Chapter 437: Chapter 436: The Emergence of a Future Crocodile Broker
The team physician of Sporting Lisbon immediately updated Ronaldinho’s latest medical report, "After over a month of rehabilitation training and matches, Ronaldinho’s condition is excellent!"
Deng Kai also updated his own social media status, which included a scene of him, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and Ronaldinho practicing free kicks together, "Their free kicks are all strong, but Ronaldinho’s is the strongest. Yet, no one can execute my leaning back free kick, including myself."
This was a video of the four of them attempting the leaning back free kicks, where everyone kept falling over repeatedly, but none managed to score, resulting in a hilarious scene.
The Guardian was defeated.
The Mirror took over and initiated the second round.
The Mirror, "Sporting Lisbon’s gentle trap? Explosive news that Sporting Lisbon has already reached a private agreement with Paris Saint-Germain to transfer Ronaldinho during the winter window!"
The Independent followed closely, "Ronaldinho’s agent, Eric Rovai, confirms: Ronaldinho will become the only core player of Paris Saint-Germain, and he will never be relegated to the reserve team."
These pieces of news were not without foundation.
The two major media even found the sports director’s secretary of Paris Saint-Germain and Eric Rovai himself to personally confirm the authenticity of the information.
Both parties acknowledged its existence, almost spilling the beans.
In this game, Fleet Street could hardly lose.
Just when the English media were jubilant and sent out their paparazzi squads to closely monitor Ronaldinho, preparing to capture images of Ronaldinho and the team, coach, and Deng Kai turning against each other... they really struck gold!
They captured Ronaldinho in a coffee shop, talking business with a mysterious young man.
The journalists from The Mirror and The Independent believed that the young man was Paris Saint-Germain’s secret scout, there to discuss terms with Ronaldinho.
Because neither of the media outlets could find the man within Paris Saint-Germain’s scouting system, and even internet searches yielded no relevant information.
So mysterious, they couldn’t imagine who else it could be.
At least it definitely wasn’t someone from the side of Sporting Lisbon.
So they rushed to release the news.
The Mirror, "Ronaldinho in contact with a member of the Paris Saint-Germain players’ department, transfer is a done deal! He holds a grudge over the demotion incident at Sporting Lisbon!"
The Independent, "What promise has Paris Saint-Germain made? Why is Ronaldinho so happy?"
Eric Rovai was quite happy when he saw this news, thinking that Ronaldinho had finally seen reason.
That’s the way it should be.
Why struggle with money in life?
With Ronaldinho’s transfer, his salary would rise, along with a signing bonus.
Eric Rovai would be able to collect double commissions from Paris Saint-Germain and Ronaldinho.
Delicious!
But the next piece of news immediately popped up.
Football Emperor, "Ronaldinho ends his contract with agent Eric Rovai, and hires Hugo Aveiro as his new agent!"
Who is Hugo Aveiro? Don’t know until you look it up, and you get a shock. Information on this name that spread across Europe three years ago has been erased!
"Hugo Aveiro, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Big Brother! An Independent Sports Agent in Portugal!"
"Don’t underestimate Hugo Aveiro. The players currently signed with him include Barzagli, Drogba, Wu Xudong, Chen Tao, Yu Shihao, Shao Jiawei, Hao Junmin, Feng Te, Pepe, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, and Deng Kai!"
"A Future Agent Mogul! The most famous incident in Hugo’s agent career was when he gave Feng Te’s contract to Jorge Mendes in exchange for the latter’s agreement to stop pursuing Ronaldo’s contract!"
"Jorge Mendes: Hugo is an excellent agent. The trade I regret the most is agreeing not to hold onto illusions about Ronaldo. As it turns out, the European Golden Shoe was well worth all the effort I should have made to sign him!"
"The total estimated market value of the players under Hugo Aveiro exceeds one hundred million Euros! He’s the most rapidly rising talent agent of the past two years!"
Hugo Aveiro emerged on the scene out of nowhere.
The Portugal gaming group used their influence to smooth over the events of that year.
Even the European gaming groups, adhering to the principle that this industry shouldn’t make too much noise, proceeded to delete related news in their region.
So, apart from a very small number of local fans who have been following Deng Kai and Ronaldo since the beginning, few people knew they had been involved in a "match-fixing and betting" storm.
Through reports from "Understanding the Game," everyone knew that three years ago, Hugo was nothing more than an unsuccessful jobless vagrant, who even pinned his hopes on gambling.
After being discovered by his younger brother Ronaldo and Ronaldo’s good friend Deng Kai, Hugo turned over a new leaf, diligently studied agent-related books, and last year successfully obtained his agent’s license.
During a media interview, Hugo said, "To get to where I am now, I must thank Deng Kai. When I was deeply in debt, he took out all his savings as a junior player to help me pay off the debts."
"From that moment on, I knew my brother had found a reliable friend."
"Deng Kai has a great influence on the players I sign, and I trust his judgment. Of course, I will also do my utmost to provide the best service for the players signed with me."
"Because my younger brother is one of the players I’ve signed, I will treat everyone just as I treat Ronaldo."
Hugo’s interview attracted many young players and made many fans aware of this figure.
But "Understanding the Game" certainly wouldn’t expose that the major shareholder behind Aveiro’s agency is actually Deng Kai.
Moreover, Deng Kai used Jiang Yunzhu as a front to hold shares on his behalf to avoid being discovered as a direct holder of the player economic company, which is also not permitted by UEFA and FIFA.
But many people are doing quite a lot of things that are against the rules.
For example, FC Porto and Jorge Mendes appear to be two independent entities, but in fact, Mendes is someone Porto intentionally supported to weaken the influence of Figo’s agent, Vega.
And the famous Italian agent Raiola also has many unclear relationships with the Italian giants Juventus.
If teams can do it, why can’t players?
Moreover, if UEFA and FIFA can do it, why can’t teams and players?
There’s only one reason they don’t want you to do it: after you join in, others earn less.
Eric Rovai, belatedly realizing that he had been fired by Ronaldinho, declared in front of the media that he would sue Ronaldinho for over five million Euros in various damages and so on!
But the Sporting Lisbon officially took the initiative and really sued Eric Rovai in court.
Because through Hugo’s intermediary, Sporting Lisbon found out that a significant portion of the signing fee they had given to Ronaldinho had been embezzled for private gain by Eric Rovai.
Furthermore, there were terms in the contract that Ronaldinho did not benefit from at all, but rather Eric Rovai and his family did.
