Chapter 79 Lin Feng’s jerseys are selling like hot cakes! After scoring the goal, Lin Feng himself was a little confused! Is Ballack's free kick so strong? Two goals from two free throws, what’s the difference between this and a penalty kick? After Lin Feng scored two free kicks in a row, the way his teammates looked at him had completely changed. Veron and Cambiasso, who had previously wanted to compete with Lin Feng for the right to take the free kick, no longer had such an idea. The opponent scored two goals from two free throws. Their free kick level was much better than theirs. If everyone's levels are similar, then there would be some confidence in competing. But if the gap in levels is too big, there is no need to fight. Forcing a fight will only bring humiliation to yourself. At the same time, the two also realized that Inter Milan's midfield might be changing. The other party is so young, but his performance is so explosive. I dare to imagine what he will be like when he grows up fully in the future! At least they couldn't do this when they were seventeen years old, which meant that they were not players of the same level as the other side. Inter Milan’s future midfield core can only be Lin Feng, not them. Veron could accept this calmly. After all, at his age, he was destined not to be the future of Inter Milan.
He doesn't have any ambitions, he just wants to play more games, stay in good shape, compete for a position in Argentina's midfield, and try to play in another World Cup next year. But Cambiasso is different. He is only 25 years old and still very young. He arrived a year earlier than Lin Feng and still had ideas about the core position of Inter Milan's midfield. So after seeing Lin Feng's outstanding performance, Cambiasso felt very disappointed. He felt that he might not be able to compete with this guy who was eight years younger than him! In the end, thanks to the outstanding performances of Adriano and Lin Feng, Inter Milan defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 5:0 away from home. Although the Champions League play-off matches are played over two rounds, after this match, almost everyone was sure that Inter Milan had advanced to the Champions League finals. If Inter Milan can still be overturned with 5 away goals, then there is no point in playing, just disband as soon as possible! …… Early in the morning of August 8, the door of Moratti's office was pushed open by marketing director Oriali with a happy face. "Chairman, good news!" Moratti was wiping his glasses. After hearing what Oriali said, he asked while wiping his glasses: "What good news makes you so excited?" "Our jersey sales for the new season have increased by 40%, especially Lin Feng's No. 8 jersey, which is in short supply and selling like crazy." Moratti smiled and nodded, as if he had expected all this: "Haha, he delivered such a perfect performance in his debut for the team. It's normal for the fans to like him." Oriali nodded and continued: "In China, our jersey sales have also skyrocketed. The jerseys in the specialty stores are almost sold out, and they are urging us to ship them out quickly!" "Oh? This is really good news!" Compared with the previous news, Moratti obviously cares more about the latter news. We have finally opened up the Chinese market. It was not easy! Moratti has long coveted the huge Chinese market.
In order to open up the Chinese market, Inter Milan opened an official store in China a few years ago, specializing in selling jerseys and football-related peripheral products. But similar to other European clubs, Inter Milan’s stores’ marketing performance in China is also dismal. I don’t know if it’s because the pricing is too high or the target audience is too small, but the performance of Inter Milan’s stores in China is generally poor, and most of them are in a loss-making state. But what is strange is that the people they sent to conduct market research came back and said that the Chinese market has huge prospects, and there are many fans wearing jerseys on the streets, many of which are Inter Milan's blue and black jerseys. This made Inter Milan's top management very excited. Before they even went to China to open a store, so many fans had already purchased Inter Milan's jerseys through various channels. When they open a specialty store there, it will be a hot seller! So they excitedly opened a store, and nothing happened... There are indeed a lot of fans of the five major leagues in China, but a set of genuine jerseys costs hundreds of RMB, while pirated jerseys sold on the street only cost a few dozen or even a dozen RMB. In 2005, when the income level of Chinese people was generally not high and the awareness of authenticity was not strong, the number of fans who could afford to buy authentic jerseys was ultimately small. Therefore, more than 90% of the Inter Milan jerseys you see on the market are pirated. But after Lin Feng joined Inter Milan, things became different. There are a large number of fans who like Lin Feng. In order to support him, they make a special trip to Inter Milan’s store to buy his jersey. Although