On November 10, 2015, at 9:20 a.m., Li Mudi held a temporary coaching staff meeting and handed over the next work to everyone, and missed the morning training for the second consecutive day. He walked out of the Castile training ground and strolled towards the Valdebebas Centre, Real Madrid's office building, not too far from here.

The current contract is valid from 1 July to 30 June 2016 and is paid 288,000 euros before taxes and 150,000 euros after taxes. Less than a third of the league schedule, the club offered to renew the contract, and although there is a bonus to the youth training incident, there is no doubt that Li Mudi is in the initiative at the negotiation table for the new contract. And to take advantage of this advantage, he has to plan some benefits for himself.

It is good to have an appointment arrangement, arrive outside the chairman's office ten minutes early, and the secretary immediately brings out a cup of coffee, so that Li Mudi will not be too idle while waiting for the summons. Then he himself went into the office to confirm the chairman's schedule, and soon took out a man in a suit and leather shoes from inside, and after sending him out of the building, he turned around and led Li Mudi into the "court" Lafayette.

This is the first time that Li Mudi has met with the president of Real Madrid alone since coming to Real Madrid, and the two have not crossed paths before, except for some brief exchanges at the leader's visit to the Castilla training base and the team gathering at the end of the year.

Despite all the negative opinions about him, no one will doubt that it was Mr. Florentino Pérez who brought the once-downed team of the century back from the bottom. Since his successful election as president of Real Madrid in 2000, although he has experienced forced resignation and the loss of his wife, he returned in 2009 and has made indelible contributions to the great revival of Real Madrid. Helping the team repay debts of up to nearly 300 million with zero losses, reforming the team's commercial operations has made Real Madrid one of the most commercially valuable and money-attracting clubs in the world, and bringing in a lot of football superstars...... All this has allowed the world to witness the miracle of white again. He is the only person in the club's 100-year history who is qualified to stand alongside the legendary president, Mr. Santiago Bernabéu.

As a president, Galeries Lafayette is great; But as a businessman, he is cold-blooded and ruthless, and extremely difficult to deal with. The coach or star he brought in, if he lost his position in the team or his favor, he would be ruthlessly driven away; And Calderón, surrounded by scandals, had to leave the presidency in ashes, and behind his intimidating smile was hidden.

Sitting in the chair in front of the chairman's desk, he greeted Mr. President respectfully, and for a moment of simple preparation of thoughts before waiting for the other party to speak, Li Mudi unconsciously compared him with Mr. Francisco, the chairman of Castile. is the same old man who is smiling all the time, but the feeling is worlds apart. Don't look at Li Mudi now, he is a kind and kind smile, but once he touches his bottom line, he is likely to be knocked into the dust and never come out. Therefore, although the current situation is very favorable to him, Li Mudi is still extremely cautious about this conversation.

"Lee, thank you for taking the time to come to me." Galeries Lafayette is quite polite.

Li Mudi responded with some flattery: "My honor. ”

"First of all, I want to congratulate you, you've been doing a great job lately. Of course, as a Melinger, I also want to thank you for what you have done for us, the fans. ”

"Thank you, Mr. President, I'm also a Meiling, so that's what I'm supposed to do." Li Mudi is still always modest.

Just as the two Meilinger were greeting each other, they heard the door knocked twice, and Lafayette smiled deeply and said to the Castile coach: "It should be Qizu who is here." Then he said in the direction of the door, "Please come in." ”

Sure enough, Qi Zu walked into the office under the guidance of his secretary.

Zidane had a deep relationship with the other two people in this room, so after a brief greeting, everyone immediately got to the point.

Lafayette restrained his smile and asked Li Mudi: "Presumably you have learned from Qi Zu about the purpose of coming to you today, and now the club intends to sign a new contract with you, I heard that you don't have an agent yet, so I can only contact you directly to hear what you think about this?" ”

Sitting on the couch, Qi Zu is a witness today, so he remains silent and will not get involved.

Li Mudi replied somewhat nervously according to the previous thoughts: "Of course, the new contract will be a good thing for me, I really don't have an economic person, so I don't know much about this aspect, but as long as the conditions meet my expectations, I don't think there is any problem." ”

Facing the old fox - ah no, Lafayette, the meaning of these words should be clear.

Perhaps because he didn't take the contract renewal of the reserve coach too seriously, Lafayette didn't take it as seriously as he did with his business rivals, but graciously took out a piece of paper from his hand and handed it over, while explaining: "This is the basic draft clause we have drawn up, if it is negotiated, we will make a contract and contact a lawyer for review." You take a look at it first, and if you have any doubts or suggestions, feel free to say. ”

Taking the draft, Li Mudi carefully examined what was written on it. It was very simple, the contract was extended until June 30, 2017, and the annual salary was increased by more than half to 250,000 euros after tax, and there was a signing fee of 30,000 euros. The only thing that Li Mudi found unacceptable was the liquidated damages, which became a common fixed value: 500,000 euros.

