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By James McNicholas and Adam Crafton
Translator: Small stir-fried meat
Wenger has always dreamed of arsenal playing with Real Madrid and Barcelona on a regular basis – although they don't meet on the pitch, they do it at the negotiating table.
Since the 1999 summer window, Arsenal have made as many as 25 transfer deals with La Liga, averaging more than one per season, a number far higher than other English teams. According to statistics, the total amount of transfer fee transactions between the three clubs is close to 300 million pounds.
For a long time after moving to the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal broke into the world of La Liga duo and established a strong triangular relationship. The star tug-of-war between the three clubs became a major event in the summer window every year: Vieira had a crush on Real Madrid but eventually failed to leave the team; Xiaofa joined from Barca when he was a teenager and returned to Camp Nou eight years later; Arsenal offered a record-breaking transfer fee when Real Madrid had to deal with the vicious dogs; and a series of young players poached by the Gunners from La Masia, which exacerbated tensions with Barca.
This article summarizes arsenal's relationship with La Liga, as well as some of the details behind the transfer.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="181" > with Real Madrid</h1>
Funding from Madrid and Barcelona helped Wenger assemble arsenal's strongest squad ever. In the turn of the century, Arsenal sold Arnelka, Overmars and Petit to the Bernabeu and Camp Nou in a row, earning a windfall of more than £50 million, which was definitely an astronomical amount at the time.
Wenger's precise investment after receiving the transfer proceeds has written a footnote to the peak of his career. In 1999, Wenger sold Arnelka to Real Madrid in exchange for Henry and the new Kearney training base. Not only that, davo Souk, winner of the 1998 Fifa World Cup Golden Boot in France, also shot from Real Madrid as a forward reinforcement for the Gunners.
The money from the sale of Overmars and Petit was exchanged for Virtode, Lauren and Pire, who refused Real Madrid's offer to come to North London. Pire's mother was Spanish and the offer from the capital had a clear appeal to their family, but Wenger used a telephone killing tactic to convince the Marseille winger to choose the gunner.
The number of trades between Arsenal and Real Madrid is small, but the impact is large. Wenger has admitted that he has turned down the opportunity to take charge of Real Madrid "more than once" and that he maintains a friendly relationship with Real Madrid president Perez, which is also the cornerstone of the two clubs' interconnection.
Team star Vieira has also oscillated between Spain and the British capital.
During euro 2004 in Portugal, an intermediary contacted Vieira to inform him of interest from Real Madrid. Vieira, who had just won her third league title in eight years with Arsenal, was intrigued by the prospect of taking on a new challenge and immediately discussed the possibility with national team-mate Zidane, who had been playing for Real Madrid for three years at the time. In July, Perez was re-elected president of the team and publicly expressed interest in the introduction of Vieira.
At the beginning of the period, Arsenal firmly opposed the deal, seeing Vieira as the leader and core of the team. After the cup, when the French midfielder arrived in Austria for Arsenal's pre-season training camp, he met privately with Wenger and expressed his position: he was 28 years old, this could be the last chance to join Real Madrid, and he was determined to leave the team.
Wenger was faced with a dilemma, which he later called "the biggest bet I've ever made." The professor told Vieira that if he decided to leave, the team would not stand in the way, and even if he was reluctant, he would negotiate with Real Madrid on one condition: Vieira had to inform Arsenal of his final decision on Thursday 12 August, two days before the start of the 2004-05 season.
On Wednesday, club vice-president David Dunn informed Vieira that the transfer fee had been agreed, but it was not too late to change his mind. Vieira spent a toss-toss-toss night at her home in North London, pondering the conundrum over and over again. He called Bergkamp and Henry respectively, seeking advice from his teammates. Teammates, without exception, wanted him to stay in the team, but out of respect, they wouldn't force Vieira to change her decision. They also understand that Real Madrid's appeal is indeed great.
However, leaving Arsenal, where they have been with for 8 years, means leaving their hometown and leaving a community where Vieira and his wife, Cheryl, have long since settled. It also means that he will have to leave the team before Vieira can realize his shared dream with Wenger – to win the Champions League.
At 5 p.m. on Thursday, Vieira called Dunn and said he had decided to stay. Dunn asked him to immediately go to Wenger's house to meet, where they discussed the decision in depth. Dunn recalled: "We were just about to lose Patrick in a few hours, and (after he announced his stay) everyone was very emotional. Wenger was very happy that the captain was not leaving, but he still wanted to confirm that Vieira was not a choice made by patting his head. Meanwhile, Dunn called Perez to personally tell the Real Madrid president the news.
