The second conversation between little fat boy Louis and Pique did not achieve the results Chen Ran hoped to see.

So, according to Chen Ran's plan, the little fat man drafted a transfer plan with a buy-back clause for Pique and sent it to Barcelona.

After receiving the transfer package from the Crystal Palace club, Guardiola was very happy.

Creating the main lineup for the new season with direct Barcelona players from La Masia as the core is the team building idea established by Guardiola as soon as he took office.

Not only the existing Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and others, Guardiola also promoted Busques and Bojan from the Barcelona youth team.

Now if Pique is bought from Crystal Palace, then except for the three big-name foreign players in the forward line who cannot be replaced for the time being, Barcelona's entire skeleton has basically been constructed in accordance with Guardiola's ideas.

However, when the repurchase plan drawn up by the little fat man himself was delivered to Laporta, it was blocked by the Barcelona club chairman.

After receiving the news, Guardiola immediately rushed to Laporta's office.

"Mr. President, why do you want to stop Pique's transfer? This young man is an excellent central defender with great potential."

In the office, not only Laporta was present, but Fernandez, Barcelona's sporting director in charge of transfer affairs, was also there.

"Josep, it's not that I'm not optimistic about Pique, but the buy-back clause set up by Crystal Palace is almost exactly the same as the buy-back clause we set up when they brought in Cesc Fabregas."

"And they sold Pique to us for 5 million euros, and then set a repurchase price of 5 million euros. What does this mean? You should know it without me telling you, right?"

Laporta had obviously expected that Guardiola would come to him, and he unhurriedly stated his reasons for halting the transfer.

"Mr. Chairman, although the buy-back terms are similar, the situation at Crystal Palace is far different from what it was before. Even if we accept the buy-back terms now, Pique may not return to the Crystal Palace club in the future."

"Oh? Josep, why did you come to such a conclusion? What exactly did you think?"

Laporta and Fernandez looked at each other, and the latter curiously asked the reason.

"Mr. Chairman, Robert, you also know that I have served as an assistant coach at Crystal Palace Club in the past few years, and I can say that I know the situation there quite well."

"Crystal Palace's current central defender position is overcrowded, and the strength of each player is higher than that of Pique, who is still relatively immature."

"It can be said that if Pique returns to the Crystal Palace, he will have no chance to play. As long as Pique is not stupid, then it is impossible for him to want to return to the Crystal Palace."

"As long as the players are unwilling to go back, then we can negotiate with the Crystal Palace club and use money to make them give up activating the buy-back clause."

Guardiola's analysis immediately aroused Laporta's interest again.

However, Fernandez did interject a word at this time.

"Josep, are you sure that Crystal Palace won't give Pique a chance to play? If Chen Ran is really optimistic about Pique, he will also give Pique a chance to perform, right?"

It has to be said that Fernandez's worries are not unreasonable, and Laporta also turned to look at Guardiola.

"Um...Robert, frankly speaking, the situation you mentioned is indeed possible. But even in the worst outcome, we can at least have Pique for a while."

Having said this, Guardiola looked sincerely into Laporta's eyes.

"Mr. President, there are no absolutes in this world. The reason why I am willing to promote this transfer is because the possibility of keeping Pique in Barcelona is not small, and it is worth giving us a try."

"Robert, what do you think?"

Laporta did not answer Guardiola's question directly, but turned to ask Fernandez for his opinion.

"Well...Mr. Chairman, according to Josep's analysis, we can really take a gamble. The worst result is that we help Crystal Palace train Pique for free for two seasons."

"If the bet wins, then we will get a central defender that can be used for ten years. Calculated this way, the risk does not seem to be too great."

Laporta still attaches great importance to the opinions of Fernandez, his right-hand man.

After weighing it carefully, Laporta nodded slightly.

"Then give it a try. However, the repurchase price of 5 million euros is too low, it must be at least 10 million euros!"

"Okay, Mr. Chairman, I know what to do."

...

London, Crystal Palace Club, the little fat boy Luis who received the reply from Barcelona Club once again came to Chen Ran's office.

"Chen, Barcelona agreed to the buy-back terms you requested. However, they proposed to increase the buy-back terms to 10 million euros."

"10 million euros?"

Chen Ran smiled contemptuously. Want to rely on this little money to stop himself from repurchasing? Barcelona is really thinking blindly.

"Luis, go tell Barcelona Club that it is 5 million euros and we will not accept bargaining."

Now and then, the Crystal Palace now is no longer the Crystal Palace it was back then, and the initiative in negotiations is completely in Chen Ran's hands.

"clear!"

Under the mediation of Guardiola, Chen Ran finally made a slight concession.

The two clubs, Crystal Palace and Barcelona, ​​finally reached an agreement on a buy-back price of 5.5 million euros.

