Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 164

164: Numerous Farewells

Liverpool, fresh off their Premier League title win, capitalized on their momentum by defeating Bayern Munich to lift their second Champions League trophy in Istanbul, achieving the so-called ‘Big Double’ [winning both the Premier League and Champions League in the same season].

However, the attention of fans who didn’t have a particular connection to either Liverpool or Bayern Munich was focused on the explosive summer transfer market from the very beginning.

And at the heart of it all was Burnley Football Club, who had transferred their star player, Karim Adeyemi, for a club-record fee of £73 million.

Since then, Jonathan Landris, Burnley’s Football Director, had been racking his brains, agonizing over the numerous offers pouring in, trying to maximize the club’s profits while preventing a sharp decline in their overall strength.

“Jonathan, looks like you’ve got a lot more gray hair?”

Core management meetings were being held twice a week due to the hectic transfer market.

In fact, since the coaching staff had become less busy after the season ended, these meetings were convened by Jonathan whenever necessary, with the board of directors and the manager gathering.

At the meeting he had called, Jonathan chuckled at the CEO’s concerned gaze at his hair.

“Hahaha! It’s okay if my hair turns gray. I can just dye it! The bigger problem is if it starts falling out!”

They say a fat wallet makes for a bold spirit [proverb meaning wealth encourages confidence].

Jonathan’s words, filled with high spirits thanks to the transfer fees piling up in Burnley’s bank account, caused two elderly gentlemen with rapidly receding hairlines to glare at him.

“Everyone thinks that way when they’re young.”

John Banaskiewicz muttered, unconsciously touching his thinning hair, which became even sparser in the summer.

Seeing the usually gentle and gentlemanly elderly director expressing his discomfort so openly, Jonathan quickly changed the subject, realizing he had made a faux pas [social blunder].

“Anyway! We’re rolling in it now!”

Helena, who served as both CEO and CFO, raised an eyebrow as if she was dumbfounded, but she didn’t refute Jonathan’s confident statement.

As per the additional terms added when Karim Adeyemi was signed, 10% of the profit, or £5.8 million, was paid to RB Salzburg.

However, even after excluding the £15 million paid when he was signed with additional compensation, the club still made a net profit of £52.2 million.

And there were as many as five Burnley players who had completed transfer fee and personal negotiations and were just waiting for the final paperwork.

Jonathan displayed the transfer status he had prepared in advance on the screen.

Max Cornet to Southampton of the English Premier League for £35 million.

Abdou Diallo to Tottenham of the English Premier League for £30 million.

Charlie Taylor to Chelsea of the English Premier League for £21 million.

Nick Pope to SC Braga of Portugal for £20 million.

James Tarkowski to Sevilla of Spain for £20 million.

While Jonathan was rejecting transfer requests for Burnley’s cherished players under the age of 25, judging that they still had more potential to unleash, a large number of veterans over the age of 26 were proceeding with transfers.

In particular, thanks to Ben Mee, who had moved to Real Sociedad in the Spanish Primera Liga [Spanish top division], waxing lyrical about the warm climate and friendly people of Southern Europe, Nick Pope and James Tarkowski, unusually for English players, turned down offers from the Premier League and decided on the Iberian Peninsula as their next destination.

“It’s okay if Nick and James leave for overseas leagues as long as we reinforce well, but Abdou and Max might be a bit painful, don’t you think?”

Jonathan nodded at Mike Garlick’s point.

“I didn’t like the idea of transferring them to other teams in the league, but it’s hard to just reject them when the transfer fees offered were significantly higher than elsewhere.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Max Cornet, who was signed for £12.75 million and then sold for £35 million, bringing in a profit of £22.25 million in just two seasons, was also a good deal.

However, Abdou Diallo, who was signed for just £2.1 million in the winter transfer market of the 2021/22 season and then sold for £30 million, generating a profit of £27.9 million in just 1.5 seasons, was a remarkable feat that made football directors, scouting managers, agents, and club owners all over Europe shake their heads in amazement.

If discovering, nurturing, and selling Karim Adeyemi was the work of manager Hyungmin Kim’s genius tactics, then picking up and selling Abdou Diallo, who had been cast aside by PSG [Paris Saint-Germain], was entirely due to Jonathan Landris’s skill.

However, the young Football Director of Burnley, who had successfully etched his name clearly in the minds of the executives of major European clubs, shrugged his shoulders as if he had no interest in such worldly evaluations.

“In fact, Nick, James, and Charlie have all been at Burnley for more than 5 seasons, so it doesn’t make much sense to calculate the costs that went into signing them. From that perspective, the total transfer revenue generated so far is almost £200 million, and even if we only calculate the net profit, it’s a total of £160 million.”

“Whew!”

Mike Garlick forgot his dignity and whistled.

The total amount of money Burnley Football Club spent in the 2022/23 season, excluding transfer market expenditures, was £160 million, and they had secured enough funds to run an entire season in just the past week.

“…I’m feeling a bit of self-reproach about how I’ve been running the club until now?”

Jonathan shook his head at the self-deprecating remarks of the former club owner in the face of such tremendous achievements.

“We were just lucky this season. Karim really unleashed his potential, and the overall results were good, and it just so happened that players who could be allowed to transfer were able to receive good offers. There’s no guarantee that this will continue in the future.”

