Thank you for the tips from "Death of the Thief" and "Shimazu"! ——

Millwall's pre-season preparations were well underway, with a friendly kick-off at the end of July.

Scottish giants Celtic were invited last summer and Rangers this summer.

In the first game, Millwall won comfortably at home, and the players who returned from vacation quickly recovered from training.

The second friendly was also played at home, with Aldridge inviting last season's Ligue 1 champions Monaco to London.

The day before the game, Aldridge personally greeted Monaco coach Tigana at the club's door, who made Monaco famous for winning Ligue 1 again after Arsene Wenger.

Monaco will also play in the Champions League in the new season, and like Millwall, they are all new to the Champions League, so everyone should be more familiar with different styles of teams.

Tigana was interested in Millwall, who upset Paris Saint-Germain last season, and he did not hesitate to accept Aldridge's offer.

Outside the clubhouse, Tigana looks up with interest at the giant promotional poster hanging from the main building.

"Millwall is really star-studded right now."

He sighed from the bottom of his heart.

The poster has the Lions emblem as the background, with a flame-erupting rendering, and the upper body of Larsson, Nedved, Makelele, Southgate, and Frank Lampard appears in the poster.

This is a strategy that football clubs have always advertised.

Basically, it will not show only one player in the promotional image, but will promote the club's culture from multiple angles.

Of the five, for example, Gareth Southgate and Frank Lampard represent the strength of the country. Frank Lampard is also a symbol of youth. Makelle is black. Larsson is a sought-after super-striker and Nedved is the spiritual leader.

Aldridge invited Tigana to have a drink in his office, Tigana is now only 42 years old and naturally a young man in the coaching profession, he took charge of the team a year before Aldridge and had a high starting point, in Lyon, where he reached a new height in his coaching career last season. It was enough to shake off the 12-point advantage of the league runner-up to win the championship.

The two are full of expectations for the future UEFA Champions League, and they also try to analyze the recent situation of the strong teams in Europe, and in the high talk, they only regret that Fernandes, who watched the game together a year ago, was laid off by the combination of Tigana and Aldridge.

Monaco were the ones who pressed Paris Saint-Germain, while Millwall also knocked the reigning Cup Winners' Cup champions to the back of the sand in European competition.

The next day, Lion's Den Course.

The stadium stands were packed, fans were relaxed and watched, and television stations rushed to broadcast the Premier League champions' warm-up match against the Ligue 1 champions, who they likened to a warm-up for two teams that will be in the Champions League next season.

Aldridge's attitude towards the warm-up game has always been very indifferent, training and adjusting his condition. It's not a test of the team's strength, because the opponent may not be serious with you.

But this kind of warm-up game. No, no, no, the players must have a mental preparation and mentality adjustment that is about to enter the intense season.

The two teams played very openly today, the Ligue 1 team has laid the Latin style as the mainstream since the Platini era, and Millwall is now also a European style of play, and there is a faint trend of reaching the peak and carrying forward, such two teams collide together, if it is not for the stubborn stumbling of an inch of land, the scene will naturally play very exciting.

The two sides went back and forth, and the game was played between plum blossoms, and the goals were scored one after another.

Aldridge sat in the coach's box in sportswear, and his attitude could be seen from the outfit, and he even talked and laughed with the coaches.

"Aldridge, the young winger across the street, let's spend money on it! It definitely feels like Van der Meyde has a bigger impact than it did in the new season. ”

Benitez suddenly said to Aldrich in a serious manner.

Aldrich didn't even need to look at it to know who the other party was talking about.

The future King of Highbury: Henry!

Since his debut, Henry has been playing as a winger, but he has already shown very good qualities.

Strictly speaking, Wenger did not help Henry much during his time at Monaco, but after all, he discovered the excellent potential of the other party, and under Tigana, Henry gradually stood out, not only becoming the main force of the team, but also entering the national team to take the train of the World Cup.

Aldridge smiled bitterly: "I wanted to buy him three years ago, but people don't sell it, just a month ago, when I was in France, I also asked Tigana: Petit, you sold it for less than three million pounds, Henry, I paid four million pounds, what's the matter?" As a result, the other party still refused. ”

Benitez glanced at Tigana in the dugout next door and wondered, "Aren't you very familiar with him?" He sold the main defender of the French national team to Arsene Wenger so cheaply, why can't he open the back door for you? Four million pounds, not too low, I think you can increase the price as well. ”

Aldrich shrugged, shook his head, and said nothing.

Four million pounds is indeed not low for Henry, who is now 20 years old.

Henry, like Ronaldo, will be a world-class striker, but the 20-year-old Henry and the 20-year-old Ronaldo have a big gap in terms of fame and ability, so Ronaldo can be worth 20 million pounds this summer, while Henry and Aldridge think they will not be worth more than 6 million pounds.

It's just that in the end, it's not about money, it's about Tigana not selling.

It's not that Aldrich is not popular, it's that the relationship is not deep enough to that point, and Aldrich doesn't want to owe favors.

Wenger's connections in France, just rely on Aldridge to drink with others and watch the game, how can it be compared.

Fernandes is neither stupid nor blind, but Anelka sent £500,000 to Arsene Wenger.

