The Legend Ends, Lin Feng Joins Inter Milan

Contract negotiations cannot be completed in a single day, especially when it comes to the detailed clauses within. To avoid any traps hidden in the contract, one must find a professional to analyze it line by line.

Lin Feng's older brother happened to have connections in this field. He utilized his personal network to bring in a legal professional to help Lin Feng study the document.

After the other party carefully examined it, they did not find any major issues, essentially ruling out the possibility of any landmines hidden in the contract.

"As it stands, there are no major problems with the contract provided by Inter Milan, but there are a few details that require special attention!"

Hearing his brother's analysis, Lin Feng sat up straight, looking like a student listening intently.

"First, the duration of the contract is too long; this contract spans five years.

A large part of the reason Inter Milan is offering you such a high annual salary is because of the long contract cycle."

"Second, your Portrait Rights are entirely with Inter Milan, which is unfavorable for your commercial development. After all, you have a massive market of 1.3 billion people behind you!"

"Therefore, my advice is to shorten the contract term and fight for full or partial Portrait Rights as much as possible."

Because of his profession, he had long tracked and observed the price trends of commodities as well as the fluctuations in the prices of daily necessities.

Thus, he was clearer than anyone else about how severe the inflation in Europe and America had been over these years.

And this kind of inflation was bound to spill over into the sport of football.

The evidence for this was the constantly soaring transfer fees in the Football World over these years.

Before the new millennium, the highest transfer record in the Football World was still Vieri, whom Inter Milan had brought in from Lazio for 50 million USD, equivalent to 42.5 million Euro.

But just two years later, nine Players had already broken that record.

Zidane had even pushed the record for the highest transfer fee up by nearly double with a sky-high price of 76 million Euro!

Corresponding to the roller-coaster rise in transfer fees were the annual salaries of the Players.

Before 2000, there were very few Players in the entire Football World with an annual salary exceeding 5 million Euro.

But today, the highest annual salaries in the Football World had long since broken the 10 million mark, and the average annual salary within some top-tier giants even exceeded 5 million Euro.

Standing at this point in time today, the 3 million annual salary offered by Inter Milan was indeed very high.

But what about five years from now?

Such an annual salary might become the norm, and young Players with even a little bit of talent might be able to command such an annual salary.

Lin Feng never doubted his brother's professional competence; he always adhered to the principle of leaving professional matters to the professionals.

As a Reborn person, he naturally knew about the explosion in the Market Value and annual salaries of Players a few years later.

But his brother had been able to keenly perceive this just by looking at the trends in commodity futures prices.

He truly lived up to being a top student from Cambridge University; he was impressive!

Following his brother's advice, Lin Feng informed Inter Milan of his conditions.

He mainly put forward two requirements:

1. The annual salary could be appropriately reduced, but the contract term must be shortened to 3 years.

2. He demanded to obtain 100% of his Portrait Rights!

Seeing the two conditions proposed by Lin Feng, Facchetti was very angry.

"Who does this guy think he is? The only person in the entire Football World who holds 100% of his Portrait Rights is Raul. That is the iconic figure of Real Madrid; not everyone can have the kind of treatment Raul gets!"

The reason Facchetti was so furious was mainly because of Lin Feng's second condition.

Inter Milan chose to sign Lin Feng at a high price not only because Lin Feng's own strength attracted them, but what tempted them most was the massive market behind Lin Feng.

Many European teams chose to introduce Chinese Players, and the act itself carried the intention of developing the Chinese market.

Inter Milan certainly wanted a piece of that pie as well!

Under these circumstances, they were naturally unwilling to hand over Lin Feng's Portrait Rights.

If they handed over all the Portrait Rights, how would they develop the Chinese market?

But since the other party had made concessions on the annual salary, if Inter Milan did not make any concessions, the two sides would not be able to continue talking.

Seeing Facchetti lose his temper, Branca and Oliari exchanged glances, both feeling very helpless.

Chairman Moratti had specifically named Lin Feng to be signed; they were there on a mission from Chairman Moratti and did not have much autonomy.

Facchetti could certainly throw a tantrum, but it would not help solve the problem at all.

If they messed up the negotiations, they wouldn't be able to answer for it when they returned.

Therefore, after Facchetti's anger subsided a little, Branca tentatively asked:

"Chairman, if you feel this matter is very tricky and exceeds your authority to handle, perhaps you could give Chairman Moratti a call and ask for his opinion."

Italy, Milan City.

Inside a luxurious villa on the shores of Lake Como, the Leader of Inter Milan, Moratti, was hosting a guest, a legendary veteran—Siniša Mihajlović!

"Have you really decided?"

Moratti looked at Mihajlović with a serious expression, confirming it repeatedly.

"Well, I'm old, I can't run anymore. The era belonging to us old timers has ended; it's time to make way for the young."

Mihajlović nodded earnestly, his eyes revealing infinite nostalgia, as if he were reminiscing about the fifteen springs and autumns he had spent in Serie A.

Moratti sighed, not continuing to speak to persuade him to stay.

Born in 1969, Mihajlović was already 36 years old this year, and it was indeed time for him to retire.

Although there was still a bit of fuel left in his tank, enough to persist for another year or two.

But just as Mihajlović himself said, he wanted to leave the pitch with the posture of a great Player, rather than leaving only when he was so old he could no longer move.

Although Moratti felt great regret, he did not speak to persuade him, as he could not bear to ruin the other man's final dignity.

However, the departure of yet another veteran Player made him feel deeply emotional.

With the retirement of Mihajlović, players born in the sixties would completely exit the stage of history.

Those familiar names were also gradually being forgotten amidst the constant succession of new generations.

The constant withering away of veterans like Mihajlović made Moratti's desire to find fresh blood for the team even more urgent.

Therefore, after receiving the call from Facchetti, Moratti gave his reply very quickly:

"The Annual Salary remains unchanged, agree to their request to shorten the contract, but add a buyout clause.

Regarding Portrait Rights, grant them a 50% concession; if they are willing to hand over all Portrait Rights, we can increase his salary."

Hanging up the phone, Moratti thought about the conditions the other party had proposed, and a smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

Turning down a visible and tangible Annual Salary, yet insisting on ethereal Portrait Rights.

One had to know that the value of many players' Portrait Rights was not that great; after all, not everyone could be like Beckham, possessing such massive commercial value.

Since the other party insisted on doing this, there was only one possibility:

He was extremely confident in his own ability, firmly believing that he could obtain returns far exceeding his Annual Salary through commercial development.

"What an ambitious guy, this is getting more and more interesting."

On Facchetti's side, after receiving Moratti's approval, he finally Breathed a Sigh of Relief.

Taking the latest terms, both sides launched a new round of negotiations.

And after some back-and-forth, the two sides finally reached an agreement.

Inter's contract for Lin Feng was shortened to 3 years, with the Annual Salary remaining unchanged at 3 million Euro per year, but with a buyout clause of 80 million Euro.

As compensation, Inter would also pay the Player an additional signing bonus, with a total amount of approximately 1.5 million Euro.

In addition, regarding Lin Feng's personal Portrait Rights, the club and the Player would each hold 50%, and Inter promised to provide some support to Lin Feng in commercial development.

After the terms were settled, Lin Feng readily signed the contract, officially becoming a member of the Nerazzurri.