there are not many people in China who can afford to buy genuine products, China’s population base is large! Even if only one percent of people come to buy genuine products, it would be a huge fortune for Inter Milan's specialty stores, the kind that they wouldn't be able to handle! As a result, within a few days, Lin Feng's jerseys were sold out in Inter Milan's store. And when Lin Feng performed perfectly in his Champions League debut, even more fans flocked to the game. The people at the Chinese store had never seen such a scene before, so they had to call Inter Milan headquarters and urge them to ship the goods as soon as possible. After learning about the situation at the Chinese store, Morati waved his hand and ordered the shipment! Not only do we need to ship the goods, but we also need to open more stores. Currently, Inter Milan’s store is located in Shanghai, which is too far east. In order to make it easier for fans in other regions to buy Inter Milan jerseys, Moratti plans to open three more stores in BJ in the north, Guangzhou in the south and Wuhan in the central part of the country. "Boss, isn't it a bit radical to open three stores at once?" Oriali is a little worried. The previous store was not selling well. Will the products still sell well when he opens three more stores at once? "You have to believe in Lin Feng's strength, and also believe in the potential of the Chinese market!" In the face of the concerns of marketing managers, Moratti appeared confident. "This kid is no ordinary person. I am optimistic that he can become the core of Inter Milan's midfield and support Inter Milan's future together with Adriano!" “As for China’s market potential, haha, this is a country with a population of 13 billion and is developing rapidly. Even though they are relatively poor now, as they continue to develop and people's income levels continue to rise, their purchasing power may surpass the entire European Union in the future!" "We are just planning ahead now, so that we can stay ahead of others. When China's purchasing power increases in the future, the returns we get will be more generous than others!"
Moratti is not only the owner of Inter Milan, but also a successful businessman. His vision was obviously much more advanced than that of ordinary people. Since he was so optimistic about the Chinese market, Oriali, a wage earner, would naturally not say much. …… After returning from Ukraine, the Inter Milan team continued their pre-match preparations. The new season of Serie A will kick off on August 8, which is less than half a month away. The players need to adjust their condition in the last half month and reserve sufficient physical strength to welcome the arrival of the new season. Last season, Inter Milan ranked third in the league, with more than ten points less than the top Juventus. Even if we cannot win the championship in the new season, we cannot be left so far behind by the top team. What's more, with the joining of Lin Feng, Samuel and Figo, and Adriano's recovery. Inter Milan's strength this season has increased a lot compared to last season, which gives Mancini some more ideas. In the previous few seasons, Inter Milan faced serious defensive problems. Compared with Juventus and AC Milan, they conceded significantly more goals. But in addition to defensive problems, Inter Milan's offense is also problematic. Inter Milan's major problems are its single offensive means and lack of a system. Last season, Inter Milan had 38 draws in 18 league games, making it the team with the most draws in the entire Serie A. If Inter Milan's forward line could have been more powerful and scored a few more goals, they wouldn't have had to draw so many games. In the new season, with Vieri's departure, the offensive burden of Inter Milan's front line almost entirely falls on Adriano. But Adriano is not stable. Although he is in good shape now, once he starts to indulge in nightclubs, his performance will plummet. If all hopes are placed on Adriano, once he fails, Mancini will have nowhere to cry! So we must find someone to share Inter Milan’s offensive firepower! Originally he planned to place his hopes on Cruz and Martins, but with the joining of Figo and Lin Feng. Mancini has more options. Although Figo is old, he should still have some gas in the tank. His dribbling and assists on the wing can enrich Inter Milan's offensive system and increase Inter Milan's offensive firepower. As for Lin Feng, his usage has already been demonstrated by AC Milan next door. Even if Mancini doesn't know how to use it, he can just copy Ancelotti's answer. But Inter Milan is different from AC Milan. Inter Milan's midfield lineup is far less luxurious than AC Milan. So he can't just copy it blindly, he needs to make some adjustments. The main problem that plagued Inter Milan last season was that no one could keep up with Adriano's speed during counterattacks, forcing him to rely on his own strength to fight alone. But with Lin Feng joining, this problem is no longer a problem. Lin Feng can not only keep up with Adriano's speed, but is even faster than him.
