Chapter 585 Am I That Kind of Person?

The Premier League’s summer transfer window usually opens in mid-June.

But most deals are already settled long before then.

They’re just waiting for the window to open to make the official announcements.

Arsenal fans all over the world were looking forward to the new owner’s big-money signings.

Over the past month, Jin Ying had become a frequent flyer.

She shuttled between Spain, Italy, and France.

She was acquiring players one by one, according to the transfer list Qi Sheng had provided.

For a transfer fee of 30 million British Pounds, she signed the genius Norwegian midfielder, Odegaard, from Real Madrid.

Before the Arsenal fans could even start cheering,

a series of subsequent announcements practically made their jaws drop.

Real Madrid’s right-back, Ashraf, also joined Arsenal for a fee of 40 million British Pounds.

Inter Milan had also wanted to buy Ashraf, but Arsenal simply offered more money.

Both in terms of salary and transfer fee,

Inter Milan’s finances couldn’t support a continued bidding war.

Although they had borrowed 300 million euros from Qi Sheng, much of it had gone toward paying off debts and covering operational costs.

The budget available for transfers was extremely limited.

And when Zhang Kangyang learned that Arsenal’s behind-the-scenes owner was likely Qi Sheng, he decisively gave up any thought of competing.

Fortunately, Arsenal wasn’t just poaching their targets; their crosstown rival, AC Milan, was also getting plundered.

The news that left-back Theo Hernandez had decided to join Arsenal made Zhang Kangyang break into a wide grin.

So, while they may have failed to sign Ashraf, AC Milan had lost Theo Hernandez.

AC Milan was very reluctant to let him go, but they were facing an offer from Arsenal of 80,000 British Pounds a week, pre-tax.

Their own renewal terms simply couldn’t compete.

They had no choice but to accept Arsenal’s 40 million British Pound transfer fee and use the funds to find a replacement.

At AC Milan, Theo was only making an annual salary of 1.5 million euros.

But by joining Arsenal, his pre-tax annual salary would jump to 5 million euros—more than triple his previous pay.

For a player, any talk of loyalty in the face of that was just laughable.

The only clubs that could compete financially with Premier League teams were their domestic rivals and a handful of other European giants.

…

Jin Ying was extremely generous when it came to acquisitions.

Compared to the transfer targets recommended by a few club insiders, she naturally had more faith in Qi Sheng.

‘Even if these players don’t pan out, the worst-case scenario is just selling them at a loss.’

‘But if they do, we’ll have hit the jackpot.’

Jin Ying handled the signings, while the thankless job of offloading players—which was bound to ruffle some feathers—was left to Sporting Director Edu.

As per Qi Sheng’s instructions, several of Arsenal’s current high-wage players were to be offloaded.

Future signings would also be focused primarily on young players with high potential.

“Mr. Haaland, we will directly trigger your son’s 55 million British Pound release clause.”

“You and his agent will receive a combined 15 million British Pounds in commission, and we will offer him the club’s top salary of 200,000 British Pounds per week.”

“Frankly, you won’t find a more generous offer from any other team in the entire Premier League.”

Jin Ying leisurely stirred her coffee, completely confident in the terms she had laid out.

“Ms. Jin, we certainly appreciate Arsenal’s generous offer, but I’d like to take a few more days to consider it carefully. I hope you understand.”

Old Haaland watched his son grinning like an idiot and couldn’t help but sigh, pressing a hand to his forehead.

Physically, his son was far superior to him.

But when it came to intelligence, he was lagging far behind.

“I understand. However, the latest I can wait is tomorrow morning. If you can’t give me a firm answer by then, I will be on my way to Lille, France, to sign Osimhen. I’m certain he would be thrilled to join Arsenal.”

After saying her piece with a smile, Jin Ying stood up and left without another word.

“Dad, I think Arsenal is great! I want to play in the Premier League!”

Haaland looked at his dad, for once having a strong opinion of his own.

‘He just wanted to test the defensive capabilities of Premier League defenders. It had absolutely nothing to do with Arsenal’s 200,000 British Pound weekly salary.’

“Sigh. I was hoping you’d join a team willing to break Mbappe’s transfer fee record. It looks like we won’t get that chance now.”

Old Haaland considered Mbappe his son’s arch-rival, so naturally, he wanted to see his son surpass the French superstar in every respect.

“It’s only a matter of time! I’ll go to Arsenal and level up for a bit. Then a team will definitely be willing to spend that kind of money!”

Haaland was brimming with confidence.

The defenders in the Bundesliga were all trash; they couldn’t stop him at all.

With his physique, he was sure he could tear it up in the Premier League too.

“So it’s decided then?”

“Yep, let’s go with Arsenal. London is way more exciting than Manchester, and I like big cities!”

Haaland was being completely genuine with that last part.

Even though his father was a Manchester City legend, it didn’t in the least affect his preference for a bigger city.

“You punk!”

Old Haaland shot his son a glare and dialed a number.

“Mino, Erling and I have decided. We’re joining Arsenal. We need you to hash out the final details of the deal for us.”

“Arsenal?”

Raiola was quite surprised on the other end of the line. He laughed and said, “You can tell their new owner is full of ambition. My other client, Eevee, also received an invitation from Arsenal. It’s a perfect opportunity for Erling to learn a thing or two from Zlatan.”

“Eevee is going to Arsenal too?”

Old Haaland was very surprised, though he wasn’t worried about the other player stealing his son’s spot.

“Rumor has it that Ah Bu and that Chinese owner made a bet. Chelsea’s transfer activity has been insane, and it’s even spurred Manchester City to increase their own spending.”

“What a shame we never got an offer from one of those top-tier clubs.”