Thanks to "The Thief" and "Shimadzu" for the reward!
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Millwall's pre-season preparations are proceeding in an orderly manner, and friendly matches also kicked off at the end of July.
Last summer we invited the Scottish giants Celtic, and this summer we invited the Glasgow Rangers.
In the first game, Millwall easily defeated its opponent at home, and the players who returned from vacation quickly returned to match condition through training.
The second friendly match was also held at home. Aldrich invited last season's Ligue 1 champion Monaco to London as a guest.
The day before the game, Aldridge personally greeted Monaco coach Tigana at the club door. The latter once again helped Monaco win the Ligue 1 title after Wenger, and became famous for a while.
In the new season, Monaco will also participate in the Champions League. Like Millwall, they are new to the Champions League, so everyone needs to get more familiar with teams of different styles.
Tigana was very interested in Millwall, which overturned Paris Saint-Germain last season. Faced with Aldridge's invitation, he agreed without hesitation.
Outside the club, Tigana looked up with interest to admire the giant promotional poster hanging on the main building.
"Millwall are really star-studded right now."
He sighed from the bottom of his heart.
The poster had the Lions emblem as the background, with a flame erupting effect, and upper-body photos of Larsson, Nedvěd, Makelele, Southgate and Lampard appeared in the poster.
This is a consistent promotional strategy for football clubs.
Basically, we will not only show one player in the promotional picture, but carry out profound promotion of club culture from multiple angles.
For example, among these five, Southgate and Lampard represent local strength, Lampard also symbolizes youth, Makelele is a black man, Larsson is a hot super forward, and Nedved is the spiritual leader.
Aldridge invited Tigana to have a drink and chat in his office. Tigana is only 42 years old now and is naturally a young man in the coaching industry. He coached the team one year earlier than Aldrich, and his starting point was also high, in Lyon, on
This season reached a new height in his coaching career, winning the championship with a 12-point advantage over the league runner-up.
The two were full of expectations for the future UEFA Champions League, and they also tried to analyze the current situation of the strong teams in Europe. They had a high-pitched discussion. They just regretted that Fernandez, who watched the game together a year ago, was laid off by Tigana and Aldridge.
Already.
Monaco suppressed Paris Saint-Germain, and Millwall also defeated the defending Cup Winners' Cup champions in the European war.
The next day, Lions Den Stadium.
The stadium stands were packed, and the fans came to enjoy the game with a relaxed attitude. TV stations also rushed to broadcast the warm-up match between the Premier League champions and the French champions. They compared it to two teams that will appear in the Champions League next season.
Team warm-up.
Aldrich's attitude towards warm-up matches has always been very indifferent. Training and adjusting the state are not a test of the team's strength, because the opponent may not be serious about it.
But this kind of warm-up match is not enough. Players must have a mental preparation and mental adjustment for the intense and intense season.
The two teams played very openly today. The French Ligue 1 team has established the Latin style as the mainstream since the Platini era, and Millwall now also adopts a European style of play. And there is a faint trend of reaching the top and carrying it forward. Such two teams
The teams collided together, and if they weren't fighting to the death without giving up an inch of ground, the scene would naturally be very exciting.
The two sides went back and forth, and the game was a rough one, with goals being scored one after another.
Aldridge was sitting on the coach's bench in sportswear. His attitude could be seen from his attire, and he was even chatting and laughing with the coaches.
"Aldrich, let's buy that young winger opposite! I feel he will definitely be more useful than Van der Meyde in the new season."
Benitez suddenly said to Aldridge seriously.
Aldrich knew who the other party was talking about without even looking.
The future King of Highbury: Henry!
Since his debut, Henry is still playing as a winger, but he has shown very good qualities.
Strictly speaking, Wenger did not help Henry much during his time at Monaco, but after all, he discovered the opponent's excellent potential. Under Tigana, Henry gradually stood out and not only became the main player of the team, but also entered the national team.
World Cup train.
Aldrich said with a wry smile: "I wanted to buy him three years ago, but they wouldn't sell him. Just a month ago, when I was in France, I specifically asked Tigana: Pettit, don't you want to buy him?"
We sold it for three million pounds. Henry, what if I offered four million pounds? But the other party still refused."
Benitez glanced at Tigana on the coaching bench next door and asked doubtfully: "Aren't you very familiar with him? He sold the French national team's main defensive midfielder to Wenger so cheaply when he was still playing. Why?
Can't we open a back door for you? Four million pounds is not low, I think you can also raise the price."
Aldrich shrugged, shook his head and said nothing.
Four million pounds is indeed not low for Henry, who is now 20 years old.
Henry and Ronaldo will both be world-class forwards, but there is a big gap between 20-year-old Henry and 20-year-old Ronaldo in terms of reputation and ability. Therefore, Ronaldo can be worth 20 million pounds this summer, while Henry and Audrey
Qi believes he is worth no more than six million pounds.
But in the end it's not about money, it's about Tigana not selling it.
It's not that Aldrich isn't popular, it's just that the relationship hasn't gone that far yet, and Aldrich doesn't want to owe him a favor.
Wenger's connections in France can't be compared to Aldridge's just having a drink and watching a game.
Fernandez was neither stupid nor blind, but Anelka gave 500,000 pounds to Wenger.
