September 22nd, the day before Arsenal was about to embark on this season's Champions League journey.
The Forbes List announced the ranking of the most valuable football clubs in the world for 2012, as well as the list of athlete incomes.
Sky Sports, which had previously speculated on Arsenal's ranking on the Forbes List, quickly went on air to bring British fans first-hand information and discuss related topics.
"Sky Sports News!"
A host sat upright in front of the camera, flipping through the information in his hand as he said, "Forbes officially released the list of the most valuable football clubs in the world today. Let's take a look at the performance of the Premier League teams.
"Of course, the most important thing is to pay attention to the performance of Arsenal, which has been in the limelight recently.
"We all understand that after winning several important championships last year, after Kroenke's full acquisition and investment began, and after Maël and other core players renewed their contracts, Arsenal is widely favored in the capital market.
"The total value of their team has not only reached 665 million euros, surpassing Barcelona to rank second in the world of football.
"The market value has also risen to 1.83 billion pounds before, and there is a trend of continuous rise."
After introducing the previous information, the host picked up the remote control and pressed it. The latest market value ranking quickly appeared on the big screen behind him.
Before he could speak, the audience could clearly see the latest ranking at a glance.
First: Real Madrid, 2.56 billion pounds. Second: Arsenal, 2.39 billion pounds. Third: Manchester United, 2.24 billion pounds. Fourth: Barcelona, 2.21 billion pounds. Surpassing Manchester United and Barcelona, ranking second! This is Arsenal's ranking in this issue, and they have undoubtedly achieved a historic breakthrough!
A smile appeared on the host's face. She knew that Arsenal fans who saw this news at this moment were extremely excited. "In the past few years, Real Madrid and Manchester United have always taken turns sitting on the top spot.
"But from this year, there is a new team that is about to launch a final attack on the first place.
"It's not Barcelona, nor Bayern Munich, but Arsenal! "This is actually not in line with common sense. Arsenal does not have the top historical honor and attention like Real Madrid, nor does it have the most 690 million fan followers in the world like Manchester United.
"Even in the past few years, they have been far behind Barcelona. The number of championships in the Dream Team Dynasty may not be achieved by them for many years.
"But all this just happened! "With the Premier League historical record of nearly 49 unbeaten games, 3 championships in a year, and with the attention and commercial value possessed by Maël, they have become the team second only to Real Madrid!"
The host then adjusted a pie chart, which recorded the source of Arsenal's main sponsors.
"To analyze such a high commercial value, we must look at Arsenal's several major moves this year. The first thing to look at is one of their major sources of income, commercial endorsements.
"After Kroenke took over the team, the team just won 2 important championships, and the star player Maël performed well in the European Cup.
"These things gave him a lot of confidence, allowing him to start new sponsorship contract negotiations with companies such as Puma and Emirates Airlines.
"Compared to 2010, Arsenal's sponsorship fee this year has increased by 62%! It is not surprising that the market value has risen from the initial 1.231 billion pounds to the current 2.39 billion pounds.
"In addition, their jersey and peripheral product sales have also ushered in a great improvement, they..."
The host elaborated on the reasons for Arsenal's market value increase from various perspectives, and finally changed the topic, "Of course, it is undeniable that Arsenal's market value increase stems from three people.
"One is Arsène Wenger. His persistence for more than ten years has allowed this club to return to the ranks of the giants, and at the same time, it has gained many supporters around the world, laying a solid foundation.
"The second is Lionel Maël. His talent has allowed all the potential of this club to be realized, has a brighter future, and has allowed Wenger to avoid a possibly tragic ending.
"The third is Kroenke. His efforts this year cannot be erased. His huge investment has made this club more competitive and more favored by the market."
"."
After that, the BBC also launched a program to report in detail on the 2012 Forbes Athlete Income List.
They first scrolled the current rankings and total income at the bottom of the screen before preparing to start the show.
"First, Mayweather, boxing, £85 million! Second, Pacquiao, boxing, £62.5 million! Third, Tiger Woods, golf, £59.4 million!"
As the top three rankings scrolled past, many puzzled '?' filled the screen.
Although Mayweather and Pacquiao are world-renowned boxing superstars with extremely high incomes, it is not common for them to enter the Forbes List top ten, let alone the top three.
This is because the sport does not have a very stable high salary and stable high-value events. People who don't understand it hear about boxing news at most 1-2 times a year, mostly about some heavyweight showdown.
But the money is here, in such world-renowned heavyweight showdowns! For matches with extremely high attention, the appearance fee for such boxers is over ten million pounds. In the future, as the entire boxing market gets better and better, it may even exceed one hundred million pounds/dollars.
