Chapter 359: Before the new season
According to the contract signed between Real Madrid and Wang Feng, due to the Galaxy battleship winning the league and Champions League double crown last year, his basic annual salary for this season will increase by 10%, from a post-tax 12 million euros to 13.2 million euros.
This salary still ranks first in the world. In addition, the Galaxy battleship also needs to pay various bonuses and dividends from the income generated by Wang Feng's image rights.
In addition to this, with his endorsements and international brand sponsorships, his total annual income exceeds 60 million euros, surpassing Beckham to become the highest-earning player in football.
Beckham's annual income is only around 35 million euros, so you can see how terrifying Wang Feng's influence and earning power are.
Of course, these incomes are all benefits he obtains as a football player, without considering the profits of the Feng Yao Group, otherwise, it would be a very astonishing number.
Although Real Madrid pays Wang Feng a salary far higher than other players, it has not brought obvious adverse effects. There are two reasons for this. The first is that he brings huge profits to the club.
According to Forbes' ranking of the world's most valuable football clubs, Real Madrid's annual income and total market value rank first, far ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal, which rank second and third.
With the current downward trend in the world economy, most clubs can only barely maintain a balance between income and expenditure. Serie A clubs frequently go bankrupt, Bundesliga clubs are very cautious with their finances, and the Premier League operates under debt. Only Real Madrid's income is skyrocketing, increasing several times compared to last season, all because of Wang Feng's arrival.
The second reason is that the performance of the Chinese superstar is too outstanding. Scoring 50 goals in his first season in La Liga is enough to impress all his teammates. Most of them believe that Wang Feng deserves such a high salary, so he stands out from the crowd and does not significantly damage the team's salary structure.
Of course, there will also be a small number of players who dissent and want to demand a substantial salary increase, but Florentino's principle is to arrange reasonably. Except for Wang Feng, no player is indispensable. If there is any trouble, they will be sent away decisively. The Galaxy battleship with funds in hand can fully replenish from the transfer market.
Real Madrid is one of the first clubs to operate transfers. When the summer transfer window opened, they immediately finalized the deals for Robben and Sneijder. Robben joined the Galaxy battleship for 36 million euros, while Sneijder cost 27 million euros.
As for Terry, he is a product of the Blues' youth academy, so he is not very willing to leave Chelsea deep down. Real Madrid has been very sincere in discussing with him and his agent many times, but still without success.
Instead, another left-back, Ashley Cole, who joined the Blues less than a year ago, expressed his intention to move. His agent contacted the Galaxy battleship.
Seeing the escalating conflict between the club president and the head coach, and the team's consecutive losses last season, Ashley Cole anticipated that the situation would be very turbulent in the future, which would not be conducive to his own development.
After internal evaluation by the Galaxy battleship, since the pursuit of Terry was unsuccessful, signing him was also a good choice. So they decisively brought back this English defender for 15 million euros.
In addition, Real Madrid also signed German defender Metzelder, whose contract had expired, fully arming the defensive line.
Among the players who chose to leave the Galaxy battleship this summer, Carlos is the first. Being able to win La Liga and the Champions League again at the last moment made this 34-year-old veteran very gratified. He will join Fenerbahce in Turkey as a free agent.
Saviola gradually lost the trust of the coach and his starting position since 2007, so he chose to leave and join Roma in Serie A. Emerson, who performed poorly, was sold to AC Milan by the team, and his transfer fee dropped from 11.5 million euros to 5 million euros.
Reyes, who performed relatively well last season, was officially bought out by the Galaxy battleship for 12 million euros.
In addition to Real Madrid, other clubs have also joined the summer transfer frenzy. Barcelona has released two bombshell news in succession, shocking the entire football world.
First is Ronaldinho's departure. The Brazilian went to AC Milan for 25 million euros. He had already been abandoned since the second half of last season, so this transfer was not too surprising.
Another transfer was the one that truly surprised people. Arsenal's soul Henry joined Barcelona for 24 million euros!
Countless Arsenal fans couldn't believe it. Pain, reluctance, and anger intertwined. Many of them began to curse Henry and the club, and some extreme fans even burned his number 14 jersey.
During the interview, Henry also expressed his reluctance, saying, "I love Arsenal very much, it's like my home."
He left just to pursue some honors that professional players aspire to, such as the Champions League, which is probably difficult to achieve with the 'Gunners.'
But The Times believes that what Henry wants may not be achievable at Barcelona, "Everyone can see that this era belongs to Wang Feng, belongs to Real Madrid."
Henry himself has also carefully considered the possibility of joining the Galaxy battleship to join forces with Wang Feng, but Schuster and Florentino are not interested in him, and there is no position for the Frenchman in the tactical system.
On the other hand, Barcelona just lost Ronaldinho and needs to replenish its strength, and the young Messi seems to be very talented. Henry believes that waiting for him to grow up may not shake Wang Feng's dominance, so he decided to go to Barcelona.
The traditionally thrifty Bayern Munich finished only fourth in the Bundesliga last season, failing to qualify for this season's Champions League, which is very rare in the club's history.
The club's management was deeply troubled and decided to invest heavily in the transfer market. The first target was Ribery from Inter Milan. However, the Frenchman is now the core of the Nerazzurri. Even if Bayern raises the offer to 40 million euros, Moratti is still unmoved.
So they had to settle for second best, bringing in Luca Toni from Fiorentina, who had previously competed for the Serie A Golden Boot with Wang Feng, and bringing back German striker Miroslav Klose from Werder Bremen.
They also had a transfer news that attracted the attention of all Chinese people in the world. That is, they offered 20 million euros to bring back the 22-year-old Chinese forward Dong Fangzhuo who played for Alkmaar!
Originally intended to continue to stay in the Eredivisie to hone his skills, Dong Fangzhuo reluctantly called Wang Feng and said, "This offer moved Alkmaar. You know, they are just a small club, and some senior management of the club seems to think that my performance is not stable. They are worried that it is just a flash in the pan."
Wang Feng did not expect such a turn of events. He paused and said, "Transfers require the consent of both clubs and the player. If you insist on staying, it is impossible to transfer."
"Forget it, I feel very aggrieved. Obviously, I scored so many goals for the team, but still became a disposable object. So I want to land in the top five leagues to prove myself. Alkmaar selling me for 20 million euros is definitely the stupidest decision in the club's history!"
Wang Feng saw Dong Fangzhuo's resolute and spirited attitude and felt very relieved. "Then go to Bayern. They are also an old powerhouse, but now they are in need of revival. If you can help them out of the slump, you will definitely become a world-class player."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m