Chapter 387: Chapter 386: The Last Madness of Serie A
"Our Sporting Lisbon is indeed a factory for football stars, often labeled as a ’shady store’ by many, but we absolutely do not cheat the players who serve our team!"
"We provide the best platform for players to showcase their skills and give them enough respect, with only one goal in mind, which is to receive equal respect from the players when it’s time to sell them."
"No club wants their players to be secretly poached by Barça, and of course, no club wants their players to be poached in the same secretive manner as Barça does."
Deng Kai went full force, mercilessly.
Reina shed tears watching this piece of news.
Master Kai!
Swiss master!
This news item could be called the Bible for young players, shared with their own children by countless parents.
Look, this is what a conscientious club looks like!
At that moment, many parents were willing to send their promising children to Sporting Lisbon’s youth academy.
Similarly, some young non-European players looking for transfers or opportunities to play in Europe added Sporting Lisbon to their list of choices.
By now, although the summer had only just begun, Barça’s transfer operations were nearing an end, and they were apparently quite unsuccessful.
At the very least, their reputation had gotten even worse.
Even Barça’s own youth players were worried that the team might shortchange them on their salaries in the future.
In La Liga’s major transfers, besides Real Madrid and Barça, only Valencia, which had been the runner-up in the Champions League for two consecutive years, remained.
First, their head coach Cooper received a call from Moratti the night of the Champions League final defeat.
They had been in touch a long time ago.
Soon after, Inter Milan announced with great fanfare the arrival of the famous coach Cooper.
This to some extent stabilized the morale of Inter Milan.
Additionally, after last season’s poaching, there weren’t many valuable players left at Valencia to be taken.
Some players had strong abilities but were no longer of investment value due to their age.
Except for their midfield linchpin Gaizka Mendieta!
"Valencia suffers another massive blow! Gaizka Mendieta’s transfer is a done deal!"
"Forty-eight million euros! Mendieta’s transfer to Lazio sets a record for Spanish player fees!"
"Claudio the Little Bug welcomes an old friend’s assistance, can he find his form on the front line once again?"
"Strong reinforcement for Lazio! Valencia’s king Mendieta joins, Lazio aims for the Serie A championship this season!"
"Europe’s best midfielder Mendieta joining Lazio is no obstacle to them reaching the top! Lazio to have a dream season!"
Suddenly, Lazio was almighty.
Valencia, however, was viewed with pessimism, especially after they announced the young Rafael Benitez as their new coach.
The forty-year-old Benitez was absolutely one of the younger coaches in the industry at that time.
However, Lazio’s good fortunes didn’t last long.
On one hand, their team’s South American Footballer of the Year, Argentinian striker Marcelo Salas, had originally agreed to move to Valencia, and Lazio was able to get Salas’s teammate at Valencia, Kily Gonzalez, a very capable left winger.
However, at the critical moment, Salas went back on his word and refused to become a bat (nickname for Valencia’s players).
This caused Lazio to only be able to send him to Juventus.
million euros, the transfer fee for this Argentinian ace forward, who’s on a par with Sammorano from Internazionale Milan, is not low.
In order to fill the vacancy in this position, Lazio then swiftly took center forward Kovacevic from Juventus for 15 million euros.
But their dealings with Juventus were far from over.
Similarly, that summer, affected by economic factors, Serie A was no longer home to the Seven Sisters of Italian football.
Lazio did welcome Mendieta.
But likewise, they quickly and effortlessly lost Nedved.
Unable to keep Zidane, Juventus, wielding checks wildly, poached heavily within Serie A and ushered in an era of oligarchy from the era of Seven Sisters.
"Czech Footballer of the Year transfers to Juventus to become Zidane’s successor!"
"45 million euros! Iron man Nedved joins Juventus, opening a new Chapter!"
"53 million euros! The second blockbuster transfer of the summer made by Juventus! Parma’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon joins Juventus!"
"Juventus’s cornerstones for dominating Serie A are all in place! Serie A’s best goalkeeper Buffon is confident in helping Juventus strive for the Champions League Cup!"
"Parma loses two central defensive cores in one go! Lilian Thuram transferred to Juventus for 36.15 million euros!"
"Spending a fortune! Juventus’s summer transfer expenditure might exceed 180 million euros!"
Of course, where there’s an influx, there’s also an outflow.
Aside from Zidane, Juventus also sold other players, including Inzaghi.
"Super Pippo transfers to AC Milan for 36.15 million euros, exactly the same fee as Lilian Thuram!"
"With Buffon in place, Van der Sar loses his spot and transfers to Fulham for 10.3 million euros!"
"Juventus sets sights on the Champions League. Selling Zidane, their first transfer of the summer, brought in 150 million and with an expenditure of 180 million, their net spending of 30 million euros shows sincere intentions!"
Among the Seven Sisters of Serie A, apart from Juventus and Lazio, Roma who had a complete squad also made significant moves that summer.
They sold Japanese player Hidetoshi Nakata to Parma for 28.4 million euros and then brought in Italian prodigy forward Antonio Cassano from Barry for 31 million euros.
Countless Roma fans view Cassano as the future of Roma, believing he possesses the abilities of both Totti and Batistuta, the two superstars, and is the next emperor of the Roman Empire.
Parma, having sold both Buffon and Thuram, went even further with selling center forward Amoruso to Dortmund for 25.5 million euros and Portuguese Golden Generation player Sergio Conceicao to Internazionale Milan for 18 million euros.
Afterwards, they only bought Hidetoshi Nakata.
Clearly, Parma was the first to be dropped from the new generation of the Seven Sisters of Serie A.
On the other side, Fiorentina, already having lost Batistuta due to a financial crisis before, was once again forced to sell their key player due to financial reasons.
26.5 million euros, goalkeeper Francesco Toldo joins Internazionale Milan.
41.32 million euros, Portuguese number ten Rui Costa joins AC Milan!
Fiorentina exits the Seven Sisters of Serie A.
After a season with no silverware, AC Milan aggressively made moves and swapped multiple players with Internazionale Milan.
This included getting Andrea Pirlo, a seemingly underperforming talent at Internazionale Milan, with a deal involving Buonocore plus 17 million euros.
AC Milan’s outlay in this window amounted to 140 million, minus the revenue of over 30 million, net expenditure totaled at 110 million euros, demonstrating their resolute stance to challenge for the Serie A championship and Champions League.
Inter’s total expenditure was 110 million euros, income was 50 million euros, with net expenditure close to 60 million euros.
Serie A is still in a frenzy.
But compared to last year, the net spending in the Serie A transfer window has significantly decreased.
