Jardel had played with Deco for two years. Deco understood his needs perfectly, and Jardel hoped to reunite with him.
Obviously, Porto knew about this while they were courting Jardel's agent.
Good lord!
They hadn't even bought your striker yet, and now you were already trying to poach my midfielder?
"Twenty million euros!" Porto raised the offer again.
"Throw in Hélder Postiga too. Otherwise we won't even have a striker left to use," Maxa countered.
"Impossible! Postiga is our future hope, and he's worth at least seven million euros himself!" Porto refused immediately.
"Then twenty-five million euros. We're practically letting you earn two million for free." Maxa sounded shaken.
"Twenty-two million euros. We absolutely can't go any higher. This is our greatest sincerity!" Porto said anxiously.
"Twenty-three million euros. Without Jardel, we'll have to search other leagues for a reliable striker at the last minute. You know how difficult that is." Maxa looked heartbroken as he glanced at Kai beside him.
At that moment, Maxa genuinely felt that Young Master Kai was a bit too greedy.
The other side had clearly said twenty-two million was their final offer.
"Fine! Deal! Twenty-three million euros!" Porto practically broke their teeth agreeing to it.
Why even bother?
Last year, they sold Jardel because he wanted the highest salary in Portugal along with a five-year contract.
Porto believed their academy striker, Postiga, was ready to replace him, so they refused his demands and even earned seventeen million euros from selling him.
And now?
One year later, they bought Jardel back for twenty-three million euros. Not only did they lose six million on the transfer fee alone, but Jardel still got his maximum salary contract. They had basically paid him to go help another club for a season.
What the hell was the point of all this?
After Porto finalized the deal, they directly fired the sporting director who had pushed to sell Jardel last year.
Idiot!
This was the perfect example of "the more you try to save money, the more money you lose."
The harder you struggle, the more painful the loss becomes.
If Porto still failed to reach the Champions League knockout stage this season even with Jardel and Deco leading the team, then they would truly suffer a catastrophic loss.
Meanwhile...
Even after completing the Jardel transfer, Triguera still felt confused.
The club owner had said he would invest at least ten million euros into the squad this season.
But in the end, the club only spent eight million euros, then immediately earned twenty-three million back from selling Jardel.
How the hell was this supposed to be explained?
Wouldn't the fans feel deceived?
Wouldn't they be furious?
How was he supposed to explain this to the supporters?
Triguera was so stressed his hair was turning gray.
With a heavy heart, Maxa informed Jardel about the transfer and, as his mentor, gave him a heartfelt speech.
"The transfer window is about to close. There's no time left. Porto won't sell Deco, and the young players at Sporting Lisbon still aren't mature enough. If you stay here, there's a high chance you'll waste another year." Tears flowed from Maxa's eyes. "I truly don't want you to leave. You're the best striker I've ever coached."
"But this year includes World Cup qualifiers. As long as your performances are good enough, even if the Brazilian national team doesn't rate you highly, they'll still have to give you a chance."
"With your ability, once you enter the national team, there'll be no issue partnering Ronaldo. At the 2002 World Cup, you could become Brazil's starting center forward, lead the Seleção to the championship, and add another star above Brazil's crest!"
"I can't delay your future just because of my own selfishness."
"Joining a club capable of dominating the Portuguese league and competing in the Champions League is the most important thing for you right now!"
Jardel burst into tears.
The national team topic had struck him deeply. It was something he had never truly considered before.
Coach Maxa treats me like a reborn son... he's basically my real father!
Jardel quickly confirmed his departure and signed a new contract with Porto.
On August 25th, five days before the transfer window closed, a blockbuster transfer shook the Portuguese league.
Porto re-signed three-time Portuguese Golden Boot winner Mario Jardel from Sporting Lisbon for twenty-three million euros!
The fee matched Claudio López's transfer value, making it one of the ten biggest transfers of the summer!
Brazilian striker Jardel instantly became famous throughout Europe!
Even Brazilian fans, who normally ignored every striker not named Ronaldo, started asking:
Who the hell is this Jardel?
His career achievements were suddenly dug up and displayed everywhere.
Four seasons in Portugal.
League champion in the first three seasons.
Golden Boot winner in the last three seasons.
European Bronze Boot winner last season and the season before.
He was absolutely one of those terrifying strikers whose stats shocked you the moment you actually looked at them!
For a time, Brazilian fans loudly demanded that Jardel be called up to the national team as Ronaldo's backup.
For years, his Golden Boots had gone mostly unnoticed.
But once he became a high-priced transfer, the whole world finally recognized him!
At last, he had reached the peak moment of his career!
And he believed this was only the beginning of his legend.
…
Alcochete Base, U19 training ground.
"Alright, that's it for today's training. The U19 players are dismissed. First-team players stay behind," Maxa announced while reading from the script.
Kai immediately took the initiative to comfort the U19 players.
Because during the past week, they had been absolutely tortured by the first-team squad.
In terms of age, the difference between both sides wasn't huge. The first-team players were only slightly older.
But in terms of strength?
The gap was enormous.
On the U19 side, aside from Veloso barely managing to put up a fight, everyone else had been thoroughly destroyed by Ibrahimović, Drogba, Barzagli, Pepe, and Fonte.
Especially the Chinese talents like Kai, Yu Shihao, Chen Tao, Shao Jiawei, Hao Junmin, and the others.
Ever since arriving in Portugal, everything had gone smoothly for them.
The squad atmosphere was harmonious.
They had even won the U17 league championship and genuinely felt invincible among players their age.
At one point, they even believed Europe's so-called "geniuses" were nothing special.
Until recently.
After Sporting Lisbon bought this new batch of players, the youngsters were almost beaten into "football depression."
Aside from Ibrahimović, who already had some reputation as a talented prospect, nobody had even heard of the others.
And two of them had come from lower leagues.
After all, which truly gifted player wouldn't normally be in the academy of a giant club?
Only players abandoned by others would join lower-tier teams early.
But even those so-called "leftover scraps" had taught the U19 squad a brutal lesson.
It crushed their confidence.
"It's alright. Don't just look at them as new signings. They're genuinely very strong. Even in the first team, they can secure their own positions. Don't take it too personally," Kai kept reassuring them.
He comforted his old teammates.
"Just wait until you see our results this season. Then you'll understand what kind of freakish group of players you've spent the last week training against."
Besides acting as sparring partners, the players demoted from the first team had also trained together with the U19 squad throughout the week.
For the U19 players, that experience was definitely valuable.
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