From Arsenal to the Ball God

”If you keep playing like this and achieve some significant accomplishments, establishing a persona of being both handsome and capable, you might catch up to Beckham soon and might even surpass his international influence.

”There was once an experiment to find someone in the world who doesn’t know Beckham, and eventually, they found a shepherd in a minority region who had never used electronic products in his entire life.

”I think in a few more years, to find someone who doesn’t know you, they’d have to go to Antarctica to look for penguins.”

”Haha...!” The two laughed together, their faces full of joy.

Ma’el didn’t know what to say, so he just kept nodding and changed the topic, ”The contract length is 2-3 years; is Mr. Mendes trying to see if I have confidence in myself?

”If not, I’ll sign 3 years to ensure I get the money within those three years; if I have confidence, I’ll sign 2 years and discuss renewal later.”

”Exactly.” Mendes smiled and patted Ma’el on the shoulder, this kind of mutual understanding is quite precious.

Ma’el didn’t hesitate much and confirmed directly, ”2 years it is, I’m very confident in myself.”

”I knew you’d choose that.” Mendes’ smile grew brighter, ”So we’ve agreed on this point, now let’s discuss the shooting dates.

”I’ll remind you to post an ad every three days, but for the commercials of the four major endorsement companies, you might need to find time yourself, planning 3-5 days for each.”

Ma’el nodded, went to the schedule, and looked, ”How about arranging 2 this month and filming the other 2 next month?”

He felt a bit overwhelmed, a bit too busy... maybe this is what fame is like, hard to imagine; if he becomes an international superstar in the future, how busy and exciting life would be.

But one thing he could confirm is he won’t let these affect his training and matches like Xiaobei did.

As the saying goes, cherish your feathers; don’t forget where you gained all this, or you’ll face repercussions sooner or later.

And this is far from being his limit; he hasn’t even reached Becks’ level of fame yet, let alone compete with Messi and Ronaldo who dominated football for 10 years.

Even if he becomes like Messi and Ronaldo, it’s still not the ultimate form of his career; he will become an unprecedented athlete.

Whether on the field or in terms of off-field fame, personal wealth, and various influences, etc.!

This journey of climbing step by step, although tough, remains as captivating as it was in the beginning.

”Okay.” Mendes agreed and then recalled something, ”Now there should be enough money to buy a team, right? How about I help you pick one? Or do you want to buy this house first?”

He was only joking, but to his surprise, Ma’el replied, ”Help me pick, if there’s free time at the end of the season, buying a team to manage sounds good.

”At the current rate of making money, this house can be bought in less than half a season, no rush.”

”Are you serious?” Mendes glanced at Ma’el to confirm.

”Yes.” Ma’el nodded and then put the matter aside, still immersed in the recent joy.

After a while, he asked, ”May I ask a personal question? How much does Cristiano earn annually from endorsements and ads?”

Mendes looked into Ma’el’s eyes, with a shifting expression, and finally said, ”About a bit more than twice yours, and he’s preparing to launch his own brand CR7, selling perfumes, T-shirts, shoes, etc.”

”Own brand?”

Ma’el was stunned; he knew about the brand CR7, but it was only after signing with Puma that he realized an important issue, ”Doesn’t he have a non-compete agreement with Nike? Why is it in my contract?”

”Originally, he did.” Mendes raised an eyebrow and spread his hands, ”But during the contract renewal, he asked Nike to modify the agreement, only with direct competitors like Adi, Puma, not restricting personal brands.”

”I see.”

Ma’el suddenly understood and asked in turn, ”Does that mean, as long as I have significant dominance and influence, utilizing my own value, I could also modify this part of the contract and create a personal brand?”

”You could say that.” Mendes nodded, seeing the intense desire in Ma’el’s eyes.

Wait... His pupils suddenly constricted; Football Record, the idea of buying a team, personal brand, is he playing a long game?

”One more thing.” A stirring shock arose in Mendes’ heart as he found it hard to understand Ma’el’s thoughts now and had to talk about something else first, ”Someone from Facebook contacted me; they proposed a compromise.

”At 85% of the acquisition price, exchange your ins shares for Facebook stock.”

Ma’el pondered for a while, recalling Facebook’s later valuation, and asked, ”What’s Facebook’s market value right now?”

”100 billion US Dollars.” Mendes provided the answer, ”It fluctuates around that point.”

Ma’el was tempted, remembering Facebook’s peak valuation of over a trillion US Dollars, ”I can agree to it, but isn’t 85% a bit too little?

”Mr. Mendes, don’t respond to them yet, wait for them to contact me; I’ll try to raise the price.”

”Okay.” Mendes agreed, feeling tired from talking half the day, stood up, and stretched, ”Prepare to be busy for a while; most of the accumulated work from half a season will burst out now.

”Mainly because your performance has been good, always on the rise, other players don’t encounter this.

”Alright, I’m about to leave, engage in the final push for the Premier League title, and make an unbeaten champion, keep it up.

”If you achieve the Double Crown and perform well in the European Cup, next year, you’ll be a player on a new level again.

”The advertising contract the agency has already signed for you, I’ll send it to you later, and the endorsement contracts can be signed when you film the ads.”

”Alright, Mr. Mendes, don’t worry about me, I know what to do.” Ma’el got up to see Mr. Mendes off; it wasn’t easy for him to run around.

He accompanied him all the way to the road outside the house and only turned back after Mendes’ driver arrived.

Everything continued to move forward in an orderly manner; next, while striving for honors on the field, he needed to find time to finish shooting the commercials, signing all contracts, developing on both fronts, side by side!

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Monthly update: 523,000 words