Chapter 7 Invitation
Sandro Russell!
After the other party reported his family name, Degan couldn't help frowning. He was no stranger to this name.
Once a close friend of Barcelona chairman Laporta, before the start of the World Cup, the winner of the just-concluded Barcelona club election.
"Isn't it a surprise that I called you!" Roselle on the other side of the phone looked relaxed, "What should I call you? Mr. Wright? Or Rhodes!?"
Although Digan knew Russell's name, the two had never met before. The other party seemed so familiar, which made him a little uncomfortable: "Mr. Russell! I just want to know, how do you know me?" private number?"
Roselle could hear Degan's rejection of him, and said with a smile, "I'm sorry! In order to achieve certain goals, I had to use some special means. I think this is completely understandable! Right? Mr. Wright!"
Digan was noncommittal, and said, "Okay! Mr. Russell, I really understand it!"
Digan was very disgusted with some methods of these businessmen, but there was nothing he could do about it. In fact, during this time, not only Roselle, but also some people had called him and obtained his private number. It's also dark, who made him the most attractive piece of meat in the summer transfer market.
After the recent Barcelona presidential election, Camp Nou ushered in its new owner, Sandro Russell who is currently on the phone with Digan!
In fact, five years ago, Russell had the opportunity to take over Barcelona. When the Laporta Dynasty was about to be established, the opposition who were hiding in the shadow of the empire had resorted to killing moves, and they did not hesitate to use sacrifices. Barcelona's pre-season preparation period used legal means to force Laporta to resign.
The opposition's first step was indeed successful. Laporta announced his resignation under pressure, but after that Laporta announced that he would restart the competition for the Barcelona chairmanship with his opponents in a fair way.
It may not be the best time to run for the chairmanship with Laporta when he was in full swing, but it may be the only chance for the opposition.
The leader of the opposition is the former vice chairman of the Barcelona club and Laporta's close comrade-in-arms Sandro Russell.
Although Russell was not the initiator of this forced palace, at that time, whether it was Maho, Mingoria or Medina, these possible candidates were absolutely impossible to shake Laporta's position. Russell, who still has a lot of prestige among the fans, is Laporta's real opponent.
Russell was a senior official of the Nike Group, and after Laporta replaced Gaspart, he made a huge contribution to Barcelona's re-emergence.
What people talk about the most is that Russell used his mediation ability and strong relationship network to snatch Ronaldinho from Manchester United to Barcelona, which was still in a trough at the time.
However, Rosell, who later served as the club's vice-chairman, gradually diverged from the management ideas of the chairman, Laporta, and the conflict between the two gradually deepened, even reaching the point where they swore to be at odds.
The vice-chairman of the club, who was finally emptied, chose to resign after Barcelona won the La Liga championship that year. This aroused strong dissatisfaction among Barcelona fans at the time. Get out!" slogan.
Russell also published a book called "The Real World" after his resignation, disclosing part of the inside story of the Barcelona club, and even pointed out that Cruyff has been listening to politics behind the curtain in Laporta's Barcelona.
This intensifies the conflict between Russell and Laporta. As long as Laporta is still the chairman of Barcelona, Russell will have no chance to return to the management.
It's just that the forced palace five years ago was finally resolved easily by Laporta. At that time, people thought that Russell would probably be insulated from football from now on. No one thought that five years later, Russell It's back again.
Just the day before the start of the World Cup, Barcelona announced on the club's official website that all voting for the new chairman election had ended. Rosell, who had previously served as the vice-chairman of Barcelona, won about 61.35% of the votes. He had an absolute advantage Elected as the new president of the Barcelona club.
A total of 57,088 members of FC Barcelona voted, and Roselle finally won the support of 35,021 members, which accounted for 61.35% of all voters. He was elected as the new chairman of FC Barcelona without any suspense. Chairman Laporta's designated successor, Ferrer, ended in a "disastrous defeat". He only won 10.08% of the votes. Russell also became the person with the most votes in the chairman election in Barcelona's history. Laporta was elected in 2003 When Barcelona was president, it only got 27,138 votes.
The slogan of Rosell's campaign for Barcelona's chairmanship this time is: "Unite and shout for Barcelona".
During the campaign, Rosell has repeatedly stated that he will work hard to achieve the great integration of the club and realize "an inclusive Barcelona". balanced budget".
In the field of competition, Rosell said that he will continue the La Masia model and hopes that La Masia can train more talents for the future of Barcelona.
