super storm

Chapter 1303 Ajax Without Hope
Entering September, ushered in two weeks of national team competitions.

This time Yang Yang also received the call-up of the national team and returned to China to compete.

The opponents in the two World Cup qualifiers were not strong. First they played Hong Kong, China at home, and then they played Maldives at home.

Among them, the second game against the Maldives was originally an away game, but because the stadium conditions in the Maldives could not meet the needs of the game, they voluntarily gave up their home advantage and came to China to play the game.

Since it is the top forty match, the Chinese team will also send their main players to play this time, and strive to get the first place in the group as soon as possible.

The opponents were not strong. With the main players basically in place, the Chinese team was like a gust of wind sweeping the fallen leaves. First, they played against Hong Kong, China in Shenzhen and scored four goals in the first half. Yang Yang scored a hat-trick early in the morning and was replaced in midfield.

In the end, the Chinese team defeated the Hong Kong team of China [-]-[-] and won another big victory.

Then he went north to Shenyang. Yang Yang scored a goal in the first 9 minutes of the Chinese team, scored twice in the 7th minute of the second half, and then assisted Zhang Linpeng to score a long shot to help the Chinese team beat the Maldives [-]-[-].

With two victories in two games and a [-]-[-] away victory over Bhutan in the first game, the Chinese team won all three games without conceding a single goal.

Qatar also won the same three-game winning streak. They beat the Maldives [-]-[-] in the first game away, then beat Bhutan [-]-[-] at home, and finally defeated Hong Kong, China [-]-[-] away.

This also sounded a wake-up call to the Chinese team, that is, Qatar will become a potential threat.

In the next October, the Chinese team will challenge Qatar away, which will undoubtedly become a key battle in the top [-].

……

After playing the national team game, Yang Yang did not stay in the country. He flew to Beijing with a number of national team teammates, and then flew directly back to Europe from Beijing.

Just back home in Madrid, Wei Zheng, agent Raiola and Guido Albes have been waiting at home for a long time, Su Ye and Yang Yang's cousin Shen Yuzhu are by the side.

When Yang Yang came home, Su Ye accompanied Shen Yuzhu to play with the children.

"How is it? Is there any result?"

As soon as Yang Yang sat down, he immediately asked, with a very concerned tone.

This is a task that he called Raiola and Wei Zheng after attending the UEFA awards ceremony and gave them a task. They have been busy with this matter for the past half month.

"I've collected a lot of information, it should be almost there." Wei Zheng laughed.

He is now also in charge of an investment team, many of whom are proficient in cross-border acquisitions. Coupled with Raiola, a super predator with amazing influence in European football, and the assistance of Guido Albes, the number one agent in the Netherlands, the task assigned by Yang Yang is not difficult to complete.

Guido Albes has a very close relationship with Yang Yang. The earliest contact between the two dates back to when Yang Yang was still playing for Ajax. Over the years, many Chinese players landed in the Netherlands through the channel of Guido Albes, which also made Albes a lot of money.

But this time, what Yang Yang wanted was information about Ajax.

"Frankly speaking, I can't understand why you are so interested in Ajax. The current situation of this team is quite bad. The last time they advanced from the Champions League group stage to the knockout round was the last year you played for Ajax, that is, ten years ago. Since then, they have missed the Champions League group stage for four consecutive years, and then finished third in the group for five consecutive years and participated in the Europa League. This year, they stopped in the third round and could not even enter the play-offs."

Raiola looked at Yang Yang inexplicably, obviously from the perspective of a businessman, Yang Yang's interest in Ajax was hard to understand.

"In the past few years, Ajax has been struggling to make ends meet, and their financial situation is not ideal. Over the years, their most important sources of financial income have been the Champions League and transfer income. However, their failure to qualify for the Champions League group stage this season has hit them very hard. The finances are bound to be further strained, and may even lead to a vicious circle."

Raiola's analysis is not difficult to understand.

European clubs have always had few income channels, which are usually divided into three parts, match day income, commercial sponsorship and broadcast fee income, which are the three major sources of income for all European football clubs.

The Premier League has seen a huge increase in transfer fee income in recent years, but in fact, the Premier League teams basically do not make money. Why?
Because of transfer investment.

If you want to ensure that you have a firm foothold in the Premier League, you need to increase your transfer investment.

It can be said that all their income from broadcasting rights has been invested in the transfer market, and it is not even enough.

This is the case in the Premier League, and basically the same is true for teams in other leagues.

If you insist on making money, it is estimated that it should be those teams that are frequently relegated.

