ball at foot

Barcelona in 2003 can be said to be in the darkest period in their team history.Successive championships for several years, a shortage of team funds, poor team players-the 2003 presidential election was their last straw.

Both sides of the election can be said to be very familiar to the players.On the one hand is the media tycoon Bassat, who is well known in Catalonia.On the other side is Laporta. He does not have such a high reputation, but his identity is very special: he is Cruyff's personal lawyer.

As one of the top five figures in the history of world football, Cruyff is the soul of Total Football in the Netherlands. He is willing to give up his status as a veteran of the Netherlands and go to Barcelona to join him. He also publicly declared that he loves Catalonia more than The Netherlands even married a Catalan wife and gave birth to a son with a Catalan name. This approach is very popular with Catalan people.In the honor room of the Barcelona club, the only non-Catalan who can have a place here is Cruyff, and his status in Barcelona is self-evident.

But the problem is that his name cannot be relied upon by Laporta.Laporta's reputation is too small, and he is a lawyer and has never been engaged in football-related industries. Although he has the full support of Russell, the former South American marketing director of Nike, people still don't trust him.Some people even directly pointed out that the reason why he ran for the chairman of Barcelona is to pave the way for future participation in politics.

No fans like politicians. [

But at this time, another candidate Bassat's election platform is also very interesting: he proposed to invite Guardiola, who was purged to Serie A two years ago because of his old age, to return to Barcelona as a management job. Based on La Masia, form your own Catalan team.

If this proposal were made ten years later, absolutely everyone would support it.But at this time, for Barcelona, ​​which has won the championship for five years and has no money, this suggestion is not very attractive.

After all, in 2003, no one in La Masia was famous enough to make the Catalans proud.At this time, there is only one La Masia child who can really be called a star, but there is only one Puyol.Harvey is just an ordinary player in the team, Iniesta is still struggling in the second team, and the other 87-year-old talents have not entered the adult team yet.Even the Barcelona fans themselves are unwilling to believe that Barcelona can rely on youth training to succeed. In their view, Bassat's words are more like excuses for not wanting to pay for Barcelona's signings.

Laporta's campaign, by contrast, has only one proposal, but it's moving enough.

"I'm going to bring you David Beckham."

This promise made everyone favor him.Although Bassat has repeatedly stated that this is a fake, and that Beckham's technical characteristics are not compatible with Barcelona, ​​there is still no one to support him.

Art football?That's after winning.Now Barcelona is hungry.To be able to bring heartthrobs to the Nou Camp is enough to get them excited.

Although Manchester United also came forward to refute the rumors, how meaningful is this kind of rumors?Beckham can't even guarantee his main position this season. It is imperative for Ferguson to purge him. It is not credible to say that he will definitely stay in the team.

"But you should be very clear that we can't get Beckham. Not to mention that we have no way to contact Manchester United. We can't afford the transfer fee alone. His worth is about 3000 million. , this is not a price we can afford."

In the meeting room, Roselle questioned the words in the newspaper. The former South American Marketing Director of Nike was one of Laporta's cronies at this time, "And he won't come himself, we Now, there is no ability to attract stars of that level."

"I didn't even think about buying an Englishman. What level have the English players been for so many years? We don't need them." Laporta waved his hand disdainfully, "It's just a lie to those who only know how to follow the crowd. Just babbling voters."

After a pause, Laporta added, "And you have to remember at all times that we can attract any star. Barcelona's highest salary for players, even when we are in a downturn, is among the top three in the world."

"It's bad to rely on money to attract people... and such a lie may ruin your future. Russell shook his head and sighed, "Besides, Beckham is not a low-level player..."

Looking at Laporta's disapproving expression, Roselle knew that what he said was useless. Laporta might be a fan, but he didn't know enough about football.Russell knew that he couldn't convince him, but this was indeed an out-and-out fact: Even though the Premier League is rough, there have been Golden Globe winners over the years, but Spain has not had a Golden Globe winner for 50 years.When you laugh at others for being poor, can't you look at yourself?

"You still don't understand how to get into politics." Laporta didn't take Russell's words seriously. "As long as I have enough achievements by then, these lies now won't be a problem at all."

"But how did you get the results?" Roselle said with a wry smile, "Have you thought about this problem?"

It seems a bit early to ask this question now. After all, the election has not really won, and no one knows the final result. Although Laporta's slogan is very appealing, the problem is that Bassat's reputation makes him still have With a big advantage, whether they can win is still a big question.

However, this was originally an internal meeting of the candidates, so when they talked about this issue, they didn't have too much politeness.

