Soccer: I have the attributes of Messi in his Prime

Chapter 501: Arrival in Madrid, Real Madrid's Warm Welcome

"What? Barcelona is offering Messi a 40 million euro annual salary for a contract renewal? That's crazy!"

As soon as Guardiola heard Lin Quan's words, he jumped up from the couch in shock.

What is Laporta thinking?

A 40 million salary for Messi? That would completely collapse Barcelona's wage structure!

They were discussing after-tax salaries, and with Spain's tax rates, a 40 million euro net salary would mean Barcelona would have to pay Messi nearly 70 million euros annually!

What does that mean?

Last year, Barcelona's total wage expenditure for the entire squad was only 339 million euros. This means Messi alone would be taking up over 20% of the club's total salary expenses!

Doing this, Barcelona's financial system will definitely collapse!

Barcelona is not Manchester City. City has the backing of a wealthy Middle Eastern group, while Barcelona depends solely on membership fees, sponsorships, broadcasting rights, and ticket sales. The financial power between the two clubs is simply not on the same level!

Even with UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations, City's financial strength is far superior to Barcelona's.

So, while City can afford to offer Lin Quan the world's highest salary, Barcelona will ruin themselves if they force such a high salary for Messi.

"With all Messi has contributed to Barcelona, that salary is fair. I don't think it's too much," Lin Quan replied calmly, not particularly bothered by it. Messi deserved that kind of money.

With Neymar gone and Iniesta's form declining, Messi was practically carrying Barcelona on his own.

But Barcelona is different from other teams. They have many veteran players, most of whom came from their youth academy, so these players occupy spots on the team and are difficult to clear out. Plus, they continue to demand salary increases.

After Messi's salary hike, players like Iniesta, Busquets, and Piqué will also want raises. This will push Barcelona's overall wage expenses even higher.

Additionally, after losing Neymar, Barcelona—from the board to the fans—became very anxious.

Neymar was seen as the cornerstone of Barcelona's next decade, their future star. But losing such an important player left the whole club in disarray, throwing all their plans out the window.

Now, they're desperately trying to buy a new star on the transfer market to replace Neymar and carry Barcelona forward for the next ten years.

But Barcelona's desperation is well known. With the 200 million euros from Neymar's release clause, Barcelona has become an easy target on the transfer market, with clubs overpricing players just because they know Barcelona can pay.

So, Lin Quan predicted that after their transfer ban is lifted this summer, Barcelona will quickly spend all their money and may even have to take out loans, falling into massive debt.

Hearing Lin Quan's analysis, Guardiola sighed.

Barcelona is facing two major problems: rebuilding and clearing out older players.

Rebuilding means spending money to buy players, and they have to buy the right ones.

Clearing out means slowly replacing older players with younger talent, giving them more opportunities and gradually moving the veterans out, freeing up wage space.

But this is no easy task. Barcelona was once the legendary team that won six trophies in one year, and many players from that golden era are still at the club.

These players are club legends, with seniority and immense respect. It's not easy for Barcelona to move them out unless they decide to leave on their own.

The hardest player to deal with is Messi.

At 29, Messi can still play at a high level for four or five more years if he stays healthy.

For Barcelona, Messi brings immense commercial value to the club. Without him, their income would drop significantly.

But for Barcelona's long-term future, they need to find someone who can eventually replace Messi. However, finding someone to fill Messi's shoes is nearly impossible.

Even if they find such a player, as long as Messi is still there, no one can truly take his place. These new players may be stars in their former teams, but at Barcelona, Messi will always be the center of attention, and they'll have to play second fiddle to him.

Getting Messi to step aside and support these younger players? Forget it. Even if Messi himself agreed, the fans and sponsors wouldn't.

Without becoming Barcelona's new core player, no one can truly replace Messi.

That's why even players like Antoine Griezmann, who seemed perfect for Barcelona, ended up struggling there.

This issue is hard to solve. Barcelona either needs to let Messi go or keep him until retirement, while lowering their ambitions for trophies and preserving their commercial value and reputation for honoring their legends.

But instead, Barcelona made the worst choice: betraying Messi at the last minute of the transfer window, leaving themselves with nothing but financial problems and a tarnished reputation.

What on earth were they thinking?

"Let's stop talking about them. Focus on your training for now, and we'll deal with everything else later. Whether you decide to stay or leave, I'll support you," said Guardiola, patting Lin Quan on the shoulder before heading upstairs to his study to work on tactics.

