Spanish law prohibits Spanish teams from signing professional contracts with players under the age of 17, so this loophole has been repeatedly exploited by other teams in the past few years. The most famous example is Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger's almost a dime.
Without spending any money, he poached Barcelona's promising star Cesc Fabregas from La Masia.
In the Sporting Gijon team, there are two players who are under the age of 17. One is Juan Mata, this Spanish teenager is only 16 years old now. In addition, there is Juan Carlos, who is still two years away.
They are over 17 years old in May, so these two players are currently signing youth player contracts.
Of course, this also means that if other teams can lure them away, they can get them without spending a penny.
With their outstanding performance last season, both Mata and Carlos have become famous. Many teams are pursuing the idea of these two young players. However, so far, no club has been able to succeed. Regardless of Mata or Carlos,
They are all loyal to Li Ang. Mata voluntarily came to Gijon from Real Madrid to follow Li Ang. Maybe in the future, Mata will yearn for a wealthy club and consider a higher stage. However, the current Mata will not choose to leave. As for Carlos
, people who are familiar with him know that this is the least likely person in the Sporting Gijon team to betray Li Ang, whether it is Li Ang's kindness to him, or the reason why his sister Alice is Li Ang's girlfriend. Of course, this
There is a level of relationship that outsiders don’t know.
Now, Sporting Gijon has another player under the age of 17 in its squad.
He is Karim Benzema.
Because he was still a few months away from turning 17, Sporting Gijon and Benzema signed a youth contract. However, on the basis of the youth contract, the two parties added another agreement. On December 19, 2004,
On the day of Benzema's birthday, when he turns 17, Sporting Gijon will immediately offer him a professional contract, and Benzema's agent and family also guarantee that he will play football in Gijon with peace of mind.
, you won’t be poached just because you have a youth contract.
Li Ang attaches great importance to this. He made a special note in his notebook that when Benzema is seventeen years old, the club will leave and sign a professional contract with this child. He does not believe in any promises. When the benefits are big enough,
Oral promises have no credibility.
Of course, Li Ang believes that as long as he pays attention to Benzema, gives this little guy a chance to play, and focuses on training, Benzema will not think of leaving.
With the signing of this youth contract and the transfer fee of one million euros from Sporting Gijon to the Lyon club's account, it is also officially announced that Karim Benzema, this sixteen-year-old little guy, has officially become a
A member of Sporting Gijon.
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The Benzema family also has a vigorous and resolute style. They know how important it is for Benzema to integrate into the team as soon as possible.
Leon returned to Spain the next day, and Benzema, accompanied by his father, went to Spain together.
This transfer can be said to be quite quick.
At noon that day, Maleo training base.
Li Ang led the tough-looking Benzema out of the team's locker room.
"This is Karim Benzema." Li Ang introduced Benzema to the team, "a very good French guy."
"Hello everyone, I am Karim Benzema. I am sixteen years old and I am from France." Benzema also introduced himself. This little guy has no stage fright at all.
"Welcome, little guy." Hierro came up to welcome on behalf of the whole team, "I am Fernando Hierro, the captain of the team."
Li Ang handed Benzema to Hierro and then left. He believed that with Hierro here, he didn't need to worry about anything.
After Miguel Cobas transferred and left, Li Ang appointed Hierro as the team's first captain. Former AC Milan deputy Albertini was appointed as the team's second captain, still the team deputy.
Goalkeeper Valencia was named the team's third captain.
No one has any objection to Li Ang's arrangement. Although Hierro and Albertini have just joined the team, these two stars have such fame and influence that they are qualified to be team leaders. Moreover,
Li Ang's prestige within the team also determines that his decisions will be absolutely implemented.
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Benzema looked at Hierro, his eyes widened. This is Hierro, the Hierro from Real Madrid. Before coming to Gijon, he had never heard that Hierro was actually in Gijon.
"Hello, captain." Benzema said respectfully. He respects this legendary Real Madrid star very much.
"Hello, Karim. I am Demetrio Albertini. You can call me Demi." Albertini greeted Benzema with a smile. At the same time, he was extremely curious. The team's head coach
It seems that they really like to promote young people. There are several players under the age of 20 in the team, and now there is a 16-year-old French guy.
