Chapter 1 ps, Fourth Update Delivered! It's Another Fourth Update!

Portugal ultimately stopped in the round of sixteen. They entered the knockout stage but failed to advance further.

So Portugal was the first of Niang's interested player list to end their World Cup journey.

On the night Portugal was eliminated, all of Portugal was plunged into sorrow and grief, and almost every Portuguese person was infected by Cristiano Ronaldo's sad tears.

That very night, Niang received a call from Mendes.

"You can prepare to offer a bid to Real Madrid."

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Things seemed to accelerate all of a sudden.

The next day, Real Madrid received an offer from Liverpool.

They offered 18 million euros to buy Pepe.

To be honest, this offer was simply too low. Even if Pepe was unpopular with the Madrid fans, it shouldn't be this low… It was simply an insulting offer.

So Real Madrid rejected it without even thinking about it.

Although they rejected Liverpool's offer, the matter ultimately reached the ears of Real Madrid president Florentino.

Rumor had it that Real Madrid wanted to get rid of Pepe.

Florentino knew that this was not just a rumor, but the real thoughts of the club's senior management.

It was just that there had always been controversy because not everyone wanted to let Pepe go.

So in the end, it was the attitude of him, the club president, that played the decisive role.

And his attitude was… he supported selling Pepe.

Florentino was a person who attached great importance to his own and the team's reputation. His idol was Santiago Bernabéu, the legendary president in the club's history, and he hoped that he could also make history like Bernabéu.

But Pepe's behavior was tarnishing Real Madrid's pure white jersey.

Another reason why the Real Madrid president had always disliked Pepe was because—Pepe was not bought by him, but by the former club president, that disgrace to the club, Calderón!

Florentino attached great importance to factions.

He would carry out a major purge when he came to power, selling off those who belonged to the previous regime.

For example, after he came to power for the second time, he successively sold Sneijder, Robben, Gago and other people from the Calderón era.

Among them, Sneijder and Robben helped their teams advance to the Champions League final held at the Bernabéu in their first season after leaving Real Madrid. This incident was considered a disgrace to Real Madrid by many people and gave the Real Madrid president a slap in the face.

But Florentino didn't think so.

He didn't care what achievements these two people made. He just couldn't allow the enemy's people to stay under his nose.

This was also why Higuaín, who clearly performed so well, often became Real Madrid's key player, and was the most efficient player in Real Madrid's squad, Florentino still wanted to sell him. Every summer, there would be rumors that Higuaín was leaving Real Madrid.

Similarly, Pepe was not Florentino's man either. He was brought in by the former president Calderón and manager Mijatović.

This made Florentino even more displeased with Pepe. In addition, Pepe's own personality and temper were prone to impulsiveness, and he would always give people a handle, allowing others to seize on Pepe's actions to attack Real Madrid, which made Florentino even more unhappy.

As long as there was an opportunity, he would definitely sell Pepe without hesitation.

As for Pepe's ability to increase the depth of Real Madrid's defense as an excellent center back… he didn't believe that Pepe was the only excellent center back in the world. Was AC Milan's Thiago Silva not good enough? Was Manchester City's Kompany not excellent enough? Juventus' Chiellini was also an excellent center back. Even within the team, Varane had already proven his strength, and Ramos' performance as a center back was obvious to all… Why should we always think that Real Madrid's defense would collapse without Pepe?

As for Mourinho's feelings, he didn't care about them at all. In the early years, when he needed Mourinho, he had satisfied Mourinho in many ways, but as Real Madrid lifted the European Champions Cup for the tenth time, his dependence on Mourinho gradually faded. He was originally a president who liked to interfere in the club's operations. He had interfered in the team's operations many times in the past, and he was not the kind of person who could hold back. Now, because of Mourinho, it was already very difficult for him to suppress himself for a few years…

So, as the club president, Florentino didn't realize what Pepe meant to Real Madrid and Mourinho.

This was a typical "killing the donkey after it has ground the grain" mentality.

Of course, even if they wanted to sell Pepe, it didn't mean they would give him away for free.

If the other party's offer was too low, that wouldn't work either.

Pepe spent Real Madrid 30 million euros when he came to Real Madrid, although this price was obviously inflated, and there might be something shady about it. But everyone knew that the price was 30 million, and it would be obviously unreasonable to sell him too cheaply.

Florentino was not a fool. He knew that although there were many people who hated Pepe, there were also many people who liked Pepe. If he sold a main center back too cheaply, where would Real Madrid's face go?

