Starting With Real Madrid

"Why are you back so late?"

Hearing the sound of Gao Shen unlocking the door, Su Qing peeked her head out from the kitchen, a radiant smile on her face.

Ever since she started dating Gao Shen, she had been smiling much more often.

The once cold and reserved beauty had finally melted.

"Had a good chat?" Su Qing asked, returning to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner.

Gao Shen sat on the shoe-changing stool by the entrance and smiled.

"I met three seasoned football executives, very easy to talk to."

Su Qing emerged, balancing a dish in one hand, and urged him to wash his hands quickly so they could eat.

Lately, the two had begun living together shamelessly, with Su Qing taking care of all the housework.

At first, Gao Shen was more than happy to let himself be spoiled, but over time, he started helping out whenever he could.

"I'm looking for a wife, not a maid."

Neither of them liked the idea of hiring a housekeeper.

Although their apartment was spacious, keeping it clean wasn't difficult. More importantly, having a stranger in the house would just make them uncomfortable.

Instead, they preferred doing things themselves.

Both were neat and organized, so their home was never messy to begin with.

---

"They came to offer you a job, right?" Su Qing handed Gao Shen a pair of chopsticks and sat down across from him.

"Probably," Gao Shen replied. "But they didn't say it outright. They just shared their vision for the club."

Earlier today, Gao Shen had met with Bayern Munich's "Big Three"—Franz Beckenbauer, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and Uli Hoeneß—who had flown all the way from Munich to Beijing.

Their presence alone made it clear how serious they were.

"That's a strong show of sincerity," Su Qing commented.

"Yeah, and their project is quite convincing," Gao Shen nodded.

The Big Three were all seasoned football minds, and Bayern's management was among the best in Europe. Gao Shen had no doubts about their football expertise, nor their ability to maintain a strong working relationship with their head coach.

Even when Klinsmann's tenure had turned into a disaster, Bayern's leadership had managed the situation well.

More importantly, they understood that German football was on the rise.

---

"Isn't Bayern's youth system among the best in Germany?" Su Qing asked.

"Exactly," Gao Shen nodded. "Beckenbauer was actually one of the driving forces behind Germany's youth development overhaul. Bayern, of course, benefits the most from it."

There's an old saying in German football:

"The entire Bundesliga is Bayern's talent pool."

And there were many reasons for this.

Gao Shen had previously discussed why Bayern had remained the dominant force in German football.

It all traced back to Europe's pre-euro era, when each country had its own currency, the British pound, French franc, German mark, and Spanish peseta.

Back then, cross-border transfers were much rarer, and German players rarely moved abroad.

Many older football executives believed this was due to the complexities of international transfers at the time.

For example, because different countries used different currencies, many clubs ran into issues receiving payments for transferred players.

In some cases, teams never even got their money.

Several clubs ended up in court over unpaid transfer fees.

As a result, smaller clubs often preferred to sell their players domestically, to the top teams in their own leagues rather than taking risks with international deals.

In La Liga, this meant selling to Barcelona or Real Madrid.

In Serie A, it was Juventus, Milan, or Inter.

And in the Premier League, it was Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, or Liverpool.

But in Germany, Bayern stood alone at the top.

Dortmund had briefly challenged their dominance in the 1990s, but after financial troubles and near-bankruptcy, they had faded.

So, whenever a top Bundesliga player moved, Bayern was always the first option.

With no serious domestic competition, Bayern also benefited from the Bundesliga's financial restructuring after its early-2000s economic crisis—allowing them to sign top talent at bargain prices.

That was the reality.

---

Gao Shen was fully aware of the Bundesliga's landscape.

Although Klopp was about to launch Dortmund's resurgence, if Gao Shen took over Bayern, Klopp wouldn't stand a chance, because Gao Shen knew exactly how to neutralize Dortmund's tactics.

With Bayern's financial power and squad strength, beating Dortmund wouldn't be a challenge.

And as for the other Bundesliga clubs?

To be blunt, none of them posed a serious threat to Bayern's dominance.

That, however, was precisely Gao Shen's hesitation.

Coaching Bayern wouldn't be challenging enough.

To be honest, even an average manager could win the Bundesliga with Bayern.

For most coaches, this would be a dream job, a guaranteed title, an elite squad, and full backing from the board.

But Gao Shen didn't see it that way.

Right now, he was still growing, still learning, still testing himself.

This was the crucial stage of his career, he needed to push his limits, gain more experience, and take on tougher challenges.

Seeking comfort and stability wasn't the answer.

Instead, he should be putting himself under pressure, creating obstacles, and solving bigger problems.