Then Vieira called Zidane, and the sound of the answering machine came from the receiver. In a message, he explained to Zizou that the two would not eventually become club-level teammates.
At that moment, Vieira's only thought was to end her playing career in North London. However, just 12 months later, he was unceremoniously sold to Juventus in Serie A.
In the summer of 2013, before Arsenal could clean up the chicken feathers that had failed to buy Suarez, club negotiator Dick Lau received a call from then Real Madrid CEO Alexis Alexis Sanchez. At the time, the La Liga giants were trying to raise money to sign Tottenham Bale, and they made a proposal to the Gunners: to pack Benzema and Diria.
Arsenal immediately expressed interest. Dillha is only 25 years old, in the year of the game, Arsenal had tried to sign him from Rosario Central as early as he was 19 years old, and Benzema was a player that the Gunners had long followed, and the date of the tracking dates can be traced back to 2006 before he made his debut in Lyon.
Soon, Arsenal finalized Benzema's transfer – the club was very familiar with the player camp and understood the requirements of the players. The problem is with Diria. In April of that year, his daughter Mia was born prematurely, causing the Argentine midfielder to be reluctant to leave their homes at such a critical moment, and the package deal ultimately failed.
However, Real Madrid still needed to sell players, so the topic turned to vicious dogs.
After buying the vicious dog for 10 months, Arsenal approached Barca to get another of the Geminis envisioned by management , Alexis Sanchez. Like Dillha, 374 is one of arsenal's young players in South America. From the 2006–07 season, Sanchez gradually emerged from the Chilean club Colo-Colo, and Caguio has always been very optimistic about the player, and has repeatedly recommended Arsene Wenger on different occasions.
In between matches, then-Arsenal chief scout Steve Raleigh met former Chilean international Sebastian Rosenthal, who was working with Sanchez's agent, Fernando Felicević. This encounter became the catalyst for the success of the deal. Rosenthal revealed to Raleigh that after three seasons with Sanchez for Barca, the team had shown he had become redundant – so the transfer wheels began to run. At the time, Wenger was in Brazil to explain the match in the 2014 World Cup finals, and Felicević flew to Brazil to meet with him, and finally finalized the deal.
With years of good relationships with Real Madrid and Barca, Arsenal have built a twin star squad in 12 months.
This summer, while Seballos performed better during the loan period, Arsenal ultimately chose Erdegaard as the team's new No. 10.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="192" > and Barcelona</h1>
Barca has played an indispensable role in Arsenal's way to bigger and stronger. Since the turn of the century, Barça have contributed more than £127 million in transfer fees to the Gunners, equivalent to 1/3 of the total amount of construction at the Emirates Stadium. While Arsenal were outraged by Barca's public pursuit of stars such as Henry and Petit Law, Arsenal was still grateful for Barca's generous donations and high-priced signings of Song and Vermalen at a time when the Gunners saw the sale of players as their main means of revenue.
Vermalen's transfer process was full of twists and turns, and the result of the successful completion was somewhat surprising. The results of the Belgian centre-back's medical examination caused some controversy, and then management called North London to say that they should think twice. However, just 24 hours later, Barca decided to move forward with the transfer – without even renegotiating. Thus, after Henry and Fabregas, Vermalen became the third Arsenal captain to join Barcelona in seven years.
Since 2004, there has been a steady stream of young players from Barcelona to Arsenal. Fabregas was the first and most accomplished, followed by Fran Merida, Jon Toral, Bellerin and, most recently, Joel Lopez.
The strategy was largely based on the ideas of former Arsenal scout Francis Caggio. A former Barcelona B player and a former teammate of Guardiola's deputy and successor, Tito Villanova, Cagio has a wide network at Barca. Barca's habit of opening training pitches has facilitated Arsenal scouting to get up close and personal with young players, although a certain amount of camouflage is still required – scouts always wear baseball caps and sunglasses to try to keep a low profile, which is now a unique sight on the training ground.
Arsenal's focus on finding young players who have not signed professional contracts is not limited to Barcelona or Spain. Cargajo has also run potential deals for Fernando Torres, Sergio Ramos, Danny Parejo, Cazorla and other young European players, but around the corner, Arsenal finds that Ramasia is the fertile ground for true football talent.
Barca have a theoretical advantage over Premier League teams to offer professional contracts to players over the age of 16. However, not all young players can get a professional contract in the first place, which provides a window of opportunity for poachers. Under EU law, Arsenal can offer scholarships to these players before signing a pre-signing agreement with them.
