That night, through Hans's introduction, Maël contacted Philip, and the two arranged to meet at a tavern on Bar Street.
Maël, not knowing any other bars, settled on Kodall's old shop, which he had recently endorsed.
As soon as he arrived, he saw Kodall waiting for him at the door, his eyes full of enthusiasm and joy at his arrival. "I've already arranged for your friend to sit in the private room, just waiting for you."
"Thanks."
Maël thanked him, noticing his promotional posters and competition photos were still displayed at the entrance, and asked, "How's the event going?"
"See for yourself."
Kodall pushed the door open with a radiant expression, letting Maël go in first, and then followed behind him, introducing, "Since that event, the occupancy rate in the shop has never fallen below half, and on match days, it's often so full that we have to turn people away."
"Your autographs were snapped up. I wanted to keep a few more, but after the away game against Doncaster, there were so many enthusiastic fans that I only managed to keep one."
Maël walked into the shop and saw that there were indeed a dozen or so tables of customers, which was rare on a day off.
"Speaking of which."
Kodall was a little embarrassed, but he still brazenly said, "I haven't had a chance to express my gratitude to you in person. I know that 4,000 pounds may not mean much to you."
"But I'm very clear about what those 100 autographs you provided mean to my tavern."
Maël smiled slightly and didn't say anything, heading towards the private room inside, with Kodall pointing him in the right direction.
He quickly attracted the attention of many people in the shop. Many people glanced over casually, but then stared intently as if they had seen something incredible, their faces filled with shock.
"Maël?"
"That's Maël!"
"That old guy wasn't lying to us, he really does come to this shop often?"
"Am I seeing things?"
"It really is him, this is the first time I've seen him this close."
A murmur arose in the shop, gradually expanding into a commotion, with everyone turning their attention to this side, following Maël's movements.
Maël concealed his enjoyment, walking as calmly as possible into the private room where Philip was waiting.
Becoming famous is endlessly enjoyable.
"You guys chat."
Kodall gestured towards Philip, who was sitting down, then retreated, instructing the people outside, "Don't disturb him, they're discussing important matters inside."
"Hello, first time meeting you."
In the private room, Philip was wearing a suit today, and proactively extended his hand, saying, "Mr. Wenger asked me to express his apologies to you. Due to the season, he is temporarily unable to meet with you in person."
"Hello."
Maël shook hands with him, confidently smiling, "What about the phone call? To this day, I still haven't received a call from Mr. Wenger."
After gradually proving his worth on the field, he had more confidence in his interpersonal interactions.
When interacting with people like Philip again, he didn't feel awkward, but rather like he was naturally familiar with them, immediately starting to joke around.
"I don't know about that, maybe he's also looking for a suitable time."
Philip explained, glancing at Maël before tentatively saying, "For example, when you're about to make some important decisions, he will definitely contact you proactively."
Maël raised an eyebrow and nodded, roughly understanding Philip's meaning.
Wenger must have been paying attention to him all along, and was really preparing to recall him.
When the decision was really made, when the club really needed him, that highly respected old gentleman might have a detailed conversation with him.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two ordered some beer and snacks, and finally got down to business.
Philip took out a contract and handed it to Maël, introducing, "Originally, I also thought this was just an additional contract to activate the salary increase clause, but after looking at it closely at noon, I realized it wasn't."
"The club hopes to increase the release clause to 40 million pounds, and extend the contract for another 2 years, increasing the total contract period to 5 years."
"But correspondingly, your salary will increase to 30k a week, in addition to various bonus clauses."
Maël's nerves were unusually sensitive to these large numbers. He hadn't even turned to the contract page yet, but he was already thinking about what Philip had said.
A weekly salary of 30k? This far exceeded his expectations and was incredibly tempting, but the cost was accepting a 40 million pound release clause.
In other words, if he wanted to leave Arsenal in the future, but Arsenal didn't want to let him go, another club would have to pay a 40 million pound release fee to take him away.
Apart from that, there weren't many other situations where this clause would be used.
"I'll consider it for a while."
Maël flipped through the contract. He didn't have an agent yet, so he had to make many decisions on his own.
He started from his own intentions. Currently, he had no plans to leave Arsenal, which meant he didn't need to worry too much about the release clause.
Secondly, he considered the large sum of 40 million pounds.
His last updated Transfermarkt valuation was 8 million euros, and if it was updated again recently, it would likely break 10 million.
Converting the exchange rate, breaking 10 million pounds was also very likely.
This was already very high, and he was currently only playing in the EFL Championship, not in the more high-profile Premier League.
Since his plan was to use the EFL Championship as a stepping stone, gain Arsenal's trust, and then join hands with Wenger at Arsenal to make a name for himself, establish himself in the Premier League, and move towards the ranks of top stars.
Then... perhaps there was no need to worry too much? "I can accept the release clause."
After thinking for a long time, Maël looked up and said with a smile, "But I'd like to discuss the contract length and salary further."
Unlike before, now that he had already scored more than 15 goals in the EFL Championship, he had the confidence to negotiate for himself in the cooperation.
"I'm all ears." Philip wasn't too surprised, waiting for Maël to present his ideas.
"Since the release clause is 40 million,"
Maël closed the contract and became serious, "Then I hope to get a weekly salary of 38k, which is a reasonable range.
"In addition, in terms of contract length, I would like to only renew for 1 year, which means the total contract period after signing is 4 years."
Reducing the contract length was to leave himself some leeway. Anyway, he didn't have any plans to retire yet, so there was no need to sign for so long.
Signing for 5 years at once would make it difficult to get a raise in the future.
"38k weekly salary, 4-year contract."
Philip understood Maël's meaning. This counter-offer was indeed within a reasonable range. He thought for a while and didn't say much else, "I need to discuss it with Mr. Wenger, and I may have to give you an answer tomorrow."
"No problem."
Maël nodded. This was a significant contract, and it couldn't be finalized here directly.
After saying goodbye to Philip, he walked out of the box, feeling light on his feet.
38k, let alone 38k, even if Arsenal bargained a bit more and reduced it to around 33k, it would still be within his acceptable range!
He originally thought he was just coming to sign an additional contract with a weekly salary of 20,000 pounds, but who knew he would have the opportunity to sign for more than 30,000? This was definitely an astronomical figure for him at the moment.
"About 5,000 pounds a day."
Maël pursed his lips and chuckled, preparing to return to his residence to rest, while also greeting the Sheffield fans in the bar as he walked.
When he went to the door to pay the bill, Kodall refused to accept it, insisting that he had promised to treat him to a drink here that time. He couldn't resist, so he had to agree with a wry smile.
"Hey! Maël!"
Before parting, Kodall called out to him again, clenching his fist to congratulate him: "You played really well in the last game!"
"Thanks."
Maël smiled heartily and waved to him, "It will only get better in the future."
-----------
This high quality machine translation is powered by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
To read the full translation, as well as more than 130+ full translations or to request new translations, check out: https:// randomtranslator.com/
You can also join the Random Translator Community on Discord to connect with other readers: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------