Chen Tao's Transfer Issue

"Brother Chen, how is your transfer progressing?"

After Feng Xiaoting was signed by Barcelona, he gave Lin Feng a call to share the good news and invite him to get together when they had time.

Since everyone was working hard in a foreign land, it was only natural to stick together.

Lin Feng readily agreed to the invitation.

He also suggested that once Chen Tao's transfer was finalized, they should call him and have the three of them meet up.

After hanging up with Feng Xiaoting, Lin Feng called Chen Tao to ask about his situation.

There had been almost no movement from Chen Tao's side during this period, and there were barely even any rumors about his transfer coming out of Europe.

This made Lin Feng feel that something was slightly off; something must have happened, otherwise, it wouldn't be this quiet.

"Heh, it's not going very smoothly."

Chen Tao's tone sounded exhausted, as if he had been through something or experienced a situation that left him feeling drained.

"What happened?"

Lin Feng knew that Chen Tao was not a person who liked to joke; if he said it like that, it wasn't just "not very smooth," it was very difficult.

"The club is unwilling to let me go. They want the other side to pay a 7 million Euro transfer fee, but the other side is only willing to pay 5 million at most. There is a 2 million gap."

Chen Tao wore a bitter smile. If the 2 million were in RMB, he might have been able to scrape it together by borrowing from relatives and friends, but the club wanted 2 million Euros, which was nearly 20 million RMB. This amount of money was far beyond his ability to bear; even if he borrowed from all his friends, he wouldn't be able to come up with it.

During this time, he and his agent had repeatedly approached the club to negotiate, hoping the club would show some mercy and not make such an outrageous demand.

But in the face of such massive profits amounting to tens of millions of RMB, the club was clearly unwilling to budge.

What's more, since even Feng Xiaoting's transfer fee reached 5.5 million Euros (following readers' suggestions from the previous chapter, Feng Xiaoting's transfer fee was adjusted down from 7.5 million to 5.5 million!), there was no reason for a talented player like Chen Tao to be cheaper than him!

If it weren't for the fact that "suckers" like Inter Milan were rare, they might have even dared to ask for a 20 million Euro transfer fee like they did for Lin Feng.

Therefore, Shenyang Ginde felt they had already made a huge concession, and 7 million Euros was their bottom line.

It was precisely because the club's attitude was so firm, multiple negotiations had failed, and he truly could not raise enough money to fill the gap, that Chen Tao felt so exhausted and drained.

He felt that his hope of playing abroad had been extinguished.

"What is the name of the European team you are in contact with? I'll ask someone to check on their situation."

"That team is from the Bundesliga, called Werder Bremen. It's said to be a powerhouse in the Bundesliga."

So it was Werder Bremen!

When Lin Feng was playing in the German 2. Bundesliga, he had heard of this team many times.

This was a Bundesliga team from the north. Although they couldn't be called a super-club, judging by their results over the past few seasons, they were indeed a powerhouse, the kind that could compete with Bayern Munich for the championship.

If Chen Tao could go to Werder Bremen, it would truly be a good destination.

This team possessed the "Double K" duo of world-class forwards Klose and Klasnic. Their attacking firepower at the front was extremely strong, making them the most ferocious attacking team in the Bundesliga at the moment, bar none.

Werder Bremen's current starting midfielder was the 32-year-old French international, Johan Micoud.

He was an outstanding player and a true midfield master. He could consistently create over 20 goals for the team every season. If it weren't for him, Werder Bremen's attacking firepower would drop by an entire level.

But the Frenchman was getting old, and after being left out of the French National Team, he had become disheartened and was preparing to leave the Bundesliga to return to Ligue 1 for retirement.

Under these circumstances, Werder Bremen was urgently looking for a midfield core to replace Micoud.

And Chen Tao's performance at the Youth World Cup perfectly matched Werder Bremen's requirements.

For a non-super-club like Werder Bremen, a 5 million Euro transfer fee was definitely not a small amount.

This showed that the other side was truly very sincere.

But Shenyang Ginde's demand for 7 million was completely beyond their ability to pay.

Werder Bremen wasn't Bayern Munich; where would they get that much money?

Lin Feng still had some connections in the German football world, so he asked someone to check and confirmed that this was indeed Werder Bremen's bottom line.

In fact, with Shenyang Ginde dragging their feet on the offer, they were already considering giving up on signing Chen Tao and looking for someone else.

This was undoubtedly very disadvantageous for Chen Tao.

Once this opportunity was missed, it would be too difficult to find such a suitable team again.

Chen Tao was clearly aware of this, which was why he was so anxious.

"Heh, Brother Chen, pack your bags and get ready to report to the team!"

"Hmm, I intend to go to the club and apologize. Since I can't go abroad, I'll have to keep playing for Ginde, so I have no choice but to bow my head!"

Chen Tao let out a long sigh, as if he had accepted his fate.

This wasn't the first time he had caved in to Shenyang Ginde. When the team forced them to renew their contracts at the beginning of the year, they had resisted, but they ultimately failed. He had already apologized and bowed to the club back then.

Now that it was happening again, his psychological resistance wasn't as strong as it had been before.

"Huh? I'm talking about reporting to Werder Bremen, what are you thinking about?"

Lin Feng was almost speechless at Chen Tao; how could he be so pessimistic?

Just because your friends and relatives couldn't come up with that much money doesn't mean I can't. Why didn't you ask me for help?

"Report to Werder Bremen? But that 2 Million..."

"Forget about the 2 Million for now, just go and report first. Consider that money a loan from me; if you feel bad about it, just treat me to a meal later."

"I really feel terrible about this. I'm afraid I won't be able to pay back 2 Million for a very long time!"

Chen Tao owed Lin Feng such a massive favor that he felt deeply uneasy.

The amount of money was simply too large. They hadn't known each other for very long, and their understanding of one another wasn't deep either. Yet, in such a situation, the other party was still willing to take a huge risk to lend him the money.

Chen Tao was so moved he didn't know what to say.

"Don't be such a wimp. Are you still acting like a man, being all wishy-washy? If you really feel bad, I do have a solution."

"Oh? What solution?"

"Nine Out Thirteen Return!"

"You're too heartless! You might as well just have me sell myself to you!"

Chen Tao protested loudly. He already felt he couldn't pay back the 2 Million; if he added such high interest on top of that, it would truly be equivalent to signing a deed of indenture.

"That's not out of the question either. My older brother opened an Agent Company, and he hasn't signed any Player yet. Why don't you lower yourself and become his first signed Player?"