An Arsenal insider revealed: "Barca's approach is to make trouble for themselves, they have a strict promotion system for their youth players: before entering the first team, all young players are treated equally; after they are promoted to the first team with their own talent and hard work, professional contracts are also offered." But obviously, not all the little players can get into the first team, so we have the opportunity. ”
Another important point is that Arsene Wenger has developed a style and philosophy of football similar to that of Barcelona at Arsenal. A well-known agent revealed: "Many players have difficulty succeeding after leaving Barca, the most recent example being Sergio Gomez in Dortmund. He would have been better off if he had stayed at Barca (after Gomez joined Dortmund in early 2018, the 20-year-old midfielder made just three first-team substitute appearances for a total of seven minutes, and since last season he has been on loan to Huesca). Some players are well suited to stay in Barca's system because they are not traditional strikers or wingers, but in Barca's style they can find their home. ”
That's not a problem at Arsenal, they are the team closest to Barca in terms of style. La Masia's academy products come to London's Kearney Training Ground and you will feel at home.
Kaggio is good at words and is often able to win the trust of the player's family, which is the most crucial step in the introduction of young players. Arsenal, meanwhile, have charted a clear path for these young players, showing them a shortcut to the first team. In The Case of Xiaofa, he flew to London to interview Arsene Wenger before joining the Gunners at the age of 16 — a face-to-face encounter that was enough to change everything. At first, there were different voices within the Arsenal Academy about the introduction of foreign players, but the talent and ability of Xiaofa quickly dispelled everyone's doubts.
When Xiaofa was promoted to the first team, he became the business card of Cagio and Arsenal. His performance is the best proof of Arsenal's signing slogan: the performance is directly proportional to the chance, and youth is not an obstacle to playing. Toral and Bellerin followed the performance of their predecessors. When dealing with Bellerin's transfer, Cagio asked sharply: Do you want to be the right winger of the Spanish second division team, or do you want to play the main right-back in the Premier League?
Of course, money is another factor. An agent revealed: "Barca have cultivated too many young players and they don't waste money in order to retain players. If they announce that they want to match the offers of other teams, then immediately 25 agents will call La Masia. The United can match any offer for Mason Greenwood because he's really good, but at Barca they have at least 8 potential Aoki in any given year.
"It's not that Barca are too picky, they really don't have any money. Of course, it is not limited to young players. Many of England's big clubs keep an eye on La Masia, bringing in Barca's young players exactly the same as barca's good seedlings when they brought in small clubs in La Liga. Barca was shocked internally. I once discussed with Barca about a young English player they wanted to bring in, and the offer from the parent team was also ventilated, almost shocking them to the jaws... Ultimately, Barca internally believed that English clubs were crazy and that whatever team had was money. ”
Of course, Arsenal's transfer strategy doesn't always work. The Gunners once took Pique on a tour of the training ground, but gave up because he was too young to sign a formal contract. Cagio also discussed the possibility of a transfer with Messi's agent, but Arsenal's legal team found that the little flea could not obtain a labor certificate because he did not have Spanish citizenship and eventually abandoned the deal. However, due to the new rules of Brexit, such a transfer cannot be repeated in the future.
Arsenal's constant raids on the La Masia Academy have made the relationship between the two clubs occasionally strained. In Merida's transfer, Arsenal have expressed their willingness to pay a voluntary excess compensation fee to prevent relations with Barca from becoming too stiff. Later, Arsene Wenger publicly defended Arsenal's signing of young players from abroad after completing the acquisition of Bellerin and Tolar: "We also have players left the academy and joined other English clubs. Our strategies are within the limits of reasonable and legal.
"I love Barcelona, I love Catalonia. If it's illegal, then I'll say, 'I'm sorry, kid, we can't do that.' A lot of players follow the same rules when they leave us... You go and see La Masia, see where they're digging people, and then talk to me about it. ”
From 2003 to 2011, Barca would "lure" Arsenal's stars almost every other year, from Falun Xiao to Hleb. There is a general feeling within arsenal that Barca's strategy is somewhat tit-for-tat: you dig our academy, I will dig your first team.
In terms of youth training, Arsenal also suffered in January 2018, with Marcus McGuane joining Barca directly from the Gunners' academy – but now that the team's management has long been out of hand, neither club has experienced much of a sense of revenge/revenge. McGuane had limited opportunities at Barca B, renting Out Championship Nottingham Forest last season. Today, England's youngsters are blowing up, causing a rush across Europe, but La Masia's coaching staff still feels determined to cultivate Catalan local talent.
The ironclad camp of soldiers, the connection between the North London team and the two most famous clubs in Spain will remain long-lasting.