Football Dynasty

The old fox, Alex Ferguson, had high praise for Henrik Larsson. He openly stated that Larsson deserved to wear the iconic red of Manchester United at Old Trafford, believing the striker’s skill set was a perfect match for United’s tactical approach. In Ferguson’s eyes, Larsson wasn’t just a good player—he was someone who could achieve great things with the club.

Larsson, after all, had proven himself to be a top striker—finishing just behind Ronaldo in Manchester City’s First Division campaign. Naturally, with City now earning promotion to the Premier League, the value of their players was bound to rise significantly.

Still only 24 years old, he was entering his prime. Even with the gap in competition between the First Division and the Premier League, his talent was undeniable.

The crucial question was: would Manchester City sell him?

But more importantly—could they actually keep him?

News was just news, after all.

Of course, as a club, you can’t let the media lead you by the nose. Over the past few days, Robertson had attended several interviews and press conferences regarding Henrik Larsson, and thankfully, there was a distraction—Euro 1996. The media, usually relentless, had gone somewhat quiet. As is typical, real transfer drama wouldn’t begin until after the tournament concluded.

Richard, however, aimed to take the initiative.

In the English Football League, standout players often attract attention from Premier League clubs first, and Richard knew that any interest in his team would most likely come from those top-tier teams.

Now that Manchester City had secured promotion to the Premier League for the next season, Richard was determined to use transfer fees and wages as barriers to prevent the club’s core players from being poached.

In the first week after the Peter Swales affair was settled, he had already instructed Marina Granovskaia to begin contract renewals with all first-team players.

By the second week of May, the club had started the process. Depending on their performance in the previous season, each player received a salary increase ranging from £6,000 to £15,000.

This was a significant pay raise, with signing bonuses ranging between £20,000 and £50,000. Richard was truly investing heavily in the team.

By the end of the season, the club’s earnings had been carefully analyzed.

Merchandise sales had surged throughout the season, generating nearly £500,000. Home attendance remained consistently near full capacity, even with a temporary reduction due to the partial closure of the Kippax Stand, completed midway through the campaign.

Looking ahead, based on Miss Heysen’s calculations, a near full capacity at Maine Road could bring in about £10,000 per match—potentially doubling the current season’s income of £5 million.

This estimate didn’t even factor in additional revenue from broadcasting rights, sponsorship deals, and match bonuses. In light of all this, Richard’s substantial investment was more than justified.

Ronaldo and William Gallas were the most important signings, as Richard and Marina disbursed £50,000 signing bonuses directly and managed to get them to sign new contracts.

As for Larsson, since he had just signed last season, he still has four years remaining on his contract. Plus, moving from City to United when City plays in the Premier League next season?

Well, unless he wants to be abused by Manchester City fans throughout the season, he would at least need to move to another club before joining United—so Richard doesn’t worry about Larsson.

However, and quite unexpectedly, it wasn’t Henrik Larsson—despite all the buzz around him—who became the prime target of serious interest. Instead, the spotlight shifted to two other key members of Manchester City: Cafu and Roberto Carlos!

Cafu had reportedly attracted strong interest from AS Roma, while Roberto Carlos caught the attention of Inter Milan.

The current manager of Inter Milan, Roy Hodgson, even personally visited Martin O’Neill at the hospital.

The two had known each other for years—dating back to when O’Neill was managing Wycombe Wanderers and Hodgson was in charge of Bristol City. Though Roy Hodgson said he came to pay a visit, he naturally had a clear agenda: to inquire about Roberto Carlos.

O’Neill was very helpless with this because we were talking about a Serie A heavyweight reaching out to them. The Serie A name was no joke. Plus, with his hip replacement operation still in the recovery phase, he couldn’t attend to it alone, leaving him no choice but to give full authority to Robertson, Richard, and Marina Granovskaia.

"Roberto has already expressed his desire to move to Inter Milan," Marina Granovskaia told Richard as soon as Inter made their inquiry about Roberto Carlos.

Richard sighed deeply.

"We’re fortunate Ronaldo is sidelined with a long-term injury; otherwise, I’m sure clubs would be swarming to sign him."

At a time like this, he truly wished the Premier League would soon overtake Serie A — not just in popularity, but in strength and prestige. Because only then could clubs like City keep their stars.

