Chapter 385: Chapter 85: Bundesliga’s Number One! A Sky-High Contract! Advance, Dortmund! The Shadow of Bayern’s Great Comeback Reappears

...

Phew!

As Watzke, Zorc, and the others saw Shen Qinghe and Thomas Essien out of the Dortmund office, they all couldn’t help but let out a huge sigh of relief.

She was just a young girl!

"Are all the young people in China this formidable?"

Back in the meeting room, Zorc couldn’t help but smile wryly.

From the very first minute of the negotiation, Shen Qinghe had completely controlled the atmosphere and pace.

They had all been forced to move to her rhythm.

The key was, she didn’t show a hint of arrogance from her winning position. On the contrary, she always made everyone feel comfortable, even putting them at ease as if in a spring breeze.

That was a skill in itself!

"Wang Shuo and Shen Qinghe are both so impressive. China is truly full of talented people!" Watzke remarked with emotion.

Just as Shen Qinghe had them reeling from one bombshell after another, she presented them with the giant cake that was the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets, leaving Watzke and the others with no thought of refusal.

At least after that, when the two sides officially began negotiations, he was too embarrassed to even bring up the proposal Dortmund had originally drafted.

A salary of 5 million euros per year, with an added 80 million euro release clause.

Before meeting Shen Qinghe, Watzke and Zorc had both felt that Dortmund’s offer was very sincere.

But somehow, after listening to the young woman’s analysis, they suddenly felt their offer was pathetic!

Even they felt it was too shameful to present!

And the asking price Shen Qinghe proposed was even higher than Thomas Essien’s previous demands.

Much, much higher.

An annual salary of 10 million euros, with the release clause set at 50 million euros.

Previously, Watzke and the others would have found it outrageous and rejected it on the spot without hesitation.

In the Bundesliga, not even Bayern would accept such an astronomical price!

But now, every single one of them actually felt it seemed quite reasonable.

"What do you all think?" Watzke asked, looking at the others. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Everyone fell into contemplative silence.

Marcus Kneipen was the first to speak.

Dortmund’s "God of Wealth" had always been stingy, and he was staunchly opposed to giving players high salaries.

But this time, what he said stunned Watzke and the others.

"I actually think what she’s proposing is worth considering. If we can really leverage Wang Shuo to break into the Chinese and Asian markets, then the few million euros in this contract are basically a trivial sum."

Among a club’s three main revenue streams, a Bundesliga team’s Matchday Income is naturally limited because ticket prices in the Bundesliga aren’t high.

Broadcasting rights revenue is also limited.

Even though Germany’s economy leads Europe, the domestic broadcasting rights for the Bundesliga are actually sold very cheaply.

Forget comparing it to the Premier League; it even lags behind Spain and France.

These two factors, combined with the 50+1 rule, all stem from a common background.

In Germany, football is considered a public social service!

Why can other Bundesliga teams never compete with Bayern?

The difference in matchday and broadcasting rights revenue isn’t actually that significant. The real gap is in commercial income.

Specifically for Dortmund, the difference in domestic commercial revenue compared to Bayern isn’t that large, either.

The biggest difference is globalization!

Of course, you can’t blame Dortmund for that.

After all, for the past few years of globalization, Dortmund has been mired in financial debt, and their performance on the pitch has been a complete mess. When would they have had time to think about expansion?

But now, Shen Qinghe has pointed out this path.

Marcus Kneipen was a cheapskate.

But as the CEO, he knew perfectly well that this was a path Dortmund had to take, sooner or later.

Otherwise, they would forever be nothing more than a feeder club for Bayern!

More importantly, everyone present was actually well aware.

The demands Shen Qinghe had laid out were merely an opening offer for them to negotiate down.

In a negotiation, who lays all their cards on the table right from the start?

After Bayern sold Luca Tony, the highest annual salary in the entire Bundesliga was only around five million euros.

And those players were all at Bayern!

Watzke wasn’t one to be indecisive.

Since even Kneipen was on board, it proved the matter had great potential.

After a moment’s thought, he immediately looked at Kneipen.

"Marcus, hurry and arrange for a team to investigate the situation and market prospects in the Asian countries Shen Qinghe just mentioned. We need to confirm if it’s as she described."

"Alright, I’ll get it arranged!"

"Actually, we shouldn’t have signed with Kappa. We should have signed with Puma!" Watzke shook his head and sighed with a hint of resignation.

Everyone understood what Watzke meant.

The price Puma offered was indeed a bit lower than Kappa’s, but Puma is the world’s third-largest sportswear brand and has a greater advantage in global promotion than Kappa.

But what could they do?

The contract was already signed, and they couldn’t afford the penalty for breaking it.

"Marcus, stay in close contact with Puma. Let’s aim to partner with them as soon as this contract ends."

There were many benefits to having a big-name sponsor.

Kneipen nodded in agreement.

...

"Wang, you know what? She’s incredible! As her colleague, even I was completely bluffed by her!"

When Wang Shuo finished training and arrived at the hotel where Shen Qinghe and Thomas Essien were staying, the three met up, and Thomas Essien couldn’t stop praising Shen Qinghe.

"You should have been there! Watzke is such a ruthless old fox, yet she left him speechless. All four of them on Dortmund’s side were just listening to her, completely unable to fight back!"