Burning money is truly a skill.
Many people simply don't believe that.
Not only did Manchester United's Ratcliffe not believe it, but Christian Purslow, CEO and minority shareholder of Aston Villa, the newly promoted Premier League club last season, also didn't believe it.
This British businessman is no ordinary figure. He graduated from Cambridge University and holds a BA from Harvard Business School. He began his career at LEK, a top management consulting firm, and later served as executive assistant to the CEO of the Burton Group.
He was Head of New Business Development at Reuters, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Credit Suisse First Boston UK, Managing Director and Partner at db Capital, and Managing Director at private equity firm OP...
From 2009, he worked at Liverpool as Managing Director. After Hicks and Gillett acquired the club, he resigned. In 2014, he joined Chelsea as Global Director of Business Development.
In 2018, he officially became CEO of Aston Villa as a minority shareholder.
An elite like this, who understands business, management, and football, should be the ideal figure for running a football club. Especially in 2019, when Aston Villa successfully won promotion to the Premier League, and Purslow brought in Chinese capital to take charge. Everything should have progressed smoothly.
But last season, Aston Villa burned through nearly 200 million euros and still faced relegation by just a single point.
In the end, they finished 17th, narrowly avoiding the drop.
If you really think about it, it wasn't terrible. At least they stayed up, right?
As a result, Aston Villa underwent another round of management restructuring this summer.
Head coach Dean Smith remained in place, and the club spent more than 100 million euros in the transfer market, still with survival in mind.
In other words, after winning promotion, Aston Villa spent close to 300 million euros over two summers just to avoid relegation.
Their ability to burn money is truly shocking.
Whether Dean Smith can lead Aston Villa to safety remains to be seen.
It's worth noting that former Chelsea legend John Terry is currently Smith's assistant at Aston Villa, and he is eager to land a managerial role of his own, just like Lampard, Gerrard, and Arteta.
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While Premier League clubs were spending big in the transfer market, Leeds United continued to rake in revenue steadily.
Chelsea were undoubtedly one of the main players in this summer's European transfer market.
After repeatedly missing out on Champions League qualification, Abramovich finally decided to overhaul the squad.
They signed Kai Havertz for 90 million euros, Timo Werner for 65 million, Ben Chilwell for 60 million, Hakim Ziyech from Ajax for 50 million, and 28-year-old goalkeeper Mendy from Rennes for 35 million.
Although Chelsea sold tall striker Abraham to Tottenham for 40 million euros, their net investment still exceeded 200 million euros. It was truly eye-popping.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Newcastle all made significant investments, while Arsenal remained relatively low-key, signing Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey from Atlético Madrid for 60 million euros.
Liverpool signed Portuguese winger Diogo Jota from Wolves for 60 million euros, while Wolves, after selling Jota, turned around and signed striker Fábio Silva from Porto for 55 million.
After selling Ben Chilwell for 60 million euros, Manchester City quickly signed Spanish left-back Cucurella from Leeds United for 50 million.
Manchester City also sold German winger Leroy Sané to Bayern Munich for 60 million euros.
This German talent had failed to develop as expected under Guardiola due to injuries and other factors.
After selling Sané, Manchester City immediately signed American attacker Grealish from Leeds United for 130 million euros.
Grealish was a player handpicked by Guardiola.
At the same time, City also signed Dutch center-back Nathan Aké from Bournemouth for 50 million euros.
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While the Premier League transfer market was in full swing, everyone noticed that Leeds United were still focused primarily on selling players. The revenue from those sales was significant.
They sold Cucurella for 50 million, Bruno Fernandes and Kalvin Phillips as a package for 200 million, and Grealish for 130 million.
With just four player sales this summer, Leeds United brought in 380 million euros.
Compared to previous years, their transfer revenue had declined, and the pace of sales slowed.
Even with tempting offers from Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea, Leeds still chose to renew the contracts of Rashford, Haaland, Foden, and Sancho, demonstrating their ambitions for the new season.
It was clear to everyone that Leeds United still had a deep talent pool.
Bruno Fernandes had left, but Enzo Fernández had performed exceptionally well in the second half of last season.
With Valverde already a regular starter, and the addition of young talents like Camavinga, Pedri, Bellingham, and Musiala, Leeds' midfield was still packed with promise.
Declan Rice remained the anchor in defensive midfield, and with the addition of youngster Aurélien Tchouaméni, the midfield setup looked stable.
