In Spain, the night begins at midnight.
Although often said in jest, it accurately reflects the Spanish way of life.
After Leeds United defeated Manchester United 2-0 at home and advanced to the FA Cup semi-finals, Gao Shen finally had a proper reason to return to Cheshire with his wife and son.
Fernando Lucas and Rodolfo Borrell were left in charge of hosting the Real Madrid delegation, while Florentino also made up an excuse to leave, leaving the follow-up contacts to his staff.
Often, it's harder to negotiate when the top boss is present, as both parties tend to hesitate more.
Florentino didn't even know what time things wrapped up.
He was getting on in years, and he had fallen asleep not long after returning to the hotel.
By breakfast the next morning, Butragueño was already up. He hadn't stayed until the end either. On the contrary, José Sánchez looked sleep-deprived and yawned constantly, clearly the one who had stuck it out until the very end.
After getting some food and filling his stomach, he felt much better.
Following breakfast, they returned to Florentino's suite for a private meeting.
According to the itinerary arranged by Gao Shen, they would soon visit the AXA Centre at Leeds United, followed by a trip to their joint research and development project at the University of Leeds. These were highly anticipated stops.
...
"After I left last night, did you and Lucas go to a few more events?" Butragueño asked José Sánchez with a smile.
When it came to socializing, Real Madrid's CEO was the master.
Over the years, he had polished his skills dealing with sponsors and had become a true equal to Fernando Lucas.
The two had a very strong rapport. It was even said that Gao Shen once told Lucas to learn from José Sánchez.
"That kid's been getting pretty playful lately," José Sánchez said with a chuckle.
Even though Real Madrid's sponsorship deals were worth tens of millions of euros, entertaining partners was still necessary.
The same was true for Leeds United.
Manuel Redondo, seeing Florentino's expression, quickly asked, "Did you get any useful info?"
José Sánchez immediately perked up. "There's some trouble with Bayern. The Germans are very conservative in this area, so not much progress has been made. On the other hand, in the Premier League, Manchester United and Chelsea have shown interest, but their approaches are different. For instance, Manchester United doesn't intend to hand over the coaching and training responsibilities of the head coach to Leeds United."
"They're leaning toward something more like a technical advisor arrangement, but they're still observing. After all, it's their first time encountering this kind of model, and no one knows how it'll turn out."
Manchester United was indeed facing a dilemma. Their overall playing style lacked a mature, stable framework.
Since Ferguson's retirement, they had gone from Moyes to Van Gaal to Mourinho, all of whom had taken different approaches. It had become a patchwork.
They spent big on signings, but the players brought in often had conflicting styles and profiles. This created significant issues.
So, it was perfectly reasonable for Manchester United to be considering cooperation with Gao Shen.
"PSG President Nasser will be bringing his management team to Leeds United in a few days for an inspection."
As soon as José Sánchez said this, Florentino and the others were a little surprised. But after thinking it over, it made sense.
Real Madrid's response time was quick, but that didn't mean other clubs were slow.
In terms of European football, Real Madrid undoubtedly understood Gao Shen and his team better than anyone.
As for Paris Saint-Germain, they had the least psychological burden and were probably the most open to such a partnership.
"So, they're having productive talks with PSG?" Butragueño asked.
"I asked Lucas. He said there was a major disagreement earlier. PSG wanted to add a clause in the contract that would prevent Gao Shen from working with any other big club during the cooperation period, but Gao Shen refused."
Butragueño and Redondo immediately turned to look at Florentino. After all, Real Madrid had originally wanted a similar exclusivity clause.
Real Madrid's thinking was clear. As long as Gao Shen didn't work with other top clubs, his influence wouldn't affect Real Madrid.
Everyone wanted to monopolize the best resources.
In that sense, Nasser wasn't being foolish.
But then again, it was perfectly reasonable for Gao Shen to refuse.
If he agreed to that kind of clause, how was it any different from just returning to coaching?
Even though they hadn't discussed serious business matters during last night's match, Florentino had still chatted with Gao Shen extensively.
According to Gao Shen, he could provide a full range of technical services and, when the time came, could offer customized services according to the club's specific needs. But for now, the infrastructure wasn't fully in place.
To put it bluntly, this business model was still in its infancy. Gao Shen was still feeling his way forward.
"He's currently looking to select one or two clubs that are genuinely interested in cooperating. All contracts will be signed under his company's name."
This was also preparation for scaling the business in the future.