Petit is not a nobody. He has been a high-profile star in France since his debut. He has been playing for the national team since he was 19 years old. He will turn 27 this year, which is the golden age of players. He still has the halo of being the French Ligue 1 champion last season.
But Monaco sent the man to Arsenal for less than three million pounds.
What is even more exaggerated is that Guy Roux not only promised to train young talents for Wenger, but even went to Africa to build a football school after retirement to help Wenger recruit good players in Africa.
Therefore, Arsenal under the leadership of Wenger has a clear French brand, and we cannot blame him for his soft spot for French players. Good goods are not cheap in the transfer market. Wenger, who lives a careful life, can recruit good players with high cost performance from France.
Why bother to be taken advantage of?
This is the power of connections in the industry. Aldridge came out of nowhere. He has neither high moral standing nor a player background to weave a network of football connections in his long career. He can only take it step by step and make friends with coaches who suit his taste.
, the future is long. You never know when a quantitative change will lead to a qualitative change, making him a coach with a huge network of relationships.
When the warm-up match came to an end, the fans applauded and cheered the players of both teams with satisfaction.
4:4.
With eight goals and back-and-forth attacks, the fans enjoyed a feast of goals.
As the new season approaches, the expectations accumulated by fans in the summer are beginning to be released. The best proof is that the warm-up matches are all sold out.
Aldridge chatted with Tigana for a while. He was more honest and pursued Henry twice, but just let it go. The first time was when Wenger rejected him, and the second time was when Tigana turned him down.
After finishing this warm-up match, they have no game plan for the next week. They will just wait for the Community Shield before the start of the league to practice their condition.
However, Aldrich did not expect that unplanned things would suddenly happen to him.
On the night of seeing off Monaco, Adam ran to his house with a serious look on his face and told him solemnly: Ajax was angry!
In the summer, Van Gaal went to Barcelona to take up a new position, which was a huge turbulent period for Ajax. After all, Van Gaal stayed at Ajax for six years and single-handedly trained many stars in Ajax.
Ajax was busy dealing with the departure of its meritorious coach in the summer, and was slow to sign professional contracts for youth team players. When Olsen took office, he sorted out the work and went to review the youth team and suddenly discovered:
Where did Van der Meyde, who had high hopes, go?
Only then did they know that not only had Van der Meyde not signed a contract, but he had gone directly to London and was already getting involved with his new teammates at Millwall.
Ajax has had its main players taken away for free for two consecutive seasons, and now even good prospects from the youth team have been taken away for free. This is intolerable to them!
It can't be tolerated!
That is the basis of their survival!
Millwall was notified over there: Come up with a solution. Otherwise, I will go to UEFA and FIFA to sue you!
After hearing this, Aldrich really regretted it.
In terms of contract procedures, Van der Meyde's contract with Ajax expired, and Millwall signed with the other party later. There is no problem with the timing of the two.
But the mistake lies in the time when Aldridge went to Amsterdam to contact Van der Meyde. Van der Meyde's apprenticeship contract with Ajax had not yet expired.
Although there is no personal or physical evidence, judging from the time, Aldrich went to the Netherlands, and Van der Meyde packed his luggage and went to London. A check on the entry and exit times showed that Van der Meyde really came to London before the end of June.
At this time, the regulations on international transfers are not very detailed. In particular, FIFA and UEFA are more troubled by dealing with the impact of the post-Bosman Law. There are not such detailed regulations on the transfer of young players, especially those who are 18 years old.
The ban on international transfers for players under the age of 10 was also introduced ten years later.
But if Ajax really wants to make trouble, it's not without reason. In all fairness, they are all victims. If they can't even get training fees, Millwall will really become a robber in front of the public.
Aldridge sat opposite Adam at home. He held his head and closed his eyes and asked: "How does the other party want to solve the problem? It should be a matter of money. Tell them that Millwall will compensate them with 300,000 pounds."
Adam whispered: "Boss, although it is a matter of money, Ajax does not want to collect money directly."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I guess they don't want to make a big fuss. If this matter becomes public knowledge, wouldn't other top European teams go to them to seduce young talents? They want to keep it low-key and not announce it to the public, but
We also need to make compensation."
Aldrich scratched his head, he couldn't think of a solution to this problem.
There are accounts for transactions between clubs, and cross-border transactions are a hidden danger if there is financial review and unclear explanations.
Ajax didn't want to publicize it, but Aldridge was happy. He didn't want Millwall's reputation to be damaged.
"Wait a minute, let me ask the professionals."
When it comes to money-related matters in the football world, Aldridge feels that the most professional person must be Andrew.
Sure enough, he called Andrew and explained the matter briefly, and Andrew immediately gave him some advice.
After putting down the phone, Aldrich smiled broadly and said to Adam: "Reply to Ajax. Let's go to Amsterdam to play a friendly match with Ajax. The tickets are all theirs. We don't want to share it. If we don't like it,
If it’s not enough, I promise to fight again within the next two years, with the same conditions.”
When Adam heard this, he immediately understood.
According to the Millwall Triple Crown winner's worth, not everyone can be invited to play friendly matches.
This will be normal a few years later. When wealthy clubs play friendly matches, their appearance fees are clearly marked.
