The world of Chinese style creates a prosperous era for girl groups

Office of the President of Guoan Club.

"Not only did Takehiro Tomiyasu adapt to the Premier League in terms of strength, his value also soared from just 80 euros when he landed at Sint-Truiden to 1860 million euros when he joined Arsenal. Just one month after Takehiro Tomiyasu's transfer, Sint-Truiden successively loaned Takahiro Sekine from Ingolstadt of the then German Second Division, signed Wataru Endo from Urawa Red Diamonds, signed Yuta Koike from Toyo Ryutsu Keizai University, and loaned Daichi Kamada from Frankfurt. In the following years, they also signed Schmidt, who had served as the Japanese national goalkeeper, and Yuma Suzuki, who has now returned to Kashima Antlers. In the 24-25 season, Sint-Truiden already had six Japanese players in its lineup, led by Japanese Olympic goalkeeper Reo Kokubo."

"It can be seen that under the control of Japanese capital, Sint-Truiden not only became a springboard for Japanese players to enter the top five leagues, but also a transit station for recovering players who failed to play abroad. Imagine if there was such a transit station for Chinese players, Wu Lei might have had an extra choice after leaving Espanyol. He could actually stay in Europe and wait for another opportunity."

Xia Haoyang nodded again, his expression becoming serious: "Ji Hai, why did DMM Group acquire the Saint-Truiden football team?"

Hearing Xia Haoyang's question, Ji Hai smiled and said, "Okay, let me explain to President Xia why DMM Group decided to acquire Sint-Truiden. From Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunpo Nakamura to Yuto Nagatomo and Shinji Kagawa, although I have the impression that there are always Japanese players who can gain a foothold in Europe, there was definitely no such large-scale landing in Europe at that time. It was also not easy for Japanese players to travel to Europe."

Xia Haoyang was listening carefully.

"It was June 2016. On a restless late night, four middle-aged men who loved playing football were having a drink together in Kichijoji shopping street in Tokyo. They started a conversation that changed the history of Japanese football." Ji Hai also made a humorous comment here.

"They realized that the process for Japanese players to play in Europe was too complicated, and only a few players who were determined to play in Europe succeeded. So after a brainstorming session, they came up with the idea of ​​owning a European club as a base for Japanese players in Europe. Finally, they put everything into action. The four men who were drinking at the time were all football club classmates in college or high school. Two of them were Noriyuki Tateishi, the general manager of the J1 League FC Tokyo team at the time, and Yu Ogata, the executive director of the DMM Group."

Ji Hai paused here and looked into Xia Haoyang's eyes with a passionate expression. Xia Haoyang was also looking at Ji Hai without avoiding his gaze.

Ji Hai continued, "It was Yuu Ogata who completed DMM's acquisition of Sint-Truiden, and Tateishi Noriyuki was invited to become the CEO of Sint-Truiden. One of the key factors for them to lock in Sint-Truiden was that the Belgian First Division did not have a so-called quota for non-European players or a limit on overseas players. There would be no resistance to the Japaneseization of the team at the rule level. As soon as the acquisition was completed, they established talent cooperation with five Japanese clubs through Tateishi Noriyuki's connections, and then what we saw was the Japanese players who kept coming to Sint-Truiden as I listed above."

At this point, Xia Haoyang roughly understood why Ji Hai came to Guoan to talk to him. He even felt ashamed of his guess before the conversation that Ji Hai came to him to "beg for alms".

"In terms of youth training, although we retired old guys don't have great skills and can't compare with the big-name European and American stars." Ji Hai laughed self-deprecatingly, "But after all, we have played professional football for so many years. No matter what, we still have some experience to pass on to young people. So many of my former teammates and I are now deeply involved in youth training, hoping to cultivate a group of outstanding young talents for Chinese football."

"However, the development of Chinese football still needs capital support. It is not just youth training that needs money, the professional league also needs money, and investing in and holding European football teams so that Chinese players can have a stepping stone to enter the European football scene and experience a higher level of professional football requires even more money. The Guoan Club controlled by President Xia has been the most stable and healthy domestic club in the past two years. If President Xia is also willing to make more efforts for Chinese football, I hope that President Xia can go to Europe to acquire a team, thus providing young Chinese players with the first and most important step to enter Europe."

Ji Hai's words were full of excitement, which definitely reflected his deep love for football and his sincere hope that Chinese football would be better.

"Ji Hai, from what you said just now, I can feel your pure love for Chinese football. I also feel that your proposal will be helpful to Chinese football players and is a healthy development path. However, as for your request for me to acquire a European club, I still need to think about it. I'm sorry, I regret that I can't agree to your request right away." Xia Haoyang said sincerely.

"Of course, I understand that investing in a foreign football team is a big deal, and it involves many issues, including capital investment and Mr. Xia's own development direction in the next few years. I didn't expect Mr. Xia to spend tens of millions or hundreds of millions to invest in European and American clubs after today's conversation. It also has to be in line with Mr. Xia's own business plan. What I want to say is that if Mr. Xia really has this idea one day, he can find me as a go-between. After all, I have been in the Chinese football circle for so many years, I have dealt with various clubs, and I am also training young players. When Mr. Xia wants to introduce Chinese players, I can help you with some references."

"Okay, let's add WeChat, Ji Hai, and let's keep in touch. If you have any questions or need anything, I can contact you at any time." Xia Haoyang took the initiative.

"That's what I want. Thank you, Mr. Xia, for considering it."

The two saved each other's contact information and added each other on WeChat, and the atmosphere in the room became more friendly.

"By the way, Ji Hai, have you discussed this matter with other club bosses?" Xia Haoyang asked curiously.

"Mr. Xia, to be honest, you are the first club boss I contacted in the circle, but I have discussed this matter with some other big investors, and have made some progress." Ji Hai said with a smile.

"Oh, for example?" Xia Haoyang became even more curious.

"Mr. Li, a shareholder of Douyin Holdings, has completed the full acquisition of the Dutch Eredivisie team Den Bosch, and Mr. Li has also locked in the next investment target, the Belgian third-tier team Bierschott. It can be seen that Mr. Li's investment is completely different from his previous path of directly investing in top European league clubs." Ji Hai talked excitedly.