"How much is the bid for Roberto?"

"Six million."

"Impossible!" Richard immediately shook his head, standing firm and demanding at least ten million pounds for City to let Roberto Carlos go.

"What about Cafu?"

"Cafu got an offer of six million."

Richard shook his head again. "Twelve million or there won’t be any deal."

For the next two days, the English Football Coaches Association dinner was held, and Robertson definitely encouraged O’Neill to attend the event.

Derby County’s Jim Smith received the award for Best Manager in the First Division, while O’Neill unexpectedly took third place after Crystal Palace’s Steve Coppell.

During the evening, Robertson had brief conversations with several Premier League managers. Many of them were interested in signing players from Manchester City, so they approached Robertson to gauge the situation.

On the same day as the gala dinner, Richard held a meeting with Marina Granovskaia and Prozone’s Ramm Mylvaganam.

The agenda: how to use Prozone for scouting.

The three of them then moved to a more spacious area, where Marina began explaining her ideas for the scouting team.

The point was, Manchester City’s scouting network had previously been limited to England and Ireland. All the foreign players had come in thanks to Richard’s knowledge.

That was about to change.

Before Marina could continue, Richard turned to Mylvaganam. "I already asked you to analyze the performance of Inter Milan’s right-back last season. How is it going?"

Mylvaganam had been hesitant to complain to Richard these past few days. "You asked me to study this player, but the problem is the VHS tape we have isn’t very extensive."

"So it’s a failure then?"

"Of course not, but the accuracy might be slightly off. However, the hypothetical analysis module has already picked up most of it. Here it is."

Richard exchanged a glance with Marina before nodding.

[...Javier Zanetti — Position: Right Full-Back

Performance Metrics:

Distance Covered: ~11-12 km per match(Known for tireless running up and down the flank)

Successful Pass Rate: ~85%(Reliable distributor, good short and medium-range passing)

Tackles Won: High (5-7 per match)(Strong defensive presence, intercepts well)

Interceptions: 3-5 per game(Good positional awareness)

Crosses Delivered: 3-6 per match, with ~30-40% accuracy(Good ability to support attack from wide areas)

Duels Won: Around 60-65%(Competitive in 1v1 defensive and aerial duels)

...]

For the 1995/1996 season, Zanetti only played 4 matches, so their reference data was somewhat limited. But that wasn’t what Richard was focusing on; rather, it was how Prozone literally translated a player’s abilities into data.

Although the data was still very basic, Richard was very satisfied with this.

"What do you think?" Richard asked Marina as he studied the data.

"Energetic, versatile, strong defensively, and great stamina. He is able to run up and down just like Cafu. I think he’s a good choice."

"Is that so?" Richard nodded before telling Marina about the second player from AS Roma that he had his eye on.

The future prince of Rome!

Before that, Richard turned to Mylvaganam and said, "Manchester City was interested in Prozone; however, I have a better proposition than just making an investment."

What Richard offered was essentially a place where Prozone could be developed at Maine Road. In exchange, Mylvaganam could use current City players and their match-after-match data to further develop Prozone.

A win-win solution.

City would get analysis for free, and Mylvaganam himself could advance Prozone, especially with all the modules he is currently working on.

’I’ll give you three days to think about it,’ Richard said as he turned towards Marina Granovskaia.

"As for Roberto and Cafu’s situation, this is what we will do."

The next few days, just a day before Euro 1996, Manchester City responded to both Inter Milan and AS Roma.

For Roberto Carlos, Manchester City asked for only £5 million instead of the original £10 million but expressed strong interest in including Javier Zanetti as part of the deal.

Meanwhile, for Cafu, the club set their price at £6 million, down from £12 million, and also showed interest in acquiring Francesco Totti.

’Now, how would you respond to this, Roma?’

Although Totti already plays regularly for AS Roma, the manager who trusted him, Carlo Mazzone, has just left the club. He was replaced by Carlos Bianchi, who said he will loan Totti to Sampdoria.

Rather than loaning him, it would be better to offload Totti in exchange for Roberto Carlos, right?

As for Javier Zanetti, he is still a backup to Giuseppe Bergomi, making the deal more feasible compared to Totti from Roma.