Serie A team Fiorentina and the Premier League team Newcastle United were the teams most eager to pursue Martins.
Li Ang first ruled out Fiorentina. In his impression, Martins would join Newcastle United in two years. This was true love.
After a discussion between Oriari and Li Ang, they decided to focus on Newcastle United.
Then there was a surprise. Newcastle United not only wanted Martins, but also the Turkish player Emre.
The seller was sincere, and the buyer was also very "hungry."
The negotiations for the transfer went smoothly. Newcastle United initially intended to lower the price, but Inter Milan expressed that they were not worried about selling Martins, so Newcastle United had no choice but to negotiate honestly.
The other party involved in the transfer, Emre, was not against the transfer to Newcastle United. Emre's performance in Inter Milan had not been ideal. Unlike Martins, who was almost forced to sell, Emre already had the intention to leave.
After Newcastle United met Martins's salary requirements, the Nigerian, who had been denouncing Li Ang and Inter Milan for being "cold-blooded," happily reached a salary agreement with Newcastle United.
On June 30, 2005, Inter Milan officially announced that the team's Nigerian striker, Martins, and Turkish midfielder, Emre, were transferred to the Premier League team, Newcastle United. Inter Milan sent their blessings to the two players.
Although Inter Milan did not announce the specific transfer amount of the package transfer, the resourceful media quickly obtained the data.
The transfer fee for the Nigerian, Martins, was about 21 million euros.
The transfer fee for the Turkish, Emre, was about 7 million euros.
The package transfer of the two players to Newcastle United brought in 28 million euros for Inter Milan.
Li Ang was satisfied with the result of Oriari's negotiations. Martins's transfer fee to Nigeria two years later was 10.5 million euros. Now it was twice as much. Inter Milan had stopped their losses in time. Of course, Martins's condition two years later would not be as good as it was now.
*****
The transfers of Nigeria and Emre were a good start for Li Ang's purge.
Those players who were on the purge list were still observing. When they saw that Martins, who had caused the most trouble, had obediently transferred, the other players also sped up their escape from Inter Milan.
Inter Milan's substitute goalkeeper, Carlini, was quickly transferred to La Liga's Getafe for a price of two million euros.
The captain of the Greek national team, Karagounis, transferred to the Portuguese Super League team, Benfica for one million euros.
In Li Ang's impression, these two players later left on free transfers. Inter Milan was very generous with their players. They were not stingy when they brought them in and were very straightforward when they let them go.
However, Li Ang would not do that. The transfer income of one or two million was also money. It could provide him with transfer funds.
Out of the six players who were purged, only the Uruguayan defender, Gamara, and the former Italian international footballer, Francesco Coco, were left unsigned.
Gamala was already 33 years old, and his condition was declining. Li Ang thought that if no one wanted him, he would let the Uruguayan veteran leave on a free transfer. He would not be able to fetch a price anyway.
On the other hand, a few Italian clubs were interested in Francesco Coco. However, Coco's salary was too high, and the other clubs could not afford it. Coco was also attached to Inter Milan's high salary and was unwilling to reduce his salary and leave. All of a sudden, he became a holdout.
This was also the aftereffect of Moratti's previous big signings. Moratti's father was very generous to his players. As long as it was a player he liked, he would give them a high salary.
However, Li Ang was quite satisfied to be able to complete the purge of four players in less than half a month.
*****
After that, Li Ang put the Brazilian defender, Zamaria, the Dutch midfielder, van der Meyde, and the Greek striker, Giotos, on the transfer market.
The Italian media was in an uproar.
He had just put six players on the transfer market and quickly got rid of four of them, but it was not over yet. He immediately purged three more players.
Turin Sport even used the word "crazy" to describe Li Ang and attacked Li Ang and Inter Milan for being cold-blooded.
Even Milan Sport had to question Inter Milan's large-scale purge, which could cause unrest and unrest in Inter Milan.
The clamor of the media did not shake Li Ang's determination to purge.
Soon, Inter Milan announced that the Greek striker, Giotos, would be officially transferred to the Greek league powerhouse team, Olympiacos, for one million euros.