Weird, right?
Just like the Premier League, if you are promoted from the English Championship to the Premier League, you can immediately get tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of pounds in income growth. In order to stay in the Premier League, newly promoted horses will often invest this money in the transfer market to increase signings and strive to stay in relegation. In many cases, the increased income is not as good as the investment in the transfer market.

But there are also some newly promoted horses who don’t invest in the transfer market. They don’t want to relegation, they just want to make a fortune. After a season, they are relegated in despair, enjoying the protection of the Premier League’s parachute policy, and working hard in the English Championship.

There are such teams in almost every league, and it is not uncommon at all.

It can be said that for European football teams, each has its own way of survival.

For teams in the second echelon of Europe, their way of living is different from that of the four major leagues in the first echelon.

For example, Ajax, their game day income is not high, and it is very stable, there is almost no room for growth, and commercial sponsorship is limited by the influence of the league and the team, there is not much room for growth, and the same is true for broadcast fee income.

Therefore, the game bonus income obtained by participating in the Champions League has become very considerable.

There is also the income from selling players in the transfer market, which is also an important source of income for teams like Ajax.

Among them, if you want to get more in the transfer market, participating in the Champions League is undoubtedly the best display platform, and the two complement each other.

Now for Ajax, the worse thing is that they have not made any breakthroughs in the Champions League, but are declining. This has caused their Champions League income to become very, very small, and the income in the transfer market is not optimistic. They sell people almost every year these years, and the key is not to sell them at a good price.

Last summer, the team captain and core player Blind sold to Manchester United for only 500 million euros, which can be said to be the price of cabbage. Going back further, the core midfielder Eriksson went to Tottenham Hotspur for only 1000 to 550 million euros, the main defender van der Wiel only went to Paris Saint-Germain for 630 million euros, and Alderweireld went to Atlético Madrid for only [-] million euros...

It can be said that Ajax's transfer income is also quite poor.

This season, Ajax missed the Champions League group stage and lost at least 2000 million euros. This is quite fatal for Ajax, and it can even be said to be an irreparable financial hole.

"What's even more frightening is that according to data from German authorities, goalkeeper Cillessen is currently the most valuable player in the Ajax team, with only 700 million euros." When Raiola said this, he spread his hands, looking very helpless.

It is not difficult to see from his tone that his evaluation of Ajax is that this is a team with no hope.

At least there is no hope in the short term.

Not only that, missing the Champions League this season, the team's finances will be further affected. Under the chain reaction, Ajax is bound to sell people to raise money during the winter break or next summer, which will further weaken the team's competitiveness, and then perform weakly...

This is what Raiola refers to as a vicious circle.

It can be said that this is something that has a considerable probability of happening.

……

Raiola is undoubtedly an extremely shrewd person, otherwise he would not be in the position he is today. His in-depth analysis is reasonable and sounded the alarm for Yang Yang. At the same time, he also reminded him that Ajax is a quagmire, so be careful.

Yang Yang pondered for a while, then turned his head to look at Guido Albes. He also wanted to hear what the Dutch agent said.

Although Guido Albes is not Yang Yang's agent, the two have known each other for many years and have a close relationship. When Yang Yang first became interested in Ajax, he asked Albes to find out about the situation.

"Ajax has been in a downturn for a long time. The golden generation headed by you, Van der Vaart, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sneijder was actually formed from the funds raised by Ajax's IPO in 300. So far, they are the only football club in the Netherlands that has raised [-] million euros."

"With this money, they quickly formed a strong team. Under the leadership of Ronald Koeman, they set off a youthful storm in European football and won a Champions League. But in fact, in those years, the club's financial operations were very poor, including the development of the African market. They failed and suffered heavy losses, such as Ajax in Cape Town."

"Originally relying on the afterglow of the golden generation, they could still barely maintain it, but they are not reconciled. They always want to regroup and win the Champions League again within five years. This is the slogan that Ajax chanted back then. Van Basten was also in this situation. He came to Ajax with high hopes, but what followed was a collapse."

When Guido Albes said this, he paused for a moment, and looked deeply at Yang Yang.

Knowing that Yang Yang and Van Basten are close friends, he is considering his words, obviously he does not want to describe too much about Van Basten, so as not to leave a bad impression on Yang Yang.

But some things have happened and are destined to be unchangeable.

"Although it may be unfair to Van Basten to say this, we must admit that Ajax's decline over the years has an inseparable relationship with him."

Sure enough, Yang Yang frowned deeply upon hearing this.

(End of this chapter)