host must win

Chapter 52

On Monday, July 2002, 7, most football journalists in the UK flocked to Manchester and to Old Trafford.

On this day, the two new aids that Manchester United spent a lot of money to sign in this summer will both appear at Old Trafford.

Compared with the official announcement of Yin Jun's transfer as early as a week ago, the transfer with Ferdinand was not so smooth.

Originally, before Manchester United CEO Kenyon flew to China to discuss the transfer of Yin Jun, the team and Leeds United had basically reached a transfer agreement for Ferdinand.

However, just as Kenyon left, the transfer has changed, because another strong competitor has entered the field: the new Premier League champions Arsenal!

In the World Cup, Ferdinand's excellent performance made several giants of the Premier League club red-eyed. Just when Manchester United and Leeds basically settled the transfer-related matters, last season's England's double champion Arsenal began to play. The role of "a third party stepping in" announced the decision to compete with Manchester United for Ferdinand.

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger's wishful thinking is to buy Ferdinand and fight side by side with his national team teammates, Arsenal's main defender Campbell and Ashley Cole to form an "England national team level defense line". ", the combat effectiveness of this defense has been widely praised in the just-concluded Korea-Japan World Cup.

Manchester United and Arsenal competed for Ferdinand, and Leeds United did not hesitate to increase the transfer fee of the England central defender to a sky-high price of 3500 million pounds, which was almost twice the price when the White Rose signed Ferdinand two years ago!
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This price stunned both Manchester United and Arsenal. You must know that the transfer fee negotiated between Manchester United and Leeds United was only 2800 million pounds, which is a full 1000 million pounds higher than when Leeds United signed Ferdinand two years ago. It is already considered a sky-high price among defenders.

Neither Manchester United nor Arsenal would accept Leeds United's offer. They felt that Leeds United was poor and crazy.

On July 7, the Leeds team issued an ultimatum to Manchester United and Arsenal, requiring the two teams to agree to Leeds' request for a transfer fee before noon on July 20, otherwise Ferdinand's transfer would fall through.

Also on July 7, Ferguson and Wenger spoke on the phone.No one knows what the two talked about, but it turned out that Arsenal directly withdrew from the competition for Ferdinand!

After Arsenal withdrew, Leeds United's plan to slam Manchester United and Arsenal failed.The matter of Ferdinand's transfer to Manchester United was soon announced.Judging from the final results, the two clubs, Leeds United and Manchester United, have made compromises. Manchester United raised the original price of 2800 million pounds to 3000 million pounds, exceeding the level of 2800 million pounds for the purchase of the famous Argentine star Veron; Accepted 3000 million outs.

In addition, Manchester United also promised to pay Ferdinand a weekly salary of 7 pounds.This is one of the highest paid players in the Manchester United team besides Beckham.

The current salary structure of the Manchester United team, the top star David Beckham is considered to be the only one. Even if he is in the Premier League with a weekly salary of 10 pounds, that is the only one for Scorpion Baba.

Followed closely by Captain Keane, Ferdinand and others, with a weekly salary of 5 to 7 pounds, they can be regarded as the second echelon.

Then there are Giggs, Scholes, the Neville brothers, Butters, Blanco and others. These people have a weekly salary of 2 to 4 pounds, which is the third echelon.This echelon also has the most people, accounting for about half of the team.

Next is Yin Jun with a weekly salary of 1 to 2 pounds, which can be regarded as the fourth echelon of the team.

The last ones are O'Shea, Fletcher and other Manchester United newcomers promoted from the youth training echelon. Their weekly salary is basically less than 1.5 pounds, which can be regarded as the "bottom people" in the Manchester United team.

There are also a lot of people in this echelon, and six or seven people including Wes Brown, Danny Webb, O'Shea, and Fletcher are like this.

Wes Brown was the earliest of these people to make his debut. As early as the 1997-1998 season, he played for Manchester United's first team, but he has not been able to secure his main position, which has kept his salary from rising.

This is also in line with Manchester United's overall salary situation. According to British media reports, the average salary level of Manchester United in the new season will reach 2.5 pounds, which is the highest among the 20 Premier League teams.

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At ten o'clock in the morning, Ferguson brought Ferdinand and Yin Jun to the Manchester United press conference.Ferdinand wears the No. 6 jersey, while Yin Jun wears the No. 28 jersey.

As the true master of Manchester United, as long as Ferguson is there, he is a well-deserved protagonist.Sixty to seventy percent of the reporters' questions were aimed at Ferguson.

Ferguson is naturally familiar with such a situation and lifts the weight with ease.

There are also quite a few reporters asking questions to Ferdinand. This young defender who has just represented the British team in the Korea-Japan World Cup and performed very well is currently one of the most popular stars in the UK.

What's more, now he has created the record of the most expensive defender in the world. The transfer fee of 3000 million pounds is absolutely sky-high.Even if you look at the transfers in world football, this number is enough to rank in the top five, and only a few people such as Zidane, Figo, Crespo, etc., have higher transfer fees than Ferdinand.

Compared with Ferguson and Ferdinand, Yin Jun is basically a little transparent. Even though he just had an amazing performance in the World Cup, on the one hand, he is not British, and on the other hand, he is too young. Apart from two or three media in Manchester who asked Yin Jun, the arrogant British chose to ignore Yin Jun whether it was intentional or unintentional.

In this regard, Yin Jun is also happy and relaxed. What annoys him most is dealing with reporters.During the past month or so in China, he was almost driven into a nervous state by the reporters.

In the end, maybe the local reporters in Manchester felt that no one asked Yin Jun any questions, and felt a little sorry. The reporter from Manchester United’s official TV station asked Yin Jun two questions, asking him how he feels after joining Manchester United and what he thinks about the future. .

Yin Jun's answer is quite satisfactory. He said that it is his dream to join Manchester United, because he has been a Manchester United fan since he was a child, and now being able to play for Manchester United with his idol stars is simply the best thing in the world.

As for his thoughts on the future, he hopes to continue to win victories and championships for the team under the leadership of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Subsequently, Ferdinand and Yin Jun went to Old Trafford for a photo together with Ferguson.

(End of this chapter)