“Well, still, you’ve really done a great job.”

Mike Garlick smiled and turned to Helena, looking at the numbers.

“At this rate, we can rebuild New Turf Moor [Burnley’s stadium] without the support of the Cartwright Fund, can’t we?”

“Well, it would be great if we could. But since it’s a loan with no interest, I don’t think we need to strain the club’s finances and divert this money towards the stadium side.”

Helena smiled and answered Mike Garlick, then shifted her gaze back to Jonathan.

“We’ll have to use this money to sign new players to reinforce the team again. Right?”

“That’s right. Of course, we won’t be spending all of this enormous amount of money as it is.”
The Football Director smiled, having nearly £230 million in ammunition in his hands, combining the £68 million that Helena had already approved with 80% of the newly acquired £200 million, which amounted to £160 million.

“Every club and agent who wants to sell players right now will probably be circling the Banfield Training Center [Burnley’s training ground] several times and lining up all the way to Burnley, but we’re going to stick to the strategy we’ve already established.”
The targets for recruitment were players under the age of 23 with proven character and skill and promising potential.

The transfer fees spent would not exceed £20 million.

Here, Jonathan had even added a policy to himself: ‘Let’s not spend more than £10 million on most players.’

“First, the positions we need to reinforce are as follows.”

Now that they had talked about the money coming in, it was time to talk about the money going out.

Jonathan glanced at Hyungmin and Carolina, who were sitting next to him with equally tired expressions, and displayed the next data on the screen.

Hyungmin was just as busy as he was when it came to recruiting players.

Of course, he was in charge of negotiations between clubs, but explaining his vision to newly recruited players and persuading them about their role in the team was not something a Football Director could do alone.

Moreover, whether it was a player or an agent, if an offer came from Burnley, they wanted to talk to the young maestro [talented manager] who was sweeping through the Premier League and Europe.

And if Hyungmin was conducting the conversation, Carolina was doing the preparatory work for the conversation.

While the three people in charge of the football side couldn’t hide their exhaustion, Burnley’s player list, judged to be at the first-team level, was organized by position and displayed on the screen.

It was only last week that they had two or more players available for every position.

The board of directors swallowed their sighs as they looked at the list, which was painted red with empty spaces.

“…We’re going to have to do a lot of reinforcement, aren’t we?”

John Banaskiewicz muttered.

Jonathan shrugged at the embarrassed director.

“Well, 6 players have been transferred so far, and Taejin is scheduled to return from retirement. And if Nico and Joe return from their loans, we’ll need to reinforce 9 players.”

“We signed 10 new players in the summer transfer market last season, and this season it’s 10 again. Are we really improving?”

“Think of it as a process of evolution. Actually, more than half of the work is already done.”

Jonathan replied to Mike Garlick, who was muttering in a daze.

Unlike last season, when they released many veterans on free transfers, this season players are being transferred while sweeping up huge transfer fees.

Of course, even if they only fill the departing positions, there are 4 strikers, 2 midfielders, 3 defenders, and 1 goalkeeper position that are vacant.

However, Andre Anderson, Cher Ndour, and Oscar Mingueza, who were confirmed to be signed on free transfers in the winter transfer market, will each be added to the attack, midfield, and defense.

In addition, Anselmo Garcia McNulty, who was signed last season and immediately sent on a successful loan to Basel, will also be added to the defense.

And Adam Hlozek has been confirmed to be signed for £8.5 million in the attack, and Tomaso Pobega has been confirmed to be signed for £10 million in the midfield, so a total of 6 positions have been filled.

“So, what’s left now?”

As Jonathan moved the slide at Mike Garlick’s question, the confirmed positions were filled with blue letters again, and the names of the top priority negotiators for each position appeared.

“First, starting with the attack, we are in negotiations with Hull City for Keane Lewis-Potter.”

Everyone in the meeting room nodded, having heard the name at least once.

Keane Lewis-Potter, 22 years old this year.

A player who has grown step by step from Hull City’s youth team, he is a short (170cm, 5’7″; 66kg, 145 lbs) but creative and combative attacker who can play on both the right and left wings.

Burnley, who had been carefully watching as the player gradually grew tired of his hometown team, which had failed to break through the thick wall of the Championship [English second division] and advance to the Premier League, and as his contract was gradually approaching its expiration, began to dig in.

“Hull City is showing reluctance, but the player’s will is very strong, and most of all, there is only one year left on his contract. From our perspective, we can also fill the homegrown quota [number of domestic players in the squad], so it’s a win-win situation.”

“What about the transfer fee?”

Jonathan moved the data again at Helena’s question.

“It seems like it will be agreed upon at around £10 million. The weekly wage is expected to be set below £400,000.”

Now, it has become almost impossible for a young player at a decent club to reject an offer from Burnley.

If they offer a transfer fee that is just hard to refuse and tell them to be coached by a renowned manager who is sweeping through the Premier League and Europe, it is difficult for a young player to find a better opportunity even if they search with their eyes wide open.

This is why it is difficult for opposing clubs to be bold for higher transfer fees, despite the huge transfer fees that Burnley has swept up in this transfer market.

“Okay. What’s next?”

“Ah, this friend is a bit embarrassing for me to say with my own mouth, but… well, it’s a steal.”

“Hoo?”

With the board of directors’ attention focused all at once, a new face appeared on the screen.