Siena was happy that Sporting de Gijón had intervened in the battle for Gieza's transfer. After all, with one more buyer, it would be easier to raise the price.
Therefore, they expressed their welcome to Sporting de Gijón for Sporting de Gijón's participation and proposed a condition for letting Gieza leave: a transfer fee of one million Euros.
This was obviously a rip-off. A 34-year-old veteran who had joined as a free agent was now asking for one million Euros. If this wasn't a rip-off, what was?
Li Ang had three million Euros that he had 'saved' from the summer transfer. If necessary, he could apply for a winter transfer fund. Therefore, Li Ang and Sporting de Gijón had more than enough funds for this winter transfer.
However, having the funds on hand did not mean that Li Ang was willing to be a sucker.
*****
Li Ang naturally would not agree to Siena's one million Euros request, but he still raised the price. Sporting de Gijón made a second bid. Li Ang raised Gieza's price by 150,000 Euros. Sporting de Gijón wanted to buy Gieza for 650,000 Euros.
In this era, the era of premium prices for players had not yet arrived. A deal of a few million Euros was sensational. Furthermore, this was the winter transfer market. For a 34-year-old veteran, 650,000 Euros was not a low price.
Sporting de Gijón's price was beyond the psychological endurance of other suitors. Even Udinese, who were originally determined to get Gieza, hesitated. Udinese's temperament was to spend small amounts of money. They rarely 'threw money' in the transfer market. 500,000 Euros for a 30-year-old veteran was already the limit for Udinese.
Udinese was furious that Sporting de Gijón had once again interrupted their search for a player. In the summer, Sporting de Gijón had snatched Di Natale from their hands. Seeing how Di Natale was doing in La Liga, Udinese was filled with hatred. Now, Sporting de Gijón was trying to snatch Gieza from them. Udinese's hatred for Udinese was new and old.
However, there was nothing they could do … because they could not afford to spend more money to snatch Gieza from Sporting Gijon. Spending money had never been Udinese's style, even if it was only 150,000 Euros … They would not change their principles and traditions in the transfer market for a 34 year old veteran like Gieza.
*****
Udinese was was angry and helpless, but they were unwilling to back out. They could only hope that Chiesa himself would be more inclined to join Siena instead of going to Spain. However, no matter what the result was, they hated Li Ang and Sporting de Gijón.
Udinese's inability to raise the price meant that Sporting Gieza was the closest to Sporting Gieza among the clubs that wanted to buy him.
This also meant that Siena, who wanted to extort them, had no choice but to seriously consider Sporting de Gijón's offer of 650,000 Euros.
Now, there was no big problem at the club level.
Then, the rest would depend on the player's personal wishes.
Although Sporting de Gijón was only a newly promoted team, Sporting de Gijón could participate in European competitions. Furthermore, Sporting de Gijón was currently ranked fourth in La Liga. Now that Sporting de Gijón wanted to recruit him, the 34-year-old Italian veteran Gieza would naturally not refuse. There was almost no hesitation in choosing between Udinese and Sporting de Gijón.
Moreover, there was another situation. Sporting de Gijón was now a well-known club in Italian football. Everyone in Italy knew that a dark horse called Sporting de Gijón had appeared in La Liga this season. The main reason why the Italians were interested in them was because Sporting de Gijón had three Italian players, including Albertini, Di Natale, and Grosso. Albertini was needless to say, and Di Natale's outstanding performance at Sporting de Gijón had attracted the attention of the Italian football community. Grosso's performance was also outstanding, which made Gieza have a good impression of Sporting de Gijón to a certain extent. Other things aside, he had three compatriots in this team, so at least he was not alone.
Therefore, when Gieza learned that Sporting de Gijón had raised their offer for the second time, he immediately informed his agent to terminate the contract negotiations with Udinese and wait for Siena's reply to Sporting de Gijón. At the same time, he used this method to show his attitude that he wanted to go to Sporting de Gijón.
At the same time, Gieza also felt that with his attitude, Siena should be inclined to agree to the deal.
*****
In fact, in the face of such an offer, and considering the player's attitude, Siena knew that they could not keep Gieza. They had no reason to refuse.
Siena replied to Sporting de Gijón that they agreed to let Sporting de Gijón and Gieza negotiate personal terms. Things had progressed to this point very smoothly. Basically, it could be said that when the conditions were right, success was achieved.
The negotiations with Gieza regarding personal terms were also relatively smooth. The Italian veteran's salary was not high when he was at Siena. Now that he had gone to Sporting de Gijón, which was stronger, there was naturally no reason for him to ask for a high salary. For a 34-year-old veteran, the opportunity to play in Europe was enough to make him satisfied.
Therefore, on Christmas Eve, Sporting de Gijón had already reached a consensus with the player regarding the transfer of Gieza.
Now, they were waiting for the end of the Christmas holiday and Gieza to complete his physical examination. If everything was normal, the transfer could be officially completed.
Gieza's transfer could only be announced after Christmas, if the physical examination went smoothly. However, on Christmas Eve, Sporting de Gijón's official website announced the good news.
Sporting de Gijón's fans were very happy to see the club's Christmas Eve gift to them. The team announced that they had signed a four-year professional contract with the young French striker, Karim Benzema, who had just turned 17 a few days ago.
As he had not yet turned 17, Sporting de Gijón and Benzema had only signed a youth contract, which made some other clubs covet him.
Therefore, before Benzema's 17th birthday, Li Ang had arranged for the club to start negotiating a professional contract with Benzema.
*****
Although other teams had come to poach him and offered some attractive terms, Benzema's family, especially his father, who was also his agent, were very grateful to Li Ang for personally going to France to invite Benzema to join them. Of course, the most important thing was that Benzema's family were not short-sighted people. They were very satisfied and looked forward to Benzema continuing to play under Li Ang. Now, Li Ang's reputation for being good at nurturing young players was very big.
Because of this, even though other clubs had come to poach and cause trouble, the signing of the professional contract between Sporting de Gijón and Benzema was relatively smooth.
PS: On the train, writing on his phone, the conditions were difficult …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