"Mr. Cruyff suggested that we sign Koeman as the head coach, and then buy Aimar, Albelda and Ayala to form the soul of Barcelona..."[

"You really think we should listen to someone who hasn't touched the ball in years?" Russell interrupted Russell.

"Of course I won't trust him. He is old. When it comes to sports, of course the only one I can trust is you." Laporta made a choice without hesitation. As a politician, he has long practiced It’s a good skill to see what people say, "But he was my former employer after all, and the fans also like him. He has status and is not bad for us."

"But don't let him get involved in the transfer, okay? Barcelona can't stand his torment." Russell's complexion improved a bit, but he was still afraid that Laporta could not make up his mind, "We can't afford Koman Coach, Ajax is asking for millions of liquidated damages, where are we going to get the money?"

This price really made the muscles on Laporta's face twitch: For Barcelona now, paying millions for a coach is too much.

And there is another reason why Laporta doesn't like Koeman: Bassat also regards Koeman as the next team's coach. This approach makes Laporta dissatisfied with Koeman.

"Do you have any plans?" Laporta still decided to ask his old friend.

"Buy people from South America. There are many high-level players in South America. We can introduce them without spending much money, and their strength is even better."

Russell has been the South American marketing director, so he naturally pays attention to South America.

"My idea is to buy Ronaldinho from Paris Saint-Germain. He can definitely meet our task of rebuilding the team." Speaking of these, Rosell came alive, "Of course, we still need Some other staffing, a good center forward, and some capable players in the midfield..."

"I've taken a fancy to Eto'o, what do you think of his strength?" Laporta interrupted Russell's words.

This suggestion made Russell frowned, "In terms of strength, he is strong enough to meet our requirements, but are you sure you can introduce him? It is not that simple to let Florentino go, eh To'o is a Real Madrid player and they won't let it go easily."

"Then give them an offer they can't refuse." Laporta said decisively, "This is not just a simple matter of recruiting in the competition, this is a good opportunity to attack the deadly enemy."

"I don't think Real Madrid will take us seriously now... well, I don't care about this matter, but you have to explain Ronaldinho to me and Cruyff. He doesn't like Ronaldini Oh, but you can't let him ruin things Aimar is not suitable for Barcelona, ​​let him stay in Valencia."

Ronaldinho is a signing that Cruyff doesn't like. Cruyff can't deny his strength, but the problem is that his professional attitude is too bad.Cruyff, who was born as a player, is very dissatisfied with such a professional attitude.

But Roselle felt that if some controls were applied, this probably wouldn't be a problem.He is not a professional player, but a business background, which makes him and Cruyff look at the problem quite differently.What Cruyff saw was Ronaldinho's various acts of wasting his talents, but what Russell saw was more about Ronaldinho's talent and ability, and he also believed that as long as he met many South Americans in South America, With some small tricks, Ronaldinho's career attitude can be greatly improved.

"But, doesn't it mean that Manchester United has basically finalized his transfer?" Laporta hesitated.

"That's because Manchester United overestimated their own influence. Leave this matter to me, and I promise to give you a satisfactory answer."

Laporta nodded, agreeing to Russell's request.

"Actually, there are two other good signings." Russell remembered something again, "They are all from Monaco. One is Giuly, who is very strong, but he is a little older and has no room for improvement. Therefore, the worth It will be very cheap. There is another new player on their team, Zhao. A Chinese, although he is Asian, but his skill level is still higher than that of Europeans. I guess, because he is an Asian player, if his country If there is no corporate sponsorship for him, his worth should not be much higher."

"If there is sponsorship, we will not lose money...China..." Laporta seemed to think of something, "Didn't the Catalan United team play a game with the Chinese team in winter? How is he doing?"

"If you have time, watch the ball more. He didn't come to that game at all. Monaco's task is not light. After all, Catalonia is not a country, and that game is not a national team level event, so he didn't come. "

After saying this, Russell suddenly thought of something. It seems that it is not good to mention that Catalonia is not a country in front of Laporta...[

"Don't consider signing him." Sure enough, Laporta's words did not surprise Roselle, "Chinese players will definitely disagree with us on some issues. Barcelona is not just a club, we There should be no room for people who don't agree with our ideals completely."

It just doesn't fit with your idea of ​​relying on Barcelona as a springboard to go into politics, right?Roselle wanted to say something, but held back.

Although this guy does have some bad habits of politicians, he is already the best collaborator he can find.

"Then, let's ignore him." Roselle made a decision, "He can go wherever he likes. Anyway, he's locked up with Barcelona."