Chapter 384: Chapter 383: Barcelona’s Struggle in the Transfer Market
The summer of 2001 was destined to be forever etched in the memories of all football fans.
That summer, a staggering deal was completed, officially announcing the shift of the football world’s center from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
Serie A was still the world’s top league, but it was no longer the only place top players aspired to be.
From that year on, all of the top players who made their names in Serie A, without exception, moved on to La Liga and the Premier League, and Serie A eventually became a brief stepping stone and star-making factory under the feet of these superstar players.
On July 9, 2001, Real Madrid announced the world-record transfer fee of €77.5 million to welcome the signing of Zidane.
In this period, Europe’s top two midfielders, Figo and Zidane, were united at Real Madrid.
The superstar policy of Real Madrid was confirmed, and the embryo of the Galacticos was taking shape.
This transfer news instantly exploded across the entire football world.
Major media outlets heralded the arrival of the wolf.
However, under the brilliance of Zidane, few noticed that Real Madrid had promoted a young player, Pavon, from their youth academy to the first team.
Real Madrid president Florentino earned the support of the fans with his "superstar policy," announcing that he would bring in one superstar every year.
But he also knew the downside of this approach.
A team cannot possibly be made up of stars alone.
The luxury in the midfield and forwards had to be supported by the "commoners" in the back.
If Pavon could make a name for himself, the superstar policy would be perfected into a "Zidane + Pavon" policy.
By then, Real Madrid would enter its golden age, and it wouldn’t be an overstatement to call it the foundation of a century-old establishment.
Real Madrid had already become the best in the world, and its arch-rival Barcelona could no longer hold back the anger of their fans without taking action.
Especially after Barcelona had just endured a season with no titles at all.
...
"Barcelona sets Simon’s price at €15 million, but everyone knows it’s a deal that simply won’t happen!"
"Simon openly states he doesn’t want to play for Barcelona. On vacation in Madeira Island, he declares he will never step into the Barcelona region again!"
Sky Sports: "Simon’s agent reveals his next move may be to the Premier League, with the player personally preferring to join Manchester United!"
Diario Sport: "What is Barcelona waiting for? Selling Simon at a low price is indeed a loss, but without quick reinforcements, do they want another trophy-less season?"
World Sports Daily: "A club that pinches pennies will not achieve great things. Real Madrid breaks the world’s highest transfer record, and yet we hesitate over a few million in differences!"
The media and fans criticized Barcelona’s attitude.
In response, Barcelona’s officials said with indignation, "Barcelona is negotiating transfers with several important targets. This will be a season of substantial investment; we’re taking it slow because we don’t want to make mistakes."
"We also have excellent youth players, there’s no need to buy someone else’s youngsters. The quality of La Masia is world-class!"
After making their statement, Barcelona directly promoted several youngsters from their youth team to the first team in a coordinated move.
There were players like the 18-year-old talented midfielder Thiago Motta, 20-year-old Barcelona’s future star Mikel Arteta, and 22-year-old Barcelona’s youth winger Luis Garcia, among others.
However, the fans weren’t buying it.
"Not all players are worthy to be compared to Quaresma!"
"Motta may have a future, but Garcia and Arteta are unlikely to become world-class stars!"
"I have high hopes for Motta, but as for Arteta... Iniesta from the youth team has far greater potential than him!"
"Arteta only made it to the first team purely because Guardiola favored him, but Guardiola hasn’t renewed his contract with the team, and I think he might be leaving!"
"Jealous of Sporting Lisbon continuously producing wingers like Figo, Simon, Quaresma, and Ronaldo, so they promoted their own Luis Garcia. I’m not against nurturing our own, but they have to be the right material."
"If the team can’t buy excellent wingers like Quaresma, I won’t buy next season’s Barça season ticket, because I see no reason to watch a series of certain losses!"
"This group of sports department staff is simply wasting Rivaldo’s prime years with their shit performance!"
Barça’s handling was clearly botched, and the fan reaction far exceeded their expectations.
If things continue this way, it’s very likely that there will be changes in the management.
In order to prevent any surprises from happening, Barça could only quickly respond.
They decisively loaned out Luis Garcia and Arteta, only keeping Motta to let fans know they wouldn’t accept anything subpar.
However, Quaresma’s arrival was delayed because Sporting Lisbon... raised their price!
Last summer, Barça bid seven million euros.
But Sporting Lisbon’s psychological price was ten million euros.
This summer, Barça bid twenty million euros.
Sporting Lisbon outright stated that he was not for sale.
Barça subsequently raised their offer to twenty-two million euros.
Then, Sporting Lisbon showed Barça the bids from Premier League and Serie A teams, and Barça was instantly silenced.
Arsenal and Manchester United offered the same price.
Lazio and Roma came in with twenty-five million euros.
These teams have more clout than Barça and were offering more, so Quaresma and Sporting Lisbon would be crazy to choose Barça.
As negotiations reached a stalemate, Barça planned to pressure Sporting Lisbon in other ways.
If you won’t sell me the winger, I’ll look for other wingers.
So Barça subsequently announced their other signings for the season.
"Seventeen million euros, French defender Philippe Christanval joins Barça! He will be the final piece of the puzzle for Barça’s defense!"
"The 1.9-meter-tall defender Christanval is a type of center-back Barça has not had in recent years!"
"Christanval doesn’t fully fit at Barça, but the biggest reason they bought him is Deng Kai!"
"Europa League’s historic best player Deng Kai shocked Barça! A hat-trick from headers forced Barça to spend nearly twenty million euros more to strengthen their air defense!"
"Monaco made a good deal, Christanval’s value is not truly worth seventeen million euros!"
Indeed, to solve the height issue at the back, Barça took a bit of a loss and brought in a tall center-back.
They had high hopes for this player, but sometimes the things that don’t suit you really shouldn’t be bought, because it’s better not to buy them at all.
This center-back taught Barcelona a lesson with nightmare-level mistakes in the following season.
"The Brazilian connection triumphs again! Barcelona takes the genius attacking midfielder Giovane from Cruzeiro for twenty million euros!"
"Quarema’s substitute? Giovane started as a winger, capable of organizing the play and dribbling breakthroughs on the flank!"
"Barça giving up on Quaresma? Sporting Lisbon self-inflated their price and botched it?"
"Absolutely not buying it! Barça fans holding Quaresma jerseys gather at the club to protest!"
