In major tournament years, including World Cup years and European Championship years, the transfer market is generally relatively quiet until the end of the tournament. Because a lot of people will wait and see, the seller's market is waiting for their players to shine at the World Cup and then sell them. The younger the player, the more so.

But in April '06, something suddenly surprised happened in European football. Just entering April, the "Sun" was the first to break the news. That is Franco, who has excelled in Lyon this season, who has moved to Manchester United for £26 million.

When the news first came out, everyone thought it was a joke. Ribery's performance in Lyon this season has attracted the attention of many giants, especially Lyon's Champions League quarter-finals. And in the quarter-finals, Ribery single-handedly turned Milan's right side upside down. Although he was eliminated in the end, he scored one goal in each of the two legs, home and away, and if he scored one more goal in the end, he would have eliminated Milan by away goals.

Despite Ribery's performance, no one thought Ribery would be worth the price. After all, 26 million pounds is more than 40 million euros in euros. Ribery was only twenty-three years old, and until a year before his fame had been confined to France. Even if you perform well this season, it shouldn't be such a high price.

The Sun is England's number one tabloid newspaper with a lot of fake transfer news. Even when many brokers have fake news, they will choose The Sun. Because they are professional in this area, they have the most experience in this area in European football. Getting them to post fake transfer news is a no-brainer for them.

But soon British newspapers began to follow suit. are all sworn to guarantee this transfer. Of course, they all have their own opinions on transfer fees, but one thing is certain. That is, Ribery's transfer is a foregone conclusion. In addition to British newspapers, soon newspapers in France and German newspapers began to report on the transfer.

After all, Ribery's transfer has gone up and down a lot. From Manchester United's top management to Lyon's side, there are too many channels to leak information. And Manchester United and Lyon are not prepared to block the news, but are just cautious when negotiating. After the talks were almost over, there was not much need for the transfer to be kept secret.

The reason why the media is so focused on this transfer is because if it is done, it will be another spectacular transfer in European football. After all, after entering the twenty-first century. Especially after the collapse of the transfer market in Serie A football. Only the transfer fees of the top stars can come up with a transfer fee of 40 million euros.

"Yes, we have reached an agreement with Lyon."

At the time of the seething, Manchester United CEO David . Jill finally affirmed the media's claims. He didn't say much about Ribery's transfer fee, but he was sure of it: "Frank. Franck Ribery is the player we need. He is a key player for Manchester United next season. He will be the most important part of United's rebuild. Although a lot of people think that we spend too much money. But I would say that soon everyone will find out. That's not much money at all. ”

After this transfer, several parties are very happy. Needless to say, Lyon, Aulas didn't spend much money when he brought in Ribery. Combined with the commission for Riester, the signing fee for Ribery, and Ribery's salary for a year, it only took just over 10 million euros to bring in Ribery.

But Franck Ribery helped Lyon defend their Ligue 1 title and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League all the way to the quarter-finals, narrowly missing Milan. Now that Ribery has transferred, the transfer fee has exceeded 40 million euros. In this coming-and-going, Lyon's profits are very high.

This is especially true for Manchester United. After two consecutive years of slump, the arrival of Chelsea, a local tycoon, caught Manchester United off guard. Especially Chelsea came at a time when Manchester United was in a state of flux, which led to a very poor performance in the past two seasons. Ferguson had hoped for a slow change, but Chelsea's presence did not allow United to hesitate. Therefore, Manchester United also need some transfers to boost their needs, and they need to speed up the renewal of the team.

Ferguson is optimistic about Ribery, and agrees with Lister's statement that Ribery is at the heart of the future of French football. Although the transfer fee is a bit high this time, Ferguson will never hesitate once he makes up his mind. Therefore, before the World Cup, he immediately made a move and took Ribery from Lyon.

Ribery was even happier. Whether it's Metz or Marseille, they're clubs in Ligue 1. After the Boseman Act, the decline of Ligue 1 became more and more obvious. Lyon don't look like a monopoly of the Ligue 1 champions, but in the eyes of other top European leagues, they are just domestic tycoons in Ligue 1. Now that he is in Manchester United, Franck Ribery is very happy.

As for Rist, needless to say. Rist has got too many benefits in this transfer. Olas didn't think about selling Ribery before the World Cup, he wanted to sell Ribery at a high price after the World Cup. But Manchester United were too fierce and the offer directly impressed Aolas. In Aulas's predictions, even if Ribery performs well in this World Cup, the transfer fee will not exceed this amount.

