Benitez's departure had not affected Madrid's atmosphere.
That was a longstanding characteristic of Real Madrid, and even of all the powerhouse clubs.
The club remained as solid as a fortress while managers came and went. For all the powerhouse clubs, changing managers was as easy as inviting someone out for a meal.
The media reporters were clearly more interested in gossip, such as whether Benitez would go coach Inter Milan and take over from Mourinho, whether Ancelotti would really come to Bernabéu, whether Real Madrid would spend heavily to sign Aguero that summer, and whether the Brazilian prodigy Neymar had truly signed an agreement with Real Madrid.
Once someone left, people quickly forgot them. Benitez had only just departed, and the media had already turned around and forgotten him.
When all was said and done, players still played the leading roles in professional football.
Two days after Benitez announced his departure, on the morning of June 5, Real Madrid held a press conference at Bernabéu and officially announced to the outside world that it had reached a contract extension agreement with Yang Yang.
The contract would keep Yang Yang at Real Madrid for six years, until 2017. His buyout clause was as high as 300 million euros—the highest in world football at the time, showing just how highly Real Madrid valued Yang Yang.
Matching the buyout clause, Yang Yang's annual salary had also been raised further, reaching 25 million euros. That was the highest annual salary in world football, more than double the 12 million euros earned by second-place Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi earned only 10 million euros.
However, there had also been persistent reports that the Russian club Anzhi wanted to sign Inter Milan striker Eto'o and would offer him an astronomical annual salary of 20 million euros. That would