For Roselle, it is not that simple to secure the position of Barcelona chairman. This chairman needs to start from scratch, and needs to make achievements as soon as possible to please the voters who support him.
After taking office, the first thing Russell did was to remove all traces left by his predecessor Laporta, and the first person he had to deal with was Cruyff.
Although Cruyff does not hold any position in Barcelona, his words and deeds still have a great influence on Barcelona. At the beginning, Russell once bombarded Cruyff listening to politics behind the scenes in Barcelona. Laporta is just a Dutchman. puppet.
Russell is obviously not a follower of Cruyff, but for his own benefit, he still hopes to be recognized by Cruyff. After taking office, Russell deprived Cruyff of the post of honorary chairman of the club, but , he still hopes to reconcile with Cruyff, but the last meeting between the two was not happy.
Earlier, Russell and Cruyff met at the latter's home, and it was Russell who took the first step of reconciliation. He called Cruyff and persuaded the latter to accept a meeting to clarify the mutual relationship between the two parties. series of misunderstandings.
Cruyff agreed to meet, but he was unwilling to go to the place designated by Russell, but to talk to Russell at his own home. Some members of the Barcelona even board of directors hope that Russell and Cruyff will be in the club. When they met, they said to Russell: "You are the chairman of the club, you should decide the location."
Russell tried hard, but failed to change Cruyff's view, he could only go to the latter's home.
There were moments when the talks were tense, but before the two big men got to the point of tugging at clothes, Cruyff relentlessly rebuked Russell for stripping him of his club president emeritus.
The "Godfather" of the Netherlands was obviously very hurt. He told Russell his feelings. Russell explained the reason, saying that it was not that he did not support Cruyff as honorary chairman, but that such an appointment It should be decided by a vote of the General Assembly.
Cruyff believes that this statement is unacceptable: "I have never heard that Beckenbauer and Charlton's honorary chairman of the club should also be decided by the members."
Cruyff had previously stated that he would not consider serving as the honorary chairman of Barcelona again, and also believed that whether he could be the honorary chairman should not be decided by the members.
But in this conversation with Russell, Cruyff did not confirm that he would no longer be the honorary chairman of the club. It can be said that this meeting did not solve any problems. Paul also did not show obedience. Cruyff's honorary chairman was appointed by the former chairman Laporta, and Russell had different opinions on Laporta's move at the time.
But no matter what, through this meeting, the two sides have signed a non-aggression agreement. Russell knows what Cruyff means to Barcelona, and he hopes that the two sides can "truce". Of course, this is just a gesture That's all.
Now that the posture is out, the next thing to do is how to stabilize his position.
It is not easy to completely remove the traces left by Laporta. Head coach Pep Guardiola and the main framework of Barcelona were all signed and built during Laporta's tenure. The imprint of the tower demolished Barcelona.
However, a new chairman still needs to leave his mark on the club and have someone who truly belongs to him. The management has almost been replaced by Russell, and the next step is the team.
The head coach Guardiola cannot be changed. Although Guardiola has still not been able to bring Barcelona the Champions League trophy these years, the results are still good, and changing the head coach will easily cause turmoil in the team, so not only cannot Russell also took the initiative to express that he hoped to renew his contract with Guardiola, and to renew the contract for six years at once, which happened to be within his tenure.
Then we can only start with the team. As the best player in world football today, the captain of Belgium, the South African World Cup champion team, and the winner of the previous three Champions League champions, Degan is obviously the most suitable candidate.
So Russell is here!
There was no hypocritical politeness, Russell went straight to the point: "Mr. Wright! I think you have already guessed the purpose of my call. What do you think about joining Barcelona?"
Degan was not surprised when Russell said it so bluntly, and he didn't mean to be disgusted. He liked this straightforward way of speaking. In fact, Degan had already included Barcelona in the list before Russell called. The ranks of the alternative club.
But in the same way, Degan also has concerns in his heart. The key is his status in Barcelona. Barcelona already has Messi, and he is from the authentic La Masia youth training camp. Barcelona people value the blood of players very much. Earlier there was Guardiola, and now Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Busquets, Pedro and others are all from La Masia, and they are also doing their best for the lost La Masia players recovery, such as Pique, and Cesc Fabregas who has just completed the transfer.
Degan is a complete outsider to Barcelona, and in this world, without him, Barcelona can now win at least two Champions League trophies. Speaking of which, Degan is still Barcelona's enemy.