As the coach, Guardiola knew he should try to convince Lin Quan to stay, because no one understood how important Lin Quan was to City's tactical system better than he did.

But as a father, he had to think about his son's happiness.

If Lin Quan was thinking about leaving, it meant he wasn't happy at City.

So, Guardiola decided not to interfere, unless Lin Quan specifically asked for his opinion.

Lin Quan was touched. The biggest reason he hesitated to leave was Guardiola.

He worried that leaving would hurt Manchester City and affect Guardiola's future as a coach.

But Guardiola didn't seem to care about that at all. Instead, he fully supported whatever decision his son made.

With a sigh, Lin Quan picked up the new contract in front of him and began reviewing it again.

...

Although the contract situation was a concern, it didn't affect Lin Quan's form.

On the training ground and during matches, he was as consistent as ever.

In the 36th round of the Premier League, Manchester City defeated Southampton 4-2 away. Lin Quan, despite only playing the first half, was on fire, completing a hat-trick before halftime.

Fearing that Lin Quan's form might peak too early and affect his performance in the upcoming Champions League semifinal, Guardiola substituted him at halftime, allowing him to watch the rest of the game from the bench.

In the second half, Southampton launched a fierce comeback, with Sadio Mané scoring twice in the 54th and 67th minutes, narrowing the lead to just one goal.

At a critical moment, Kelechi Iheanacho scored a beautiful long-range shot in the 78th minute, helping City secure the win.

After that match, the entire Manchester City squad prepared to head to Madrid for their away leg against Atlético Madrid.

...

Madrid, the capital of Spain, is home to many football clubs.

But the most famous one, without a doubt, is Real Madrid!

As Atlético Madrid's city rivals, Real Madrid was more than happy to assist any team facing Atlético.

Moreover, Real Madrid had their own Champions League match against Bayern Munich, so Manchester City was invited to train at Real Madrid's facilities as they prepared for their clash with Atlético.

This type of exchange between elite clubs is not uncommon. If Real Madrid later faced Manchester United, for example, they might use City's training grounds.

When City arrived at Real Madrid's training complex, they received a warm welcome from the club.

Real Madrid's top officials eagerly led them on a tour of the facilities.

The Valdebebas Training Center is one of the highest-altitude training facilities in Europe. Despite its location, it is grand and luxurious.

At the entrance, there's a circular fountain surrounded by lush greenery, with the words "Real Madrid" spelled out in large letters.

Inside, there are 11 training fields, all with grass that meets international competition standards.

The fields are meticulously maintained, and even with frequent use by the first team and youth squads, the turf is flawless. According to Real Madrid staff, the grass was specially imported from the Netherlands!

When Lin Quan and the City squad arrived at the training ground, some players were still training, mostly younger players from the B-team or youth academy.

Upon seeing Lin Quan and his teammates, the young players were starstruck, quickly running over to ask for autographs from their idols.

As City's most famous player, Lin Quan was surrounded by eager fans.

"Lin, can I get your autograph?"

"I'd love to take a picture with you!"

"Can you sign my football?"

The excited young fans gathered around, and a nearby Real Madrid official tried to intervene to give Lin Quan some space.

Before the match, they had received strict instructions from Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez to treat Manchester City's players, especially Lin Quan, with the utmost hospitality.

After all, Real Madrid was one of the clubs seriously pursuing Lin Quan, and they weren't going to miss a chance to build some goodwill.

"No need to chase them away," Lin Quan said. He noticed there weren't too many fans, so he kindly took the time to sign autographs.

Afterward, he even borrowed some footballs from Real Madrid, signing them and handing them out to the staff as a token of appreciation.

This gesture won him the admiration of everyone present.

Real Madrid's facilities were impressive, and after touring the training grounds, City's squad was shown other areas, including the tactics room, relaxation areas, guest rooms, dining center, gym, spa, and medical center.

It was clear that Real Madrid's training base was just as complete and luxurious as Manchester City's, if not more. It was said that Real Madrid spent 120 million euros building the complex, a sum comparable to what City spent on their facilities.

After the tour, Guardiola advised his players to rest early and prepare for training the next day.

Although many of the main players didn't play the full match, Guardiola didn't want to rush into training given the high altitude in Madrid. Instead, he allowed the team to recover fully before starting training at 10 a.m. the next morning.

As City's training began, many curious young Real Madrid players gathered to watch, some of whom were even members of the club's women's team.

While women's football has developed quickly in recent years, its level of play and commercial value still lag far behind men's football. So, the pay in women's football remains significantly lower.

(End of Chapter)

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