Petit is not a nobody, he has been a high-profile star in France since his debut, he has played for the national team since he was 19 years old, and he will be 27 years old this year, which is the golden age of players, and he still has the halo of last season's Ligue 1 champions on his head, but Monaco sent people to Arsenal for less than three million pounds.

Even more exaggerated is Guy Roux. Not only promised to develop a new talent for Arsene Wenger. Even after retirement, he went to Africa to build a football school. Help Arsene Wenger find good players in Africa.

Therefore, Arsenal under Wenger's coach has an obvious French brand, and it cannot be blamed that he has a soft spot for French players.

That's the energy of the industry's connections, and Aldridge was born out of nowhere, neither with high standing nor a background as a player to weave a network of football connections over the course of a long career. He can only take it one step at a time, make friends with the coach who has the right appetite, and the future will be long, and he may have a qualitative change when the quantitative change will occur, making him a manager with a huge network of relationships.

When the warm-up match came to an end, the fans applauded and cheered the players of both teams with satisfaction.

4:4.

With eight goals and back and forth, the fans enjoyed a feast of goals.

As the new season draws closer, the expectations that fans have accumulated in the summer are also beginning to be released, and the warm-up games are full of seats.

Aldridge chatted with Tiganado for a while, and he was more honest. Pursued Henry twice, but if he didn't get it, forget it. The first time it was Arsene Wenger who rejected him, the second time it was Tigana.

After this warm-up game, they didn't have any plans for the next week, just waiting to use the Community Shield before the league kicked off to practice their condition.

However, Aldrich didn't expect that the things that were out of the plan would come to him.

On the same night that he was sent off from Monaco, Adam ran to his house with a grim face and told him solemnly: Ajax is angry!

Louis van Gaal's move to Barcelona in the summer was a huge turbulent period for Ajax, who had spent six years at Ajax and had single-handedly nurtured a number of stars in the Ajax family.

Ajax was busy dealing with the departure of their decorated manager in the summer, and the work on signing professional contracts for youth team players was a little sluggish, and when Olsen took over, sorted out the work and went to review the youth team, it suddenly became clear that where did the high hopes of Van der Meyde go?

Only then did they realize that Van der Meyde had not signed a contract, but had gone straight to London and had already mingled with his new team-mates at Millwall.

Ajax FC has had its main players taken away for free for two consecutive seasons, and now even the good seedlings of the youth team are being taken away for free, which makes them unbearable!

Can't bear it!

That's the foundation of their survival!

There was a note to Millwall: Come up with a solution, otherwise, I will go to UEFA, FIFA sue you!

Hearing this, Aldrich really regretted it.

In terms of contract procedures, Van der Meyde's contract with Ajax expired, and Millwall signed with each other later, so the timing of the two is no problem.

But the mistake is that when Aldridge went to Amsterdam to contact Van der Meyde, Van der Meyde's apprenticeship contract with Ajax had not yet expired.

Although there is no physical evidence or other evidence in this, from the time, Aldridge went to the Netherlands, Van der Meyde packed his luggage and went to London, and the entry and exit time was checked, and Van der Meyde really came to London before the end of June.

At this time, the regulations on international transfers were not particularly detailed, especially FIFA and UEFA were more troubled to deal with the impact of the post-Boseman era, and there were not so detailed regulations on the transfer of young players, especially the ban on international transfers for players under the age of 18, which was also introduced ten years later.

But Ajax really wants to make trouble, it's not without reason, it's reasonable, they are all on the side of the victims, and if they can't even get a training fee, in front of the public, Millwall will really become a robber.

Aldrich sat opposite Adam at home, holding his head and closing his eyes, asking, "What does the other party want to solve?" It should be a matter of money, tell them, Millwall will compensate them with 300,000 pounds. ”

Adam said in a low voice: "Boss, although it is a matter of money, Ajax does not want to collect money directly. ”

"Huh? What do you mean? ”

"I guess they don't want to make a big deal either, and if it's all known, then aren't all the top teams in Europe going to them to tempt young talent? They want to keep a low profile, and the matter will not be made public, but we will also make compensation. ”

Aldridge scratched his head, he couldn't think of a solution to this kind of thing.

Transactions between clubs are accountable, and cross-border transactions, once there is a financial review, if the explanation is not clear, is a hidden danger.

Ajax didn't want to publicize it, but Aldridge was happy, and he didn't want Millwall's reputation to be damaged.

"Wait a minute, I'll ask the professionals."

When it comes to money in the football circle, Aldridge thinks that the most professional person must be Andrew.

Sure enough, he called Andrew and made it simple, and Andrew immediately gave him a tip.

After putting down the phone, Aldridge smiled and said to Adam: "Call back to Ajax, let's go to Amsterdam to play a friendly match with Ajax, the tickets are all theirs, we don't want to divide it, if one is not enough, promise to play another game in the next two years, the conditions are the same." ”

When Adam heard this, he immediately understood.

According to the value of Millwall's treble, not everyone can be invited to play a friendly match.

This is normal after a few years, and the big clubs play friendly matches, and they all have a clearly marked appearance fee. (To be continued......)