Chapter 515: Chapter 514: The King of Alvalade Worth One Hundred Thousand Euros
Manchester Evening News: "Jia De’er believes he can coexist with Ronaldo and expresses interest in the Premier League!"
As the saying goes, winning first doesn’t mean victory, losing first doesn’t spell defeat.
Porto was dominated by Sporting Lisbon throughout the year and faced tremendous pressure.
In European competitions, Sporting Lisbon’s performance was even better.
But now, everything has turned around.
If Sporting Lisbon loses in the Champions League final, people won’t consider their season a success.
At least, people won’t feel that Porto was completely overshadowed by Sporting Lisbon this year.
The weight of the UEFA Cup champion is even greater than that of Portugal’s domestic double champions.
The pressure is on Sporting Lisbon.
Following that, news related to the Champions League final began to flood the media.
"Hampden Park in Scotland completes temporary expansion, now capable of accommodating eighty thousand fans for the match!"
Hampden Park is the home ground of the Scottish national team and the amateur Queen’s Park football club.
Its maximum capacity is fifty thousand people.
But the draw of this year’s Champions League final was too strong.
Real Madrid, led by the three Golden Ball winners, Zidane, Figo, and Raul.
Sporting Lisbon, the European minor quintuple champions, aiming for the true treble, staging an ultimate showdown between underdogs and giants!
Fifty thousand tickets—whom are they sufficient for?
Therefore, a temporary expansion of the stadium was initiated.
However, one piece of news quickly went viral.
It was released by the Real Madrid aligned media, Marca.
Marca: "Shock! Deng Kai refuses to renew his contract, technically still a free agent! Other teams may take The King of Alvalade away from Sporting Lisbon for a mere 100,000 euros compensation!"
?
??
???
All of Europe is shaken!
Although Marca’s move was to avenge Real Madrid for Sporting Lisbon’s previous disruption of their team’s morale.
But... this news was indeed too shocking!
You should know, even Ronaldo renewed his formal contract with the club at the beginning of the year.
Deng Kai didn’t renew?
This... is really quite absurd.
One hundred thousand euros?
Deng Kai?
Manchester Evening News: "Ferguson is willing to offer Deng Kai a top salary to invite him to join!"
Sky Sports: "Both Arsenal and Liverpool hope to get Deng Kai, and he can name his terms!"
Echo Report: "Leverkusen’s chance to keep Ballack and Ze Roberto has arisen; buying Deng Kai, they would form the strongest midfield in all Europe!"
Bild: "Bayern is willing to offer Deng Kai a top salary and guarantees a starting position!"
Kicker: "Dortmund plans to present Deng Kai with a contract that exceeds the current Bundesliga top salary by thirty percent!"
Republic Newspaper: "Lippi has personally stated he hopes Deng Kai will join Juventus, a player like Deng Kai should be playing in Serie A!"
Torino Sport Newspaper: "After joining Juventus, Deng Kai can receive the same treatment as Nedved!"
Il Romanista: "If Deng Kai joins Roma, Batistuta and Totti are one hundred percent certain not to leave."
Milan Sport Newspaper: "Moratti is willing to offer Deng Kai the top Serie A salary! AC Milan guarantees Deng Kai’s position as the midfield core, and to show sincerity, they are even willing to sell Pirlo ahead of time!"
Crazy!
The fans of Sporting Lisbon have gone mad.
Provoked by "someone with an agenda," fans gathered outside the club, demanding an explanation from the team.
Because Deng Kai, incredibly, only had an "apprentice contract," and could truly be taken away for just a hundred thousand.
Look at those clubs willing to welcome Deng Kai, their faces are so ugly.
Before this news broke, aside from Manchester United fans welcoming Deng Kai, most other clubs were skeptical of him.
Although Deng Kai’s stats were explosive across Europe.
But could he really adapt to the physicality and pace of the top five leagues?
That’s still a question.
Especially when super midfielders like Mendieta and Veron subsequently flopped, the ’genius midfielder’ label was already being discounted.
But... Deng Kai at forty or fifty million euros was overrated and not as appealing.
Deng Kai for a hundred thousand euros, on the other hand, was a freaking steal, mature and just perfect!
Suddenly, fans weren’t even that focused on the Champions League final anymore.
After all, the odds of Sporting Lisbon winning were not great.
But with Deng Kai, if not this year, then next year.
If not next year, then the year after.
The fans were even willing to wait for Deng Kai for ten, fifteen years!
Hope is more important than anything else.
But...
German football titan Beckenbauer was invited to comment on the incident: "The player management department of Sporting Lisbon is just too terrible. For such an important player, they failed to secure him in advance."
"I’ve repeatedly stressed to Bayern that player contracts and salaries need to be strictly controlled, that’s the core fighting power of a team!"
"Look at Sporting Lisbon at this moment; if they had a 30% chance of beating Real Madrid before, now it has dropped to less than 10%!"
"Maxa tried to attack Real Madrid with an off-field tactic, resulting in Real Madrid’s counterattack. Off-field tactics may work for Real Madrid with their strong risk resilience, but not for smaller teams."
"That’s why small teams should not easily provoke powerhouses. There’s a reason why the powerhouses are what they are, and it’s not just the energy that people see."
"Deng Kai is a player that’s very adept at leveraging media attention, and his crisis PR has always been excellent. But this time, he’s encountered a huge problem."
"If he wants to maintain his free agent status, his team will suffer a devastating blow."
"If he wants to boost morale, he must sell himself to Sporting Lisbon."
"But even if he chooses the latter, the chaos caused by Real Madrid is already irreversible."
"After all, knowing that Deng Kai might leave is one thing, but learning he could go for just a hundred thousand is another. The fans of Sporting Lisbon will find the latter hard to accept."
"The King of Alvalade may also face being spat on by fans."
"No human can block out this kind of interference."
At this moment, the whole world was watching the social media of Sporting Lisbon and Deng Kai.
"Understanding Football" was also a focal point of attention.
Sure enough, "Understanding Football" released some news.
"Understanding Football": "Real Madrid hopes to buy Deng Kai and build a younger Galacticos around him. Among the current Real Madrid players, only Casillas and Raul can stay because they are young enough!"
"But if they want Deng Kai to join, Real Madrid must also win Ronaldo, because both their agents are Ronaldo’s brother, Hugo."
"Maybe, Real Madrid should bag Ronaldinho, Kaka, Drogba, and a series of players. The Chinese value loyalty, and it’s not impossible for Deng Kai to make such a request of Real Madrid."
You’re saying my player should split up, right?
You let the whole world covet my player and disturb my team’s morale, right?
Alright then, you come in too.
