Lease Agreement

Five million euros was no small sum—there was no way Lin Quan could come up with that out of his own pocket.

Guardiola could afford it, but Lin Quan wasn't about to let Barca off easy.

After all, Guardiola's personal wealth wasn't exactly vast.

When he first moved up from Barca's youth team in 2008, his salary was very low, under two million euros.

He only landed a big contract after two years coaching Barca, following the sextuple triumph.

In July 2010, Guardiola renewed with Barca on a 1+1 deal, quintupling his annual salary to ten million euros.

That contract made him the highest-paid head coach in European football, second only to Mourinho.

But the deal was short-term, so it hadn't built up much wealth for him.

And back in Guardiola's playing days, player salaries were generally low—he wasn't Barca's biggest star either, so he hadn't earned much.

Add in years of expenses, buying property, putting kids through school, and so on, his savings were probably only around twenty million euros.

Spending a quarter of that to buy out a youth contract with just one year left—no matter how you looked at it, it was a loss.

So when Guardiola offered to help buy out his contract, Lin Quan flatly refused.

Lin Quan's contract only had one year left. Once his loan spell ended, the contract would expire too.

By then, he wouldn't have to pay a cent—he'd be a free agent. There was no need to waste money on that.

Besides, it was Enrique who was desperate to get rid of him, not the other way around.

Under those circumstances, he definitely wasn't going to dig into his own pockets.

"Alright, so what's your plan?" Guardiola asked, seeing Lin Quan's confident expression.

"Enrique's probably promised Rosell he'd clean me out, so I figure I can use that to pressure him into giving ground on the loan deal!"

Guardiola nodded. Since Rosell had spoken, if Enrique wanted to move up, he'd find a way to carry out the club president's orders.

Loan deals usually involved small amounts—for a young player Lin Quan's age, the loan fee rarely exceeded 500,000 euros.

Some teams even demanded the club holding the player's rights cover part or all of the wages during the loan.

Werder Bremen was a team in decline, and their financial situation in recent years wasn't great.

So Lin Quan wanted to force Barca to concede on the loan terms, securing playing time for himself at Werder Bremen.

Since he was going to the Bundesliga to level up, he couldn't just sit on the bench watching his teammates play.

He needed enough game time—otherwise, he'd rather not go on loan at all and just play for the youth team.

The Segunda División might not be as tough as the Bundesliga, but at least he'd get to play in the youth setup.

Of course, if they could negotiate a good deal, going on loan was still better, because with the club targeting him, his future playing time in the youth team was uncertain too.

"Not bad, you've thought it through well. Young players really do need more game time to build big-match experience."

"Tell you what—since I'm still Barca's head coach, I'll handle your loan contract myself!"

Guardiola's contract with Barca ran until July, but after the King's Cup final against Athletic Bilbao on May 26, he'd leave the team, and the rest would be handed over to his successor.

Hearing that Guardiola wanted to step in, Lin Quan thought it over and shook his head, declining the offer:

"I think you'd better not get involved."

"Oh? Why's that?"

Guardiola was a bit surprised. If he stepped in, he'd naturally lean toward Lin Quan's side and get everything sorted.

He hadn't expected this arrangement to be rejected.

It left him puzzled.

"Because you're leaving Barca soon. If you arrange my loan now and the club leaks the details later, it could stir up controversy."

"Especially if I make a name for myself in the Bundesliga and become a rising star. When my contract expires and Barca can't bring me back, they might use that loan deal to attack you. That wouldn't be good for your reputation!"

Guardiola couldn't help but laugh at Lin Quan's words:

"Looks like you're pretty confident about your future in the Bundesliga—you're already sure you'll become a star!"

"Of course. Look who I learned football from—that man is a Barca legend, the hottest head coach in football today!"

Flattery never hurt anyone.

Lin Quan's praise hit the mark, and the negative feelings Guardiola had from the club melted away.

"Haha, you little rascal. I didn't achieve much as a player—just one Champions League trophy and one European Cup Winners' Cup."

Lin Quan shrugged. Two out of Europe's three major trophies—how was that nothing?

In the end, Guardiola took Lin Quan's advice and stayed out of it, acting completely clueless to the outside world.

He went about his work as usual, studying opponents' data.

Preparing for the league's final opponent and the King's Cup final a few weeks later.

During that time, he even came by the youth team for work, greeting Enrique normally despite the man's unease, without mentioning Lin Quan or the loan at all—as if he knew nothing.

This let out a sigh of relief from Enrique, though it also stirred his curiosity: This kid... he didn't snitch?

As for Lin Quan, the next day he went straight to the youth team, found Enrique and the sporting director in charge of transfers, Subizarreta, and discussed the club's loan arrangements.

Subizarreta was Rosell's trusted man. Knowing Rosell wanted to purge players close to Guardiola, he was eager to push through Lin Quan's loan, hoping to prove his loyalty to Rosell.

Enrique, for his part, couldn't wait to get rid of this little troublemaker, so without any fuss, he pulled out the club's loan contract and handed it to Lin Quan.

Lin Quan gave it a rough glance. Barca was loaning him to Werder Bremen for a fee of 300,000 euros per year, with his wages paid by Werder Bremen. His fixed annual salary matched Barca's at 22,000 euros.

On top of that, there were appearance fees, goal bonuses, assist bonuses, win bonuses, and bonuses for reaching certain match counts.

None of these bonuses were high: the appearance fee was 200 euros, goal bonus 500 euros, assist bonus 200 euros, win bonus 500 euros, and reaching 20 or 30 appearances would net him 2,000 and 3,000 euros respectively.

After all, it was a youth team slave contract, so Lin Quan hadn't expected much from the bonus amounts.

But he felt this money should come from Barca—at least the wages should be Barca's responsibility, since he was still their player.

As for the loan fee, Barca was the one trying to send him away, so they shouldn't be demanding one from Werder Bremen.

So Lin Quan laid out his terms.

"What? No loan fee? How is that possible!?"

Subizarreta immediately objected upon hearing Lin Quan's request.

Barca wasn't just any ordinary team—they were a Giant Club!

When a Giant Club sends out a player, even a youth team player, they can't just waive the loan fee!

Giving you a player to use is doing you a favor, and you want it for free?

They were always the ones freeloading off others—how could they let someone freeload off them?

Enrique was also troubled. He wanted Lin Quan gone badly.

But he didn't want to break the team's operational rules, and Subizarreta had far more say in this than he did as the youth team coach.

If the Head Coach of the first team, Guardiola, were sitting here, Subizarreta wouldn't dare act so boldly, since the Head Coach could ultimately decide a player's fate.

So he chimed in to persuade Lin Quan:

"Lin, I think it's better not to waive the loan fee."

"Think about it—if you join Werder Bremen for free, they get a player without spending a cent. They might not value you, or even doubt your ability. They might wonder why Barca would send you out without even asking for a loan fee. That would definitely hurt your chances of playing well at Werder Bremen!"

To make his case more convincing and wrap this up quickly, Enrique continued: "Barca won't shortchange its own players. I'll have a new loan contract drawn up with better bonus terms. If it looks good to you, just sign it!"

Lin Quan was curious how much they could improve—could a few hundred euros in bonuses really make a difference?

But after glancing at the numbers, Lin Quan froze. Enrique really can't wait to get rid of me!