As a great leader once said:

"People need pressure. Without pressure, there is no progress."

Gao Shen agreed wholeheartedly.

Gao Shen believed that, while he was still young, he needed to seize every opportunity to gain experience, refine his skills, and further his development.

Getting too comfortable and staying in a safe environment wasn't the right approach.

If he had a choice, he would prefer the Premier League.

Ferguson's Manchester United, Ancelotti's Chelsea, Benítez's Liverpool, Wenger's Arsenal, Redknapp's Tottenham, Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa, Moyes' Everton…

All of them were strong, competitive teams.

This was why the Premier League was the most influential league in world football and the most intensely competitive battleground.

Gao Shen had gone to Serie A to coach Napoli with the goal of honing his skills.

Now, he wanted to test himself in the Premier League, where he could fully display his tactical ideas and see just how capable he really was.

He also wanted to use the Premier League's relentless competition to push himself to an even higher level.

However, at this stage, this was just his initial thought.

---

A few days ago, Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak called him.

Gao Shen didn't immediately reject the approach, he was curious to hear about City's project.

He wanted to know how much support the club could offer and how much freedom he would have.

At the moment, Manchester City also had a technical director—Brian Kidd.

A former assistant to Ferguson, Kidd had deep knowledge of the Premier League, knowing it inside and out.

Gao Shen wasn't in a hurry to make a decision.

Bayern's offer was solid, but he was still waiting for Manchester City's proposal.

---

Gao Shen had been wondering how De Laurentiis and Marino would handle Napoli's transfers this summer.

The first sale would be crucial.

He had considered several scenarios, perhaps they would cash in on Thiago Motta, Cavani, Rakitic, Sánchez, or Di María, all highly sought-after young talents.

But what he hadn't expected was for Napoli's board to take an entirely different approach.

While European clubs were fixated on Napoli's biggest stars, the Italian media suddenly broke a shocking transfer story:

Napoli had sold Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia to Manchester United for €25 million.

This deal sent shockwaves through European football.

On one hand, Manchester United's signing of Valencia all but confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo was leaving for Real Madrid.

Ronaldo's impending departure had been widely reported for months, but now, this transfer made it feel all but inevitable.

On the other hand, Napoli had managed to sell Valencia at a massively inflated price, forcing all other clubs interested in Napoli's players to reconsider their budgets.

At the time of the deal, Valencia's estimated market value was only €15 million.

Yet Napoli had sold him for €25 million—a staggering 67% premium.

This shocked the entire football world.

For comparison, Kaka's market valuation was €55 million, and he transferred to Real Madrid for €65 million, an increase of just 18%.

But Valencia's price had been inflated by 67%—an absolutely staggering figure.

---

Such a premium could only mean one thing:

Ferguson was genuinely convinced by Valencia's talent, and Napoli's management had been ruthless in negotiations, leaving Manchester United with no choice but to pay up.

When Gao Shen heard the news, he was stunned.

He always knew that De Laurentiis and Marino were incredibly shrewd, but he never imagined that they were cunning enough to outmaneuver Ferguson himself.

Still, there was something odd about all of this.

Ferguson had paid an inflated price for Valencia, yet when negotiating with Lyon over Benzema, he had been stubbornly stuck at €30 million, refusing to budge.

This was strange.

After all, Benzema's market value was already €29 million—meaning Ferguson wasn't willing to pay a premium for him.

There were only two explanations:

1. Ferguson didn't rate Benzema that highly, but that was unlikely, given that he had been pursuing the striker for over a year.

2. Ferguson was confident he had already secured Benzema's commitment, possibly through a preliminary agreement.

As Gao Shen thought about it, he suddenly laughed to himself.

Football had a funny way of surprising even the most seasoned professionals.

Many times, teams thought they had locked in a player, only to have someone swoop in and steal the deal at the last moment.

That had been the case when Florentino Pérez and Martín lost the Real Madrid presidency to Ramón Calderón.

And now, it looked like Ferguson was about to lose Benzema the same way.

Because Gao Shen had already received clear information, Real Madrid were now in direct negotiations with Benzema.

---

Ferguson had always been notoriously careful with spending.

In 2003, United had missed out on Ronaldinho because of a small financial gap.

And now, in 2009, they might lose Benzema for the exact same reason.

Gao Shen couldn't help but feel tempted to call Ferguson directly and give him some advice:

"Sir, can you stop being so stingy?"

"If you had just spent a little more, you wouldn't just have two Champions League titles, you'd have three or four by now!"

And it was in this very situation that Gao Shen found himself meeting with Manchester United's fiercest rival.