Starting With Real Madrid

"Hello, Gao. Glad we meet again!"

At a hotel in the capital, Gao Shen greeted Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak with a smile.

He had expected Manchester City to show sincerity, but he hadn't anticipated them making such a big effort.

It was understandable for Mubarak to come in person, among Manchester City's executives, he was the only one who had previously met Gao Shen.

CEO Garry Cook and marketing director Fergal Harkin were two of the most influential figures in Manchester City's front office. While Mubarak controlled the finances, the actual operations were in their hands.

Both Cook and Harkin came from Nike.

In Gao Shen's previous life, Garry Cook resigned from his role at Manchester City after an email intended for consultant Brian Marwood was mistakenly sent to the terminally ill mother of defender Nedum Onuoha. As a result, Onuoha and his mother filed a complaint with the FA.

According to later reports, Onuoha's mother was also his agent. At the time, Onuoha was in a contract dispute with Manchester City, and Cook had sent an email to Marwood regarding the situation. However, due to an unfortunate mistake, the email was sent directly to Onuoha's mother instead, an embarrassing blunder.

Fergal Harkin's situation was just as peculiar.

According to Mubarak, Harkin was originally a manager in Nike's marketing and sponsorship department. After the Abu Dhabi United Group acquired Manchester City, they were determined to transform the club into a top European powerhouse. To achieve this, they made a significant financial investment to bring Harkin on board.

This had only happened a few days ago.

However, due to contractual restrictions with Nike, Harkin was temporarily unable to formally take on his role as Manchester City's marketing director. For now, he could only hold the title of "scout" while effectively managing the marketing department behind the scenes.

This arrangement would continue until his contract with Nike officially ended, which was expected to be around mid-August next year.

In other words, for an entire year, he would hold the title of a scout while performing the duties of a marketing director.

Consultant Brian Marwood had played for Arsenal, Middlesbrough, and Sheffield Wednesday during his career.

Technical director Brian Kidd, on the other hand, had a rather unfortunate career trajectory.

He had been Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United since 1988, serving for ten years. In December 1998, he got an opportunity to take over as Blackburn Rovers' manager midway through the season and decided to leave United.

Who could have predicted that just six months later, Manchester United would go on to win the historic treble? Meanwhile, Kidd's managerial stint at Blackburn ended in failure.

After that, he worked as an assistant under David O'Leary at Leeds United, spent a year as an assistant coach for England's national team under Sven-Göran Eriksson, then moved on to Sheffield United to assist Bryan Robson before joining Portsmouth.

Now, he was Manchester City's technical director.

In fact, just a few days earlier, Manchester City had another director of football, Mike Rigg. He had been Mark Hughes' assistant at Blackburn, and when Hughes became City's manager, he recommended Rigg for the role of director of football.

But after Hughes was sacked, Rigg also left the club.

…

Manchester City's five-man delegation included nearly all of their key decision-makers—essentially, their entire senior management team was present.

Gao Shen could certainly feel Manchester City's sincerity.

But their sincerity didn't stop there.

Mubarak extended an invitation to Gao Shen on behalf of Sheikh Mansour, the club's owner, asking him to travel to Dubai in the coming days to film advertisements for Emirates Airlines and the UAE Tourism Board. Additionally, he was invited to visit Abu Dhabi for further discussions.

"Sheikh Mansour hopes to have a proper sit-down with you to discuss the future of Manchester City," Mubarak said.

He also mentioned that Abu Dhabi was working on strengthening ties with Chinese oil companies.

"We sincerely hope that you can serve as a bridge for cooperation between China and the UAE."

Gao Shen smiled and nodded, indicating that he would give it serious consideration.

As a former Nike marketing executive, Fergal Harkin was focused on building Manchester City's commercial operations. He believed that Gao Shen's market value had been severely underestimated, largely because his previous experience was in Serie A.

"You know, the Premier League is the most influential football league in the world right now. Given your current profile, we're absolutely confident that moving to the Premier League will elevate your personal brand and influence to an entirely new level."

Fergal Harkin also took out a somewhat rough plan. Gao Shen skimmed through it and found that it did contain some valuable information. No wonder Manchester City was willing to spend so much to bring him in.

Many people assume that Middle Eastern billionaires are simply throwing money around, but in reality, they are highly strategic in their investments.

Whether it's the current Manchester City or the future Paris Saint-Germain, they are far from being reckless spenders.

Gao Shen had to admit, he was looking forward to coaching in the Premier League.

This revelation excited Mubarak and the others.

At present, the managerial positions among the Premier League's "Big Four" were relatively stable. After Gao Shen personally rejected Chelsea and Ancelotti took over at Stamford Bridge, his potential landing spots in England had become limited.