Mayweather and Pacquiao, the former had no endorsements in 2012, and the latter only had £3 million in endorsement income, yet they were able to occupy the top two positions on the Forbes income list.
However, this is also specific to certain years. In normal times, their income would not be as high as those in football, basketball, tennis, and golf.
"Fourth, James, basketball, £57 million! Fifth, Roger Federer, tennis, £55.7 million! Sixth, Kobe, basketball, £55.3 million!"
"Seventh, Phil Mickelson, eighth, David Beckham, ninth, Ronaldo, tenth, Messi!"
"Fourteenth, Maël, football, £39 million!"
When Maël's name slowly floated past in the fourteenth position, British fans were completely unable to sit still, and many questioning comments were sent on the screen.
"Only this much? How is that possible?"
"How is this calculated? Doesn't it include bonuses? Even without bonuses, it can't be only £39 million."
"I feel like Maël could be in the top five this year, how come he didn't even make the top ten?"
"As far as I know, his sponsorship contract with Puma and bonuses are already very high, close to half of what this list gives, not to mention other things."
"What is the basis or logic of the statistics? Host, please explain."
"..."
One of the hosts looked at these comments and smiled after the income of the top 20 was reported, "I believe everyone will feel a certain amount of confusion about this list. Why is Maël's ranking so low? And Messi and Ronaldo's as well?"
"Let me explain it in a very easy-to-understand way. Forbes gives the athlete rankings every year in September. Has everyone ever thought about a question, athlete income is definitely not for the whole year."
"This 2012 list actually counts the players' income between June 2011 and June 2012."
"During this period, Maël's salary was mostly only around £100,000, and endorsements did not explode. If it weren't for the bonus income far exceeding other superstars, he might not have reached this position."
"The real moment when Maël ushered in a surge in value was the undefeated Premier League title in May and the European Cup title and various records in July."
"The income presentation brought about by these improvements all occurred after June, so it is normal not to include them in the statistics."
The host took out a piece of data and smiled, "The reason for starting this program today is also here. We want to make a guess with everyone, where will Maël go next year?"
The current television broadcast is far from the advanced level of live voting. The host just said this and then immediately said, "According to the statistics of the authoritative media All Sports, Maël's after-tax income this year is very likely to exceed £60 million."
"This means that if Mayweather and Pacquiao don't have any heavyweight matches next year, and if other superstars don't have huge improvements, he will come to the top three of this list."
"Even, if there are major breakthroughs in various competitions and influence, he may sit on the top spot before the age of 20 and become a true pride of heaven!"
The host finished these words with amazement, and then pulled the discussion back to the second question at the beginning, "After hearing this, are you also curious, why do Messi and Ronaldo, who have more honors and influence, not have this kind of income potential?"
The host stood up and came to another large screen in the studio, and put out a picture, which was a recent endorsement signing photo of Messi and Ronaldo.
"There's a misconception here. Actually, even after I used Maël's example to remind everyone, you still couldn't break away from looking at their income from last year to predict this year's."
"The sports market, especially a huge sports market like football, has a relatively solid salary system."
"This exists not only in each club but also in the entire world of football. You need to know that football is different from boxing, golf, or even sports like basketball and American football."
"The top four European leagues have 2500+ top athletes, the second-tier European leagues + some strong leagues in North and South America have another 2500+ excellent athletes, and other leagues have 5000+ high-income players."
"With so many people dividing the money, if there isn't a universally accepted standard, the market will inevitably become chaotic."
"This has already become apparent in this year's Chinese Super League. Hengtai Team's massive investment and sky-high salaries have forced other clubs to increase their investment, which will create hidden dangers for their future."
"..."
"Getting off track, back to Messi and Ronaldo. Their previous income potential was lower because they had to abide by the salary system of the overall football market."
"In other words, in a sport with so many participants and countless people relying on it for a living, their previous income was difficult to exceed that of top players in other sports with relatively fewer people 'dividing the money'."
"However, everything changed this year. Who is responsible for this change? I think your guess is correct: Maël."
"When Maël emerged in a way that people had never seen before, when he received salaries and bonuses that no player under the age of 20 had ever received before, the salary system was broken."
"Even if Messi and Ronaldo may be very clear that Maël's current ability is close to or even on par with theirs, they will definitely have feelings of imbalance in their hearts."
"Everyone in that position would have them. Imagine, if you were Messi and Ronaldo, wouldn't you want a more lucrative contract with more championships and more stable long-term performance? You have a lot of arguments, don't you? The super rookie Maël can get £60 million this year, and you, who are known as the unparalleled duo, must get £70 million, right?"
