r18novel Chapter 60 All Spent
Chapter 60 All Spent
Having secured Drogba and Ronaldo, they've essentially secured Everton's attacking trident for the new season.
Cristiano Ronaldo + Andre Avery + Wayne Rooney, what a luxurious lineup!
If we want to play a 4-4-2 formation, Rooney can play as an attacking midfielder, and Ronaldo and Drogba can form the forward line without any problems.
Of course, they also need an important midfield maestro behind them.
Xabi Alonso!
Just as Ye Xian had predicted, this was likely the most difficult negotiation yet.
It has something to do with money, but there are other factors more involved.
Firstly, his performance last season led Real Sociedad's manager, Toshack, to designate Alonso as the midfield core and captain.
As a Basque homegrown youth academy, its own flagship, and the cornerstone of the next decade, the club has no intention of selling, especially not to a non-Basque foreign team.
Alonso's family situation is also quite unique.
His father, Perico Alonso, is a legend at Real Sociedad, and his brother, Mikel Alonso, is also on the team, so they can be considered a royal family.
As for Alonso himself, he has just become captain and wants to lead the team to a great start in the new season.
His personal plan is not to stay at Real Sociedad forever, but he prefers to make a name for himself at Real Sociedad before moving to a top club like Real Madrid.
Instead of going to a lower-ranked Premier League team like Everton midway through the season!
So... it's not easy.
But Ye Xian had already done his homework on this.
As a time traveler, he had seen how Liverpool acquired Alonso "back then".
Just one season later, Alonso led Real Sociedad to a runner-up finish in La Liga, thus fully demonstrating his market value.
At this point, Alonso negotiated a contract extension with Real Sociedad, but the negotiations broke down.
At this point, Liverpool came knocking on their door.
Then-coach Rafael Benítez personally flew to San Sebastián and had a three-hour private conversation with Alonso.
Leaving aside money, focusing solely on tactical systems, the central role in midfield, and possession-based play perfectly aligns with Alonso's professional aspirations.
Benitez also promised that Alonso would be the midfield maestro, an absolute starter, and the team would be built around him.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid, which also had interest in Alonso, could only offer him the promise of "rotation in the starting lineup," a stark contrast in their status.
In addition, the Premier League was booming at that time, and it was very attractive to star players. Alonso himself also wanted to try his luck there.
So when Liverpool offered £1000 million, Real Sociedad naturally let him go.
So this time, Ye Xian is taking action a year earlier. In addition to continuing to focus on the "pain points" to strengthen the offensive, he also needs to consider more aspects.
Let's take a three-pronged approach!
First, he met with Perico Alonso, the head of the Alonso family.
The main focus is on the future.
"Your son is a genius; his future lies not in Real Sociedad, nor even in Everton."
"So I'm allowing him to use Everton as a stepping stone, and he can go to any big club he wants in the future. Yes, I'll set a low release clause for him, and the choice is yours if other teams want him."
"Why not stay at Real Sociedad? Because the Premier League offers more exposure."
"At the same time, you should also understand that, perhaps because of me, Everton is receiving a lot of media attention this season."
"So it's easier for him to gain recognition here, and it's also easier for him to be seen by top teams."
"At the same time, I will give him more opportunities to perform..."
When Ye Xian met with Alonso in person, he explained in more detail his playing style for the new season and his promises to Alonso.
"Come to me, you'll be the absolute core of the midfield, the tactics will revolve around you, and you'll start every game! Unless you're injured or fatigued, there will be no rotation."
"I've already set up a 4-3-3 formation for you; you're the engine and the playmaker in midfield."
"You don't need to engage in physical battles in midfield; instead, you control the tempo of the game through long passes and ball possession. Your main responsibility is this..."
For Alonso, who has been quick-witted since childhood and loves to think about tactics, the World Cup matches are definitely something he will watch.
In this World Cup, the Chinese team led by Ye Xian was undoubtedly the most impressive.
Therefore, Alonso also greatly appreciates Ye Xian's tactical awareness and flexibility on the field.
This is already a plus!
In addition, during this long conversation, Ye Xian indeed explained the tactics and strategies for the new season very thoroughly.
Some of their "ingenious ideas" really caught Alonso's eye!
Not to mention the midfield core position promised by Ye Xian, which really tempted him.
At Real Sociedad, head coach Toshack primarily employs a strange blend of English physique and Basque technique.
Although Alonso is the main playmaker, he has a heavy defensive workload and mainly participates in the attack by making long passes directly behind the defense, lacking variety and room to maneuver.
Ye Xian's description of Everton's 4-3-3 formation features both a beastly center forward and fast, technically gifted wingers who can frequently switch positions, offering countless options for attacking play.
Alonso is only 20 years old this year and is in the rising stage of his career.
The diversity of his playing style will undoubtedly allow him to get more training, making him more well-rounded and stronger!
Moreover, Ye Xian has promised to set a penalty of no more than £1000 million, so Alonso can still go wherever he wants in the future!
This is something Alonso cares about very much.
In the original timeline, his contract renewal negotiations with Real Sociedad broke down, not only because of salary, but more importantly because of the penalty for breach of contract.
At the time, Alonso's contract had a release clause of only 1200 million euros, but Real Sociedad demanded that the release clause be increased to 2500-3000 million euros when renewing the contract, in order to prevent Real Madrid and Barcelona from poaching him for a low price.
Alonso's team, especially his father, strongly disagreed, fearing that it would block his future path to marrying into a wealthy family.
Now that Ye Xian is so "understanding," it naturally touches Alonso's heart.
As for salary, Ye Xian also offered a very generous offer.
Alonso's current weekly wage at Real Sociedad is roughly equivalent to two thousand pounds.
But Ye Xian immediately gave him 20,000 pounds!
Tenfold increase! Everton's top earner!
This is something that Royal Society simply cannot provide.
After this series of punches, it's safe to say that Alonso has been completely captivated by Ye Xian!
Having secured Alonso and his family, the next step is to negotiate the transfer with Real Sociedad.
The Royal Society immediately set an exorbitant price: £600 million!
Even for Alonso now, it's too high.
Of course, this is also a business tactic, providing ample room for negotiation.
Real Sociedad, being a team primarily composed of Basques, is not as eager for cash flow as Sporting Lisbon, so Ye Xian proposed a transfer plan.
That means an initial payment of £300 million, followed by £100 million in installments over the next two years, and finally 10% of any future transfer fees.
All things considered, the total price is already quite high.
Real Sociedad are particularly interested in future transfer fees, even wanting to raise it to 20% – because they are well aware of Alonso's potential!
But Ye Xian insisted on 10% and refused to budge, eventually raising the installment amount by another 50 pounds, reaching 150 million pounds.
Royal Sociedad has finally agreed to release them!
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Talking about the transfers of the last three players is much simpler now.
Unlike Alonso, a key player for a La Liga team, it would be a bit of an "uphill climb" for players like Cech, Grosso, or Alves to go to a Premier League team.
It's fair to say that everyone was flattered when they heard that Everton wanted to buy them!
Therefore, Ye Xian only needs to handle things with the club.
Among them, Petr Cech, who has already become a Czech national team player, was more expensive, and it ultimately cost Ye Xian £350 million to complete the transaction.
Grosso, whose potential was not yet fully realized, only spent 100 million.
And the transfer fee for Brazilian Karami Alves was only 50!
Thus, Ye Xian's recruitment work in this summer transfer window has officially come to an end.
That adds up to exactly £1200 million, completely emptying the budget!