The Prince of Inter Milan starts with Brother Xiaosa

Chapter 242: Retreat from the rapids?

The 7th Club World Cup final concluded successfully at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

After winning the Club World Cup, the Inter Milan players did not return home immediately. They will not have any games before January 1 next year.

Therefore, they can leisurely sightsee and shop in Abu Dhabi, and return to Milan together the next day.

Then everyone goes back to their respective homes to start their own holidays.

At the same time, Moratti held private meetings with the consortium from Qatar in Abu Dhabi.

Six-time champion Inter Milan, there is no doubt that this is the time when the Nerazzurri are most valuable.

If the club can be sold at this time, it shows that Moratti is still very business-savvy.

Of course, this meeting between Moratti and Qatar is only a preliminary communication.

If we really want to confirm the acquisition of the club, it cannot be done in a short time.

Qatar successfully bid to host the 2022 World Cup at the beginning of this month!
  Before the results were announced, probably no one except Qatar believed that this unknown small country could win the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

Most fans in the world may not have heard of this country at all, let alone where it is.

This doubt will only increase further after getting to know him.

How did this small desert country with an area of ​​only 11521 square kilometers and less than the size of two magical cities win among competitors including the United States?
  No matter how you look at it, it can be said that Qatar lacks almost all the elements to host the World Cup, whether it is football tradition, influence, reception capacity or even the local climate environment.

Questions have been raised about how it will be possible to play a World Cup in a place where temperatures can reach 50 degrees this summer.

From the moment the results came out, rumors about Qatar's bribery and FIFA corruption have been endless.

Saying so much is actually just to illustrate a situation.

That is, Qatar urgently needs to find a foothold in world football and increase their visibility and influence.

The purpose is naturally to successfully host the World Cup twelve years later.

As for why Qatar spends a lot of money and energy to do this laborious and potentially unpalatable thing, let’s put it aside for the time being.

Inter Milan, which just won six crowns, is undoubtedly a good choice for them, but it is not the only choice.

They had also contacted the Premier League giants Manchester United before, but when Glazer rejected the 16 billion pound purchase price offered by Qatar Holdings Group, the Arabs decisively ended the negotiations.

They are rich but not stupid. They are unlikely to be willing to continue to raise prices to satisfy the greed of Americans.

Negotiations with Barcelona ultimately failed in the acquisition, and only ended with an annual sponsorship fee of 3000 million euros so that Barcelona's chest was no longer empty.

If it weren't for the news that Moratti intended to sell Inter Milan, the Qatar Investment Fund might have been almost in talks with Paris Saint-Germain by this time.

Paris has many advantages, because they have been in poor shape in recent years and have even fallen to the middle and lower reaches of Ligue 1 at times.

This means that the price for Qatar's acquisition of them will not be very high and the resistance will not be great.

Inter Milan is different. Their status as six-time champions is destined to have a much higher influence than a French Ligue 1 team.

Although limited by the situation in Italy and Serie A, Inter Milan's economic value is not as good as the Premier League giants.

But what Qatar needs is not to make money, what they want is exactly influence!
  To make money they can invest in real estate and finance, which is what they are already doing.

It’s convenient and hassle-free, so why bother?

Therefore, the Qatar consortium was overjoyed when it learned that Moratti had the idea of ​​selling Inter Milan.

Although Inter Milan does not have as many fans around the world as Manchester United and Barcelona, ​​and its commercial value is temporarily not as good as theirs, the Nerazzurri have just won six crowns, and their influence at this moment is really not much worse than them.

And because of the flaws mentioned before, Qatar was also able to acquire Inter Milan at a more suitable price.

No matter how you look at it, this is a very suitable goal.

As for possible resistance, it is that Inter Milan fans in Italy may oppose this deal due to religious beliefs, ethnic issues and other reasons.

As Moratti's number one fan who deeply loves Inter Milan, this is also the point where he hesitates the most.

But since he is ready to leave, financial interests must also be considered.

It would be a bit unrealistic to find a local rich man who is a senior Inter Milan fan to take over the team.

Oil Dad is not without precedent. After the Abu Dhabi consortium acquired Manchester City in 2008, it became a nickname used by other teams to ridicule them.

But did the fans of other teams really not envy Manchester City's sufficient transfer funds when they were so angry with the so-called "oil dad"?
  As long as the new owner is generous enough and willing to invest money to improve the team's soft and hard strength, and bring big-name stars and more championships to the team, the fan group that was the most opposed at the beginning will eventually return to the stadium to cheer for the team. Cheer.