The host smiled and pointed to the screen, which showed Messi and Ronaldo's new contracts, which had been greatly improved compared to before.
"So I must say that Maël's tens of millions of pounds in bonuses and future income in a single year have already leveraged the income increase of top athletes throughout the football world!"
"As this Pandora's box is opened, next year, the current three football stars will most likely join hands in the top five of the Forbes List!"
"This is an inevitable trend in the development of football. If Maël hadn't come to break the salary structure, that person might have been Neymar, Götze, Bale, Griezmann, or someone else."
After the two lists were exposed, thanks to the help of major media outlets, keywords such as Maël, Ronaldo, Messi and Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United once again attracted people's attention.
"Arsenal is expected to become the most valuable club! If they win the championship again this year, and if Maël continues to maintain his strength, they will be expected to surpass Real Madrid!" - L'Équipe
"Maël breaks the world football salary system with his own strength, and wants to enter the top three of the Forbes income list next year!" - The Guardian
"It all started with that slightly unusual bonus contract. Before that, no one would have thought that the 19-year-old would win almost all the bonuses for the events he participated in (smirking)!" - Puma Official
"Puma's official report confirms that Maël is a unique player who has brought many seemingly impossible things." - Kroenke's social media September 23, Montpellier, France, ushered in the first round of the 12-13 Season Champions League.
On this day, Montpellier will face Arsenal, who just had a transaction in the transfer market. Their center forward Giroud was just poached by Arsenal.
"Olé olé olé olé... Ohohoh! Allez Allez Aaahhh!"
At the Mosson Stadium, Montpellier captain Hilton, holding the hand of a young ball boy, walked out side by side with Arsenal captain Maël.
In the process, his eyes were full of excitement, and his face revealed endless feelings of glory.
Montpellier is a traditional powerhouse in Ligue 1, but in recent years their results have been average, and they have been unable to set foot on the highest stage of European football clubs.
The situation changed last year. Last season, they were united and gritted their teeth to work hard for the Champions League. Unexpectedly, they finally surpassed Paris and other teams to win the championship in a miracle!
This year, many people in the team have finally realized their dream and set foot on this arena.
"Phew!"
Hilton breathed a sigh of relief, calming the heat in his heart. He glanced sideways at Arsenal's captain, Maël, who had already entered the field, a few traces of admiration in his eyes.
What was the point of getting into the Champions League? It was to be able to play against the best players in football today and experience the highest level of football!
They didn't seek to win, only to compete on the same field. For these second and third-rate European players, it was already a great honor! Look at the person walking next to him, the most valuable player in football today, and possibly the highest-paid player, an epoch-making, historical-level divine striker! Hilton's body trembled with excitement. In fact, this wasn't the first time. Yesterday, when watching the reports about Maël and Arsenal, he couldn't stop his body from spasming at the thought that this was his opponent tomorrow.
Soon after, the players from both sides lined up next to the referee, ready to play the first Champions League theme song of the new season.
"Good luck."
"My pleasure."
Arsène Wenger and Montpellier's head coach Girard shook hands on the sidelines, and after returning to their respective positions, they stood in front of the command area, taking a deep breath to prepare to listen to the most beautiful sound in football.
On the field, Maël stood firmly in front of the ball boy, staring thoughtfully at the Champions League logo on the field.
"Deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng...!"
Soon, as the orchestra's ensemble began, listening to the music that gradually stirred people's emotions, a different look appeared on his face.
After last year's Champions League defeat, this had always been one of his hang-ups.
After walking such a long way, after twists and turns, he had finally returned to this arena, ready to start a new season! "Es sind die allerbesten mannschaften!!"
"The main event!"
"…"
After a few loud choruses that resounded throughout the stadium, the Champions League theme song ushered in its climax.
"Die meister!! Die besten!! Les grandes equipes!! "The champions!!"
Maël listened to the long-lost sound, his body trembling slowly again, his heart extremely excited.
Montpellier was not a strong opponent for him, but he had two opponents in this arena, namely Messi and Ronaldo.
Since all the public opinion had pushed him to a supreme position, he hoped that in the new season, he could compete with Messi and Ronaldo, who were also participating, in this arena! Or in other words, he only had one opponent in this arena, himself.
He wanted to pursue a more outstanding career and a more excellent self here!
He wanted to wash away the title of Champions League Last 16 for himself and Arsenal, and let this team stand at the top and lift the first Champions League trophy in the club's history! "Pa pa pa!"
After the performance, Maël raised his hands and clapped with the fans at the scene. He looked at the opponent's goal in the distance, and then felt the lawn with the soles of his feet.
Another important journey of the new season was about to begin here.
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