In fact, the current Sporting Gijon team is indeed very young, with the 16-year-old Spaniard Mata, the 16-year-old French Benzema, the 16-year-old Spaniard Carlos, the 17-year-old Spaniard Marcos, and the 10-year-old Spaniard Marcos.
Seven-year-old Spaniard Javier Blanco, 20-year-old Serbian Ivanovic, 19-year-old Croatian Modric, 21-year-old Brazilian Portuguese Pepe, 21-year-old
Year-old Frenchman Franck Ribery.
Others such as Argentinian striker Milito is 25 years old, Italian Di Natale is 26 years old, Italian Grosso is 26 years old, Spanish Dorado is 25 years old, and Spanish central defender Yi
Sima is twenty-nine years old...
Only goalkeeper Valencia is 33 years old, and there are 36-year-old veteran McGuer Pihra, 33-year-old Albertini and 36-year-old Hierro.
He is over thirty years old.
"Ah, hello Demi." Benzema was very excited. Albertini is also a long-established star and an important member of the Milan dynasty. He didn't expect that he would also come to Gijon.
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"Haha, hello, kid. My name is Frank Ribery, I'm French." A voice sounded. Benzema looked over and was startled by a guy with a terrible scar on his face.
.
"Ah, hello..." Benzema spoke cautiously, "Are you French too?"
"Of course, don't worry, kid, I'll protect you." Ribery said with a split-mouth smile. He put his arm around Benzema's shoulders. The newcomer announced to others with a very natural expression that he was protecting this kid.
Yes.
Everyone burst into laughter. After getting along for a short period of time, everyone fell in love with this scary-looking French boy. Ribery was very active and got along well with many people.
"Come on, let me introduce you to other people." Ribery took the 'right' to introduce from Hierro's hand, "This is McGur, a thirty-six-year-old man, but you must not
Look down on him, this old man is very powerful."
"Hi, Karim." McGurr Pihra did not care about Ribery's teasing and greeted with a smile.
"This is Juan Mata. There are two Juans in the team and this is one of them."
"I know you, you are very good." Benzema said to Mata.
"Hello, Karim, you are great too." Mata said happily.
"This is Juan Carlos, the other Juan."
"I know you too, hello Juan." Benzema said.
Juan Carlos looked a little surprised and said, "Hello, Karim."
"We usually call them Mata or Carlos directly, otherwise it's easy to get confused." Ribery chattered, "Actually, I really want to call them Big Juan and Little Juan, but they don't want to."
Benzema was hugged by this scary-looking guy with a scar on his face, and they were introduced all the way.
Hierro, who had been robbed of his life, looked at this scene with a smile. Albertini touched Hierro's shoulder and said, "You energetic little guys."
The two veterans looked at each other and smiled, feeling satisfied with the atmosphere within the team.
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After resolving the striker signings, Li Ang began to make up for the team's last shortcoming.
That's the goalkeeper position.
The team’s current No. 1 goalkeeper is the 33-year-old Spanish player Jose Valencia, and then there is the 24-year-old Spanish player Natde Roberto. The original third goalkeeper is 34-year-old.
Carleto took the initiative to request a transfer because he could not play in the game. Li Ang did not embarrass the old goalkeeper and allowed him a free transfer to a team in the Spanish C2 League.
Now, the team still needs to introduce a goalkeeper to prepare for emergencies.
Liang was originally interested in Adan, his old team in Real Madrid's youth team. However, given that Real Madrid has closed the door to any trade with Sporting Gijon, there is no way for him to introduce Adan.
Then, Liang targeted Slovenia's young goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.
The reason why he fell in love with Handanovic is, on the one hand, because he knows the future achievements of this Slovenian young man and is indeed a goalkeeper with great potential, and the other is that Handanovic currently plays for the Slovenian League One.
Domzale is the team's second goalkeeper. He is still unknown and the transfer fee is quite cheap. Now is a good opportunity to make a move.
Another important point is that Slovenia officially joined the EU on May 1st of this year, which means that Handanovic is already an EU player and is no longer subject to non-European quota restrictions.
And just when Leon went to France to deal with Benzema's transfer, he arranged for assistant coach Banderas to formally purchase their young goalkeeper Samir Handanovic from Domzale of the Slovenian First Division.