This is the "Law of True Fragrance" that applies to both ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad.

There is no news from the outside world about the outcome of the negotiations.

However, before the start of his Christmas vacation, Leo received an invitation from Mr. Chairman to a family dinner.

In Moratti's villa in Verona, Leo met the Moratti couple and their five children.

Of course, this is not the first time Leo has seen them. He attended the wedding of Moratti's eldest daughter Celeste Moratti two months ago.

"Just treat this as your own home, no need to be so polite."

After greeting everyone, Leo stood cautiously on the side, feeling a little embarrassed.

He still didn't like this situation very much. Moratti obviously noticed this and said this deliberately.

Until this moment, Leo still didn't know why the Chairman called him to come home. After all, they were a big family and they were too particular. Until dinner was over, Leo didn't have a chance to ask questions about his doubts.

Finally, when he was full of wine and food, Moratti spoke.

"Leo, let's go to the study and have a chat."

Leo naturally nodded repeatedly and followed his father to the second floor.

"You must be wondering why I asked you to come here."

Leo smiled and nodded, "There must be something important."

Moratti sighed and said slowly:

"I have been running Inter Milan for sixteen years, and more than ten years have passed by in a blink of an eye.

After I became the club president, I think the two wisest decisions were to invite Mourinho and to keep you.

Before this, I spent a lot of money, changed more than a dozen coaches, and bought many big-name players, but the team was never able to make a breakthrough in the Champions League.

Six-time champion, I really never thought that Inter Milan could achieve such an achievement in my hands!
  I am already very contented.

Everyone knows that I have deep feelings for this team, but in fact I really can’t let it go.

I know there are already rumors that I am planning to sell the team. What do you think of this? "

So straight to the point? Leo didn't expect to hear such explosive news as soon as he came up.

Is Moratti really planning to retreat?
  "From your perspective, at this time..."

"No..." Moratti shook his head, "Don't think about it for me, just tell me what you think."

"Forehead……"

"Don't worry, just say whatever you want. I want to know your true opinion."

Now that Moratti has said so, Leo will no longer hide it.

“Okay, then I’ll get straight to the point.

In fact, since the beginning of this season, I have discovered some problems and have been thinking about the reasons why the team has these problems.

The biggest problem is that after our great achievement of winning the Triple Crown last season, the club raised wages and retained almost all important players.

Some of my teammates are already very old, many of them are over 30 years old. Giving them a big contract at this time is not a wise decision.

Even without considering the decline in personal abilities with age, after winning enough honors, their overall desire for victory has weakened significantly.

I dare say that there are some players in the team who are already drifting away and will no longer try their best to win every game.

This is also very detrimental to Inter Milan's future development.

After talking about the internal issues, let’s talk about the external issues. With the influx of capital, the “inflation” in the value of players, especially big-name stars, in the market is getting more and more serious.

If you want to achieve good results in the future, the investment required will definitely become larger and larger.

Italy's economy continues to decline, Serie A's operations are bleak, and Inter Milan's financial situation is not very good as far as I know.

If this continues, without large capital investment, we are likely to gradually become a star training factory for those 'rich' teams. "

"Like Ajax?"

"Absolutely. Anyway, we don't want to win the Champions League, and big-name players won't consider us.

Then the income will naturally be lower and fall into a vicious circle. "

Moratti's whole face wrinkled up, and he fell into deep thought after listening to Leo's words.

Leo wasn't in a hurry, and thought carefully about whether there was anything he hadn't mentioned yet.

"I didn't expect you to think so much at such a young age. Actually, I just wanted to ask for your personal opinion.

But after you said this, I almost understand what you think.

So you don’t object to me selling Inter Milan, you just hope that the person who acquires Inter Milan is a company with strong financial resources and willing to invest capital, right? "

Isn’t this just in line with the Qatari consortium? The balance in Moratti's heart gradually began to tilt.

"Let me tell you something. I had preliminary communication with the Qatari consortium before.

They said they would ensure an annual investment of at least 100 million after taking over the team, but the current players in the team need to be gradually purged.

Of course you will continue to stay in the team, and as the core, they will build a new generation of Inter Milan's lineup around you.

This is why I specially called you to my house. "

Leo then nodded in realization, but what Moratti said just now was, "Qatar's consortium?"

Moratti nodded and introduced to Leo:
  “You may not know that Qatar is a small country in the Middle East, but they do have abundant funds and an urgent need to expand their international influence.

They are very sincere and there are professionals who know football very well among the negotiators. There is no doubt about this. "

(End of this chapter)