This means that Adriano is no longer fighting alone when counterattacking, he can get strong support from his teammates. Therefore, Mancini's first thought was to adjust Inter Milan's counterattack tactics. In the past, Inter Milan would directly contact Adriano, but in the new season they have more options. Lin Feng and Adriano can both become their counterattack points. What's more perfect is that Lin Feng is also a midfielder, and passing the ball is his forte. In this way, when Inter Milan counterattacks, it is difficult for the opponent to limit their two counterattack points at the same time, and Inter Milan's counterattack threat increases exponentially! In the last game against Shakhtar Donetsk, Lin Feng and Adriano had already completed such cooperation. This proves that Mancini's ideas are feasible! But to verify his new tactics, he must put them to the test in actual combat! So, on August 8, Inter Milan played its last warm-up match before the start of the new season. The opponent is Elfsborg, a team from the Swedish Super League that ranked ninth in the league last season. Its strength is average, making it perfect for training. In this game, Mancini boldly used many new players and adopted the tactics he specially prepared for the new season. The result of the game was pretty good. In the first half, thanks to goals from Lin Feng and Figo, Inter Milan led their opponents 2:0. But in the second half, after Lin Feng and other main players left the field, Inter Milan's substitutes did not perform well on the field. Not only did they fail to score a goal, but they even conceded a goal due to a mistake made by the central defender. The low-level mistakes made by the defense made Mancini look very unhappy. The offensive problem was about to be solved, so why did the defense have problems again? The new season is about to begin. Materazzi and Samuel's performances are relatively stable, but their substitutes are a bit too unstable. Because of his son's leukemia, Burdisso's mind is not on the court at all. Andreoli is a glass man and he is almost always injured. The team has a big problem with central defender substitutes. If this problem is not solved quickly, once one of Materazzi and Samuel gets injured, Inter Milan's defense will be ruined. Before the transfer period closes, Mancini is urgently looking for candidates in the transfer market. All he needs is a substitute, and those famous, capable central defenders in their prime years would probably not be willing to come to Inter Milan to look at the water dispenser. So he can only focus on those veterans or young players who are not very famous. After some screening, Campbell, Dante, Mertesacker, Kompany and Albiol came into Mancini's sight. Among them, except Campbell, the remaining four are unknown young players, but they have demonstrated outstanding strength in their respective clubs and their future prospects are limitless. But what Inter Milan needs now is a substitute who can provide stable combat effectiveness. Therefore, veteran Campbell who has proven himself in many clubs is undoubtedly the most suitable. But after contacting Arsenal, Inter Milan gave up the idea of signing Campbell. Although the player himself is willing to come to Inter Milan, Arsenal's asking price is too high, requiring Inter Milan to pay 800 million pounds. At this price, you can buy a main central defender in his prime, so who would want to buy a 31-year-old veteran? As a result, the transfer negotiations soon fell through, and Inter Milan chose to spend 50 euros to take the 22-year-old Brazilian defender Dante away from Lille. Mancini originally wanted to buy Kompany, but Anderlecht's asking price was too high. Mancini always felt that it was not cost-effective to buy a 500-year-old young central defender for 19 million euros. Compared to Kompany, Dante, who is priced very low, is really a good choice. But what he didn't know was that a year later, Kompany's value rose to 1000 million euros! Less than four days after the warm-up match, the Italian Super Cup arrived as scheduled.
Inter Milan once again encountered its old rival - Juventus! But this time, Juventus is determined to win and will not let it go again! (End of this chapter)