Among the remaining options, Manchester City was undoubtedly the most ambitious and promising.

However, Gao Shen had no idea just how determined the club was.

Garry Cook outlined Manchester City's long-term vision, while Mubarak reiterated that the Abu Dhabi United Group's investment in the club was far from a short-term venture. This was the beginning of a ten-year plan, with the ultimate goal of making Manchester City the strongest club in Europe.

"Gao, we all know you've achieved tremendous success in Serie A over the past three years, but your ability and potential have been restricted by Napoli. Otherwise, with your capability, you could have taken that team to an even higher level instead of watching it fall apart this summer," Mubarak said, hitting the nail on the head.

Had Napoli possessed more financial resources, Gao Shen was confident he could have led them to defend their Champions League title.

But unfortunately, Napoli couldn't keep up.

De Laurentiis simply couldn't provide more funding, and Gao Shen wasn't about to push him to continue investing nor did he have the intention or ambition to do so.

"But we are different," Mubarak continued. "Our goal is to build a top-tier team, and we can provide you with the best platform to achieve that. On behalf of the Abu Dhabi United Group and Manchester City, I can promise you full control over the club's football operations. At Manchester City, you can have the same authority that Ferguson enjoyed at Manchester United!"

Gao Shen was genuinely moved by these words.

The power Ferguson wielded at Manchester United was something many managers dreamed of.

"And that's not all," Mubarak added. "I can also promise you the most generous transfer budget, without an upper limit. You will have complete freedom to showcase your talent and ambitions, sign the players you want, and build the team exactly as you envision. My colleagues and I will fully support you!"

Gao Shen looked at Mubarak and the others in astonishment. He hadn't expected Manchester City to be willing to invest so much.

Whether it was in terms of authority or financial backing, they were offering him the absolute best conditions.

At that moment, Gao Shen felt an overwhelming urge to agree on the spot.

But in the end, he held himself back, nodded, and said, "Give me some time to think about it."

…

As Gao Shen stepped out of the room, he could still feel his heart racing.

Walking out of the hotel, he took several deep breaths.

He needed to calm himself down.

There was no denying it, Mubarak's offer was incredibly generous.

In fact, looking at the entire football world today, it would be nearly impossible to find another club willing to offer such terms.

Mubarak had essentially handed over full control of Manchester City's football operations to him.

However, in modern European football, such an arrangement was almost unheard of.

Even Ferguson, despite his immense authority at Manchester United, did not personally handle transfer negotiations. He simply selected his preferred targets and let the club handle the negotiations.

It wasn't because he lacked the ability to negotiate, but rather to avoid any conflicts of interest.

After all, scandals involving illegal payments in the Premier League had made waves in the early 2000s.

In reality, Manchester United's management would never have allowed Ferguson to personally oversee transfer dealings.

With that in mind, it became clear that Mubarak's offer represented the absolute limit of what Manchester City could provide.

To borrow a famous future quote: "I have never been swayed by money, but… he offered too much!"

That was exactly how Gao Shen felt at this moment.

While Manchester City's approach may have seemed extravagant, it also demonstrated their sincerity in pursuing him.

…

Gao Shen kept his discussions with both Bayern Munich and Manchester City completely under wraps. No information leaked to the media.

Meanwhile, the football world remained focused on the transfer market.

Shortly after announcing the signing of Kaka, sources close to Real Madrid revealed that the club had secured Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. The transfer fee was expected to exceed €100 million, setting a new world record.

At the same time, Barcelona, having learned from the mistakes of the previous season, was determined to overhaul their squad.

Pep Guardiola had set his sights on signing Zlatan Ibrahimović from Inter Milan, along with several Napoli players, including Alexis Sánchez, Thiago Motta, Eduardo Vargas, and David Luiz.

The total cost of these deals would be astronomical.

According to reports from the Catalan media, Barcelona's management had discussed with Guardiola the need to prioritize certain signings, as they could not afford all of them at once.

However, when they first approached Inter Milan, the Italian club firmly rejected any attempts to sign Ibrahimović, stating that the Swedish striker was absolutely not for sale.

On the other hand, Napoli was open to selling Sánchez, but the club had placed a staggering €60 million price tag on the Chilean winger, far above what most believed he was worth.

Despite this, club president De Laurentiis had instructed sporting director Marino to formally present their asking price to Barcelona while publicly denying any intention to sell Sánchez.

"We don't need to sell anyone," De Laurentiis declared. "Selling Sánchez isn't even under consideration. His contract includes a release clause, if anyone wants to buy him, they must meet that price. Otherwise, don't waste my time!"