Through these contents, Li Mudi can probably guess the club's positioning for himself: the current team has good results, and there is a high chance of leading the team to successful promotion, and the Castilla youth training has once again attracted the attention of the world and is worth renewing the contract. But the price of the new contract should not be too big, not that it cannot be afforded, but it must be in line with the salary positioning of the team, Real Madrid has a standard for all kinds of treatment of players and coaches, and will not easily break this structure. If the team waits until the end of the season to confirm that the promotion has been successful before submitting a contract extension, the new contract will most likely be treated beyond expectations in the face of possible poaching by other teams. Therefore, it is really painstaking to give a new contract at this time, which can achieve the purpose of rewarding oneself and not allowing oneself to have the opportunity to open his mouth!

This draft is similar to what he expected before, Li Mudi thought about it for a while, thinking about whether it would be good to have a direct showdown, would it make Lafayette unhappy?

Just when he was hesitating, Qi Zu on the side coughed lightly, and when he saw his friend turn his head, he suggested: "If you have other ideas, just say them boldly, don't take them into account, Mr. Chairman will seriously consider it." ”

That's right! Who is Galeries Lafayette! How could you be such a rookie with yourself.

At this point, Mr. Florentino chimed in: "Yes, Lee, if you have other ideas, say it." While it is unlikely that the contract will increase in terms of annual salary in terms of the current club rules, I will do my best to help you get more out of my power. And I can guarantee that if all goes well, you will be offered a new contract at the end of the season, and there will be a certain increase in your annual salary, and the club will not treat you badly. ”

To put it bluntly, this renewal is that he doesn't want to let himself leave in vain when the contract expires next summer, mainly to extend the term by one year, so Li Mudi believes that the possibility of a new contract will be very great. But Li Mudi just doesn't want to be trapped here, even if it's only for an extra year.

Thinking of this, Li Mudi put aside his worries and said his request: "Mr. President, I am very happy that the club wants to give me a new contract, but I think there are still some objections to the specific terms. For example, the setting of liquidated damages is not user-friendly. I'm a Real Madrid kid and I'll always love it, but you know I'm not going to stay in Castile forever. As for the first team's managerial seat, I don't think I'm qualified to go for it for at least a few years. Saying this, Li Mudi's eyes moved to Zidane's face, and the other two people also noticed and understood the meaning of the words.

After a slight pause, he continued: "If there is a good chance, I hope to be able to get the team's clearance. Of course, if the team needs me again in the future, I will come back and go back to my own home without hesitation. Li Mudi's sincere gaze at this time showed his highest acting skills, if this can't impress Lafayette, then there is nothing to do.

After knowing it with affection, then move it with reason. "So I hope that the new contract will relax the conditions in terms of liquidated damages, and I am willing to reduce the annual salary appropriately for this reason. You don't even need to ask for a raise, just add some bonus clauses. ”

Galeries Lafayette kept his eyes on Li Mudi, his wise eyes flickered a few times, and after a little thought, he agreed to the request of the Castilian coach.

The final terms of the contract were: the contract period until June 30, 2017, the annual salary after tax is 180,000 euros, and the signing fee is 20,000 euros; In principle, the liquidated damages are 200,000 euros, and the specific value will be negotiated when Li Mudi needs to trigger it; Castile will be rewarded with 10,000 yuan for winning the league championship, 20,000 yuan for successful promotion, and 5,000 yuan for winning the cup championship (this cup information will be introduced later). After two days, the contract can be signed and effective under the witness of the lawyer.

After negotiating a new contract, Li Mudi's mood finally relaxed completely, and after Lafayette decided to invite his Qizu to lunch together, he began to implement the next plan.

"I don't know if you've been paying attention to the transfer news lately, Mr. Chairman, I've heard that there are teams that want to sign Odegaard on loan in the winter transfer window. Odegaard is a regular in the development squad and is doing very well, but if a higher team wants to sign him on loan, should we consider giving him a better chance to work out, given that he and Mbappe are no longer too much of a challenge in La Liga B. And he still had games to play when he was in the reserves, but once he was transferred to the first team, he could only be a sparring partner. Similarly, Mbappe has played little in the last month and has grown very slowly. I urgently need a clear direction from the club's top management to develop these young players. "The reserve team is for the first team, and the development of players is naturally under the control of its head coach, and Li Mudi said this in front of the chairman, undoubtedly giving Benitez eye medicine, saying that he does not communicate with himself and does not give young players a chance.