People would say, "Is a main center back of Real Madrid worth so little money?"

Therefore, Pepe had to be sold, but not at such a low price.

Want to take Pepe away for 18 million?

Don't think that we Real Madrid are really suckers!

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Real Madrid's rejection of Liverpool's offer did not surprise Niang. He also knew that 18 million was indeed too low.

The main reason he was offering such a low price now was to prevent Real Madrid from asking for too much. If he had offered 30 million from the beginning, what would he do if Real Madrid raised the price later?

If he offered a lower price at the beginning, it would be easier to negotiate the price later. He wouldn't have to raise the price too much to satisfy Real Madrid.

This was Niang's experience in many negotiations.

After Real Madrid rejected his offer of 18 million euros, Liverpool quickly re-submitted a second offer. This time, they increased it by 2 million, reaching 20 million euros.

Although 20 million and 18 million were only 2 million more, they were definitely two different concepts. The former would make people think, "Wow, 20 million, that's a lot!" The latter would make people think, "It's only 10 million something."

This offer could already make Real Madrid feel the sincerity.

Of course, Real Madrid still rejected it, because in their opinion, 20 million was still too cheap for Pepe.

But this time, they didn't just simply reject it, they also reported the price they hoped to get.

Forty million euros!

This price was not important, because all prices were negotiable. Did Real Madrid really have to pay 40 million just because they said 40 million? Except for the wealthy Middle Easterners, no one in the world was that stupid.

What Niang valued was that Real Madrid had responded to him and put forward the price they hoped to get, which meant that Real Madrid really wanted to sell Pepe.

What was he afraid of now?

The club wanted to sell, the player himself wanted to leave, and the agent was helping from the middle. What couldn't Liverpool do?

Looking at Real Madrid's fax, Niang smiled.

He felt particularly accomplished now.

Everyone knew how important Pepe was to Real Madrid. He was an indispensable main player in Real Madrid's squad, a world-class center back, and his personal defensive ability was unparalleled.

If he had told others before that he wanted to poach Pepe from Real Madrid, others would definitely think he was crazy, talking nonsense, and bragging!

But he was really about to do it. He was about to make such a difficult thing happen, which proved that his strategy was successful.

Chen Hero's sense of accomplishment was scoring goals on the field and leading the team to victory. Martin O'Neill's sense of accomplishment was watching the players execute his tactics on the field, thereby winning the game. As a club manager, his sense of accomplishment was signing those players who others thought were impossible to get to Liverpool one by one.

Pepe was one, but definitely not the last.

※※※

Real Madrid's asking price of 40 million euros was obviously impossible. Pepe performed well at Real Madrid, but he wasn't worth that price. Besides, he was someone Real Madrid originally planned to get rid of… This price was simply impossible. Unless Pepe was Real Madrid's absolute main player, the core, the flag of Real Madrid, and the leader of Real Madrid's locker room, then 40 million might not be enough to get Pepe.

Now… the situation was different.

Real Madrid asked for 40 million, and Liverpool immediately countered with 25 million.

Of course, 25 million couldn't meet Real Madrid's requirements either. Real Madrid countered again, still 40 million.

It seemed that Real Madrid was being quite stubborn this time.

But Niang knew that Real Madrid was bluffing.

Of course, they knew that their player couldn't be traded at this price, unless they didn't want to sell Pepe at all.

He wasn't in a hurry either. He responded to Real Madrid after a few days.

He had to let Real Madrid's big shots cool down a bit, let them know their worth, and not think that everyone had to satisfy them.

And his offer was a good illustration of Liverpool's attitude, which was—I don't indulge you!

Liverpool's response was 25 million euros.

Compared to the last time, it hadn't changed by a single cent.

※※※

Originally, all of Real Madrid's transfers had to go through head coach Mourinho, but this transfer was unusual. Florentino certainly knew how much Mourinho liked Pepe, so if he wanted to get rid of Pepe, he couldn't let Mourinho know about it.

He had notified everyone who knew about this transfer deal, telling them not to reveal the news. If Mourinho found out, they could wait to be fired.

So all the latest progress on Pepe's transfer deal was reported directly to the president by Real Madrid.

Everything was decided by Florentino.

Niang didn't know that his opponent was actually Florentino. He thought it was a manager like him. If he knew that the person he was dealing with was Florentino, he would probably feel even more accomplished…

Florentino smiled when he saw Liverpool's counter-offer.

It seemed that this Liverpool manager was a bit interesting.

Daring to challenge Real Madrid.

It seemed that he had to let you know who you were doing business with, kid.