In defense, the center-back position was solid. Ruben Dias, the best center-back in the Premier League last season, stayed. Militão, despite interest from Barcelona, also chose to remain. Alongside them were Saliba, Gvardiol, and José Fonte, ensuring a deep center-back rotation.
They also had Fofana out on loan in Ligue 1.
On the right, they had Achraf Hakimi and Reece James. On the left, Alphonso Davies and Nuno Mendes, who had already secured starting roles last season. Both flanks were well covered.
Alisson and Ramsdale remained the goalkeeping duo for double insurance.
Up front, veteran captain Vardy would stay, while Haaland and Julián Álvarez would take on bigger responsibilities this season.
Especially Haaland, who was now in a beastly state, simply unstoppable.
With attackers like Rashford, Sancho, Vinícius, Rodrygo, Ansu Fati, and Foden, Leeds United's offensive lineup was still star-studded.
Leeds had made a few summer signings, but they mostly flew under the radar.
The White Roses made one signing right as the window opened.
They announced the arrival of 19-year-old Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan for a fee of 3.5 million euros.
Last season, this young winger made 27 appearances in the Russian Premier League, starting 14 times and coming on as a substitute in 13 matches. He played 1,469 minutes, scored 3 goals, and provided 2 assists, averaging 2.6 dribbles per game and putting in solid performances.
Gao Shen had nothing to do with this transfer. He hadn't even heard of the player. Borrell handled the deal personally, and because the fee was so low, Gao Shen didn't even realize it until the deal was complete.
He only found out afterward that they had signed this player. The name was just too hard to pronounce.
The scouting system rated him highly, and Borrell was very optimistic. Reportedly, Borrell had personally traveled to Russia several times to watch the player and had reached an agreement with Rubin Kazan as early as February.
Just a year ago, Rubin Kazan had signed this Georgian for only 600,000 euros.
According to Borrell, the player had immense talent and was very capable with both feet. The reason he was so cheap was simply because he was from Georgia, a minor football nation. If he were Brazilian or French, he would have already been regarded as a prodigy.
So Borrell decided to develop him carefully.
Gao Shen trusted Borrell's judgment, the scouts, and the big data system. More importantly, the player's name was difficult to pronounce.
Kvaratskhelia was even harder to pronounce than Croatian midfielder Gvardiol.
Generally speaking, the harder the name is to pronounce, the more likely the player is to be talented.
Just like Gvardiol. His potential was overflowing now.
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Leeds United were still a small team, but Real Madrid were not.
Real Madrid first signed right winger Ferran Torres from Valencia for 35 million euros, then brought in Brazilian forward Richarlison from Everton for 50 million.
After winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League last season and completing the treble again, Real Madrid only made two squad upgrades, and Zidane was full of confidence going into the new season.
In addition to new signings, Madrid's confidence also came from their opponents' weaknesses.
Over the past few years, high-profile signings had not yielded results for Barcelona. Instead, they had become financial burdens, pushing the club into debt and despair.
Just like Tottenham's midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.
Barcelona's technical staff rated the French defensive midfielder highly. After Tottenham listed him, they flew to London several times to negotiate and made multiple offers.
These included offering players like Coutinho or Felipe Anderson plus some cash.
Tottenham rejected all offers, and Barcelona had to give up on Ndombele.
Unable to secure the French midfielder, Barcelona changed direction.
Juventus launched an offensive for young midfielder Arthur, and Barcelona, unable to resist the "temptation" of the Old Lady, agreed to a deal: Arthur went to Juventus for 76 million euros, and Pjanić came to Barcelona for 60 million.
According to both clubs, Arthur's fee was 76 million, and Pjanić's was 60 million.
As soon as the deal was announced, it caused a huge stir across European football.
Arthur had barely played last season, with a market value around 55 million. Pjanić had done well at Juventus but was already 30, and worth around 45 million.
Yet both clubs inflated the fees well above market value.
Premiums do exist. For instance, Valencia sold Rodrigo for 70 million euros. So Arthur at 76 million wasn't entirely outrageous.
The problem was that both the 76 million and 60 million figures were listed on paper. The actual cash involved was only 16 million.
When Gao Shen and the others saw the deal, they were sure it was a case of accounting manipulation.
These so-called "book-manipulation transfers" were designed to make a club's financials look better. It's a financial trick.
Player acquisition costs are amortized over the length of the contract, but sales revenue is recorded in full immediately, leaving room for plenty of manipulation.
The fact that Juventus and Barcelona were so bold in doing this only indicated one thing: their financial situation was far from healthy.
Gao Shen decided to stay away from both clubs for the time being.
Better safe than sorry.
(To be continued.)