The Jax Club was surprised that Sporting de Gijón wanted to buy their young center back, Vermaelen. Right now, Vermaelen didn't catch the attention of the Jax Club yet.
Therefore, the Jax Club didn't reject the idea of selling Vermaelen as long as the price was satisfactory. After all, Vermaelen was only a young man who was on loan, and he wasn't on the list of young talents that the Jax Club wanted to nurture. Also, half a season had passed, and Vermaelen was only on loan at Valwik in the Eredivisie. He only got to play in six games, and he only started in two of those games. His performance was average; there was nothing special about him. After hearing this news, the Jax Club didn't pay much attention to Vermaelen; this young man was worth selling!
Since the Jax Club didn't reject the idea of selling Vermaelen, the only thing left was to negotiate.
After two days of communication between Banderas and the Jax Club, the negotiations between the two sides reached a stalemate.
The Jax Club offered 1.5 million Euros for Vermaelen.
However, the price that Sporting de Gijón offered was too high. According to Li Ang's instructions, Sporting de Gijón was only willing to pay 500,000 Euros.
What a joke! A 19-year-old center back who was only on loan to a mid-tier team in the Eredivisie, and he was only a substitute? How could the Jax Club offer 1.5 million Euros? This wasn't the way to ask for an exorbitant price!
This was 2005, and the prices of players weren't high yet. In 2005, if one was lucky and didn't have any malicious bids, one or two million Euros could buy a strong player.
Therefore, the 1.5 million Euros that the Jax Club offered was too much in Li Ang's eyes. It could even be said that the Jax Club didn't have any sincerity.
Li Ang was angry because the Jax Club refused to buy Metzel, Kompany, and Albiol; he was in a bad mood. From his point of view, the lack of sincerity from the Jax Club made him unhappy.
"Tell the Jax Club that 800,000 Euros is a fixed price. If you don't agree, then forget about it," Li Ang told his assistant, Banderas. 800,000 Euros was enough for a young center back who wasn't famous. Center backs were different from other positions; young offensive players could be sold for a high price, but center backs couldn't be sold for that price.
Banderas nodded; he didn't think 800,000 Euros was too much. he didn't know Vermaelen, and he didn't know what this young man would achieve in the future... he just thought thought that 800,000 Euros was too much for a 19-year-old center back's who was on loan by the Jax Club.
*****
Li Ang thought that Jax lacked sincerity, and he didn't have much hope in getting Vermaelen. Therefore, Li Ang stayed in his office this afternoon and thought about it. At the same time, he also watched the videos of the matches. These videos were the videos of the center backs that Scott Teri compiled, and this was Li Ang's request. Li Ang realized that the talented players in his memory were all in the top teams, and it wasn't easy to poach them from the top teams. Therefore, Li Ang wanted to find some targets from these videos. He had the system to rely on, and if he needed to, he could spend some Clairvoyance Points to 'investigate' the strength of the players that he was interested in. Li Ang had the system to rely on, and he could use Clairvoyance Points to 'investigate' the strength of the players that he was interested in. However, after watching the game videos for an entire afternoon, there was no player who made his eyes light up or was worthy of him generating a strength evaluation report on a particular player.
When Banderas knocked on the door of the manager's office and told him that the Jax Club agreed to Sporting de Gijón's offer of 800,000 Euros for Vermaelen, he was surprised.
Li Ang was surprised at first, and then he was happy. In the end, he gritted his teeth and cursed. "Sure enough, the top teams are all b * stards. I tried to be polite, but I ran into a wall everywhere. Now that I'm angry, I got a miraculous effect."
Of course, Li Ang understood why. It seemed like the Jax Club didn't really value Vermaelen. When they asked for a high price of 1.5 million Euros, they thought that if Sporting de Gijón was willing to pay a high price, they would make a profit. After they saw the tough attitude of Sporting de Gijón, they felt that 800,000 Euros was acceptable.
*****
Now that the Jax Club agreed, the rest was up to the player.
Sporting de Gijón quickly contacted Vermaelen and his agent. The young Vermaelen joined the Jax Club from Ekeren last summer, and his excitement was quickly shattered by the cruel reality. He wasn't in the Jax Club's plans, and he wasn't valued. Therefore, he was loaned out.
It could be said that Vermaelen wasn't from the Netherlands, and he wasn't from the Youth Training Camp of the Jax Club. He didn't have much loyalty to the Jax Club. He came to the Jax Club because the Jax Club was a top team, and it was a bigger stage.
Under these circumstances, Sporting de Gijón showed Vermaelen a new stage.
His agent immediately "enlightened" him and told him about Sporting de Gijón.
Vermaelen had a basic understanding of Sporting de Gijón through his agent's explanation. Their head coach was from China, and he was a very interesting person. Although Sporting de Gijón was a newly promoted team, they performed very well under the leadership of this China man. Right now, they were ranked fourth in La Liga, and they defeated Bernabéu and Camp Nou. They defeated Real Madrid and Barcelona, and other top teams in La Liga such as Valencia and Deportivo La Coruña were also defeated by this team. From this, it could be seen how strong this team was … … Also, they were the champions of the Copa del Rey last season, and they were now in the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League.
This was more than enough!
For Vermaelen, who was only 19 years old and wasn't valued by Ajax, La Liga was a stage that was bigger than the Eredivisie. The fourth-place team in La Liga could play in Europe, and Vermaelen was satisfied with these conditions.
*****
Although the Jax Club and Vermaelen agreed to the transfer, it didn't mean that the deal could be completed immediately.
This was because Vermaelen was loaned to Valwek by the Jax Club, and in terms of attributes, Vermaelen belonged to Valwek.
Vermaelen's transfer still needed Valwek's approval.
Valwek didn't set any obstacles to Vermaelen's transfer. After all, Vermaelen was a player of the Jax Club, and they were only loaning him. Also, the Jax Club was a powerhouse in the Eredivisie, and Vermaelen was only a substitute center back for Valwek. He wasn't that important, so Valwek didn't mind doing the Jax Club a favor.
In the end, Valwek announced that Vermaelen's loan ended half a year early, and Vermaelen returned to the Jax Club early.
In order to complete this deal as soon as possible, Li Ang allowed Vermaelen to have a physical examination in the Netherlands, and Sporting de Gijón's team doctor went to the Netherlands to accompany Vermaelen for the physical examination.
The young Belgian center back's physical condition was very good, and he wasn't as fragile as before. The physical examination went smoothly. This meant that the last obstacle to this deal was removed.
*****
On January 3rd, 2005, Sporting de Gijón's official website announced that the 19-year-old Belgian center back, Thomas Vermaelen, was officially transferred to Sporting de Gijón from the Eredivisie club, Ajax. The transfer fee was 800,000 euros.
"… We are pleased to announce that we have signed this talented young center back from Belgium to a five-year contract … …" Sporting de Gijón's official website said. Signing Vermaelen to a five-year contract: Sporting de Gijón followed Li Ang's instructions and tried to sign the players that Li Ang liked.
Sporting de Gijón snatched the future captain of Arsenal with a long contract … … They stole Wenger's players.
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