Chapter 670 126: The Biggest Transfer in History: Wang Shuo, the Premier League's Top Star and a Maradona-esque Legend

After the final, Wang Shuo accompanied Ronaldo and Messi to the Capital, where they spent some time having fun.

He also gave an exclusive interview to the Huaxia Daily and participated in the recording of a show for Capital Television, sparking a wave of football fever in China.

After finally seeing off Ronaldo and Messi, Wang Shuo returned to his hometown.

By this time, it was already late June.

News from Europe also continuously reached Wang Shuo through Thomas Essien.

Courtois had joined Chelsea, and Varane had gone to Real Madrid.

Both of these players were part of Wenger's three-year plan.

But now, they had both been snatched up by others.

Varane, it was said, had chosen Real Madrid due to a strong recommendation from Zidane.

However, after missing out on the two young players, Wenger's subsequent moves were quite swift.

First, he sold Fabregas for 34 million euros. To facilitate the transfer to Barça, Fabregas himself paid to cover the shortfall in the transfer fee—a sum said to be as much as 6 million euros.

Barça was only willing to offer 28 million euros.

Meanwhile, Nasri was transferred from Arsenal to Manchester City for 25 million British Pounds.

The exchange rate between the British Pound and the euro was very low at the time, with 1 pound being worth about 1.1 euros.

Therefore, Nasri's transfer fee was approximately 27.5 million euros.

And Clichy joined Manchester City for 7 million British Pounds.

These three transfers had long been rumored, so they didn't cause much discussion.

Instead, it was Arsenal's actions in terms of signings that were quite significant.

After selling Nasri for 27.5 million euros, they signed Belgian player Eden Hazard from Ligue 1's Lille for 25 million euros.

This pair of transactions, one player out and one player in, still sparked considerable controversy.

Was it worth it or not?

According to media reports, to get the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, Arsenal would break the club's wage cap, offering a weekly salary of 140,000 British Pounds, and also pay a hefty commission to the agent.

Besides Hazard, Arsenal also signed French midfielder Matuidi from Ligue 1's Saint-Etienne for a transfer fee of 8 million euros. He was a player Wenger had been tracking for a long time.

They also signed De Bruyne from Belgium for 7 million euros.

And signed Arteta from the Premier League's Everton for 12 million euros.

Having sold three players and signed four, Arsenal was, for once, showing rare ambition in the transfer market.

And at almost the exact same time, a piece of news emerged from the European transfer market.

Arsenal's Dutch striker, Van Persie, had once again rejected the club's offer of a contract extension.

This immediately drew intense attention from the entire European transfer market.

Everyone knew this was a signal that Van Persie was entering the transfer market.

It was at this very moment that Wenger, accompanied by Thomas Essien and Dick Law, traveled from Europe to China, from Hu City to Quanjiang.

...

Seeing Wenger again, Wang Shuo noticed that the travel-worn Frenchman seemed even thinner after days of rushing about.

Wenger and Dick Law's trip to China to see Wang Shuo was, for the most part, about the transfer.

Besides that, Wenger had also brought something else.

A USB drive.

On the USB drive was a collection of meticulously edited match videos.

But they weren't highlights. Instead, they showed every single golden opportunity Arsenal had missed over the past season.

There were many long videos, and Wang Shuo only watched them after his meeting with Wenger was over.

After each video clip, there was Wenger's own analysis of passing lanes, off-the-ball movement, and the striker's ability to capitalize on opportunities.

"What does he mean by this?"

Shen Qinghe, who had watched the videos with Wang Shuo, was puzzled when she realized none of them contained any information about Wang Shuo.

Wang Shuo stood up and pointed to the analysis reports from the data company that Thomas Essien had brought back, which lay beside Shen Qinghe.

"It's like those analysis reports."

"Wenger is trying to tell me something. It's not that Arsenal can't create chances. On the contrary, Arsenal is very good at creating scoring opportunities. The gap is in their finishing."

"Forget about converting all of the golden opportunities in these videos. If they could just convert a third, or even a quarter of them, how many more points would Arsenal have in the league? How much further could they go in the Champions League?"

Shen Qinghe understood. "This Wenger is a deep one!"

"He also wants me to think about this: if Arsenal's striker were me, how confident would I be in converting these chances into goals? And how much success would those extra goals bring Arsenal?"

And sure enough, Wang Shuo really was thinking about it.

Although it was a bit of a crude, static comparison, Wenger's message was clear: Arsenal was the team best suited for Wang Shuo!

This was similar to the analysis reports from the data company that Wang Shuo had just received.

Regarding Manchester United, the data analysis company believed that after Scholes's retirement, Manchester United's midfield passing ability would decline sharply.

Most importantly, Wang Shuo's role would overlap with Rooney's.

That was also why Ferguson wanted to play a 4-4-2 formation!

In addition to the data analysis reports, Shen Qinghe had also prepared a special commercial assessment for Wang Shuo.

The exposure of the Premier League would provide a massive boost for building Wang Shuo's personal brand and developing his commercial value.

Most importantly, if he went to the Premier League at this point in time, he would be the undisputed top star!

The top superstar in the most commercially valuable league in the world!

The prestige of that was immense!

You could say that all signs were telling Wang Shuo that joining the Premier League was a good choice.

The only difference was which team to join.