Everyone knew how rare talented players were, but in reality, elite coaches like Gao Shen and his team were just as rare.
Star players were tied to clubs and couldn't play for more than one team at a time. But coaching didn't have that restriction.
There were plenty of precedents where managers simultaneously coached a national team and a club. Gao Shen was simply taking it a step further.
...
"How many secrets did you spill last night?"
Upon arriving at the AXA Centre, Gao Shen went straight to Fernando Lucas's office and asked with a grin.
Lucas and Borrell both burst out laughing.
"José Sánchez is a sharp one. He spent the whole night trying to fish info out of me. I came prepared, but I still had to be extra careful. I was afraid I might let something slip," Lucas said.
Compared to him, Butragueño was more reserved.
Whether they were footballers or fans, they tended to be more straightforward.
After Lucas briefly recounted what happened the night before, Gao Shen understood the situation clearly.
This new cooperation model didn't yet have a mature market. For one thing, talent was a major bottleneck.
With his current team, Gao Shen could only handle two clubs at most. Anything more, and the operation would become unmanageable.
So, for now, he was still taking things slowly, learning and adjusting along the way.
"Based on what José Sánchez said, I'm guessing Florentino still wants you to return to Real Madrid as head coach. He might even be open to you taking on both the head coach and technical director roles. I just didn't expect it to unfold in this way."
Gao Shen smiled. He had considered the possibility, but he hadn't expected Real Madrid to be the first to approach him.
"Come on, Florentino and the others should be arriving soon. Let's go greet them."
...
From the moment they stepped into the AXA Centre, Florentino and his team looked like country folk visiting a palace, visibly impressed.
Their first stop was the first-team training ground.
Having just played Manchester United the day before, the players were currently undergoing recovery training. While the exercises themselves weren't anything new, what stood out was the artificial intelligence analysis system.
A huge screen stood beside the pitch, surrounded by three or four cameras transmitting real-time data. It wasn't cutting-edge in and of itself, but Leeds United's setup included six high-definition cameras, which could simultaneously capture wide shots and zoomed-in technical movements.
Everything was automatically processed by the system. The videos were generated directly, without needing a human operator.
More importantly, it included an error correction feature.
"At the moment, the correction function is mainly used during targeted training. For example, when correcting a player's specific technical motion, we enter the reference data in advance. But we plan to explore broader uses soon."
As Cruyff once said, most of a player's time on the pitch is spent off the ball. But in over a century of professional football, there has never been a clear definition of what constitutes off-the-ball movement.
It has always been something of a mystery. Players who are good at off-the-ball movement are often praised as having high football intelligence. But football IQ is a vague concept. There has never been a quantifiable metric for it.
Gao Shen then showed the Real Madrid delegation a prototype system still in development. It looked rough, but the core framework was in place. The AI could calculate spatial changes caused by each player's off-the-ball movements.
Simply put, it could measure how much space an attacking player created for himself and his teammates through movement, and how much tactical value that space held. It also analyzed how much value a defender added by blocking passing lanes or reducing space.
These were all areas that had previously been unmeasurable and unstandardized. Now, they were actively being studied and improved.
According to Gao Shen's plan, once the AI analysis system was fully developed, it would be considered for external licensing. For now, it was only being tested at Leeds United. It would also be implemented with teams directly managed by Gao Shen, significantly improving coaching efficiency.
Of course, the same tools would yield different results depending on the coach using them.
The Real Madrid staff were even more astonished than they had anticipated. Leeds United's technological edge far exceeded their expectations.
But that wasn't the point.
Gao Shen's core advantage wasn't software, data models, or hardware. All of that was merely infrastructure.
The real core was people. The most professional, elite people.
In this regard, Gao Shen didn't need to explain much. Everyone in European football already knew his capabilities.
In fact, to a certain extent, if Gao Shen couldn't handle something, who else in today's football world could say they could?
Just like the current mess at Real Madrid. Aside from Gao Shen, who else could fix it?
Florentino understood this. That's why he had come all the way to Leeds.
"Wow, I really didn't expect you to be this far ahead."
In the car heading north from the AXA Centre to the University of Leeds, Gao Shen and Florentino sat in the back.
Clearly, the Real Madrid president wanted a private conversation.
"Actually, I have no worries about entrusting Real Madrid's first team to you. I know you, and I know your strength. You've never failed at anything you've set out to do, and I believe this time will be no different."
"Thank you."
"I'm confident I can persuade the board of directors. But I need you to promise me one thing."
(To be continued.)