The Brazilian defender, Zamaria, also quickly found a new home. The Serie A team, Sampdoria, spent 1.5 million euros to acquire the Brazilian right back.
As for van der Meyde, the Dutch national footballer also attracted the attention of many teams. Among them, the English Premier League teams, Everton and Middlesbrough were interested in signing him.
Li Ang handed van der Meyde's transfer over to Oriari and took a flight directly to Portugal.
In Inter Milan's vigorous purge, Oriari and Li Ang worked together tacitly, while Blanca was gradually marginalized. This also caused Blanca to have a lot of complaints about Li Ang. When the Inter Milan technical director was interviewed by the media, he expressed his concern about Li Ang's purge, saying that it was a setback for Inter Milan, which had always been very humane.
As one of the four giants of Inter Milan, Blanca's words caused the Italian media to cheer. They loved to see such internal strife the most.
Li Ang was too lazy to pay attention to Blanca's criticism. From the day he asked for Inter Milan's transfer rights, he and Blanca were destined to be enemies. Unlike Oriari, who was mainly responsible for maintaining the stability of the locker room and communicating with the players, Blanca had always wanted to control Inter Milan's transfer rights. Li Ang's arrival greatly impacted Blanca's rights. It would be strange if he was not angry.
*****
Li Ang arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, and met up with his assistant, Banderas, who had arrived earlier.
A few hours later, in a hotel in Lisbon, Li Ang, Banderas, and Real Madrid's star player, Luis Figo, as well as Figo's agent, Vega, had a meeting.
The whole process of the meeting was pleasant. In the season that had just ended for Real Madrid, Figo did not have a good time. Rosenberg tried to put him in the position of attacking midfielder, but the experiment was not successful. In Real Madrid's view, the old Figo's "charging" ability on the right flank was completely different from two years ago. He could no longer be put in an important position. On the issue of the contract renewal, Figo and Florentino had completely fallen out. His departure was almost inevitable. The problem was where he would go after his departure.
Before Li Ang took over Inter Milan, Inter Milan had contacted Figo. However, the Portuguese did not make up his mind in the end. The Portuguese's Primeira Liga powerhouse, Benfica, had always invited Figo to return to his roots. This moved Figo.
Li Ang's words completely moved Figo.
"Luis, do you really think that you have reached the stage where you have to leave the top competition and return to your hometown to retire?" Li Ang said.
This sentence made the Portuguese veteran feel indignant. Yes, he was only 32 years old. Had he reached the stage where he had to return to Portugal to retire?
"Come to Inter Milan. Before you retire, stand on the podium of Europe's highest championship once again. Let all those who doubt you, let all those who say that you are old, see that Luis Figo, who dominated the competition, is not old. He does not belong to history. He can still continue to shine," Li Ang said seriously. He reached out his right hand to Figo.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Figo reached out his right hand.
Figo's agent, Vega, saw this scene and smiled happily. If Figo could join Inter Milan and continue to play for a powerhouse club, his interests would be guaranteed.
*****
Three days later, the English Premier League's Everton Football Club announced that the team had brought in the Dutch international player, van der Meyde, from Inter Milan for a transfer fee of 10 million euros.
Everton was full of praise for van der Meyde. They believed that the Dutchman would lead Everton to outstanding results.
And the Dutchman, who had been "purged" from Inter Milan, also officially opened fire at Li Ang. His words were similar to Martins'. He criticized Li Ang for not having any communication with him and for putting him in the transfer market, which was a humiliation to him.
This immediately caused a climax in the Italian media. All kinds of reports began to spread, criticizing Li Ang for being too arbitrary. The purge of Inter Milan had caused chaos.
Inter Milan's technical director, Blanca, expressed regret for van der Meyde's departure in an interview.
Just a few hours later, Inter Milan officially announced that they had reached an agreement with Real Madrid's Portuguese star player, Luis Figo. The Portuguese player would transfer to Inter Milan on a free transfer.
PS: Third update, a great reward for the Thinker in the Clouds.
Asking for a monthly ticket.
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.
