NOVEL NEXT 43 Contract Negotiations II
"But what about the high release clause of 45 million euros?" Rico changed his target after realizing that he had lost the first battle.
"Don't you think it's a bit too much for a player receiving only 10000 euros weekly," Rico intoned, using Filipe's argument against him.
"... This is simply to secure the club's investment in Jason," Filipe said after a pause, not able to give a reasonable excuse as Rico's argument was correct.
The release clause was made to be high to make sure that Jason couldn't escape from the club easily without them gaining a lot from it if he ended up attracting a lot of offers and they had even planned to increase the release clause even further when Jason was renewing his contract with the club as long as he could prove to be a talented player.
"Investment?" Rico could not help blurting out.
"My client's development was a result of his own efforts and your club has not had enough of a hand in his development to this level to request such a sky-high price for a release clause," Rico shot back, his tone quite offensive, but he didn't care as he was enjoying getting back at Filipe.
Jason who had been bidding his time until he called Rico for a private discussion suddenly widened his eyes in surprise and realization at Rico's words.
Harsh as it was, it was true.
His current development was a result of the back-breaking training he had subjected himself to and his past life experiences and had nothing to do with the FC Porto team so who were they to demand such a large amount to "secure their investment" when they were literally signing him in on a free transfer.
All that they'd be doing was paying his salary which wasn't worth even a tenth of what they were asking to release him from the contract.
This came as a shocker and eye-opener for him that a football club was inherently a business and they would always do their best to secure the most profit and benefit for themselves.
… Sometimes even at the expense of their players
It wasn't something new to him as he had seen it happen a few times in his past life, but he had had his head stuck in the clouds when it came to himself and had completely forgotten about it.
All he had wanted to do and paid attention to was playing football and he had been willing to sign a contract that despite the benefits it had would be able to keep him trapped for a long time.
… Luckily, this time it was just two years, but even two years could make or break a player's career.
All this thinking reinforced his mind into getting a trustworthy agent who could help him traverse the treacherous world of contracts.
Unfortunately for Rico, despite having Jason's appreciation for helping him wake up to reality before it was too late, he wasn't on Jason's list of prospective agents.
"We can remove the release clause and instead add a buyout clause of at least 5 million euros,"
"This way as long as another team can make an offer of at least 5 million euros, then the club would be open to transfer talks," President Pinto Da Costa suddenly interfered, already tired of this back-and-forth exchange between Rico and Filipe.
He had other meetings to attend today as the club president of FC Porto, and it was already hard on his old bones to attend all of them, so he wasn't interested in wasting his valuable time watching an argument no matter how intriguing it might be.
"What say you Mr. Gulaz?" President Pinto Da Costa asked in his regal-sounding voice.
Rico looked at Jason, who nodded, already okay with the deal.
"Okay, deal," Rico said and stood up, extending his hand to the club president.
"This has been one of the most intense contract negotiations I have attended in a while," President Pinto Da Costa said as he took Rico's hand.
"I'm only trying to do my best for my client," Rico replied with a glance at Jason.
"Of course," President Pinto Da Costa responded with a smile before turning to Jason.
"I suppose I should welcome you to the club now,"
"But don't forget to keep striving to turn your potential into your abilities," he advised Jason while patting his shoulder.
"Thank you for your wise words, I'll do my best for myself and the team," Jason replied with a confident smile.
"Haha, I like you already,"
"Let's leave those guys to handle the contract," President Pinto Da Costa said with a laugh and pulled Jason aside for a conversation with Sergio Conceicao and Rafael joining in and leaving Rico and Filipe to finalize the contract and add in all the upgraded clauses.
Jason finally got to really speak with his new coach and they discussed what would be happening after the signing of the documents.
He would have to be taken on a tour to explore the Estadio do Dragao and the various facilities it had to offer as well as its museum where the trophies and history of the club were put on display. He would also have to meet with the club's sporting director to pick his jersey number and then meet with the publicity secretaries.
Meeting the publicity secretaries was to arrange things like publicizing his addition to the team to the FC Porto fan base.
He'd probably do at least one interview later on as despite him not being a big signing, he was a bit of a hot topic in the youth league due to his performance in the match against the Familicao U-19 team and the club would never let go of a chance to gain more publicity for themselves as more publicity almost always equaled a higher income for the club.
All this ran through Jason's mind as he was engaged in a discussion with Sergio, Andre, and Pinto Da Costa while they waited for the updated contract to be printed.
Luckily they didn't have to wait and soon the sheets of paper were being spat out of the printer that was present in the conference room.