Pique also officially joined Barcelona Club for 5 million euros.

The Crystal Palace club has the right to forcefully repurchase Pique from Barcelona for 5.5 million euros after two seasons.

...

Guardiola is busy building Barcelona according to his own ideas, and in Real Madrid, Mourinho is not idle either.

Under his strong recommendation, Real Madrid introduced Argentine winger Di Maria and Portuguese left back Coentrao from Portugal's Benfica for 25 million euros and 21 million euros respectively.

By the way, both players are clients of Mendes' agency.

In addition, Real Madrid also spent 13 million euros to buy Dutch midfielder Van der Vaart from the German club Hamburg.

Of course, in order to free up positions, Mourinho also sold Soldado, Granero, Balboa and others who came from Real Madrid's youth training to other small clubs at low prices.

...

In this summer, apart from the sudden intrusion of the Manchester City club, there is also good news for Chen Ran.

The power of the financial tsunami in 2008 began to show, and global stock markets plummeted.

So far, the U.S. Dow Jones Index, a global stock market, has fallen by 20%, and stock markets in other countries are even more devastated.

Of course, many football club owners have not been spared. Their fortunes have plummeted, and many clubs have even had to file for bankruptcy protection.

The general situation is not good, and the transfer investment of major clubs has naturally shrunk significantly, so they generally do not take much action in the transfer market.

For Manchester United, which is saddled with huge debts, life is obviously even more difficult.

In addition to the high interest rates they had to repay, the Glazer family's other assets continued to explode, forcing them to withdraw funds from Manchester United to put out fires. Naturally, they had no money to buy Ferguson.

In desperation, Sir Alex Ferguson had to raise transfer funds by selling players.

He even sold two important players, Saha and Silvestre, to Everton and Arsenal respectively, and then raised enough money to buy them from Tottenham Hotspur for a sky-high price of 30.75 million pounds.

The famous "Chivalrous Brother", Bulgarian striker Berbatov.

As for Chelsea, whose lineup is already very strong, Ancelotti only made minor reinforcements to the team.

In addition to bringing in midfielder Deco from Barcelona, ​​they also spent 16 million pounds to buy Portuguese right back Bosingwa from Porto.

This is completely different from Abramovich's continuous investment of hundreds of millions of euros in transfers in previous years.

On Arsenal's side, in addition to bringing in French center back Silvestre from Manchester United, they also bought French midfielder Nasri from Marseille for 12 million pounds and Wales from Cardiff City for 5 million pounds.

Midfielder Ramsey.

At first glance, it seems that Arsenal has money to buy people. In fact, after deducting the sold players such as Hleb and Gilberto Silva, Arsenal's net investment is only 350,000 euros.

On Liverpool's side, which is also burdened with huge debts, they actually spent a high price of 20 million pounds to introduce Irish striker Robbie Keane from Tottenham Hotspur, and also bought him from Udinese for 7 million pounds.

Italian left-back Dossena.

It's not that Liverpool's two American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillette, have increased their investment. On the contrary, these two guys have pushed the Liverpool club further into the abyss.

Most of Tom Hicks and George Gillette's assets are in the United States, and they also invest a lot in the stock market.

When the stock market crashed, they were in dire straits and couldn't protect themselves. They wanted to cash out Liverpool at a high price and leave, but no one was willing to take over. They were unwilling to sell out at a loss.

So, the two of them decided that since they were on the gambling table, they decided to play a big one.

When Liverpool Club is already carrying huge debts, they continue to borrow money to buy people at ultra-high interest rates. They try to improve Liverpool Club's performance as much as possible so that they can cash out and leave.

As for Chen Ran, as a reborn person, he was naturally prepared for today's situation early.

He knows very well that this is far from the darkest moment of this financial tsunami.

He had already liquidated his heavy holdings of Penguin stocks in advance, waiting for the price to fall and then enter the market to pick up bargains.

When Chen Ran thinks about the soaring Penguin stock price in the future, Chen Ran can laugh out of his dreams.

With these Penguin stocks, he can still be on the Forbes list even if he does nothing.

Chen Ran is in a good mood, and everything he sees now feels pleasing to the eye.

What made him gratified was that, according to the reports of those private investigators, since he asked the little fat man to pass on the news of salary increases to the Crystal Palace players' agents, these guys' contact with other clubs immediately decreased significantly.

As the time for Crystal Palace players to return to the team is gradually approaching, no players or agents have submitted transfer applications to the club.

"Chen, the results of the club operating cost accounting you requested have been obtained, and the salary increase that can be given to the players has also been calculated. The specific amount of increase needs to be decided by you."

After finishing speaking, Stephen handed the document directly to Chen Ran.

However, Stephen's face was not very good-looking. Thinking of having to spend so much more money every year in the future, he felt like a knife.
To be continued...