Chapter 541: Chapter 540 Decision Two, I’ll Take My Talent to Manchester (Rush for Rankings)
"This..." Ferguson calmed down and did some more calculations.
He found that, even with such an extravagant salary, as long as Deng Kai didn’t completely flop, Manchester United would not lose out.
Furthermore, Ferguson realized that Deng Kai did not want a five-year long contract; he wanted a three-year break clause.
This meant that even if Deng Kai flopped, Manchester United would not be stuck paying him a high salary for nothing; they could cut their losses directly.
All things considered, it still seemed like a good deal.
After much thought, Ferguson finally agreed to the deal.
But he needed to report it to the team’s owners in person.
Especially the two major owners, Magnier and McManus.
Ultimately, the meeting ended on a sour note.
The two owners thought that Deng Kai was not worth the price.
Or rather, no player was worth that price.
Moreover, with Deng Kai being so young, what would they do after offering him the top salary now?
In the end, if Deng Kai received such a high salary, what about the other Manchester United players?
Manchester United’s salary structure would be completely destroyed.
Even if they only raised everyone’s salary a little bit, the total would still amount to a lot.
Unless Deng Kai could truly lead Manchester United to at least two Premier League and two Champions League titles within three years, otherwise, the club would still end up losing money! There might even be severe locker room issues that could lead to the team’s downfall, necessitating a rebuild.
Moreover... the owners believed that since Ferguson had lost the championship last season, they should be the ones taking issue with Ferguson.
They should be blaming Ferguson.
They should be cutting Ferguson’s and the players’ salaries.
Instead of Ferguson coming to them with problems, asking for more transfer funds, and requesting more salaries for the players.
So the worse your performance, the more I should treat you like royalty?
There is no such logic!
After discussing, the two owners decided to teach Ferguson a lesson.
To let him know that, although he is the Godfather of Manchester United, the Godfather should be below the owners!
Their way of getting back at him was... Previously, they had gifted Ferguson half ownership of a racehorse named Rock of Gibraltar.
The horse was chosen by Ferguson himself, and he had a good eye; the horse became one of the world’s finest racehorses.
It won several heavyweight championships within just two years, earning 1.3 million Euros in prize money.
But what was more frightening than the prize money was its stud fees, which, all told, could possibly earn its owners over a hundred million Euros in profit over its lifetime!
Theoretically, with half ownership, Ferguson could lay claim to fifty million of that hundred million.
But now, the owners were only offering Ferguson 650,000 Euros.
The reason they gave was that the earlier promise to split the earnings was only referring to the prize money, not including other profits.
This dispute promptly hit the headlines of Britain’s major media.
The two sides even reached the point of bringing their case to court.
But Ferguson lacked sufficient evidence, and he wouldn’t win this lawsuit.
However, Ferguson’s prestige at Manchester United had surpassed even the owners’ imagination.
When Ferguson expressed in court that all of this was retribution after he had asked the owners to sign Deng Kai, the fans of Manchester United erupted in anger.
They warned the owners to heed Ferguson’s requests, or else they would throw dung at the owners’ horse farms in Scotland!
Never underestimate the power of English football hooligans.
Even though it was just a warning, it was already frightening enough.
Some fervent Manchester United fans even bought a giant screen in the city center, boldly proclaiming, "Next season, we want Deng Kai to appear in Manchester!"
The CD partnership reconnected!
Deng Kai and Ronaldo to join forces in Manchester?
For a time, the world of football was in an uproar.
Just Ronaldo alone wasn’t enough to match the excitement around Ronaldo.
And Deng Kai alone couldn’t overshadow the long-established Zidane.
But Ronaldo + Deng Kai... sorry, that meant beating Real Madrid!
Everyone was looking forward to Manchester United finalizing Deng Kai’s transfer.
Manchester United’s two owners, seeing that things were getting out of control, finally reached a private settlement with Ferguson and gave him two and a half million Euros.
This was still far less than what Ferguson should have received.
But considering that the fifty million would span the entire life of the Rock of Gibraltar, Ferguson decided to take the offer and make a clean break.
After this, the relationship between Ferguson and the two owners had hit rock bottom.
The two owners, harboring feelings of alienation, kept their respectful distance from the formidable Ferguson.
Upon learning of this, the Glazer family, who had made their first fortunes from sports clubs in the United States, turned their attention to Manchester United and began to secretly buy up shares of the club.
They saw a golden opportunity to take over Old Trafford!
And as internal issues at Manchester United were resolved, the transfer of Deng Kai finally came to light.
...
At the end of July.
Deng Kai held an exclusive press conference through All Football.
Over three hundred media outlets from around the globe were therefore glued to the All Football website.
In addition, over ten million fans were also waiting for Deng Kai to reveal his next destination.
On the webpage.
Deng Kai appeared in the video.
He briefly said, "I announce that I will take my talents... to Manchester!"
Everyone was stunned.
Manchester!
It’s really Manchester!
Manchester United is invincible!
Considering that Deng Kai was paying tribute to Ronaldo’s way of making announcements.
People then called his transfer announcement "The Decision 2"!
This was certainly going to be a major highlight in the history of football transfers!
"Shocking Transfer! CD Reunion! Deng Kai Announces Joining Manchester United!"
"Tribute to Ronaldo! Deng Kai heads to Manchester for Ronaldo, their brotherhood makes Manchester United the biggest winner!"
"Manchester United Fans Celebrate Invincibility! The team is expected to enter the most glorious era!"
"Manchester United Official Staff Slow to React, Half an Hour after Deng Kai’s Announcement and They Still Don’t Have an Official Announcement!"
"One Hour! Has Manchester United Gone Mute? Or Are They Intentionally Making Deng Kai Look Bad Because of the Owners’ Issues?"
"Ferguson Lets Bygones Be Bygones with a Smile: Since they’ve signed Deng Kai, Magnier, McManus, and I can still be friends, and I hope the fans of Manchester United won’t hold any grudges against them!"
"Ronaldo Excited But Cool on the Outside: He’s always like this, loves to surprise people! If he wants the number ten shirt, I’m willing to give my number nine to Van Nistelrooy!"
"Van Nistelrooy: I think the number ten shirt is quite nice!"
"Beckham: There’s no news more exciting than this! It’s as if we have everything now, I think our target should no longer be three consecutive Premier League titles, but three consecutive Champions League titles!"
"Solskjaer: I’ve known all along! Didn’t you notice that when I brought down Deng Kai from behind in last season’s Champions League, he didn’t blame me? I think from that moment on, he was already a true Red Devil!"
The excitement at Manchester United was almost indescribable.
And the collapse of the other Premier League teams was, as you can imagine, quite predictable.
Especially Arsenal.