So Rist took advantage of both sides this time. Take commissions from Manchester United and share the transfer fees from Lyon. In the end, Rist received almost seven million euros from the transfer. And Ribery's salary is even higher, with Manchester United earning £70,000 a week.

But United are at the centre of the storm. As soon as it was reported that Manchester United had taken Ribery for 26 million pounds, it was again rumored that Atletico Madrid had taken Manchester United's Rosicky for 22 million euros.

This surprised a lot of people. What exactly does Manchester United want to do? It's rare to have such a heavyweight transfer before the World Cup, but Manchester United have seen such transfers in a row.

Rosicky's performances at Manchester United have not been as good as expected, but they are not too bad. Unexpectedly, Manchester United sold Rosicky. It stands to reason that at this time, everyone's focus is on the Champions League and the end of the league. Of course, a large part of it is in the news of the World Cup. But this season has been different, with Manchester United in the news at the end of the season.

However, it is also because Manchester United has no hope of winning the Premier League this season and has also been eliminated from the Champions League. That's why Ferguson has time for such a transfer.

…………

"Italian football is fun. Hehe. ”

Arneson looked at the newspaper and gloated. European football in '06 was an eventful year, never before was there a situation that would have been so much before the World Cup.

If the transfer news of players such as Ribery and Rosicky is somewhat attractive, then the news that Ballack has joined Chelsea and Shevchenko may join Chelsea is even more eye-catching. No one expected that there would be one heavyweight transfer after another before the World Cup, and now there are rumours everywhere that Chelsea are going to bring in Shevchenko for more than 50 million euros. If this transfer goes through, this is the most sensational transfer. Compared with Shevchenko, Ribery and Rosicky are all a notch off. That's what a real superstar player is.

It's a pity that these transfer news are not as hot as yesterday's news. On May 4, 2006, the "Milan Sports Newspaper" suddenly published the content of the phone call between the general manager of Juventus FC Moggi and the Serie A referee designator in recent years, and the content of the recording is mainly the phone record between Moggi in 04 and the referee designator Pairetto who served as the referee of Serie A for 6 seasons.

The news this time is a bombshell, although it has not yet come out completely, but the content published in the newspaper alone is shocking. Like Juventus' Moggi, he arbitrarily assigns referees in many games. Although many things are clearly understood by people in the industry, the effect of being published in the newspaper is completely different.

"Frank, Serie A is over. "Little World Cup" is completely finished. ”

"Yes."

Arneson nodded. Now that there is only a little more than a month left before the World Cup, no one expected such a scandal to break out.

"Since Fiorentina, Lazio, Parma, and other Serie A powerhouses began to decline due to economic reasons, the transfer market in Serie A has shrunk significantly, and the attractiveness of Serie A has been greatly reduced. After this incident, Serie A will definitely be greatly affected. ”

"Of course, Frank."

Rister understands the impact of Phonegate on Italian football better than anyone else. Although after the outbreak of "Phonegate", the Italian national team won the World Cup, followed by Milan and Inter Milan won the Champions League. But these successes simply cannot stop the rapid decline of the Italian league.

"I can look forward to it. This incident will be a devastating blow to the image of Italian football, the market appeal of the vast majority of clubs will drop to a freezing point, and a large number of excellent players will flee Serie A, causing the competitive level of the Italian league to decline rapidly. Of course, this will lead to a decline in Serie A's European ability, and it will be difficult for Serie A to retain its current position in the Europa League. In the coming years, the chances of Italian teams competing in European competitions will be greatly reduced, which in turn will lead to a vicious cycle of more good players not wanting to join Serie A. ”

"That's right. Serie A has been short of money in recent years, and large transfers have begun to disappear. After this incident, the clubs of Serie A are even less likely to spend money. Without spending money, he will not be able to attract more good players, he will not be able to surpass the Premier League and La Liga, and maybe even the Bundesliga in the future. ”

The downward trend of Serie A in recent years has been obvious, and with such a thing this time, no one can stop the decline of Serie A.

"Lister, I've figured it out. Money, only money is the foundation of commercial football at present. I'm going to Chelsea, Serie A is going to fall completely. In the future, European football will be the world of La Liga and the Premier League, and I will go to Chelsea. I can't afford to waste this God-given opportunity. (To be continued......)