view of London in a daze.
He just finished a meeting with the coaching staff to discuss tomorrow's tactics, but there are many things that have not yet been resolved.
For example, where to put Messi?
Right? Or center?
Striker? Or attacking midfielder?
Barcelona's lineup is very strong, but Guardiola is constantly adjusting various tactics so that he will not be contained by other opponents, so he has developed many different tactics.
For example, Messi can play on the right, Aguero can play in the center, and Sanchez can play on the left. This is a very conventional four-three-three.
Another way of playing is that Messi plays in the center, Aguero plays on the left, and Sanchez plays on the right. This is another four-three-three.
Messi can also play in the middle, but retreat to the tenth position, Sanchez and Aguero form a double forward, which is a bit like four-three-one-two.
With various playing styles, players are active in different positions, perform different functions and responsibilities, and deal with different opponents.
It can be said that in the past season, Guardiola played this trick very smoothly.
Therefore, this season, Barcelona once again won the double crown and is aiming for the triple crown.
In 2009, Barcelona also won the double championship. They were ambitious to win the championship at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, but were defeated by Napoli led by Gao Shen. Not only did they lose, they also scored a humiliating score.
This is something Guardiola still remembers.
Now, facing Gao Shen again, but this time it's Manchester City. How will the game be played?
Guardiola is actually very conflicted.
He thought about playing with the regular four-three-three, but he always felt that he would be restrained by the advanced players.
Because he knows Gao Shen very well.
Even though Manchester City is famous for its passing and smooth offense, in front of Barcelona, Manchester City has no advantage in this aspect.
If Gao Shen really wants to fight for passing control, Guardiola will be more confident.
But he knew that Gao Shen would attack at the beginning, but then gradually transition the ball away.
Who can be better at passing the ball than this group of Barcelona players?
The regular 433 has the advantage of being regular, and changing the formation also has the advantage of changing the formation.
Guardiola has a headache now.
On the one hand, he knows that Gao Shen will definitely try to suppress Barcelona's midfield. If Messi is allowed to play at the tenth position, he can better connect the midfield and frontcourt, but in this case, the formation will have to be changed.
But on the other hand, the risk of changing formations is also great, especially the 4-3-1-2 formation, which he has only used twice this season.
In the conference room just now, Vilanova assumed the role of a master and proposed some targeted tactics to Guardiola, but Guardiola knew better than anyone else, how could Vilanova be a master?
There is never any fixed routine in the use of advanced troops.
If it must be said that there is, then his only routine is that he will use whatever routine can defeat his opponent.
This is Guardiola's biggest headache.
Tangled!
What a tangled mess!
At this moment, Guardiola's cell phone suddenly rang.
He grabbed it and took a look and found that Twitter was pushing the message.
Gao Shen just sent a tweet.
"Don't worry, my friend, I know you have insomnia, go to bed quickly! See you tomorrow night!"
Damn it!
Guardiola suddenly felt like he had been completely seen through.
Can you guess what's inside him?
Could it be that he installed surveillance cameras in my room?
Guardiola quickly stood up and looked around the room, thinking it was unrealistic.
This is one of the best hotels in London. How could it be monitored by someone?
The only explanation is...
After realizing this, Guardiola became even more confused!