The other is tactical issues. Although Fiorentina and the Belgian national team have also played pass-and-control tactics, they are not as thorough as Barcelona. Can Digan fully integrate into it.
These are all problems!
However, the chairman of Barcelona, Roselle, came forward to invite him personally, and the sincerity of the other party had already been shown, and Digan couldn't refuse people thousands of miles away.
"Mr. Russell! I want to know, can I survive in Barcelona!?"
Russell was taken aback, then smiled and said: "What? Could Mr. Wright, who is number one in the world, still worry about such things? I have always believed that outstanding people can break out of their own world in any place, Wright Sir! I can say that, you are the best player in the world!"
Digan smiled: "Is it better than your Messi?"
Degan is very clear about Messi's position in Barcelona. In order to make way for Messi, Ronaldinho will still leave. Henry and Eto'o will make room for him. Zlatan Ibrahimovic Odd that madman is also heading towards Milan now, why?
All for Messi!
Degan will not be so arrogant that he thinks he can compete with his own family in Barcelona. This is not just a matter of ability, but also involves other feelings including fans. After all, Messi is a member of La Masia's youth training camp. , What is Degan, an outsider who has hurt Barcelona, an enemy.
"I want to know, if I go to Barcelona, how the club will position me! Messi's assistant? A pure striker?"
Russell had thought about this question before calling Degan: "Of course you will not be someone's assistant. In Barcelona, you and Messi will have the same status. In the future, we will Choose a core between you and Messi, I think Mr. Wright will not be afraid of such a challenge!?"
Challenge Messi's position in Barcelona and replace Messi as the core of Barcelona?
This made Degan very interested. Although Degan is not the kind of person who takes pleasure in trampling others, after winning the World Cup, few people compare him with Messi, Golden Mauro and Kaka. , but after all, in the current world football, there are only a few people who can be compared with Digan, and they compete against Kaka and Golden Mauro on the court, and suppress Messi in the team. This is a very interesting thing.
"Mr. Wright! I don't know what you are thinking about?"
Degan smiled: "If I want to go to Spain, it will be a very interesting experience! Mr. Russell! You can contact my agent now!"
Regarding the contract, Degan still has to leave it to professionals. Those things are not what he is good at. He believes that Zahavi will not let him suffer.
After finishing the call with Roselle, Degan lay on the bed, feeling a little strange, his future was decided after a phone call, and he seemed a bit hasty.
Digan then called Pu Zhiyan again. I still need to talk to Pu Zhiyan about this kind of matter.
"Hello! pp!" Listening to the voice, Park Ji-yeon seemed to have fallen asleep. Korean stars like them are really tired. They have endless work all day long, and the average sleep time is no more than four hours. One day, Digan went to the TV station to shoot a program with him at night, but in the car, all the girls fell asleep.
"Jiyeon! I have something to tell you. I have decided to join Barcelona. Next season, I will live in Spain!?"
When Pu Zhiyan heard this, she suddenly regained her spirits: "Spain!? Bullfighting!"
Degan was stunned, it seems that the most famous one in Spain seems to be that one, as well as the flamenco dance, the others~~~~~ are really gone!
"pp! If you go to Spain, I'll go to you, will I be able to see a bullfight!?"
Digan really didn't expect that the girl was most concerned about this: "Of course, if you want to go, of course you can!"
"Okay! Okay! Let me think about it. After a while, I must go to Spain!" Park Zhiyan had already started to think about it.
Digan felt that his phone call was really superfluous. Discussing things with that little confused person who had no opinion was completely self-inflicted.
"Jiyeon! I mean, I have already decided to join Barcelona, so! I will leave Korea soon and go to Barcelona for a medical examination!"
Pu Zhiyan exclaimed, with reluctance in her tone: "pp! Didn't you say you can stay for a while?"
Digan laughed and said, "There's nothing we can do about it! I'm going to take a physical examination, and the pre-season training will start soon!"
Pu Zhiyan's tone couldn't help but seem a little disappointed: "Okay then! But, pp! When the winter break comes, I must come to Korea to see it."
Although Park Ji-yeon just said that she was going to Spain, in fact, as a member of a girl group, she has very little free space and free time. The competition in the entertainment industry is so fierce. will be forgotten.
Digan quickly responded: "Okay! I will definitely come over during the winter break, Zhiyan! Tomorrow, I won't go to shoot with you, and I will call you the day after tomorrow!"
After talking with Park Zhiyan for a while, Digan heard a knock on the door, hung up the phone, and found his manager Zahavi standing at the door through the peephole.