In the 2008/2009 season, two treble-winning teams were born in European football, one was Barcelona's genuine treble-winning team, and the other was Hoffenheim's small treble-winning team.
Barcelona's reputation as a world-class club and its treble-winning trophy including the Champions League are obviously much greater than Hoffenheim's, but Hoffenheim's reputation as a newly promoted team is also considerable.
Among them, Lu Wenbin, as the primary contributor to Hoffenheim's Hoffenheim miracle, naturally became more famous.
Although his personal honors cannot compare with superstars like Kaka, Ronaldo and Messi who have won the Champions League or the Ballon d'Or, in terms of personal strength, most people believe that Lu Wenbin has reached the strength of a world-class striker.
Of course, it is limited to forwards and goals.
As for dribbling, speed, and organizing offense, Lu Wenbin is still very weak and not comprehensive.
Moreover, its durability remains to be seen. There is no shortage of so-called supernovas in football who performed amazingly in the first season but fell like a comet in the second season.
Therefore, in terms of global fame, prestige, and net worth, Lu Wenbin has not yet reached the level of a world-class superstar.
Even so, Lu Wenbin's performance is still impressive and attracts many wealthy families.
Before the end of the season, Hoffenheim had already received several offers for transfer fees of around 40 million, which is almost the same as the value of Robinho, the European transfer king last year.
You know, Robinho is the bicycle boy who is known as Pele's successor. He became famous very early and is much more well-known worldwide than Lu Wenbin.
The fact that Lu Wenbin's offer has reached such a high level before the end of the season has already proved his value in the eyes of football professionals.
Scoring seventy or eighty goals in a season is not something that everyone can do, and it is not something that can be seen just for show.
Subsequently, Lu Wenbin performed hat tricks in the finals of the UEFA Cup and the German Cup, leading Hoffenheim to win the triple crown miracle as a newly promoted team, making Lu Wenbin's value easily exceed 50 million euros.
Of course, the penalty clause signed by Hoffenheim and Lu Wenbin is 50 million euros. Those clubs that want Lu Wenbin are unlikely to offer Hoffenheim more transfer fees.
If they have extra money, they will definitely use it to increase Lu Wenbin's salary, pay signing fees, give Mendes commissions, etc., in order to compete with other rivals.
Offering a price of 50 million euros means taking Lu Wenbin away directly with the penalty for breach of contract. You have to agree to it whether you like it or not.
Therefore, when a club directly offered 50 million, Hoffenheim couldn't even refuse and could only watch the other party contact Lu Wenbin's agent Mendes to discuss a personal contract.
Of course, Hoffenheim will not sit idly by. They took action early on and wanted to reach a contract extension with Lu Wenbin.
Among them, the Sinsheim City Government awarded Lu Wenbin the title of honorary citizen, which was the work of Dietmar Hopp behind the scenes.
Hopp hopes that the title of Honorary Citizen of Sinsheim will make Lu Wenbin feel more attached to Hoffenheim and Sinsheim, which will be beneficial to their contract renewal negotiations.
After all, the first club Lu Wenbin joined in Europe was Hoffenheim, and the first honorary citizen title he received was also from Sinsheim.
Hopp is not satisfied with the Bundesliga and UEFA Cup titles!
He once said: "I hope Hoffenheim can become a top team that can compete with Inter Milan in the European arena!"
If he wants to realize his ambition to compete with Inter Milan in the European arena and make a difference in the Champions League, Lu Wenbin must not be let go!
Not to mention Lu Wenbin's personal ability, just at the team level, this is not just Lu Wenbin's business. Lu Wenbin's other teammates are also paying attention to Lu Wenbin's movements.
Lu Wenbin has become a guarantee of the championship. As long as Lu Wenbin stays, everyone will have the confidence to follow Lu Wenbin to compete for all the championships.
But if Lu Wenbin is allowed to leave, Hoffenheim, which lacks foundation, will obviously not be able to retain other players.
Others would certainly prefer to join a giant club like Bayern Munich. Hoffenheim, which just won the treble, is bound to face the danger of falling apart, just like Zenit St. Petersburg, which fell apart after winning the UEFA Cup last season.
Hope's dream of playing in the Champions League may always remain just a dream.
Therefore, all the club executives, including Hope, Rothaus and Ralph, were very determined to retain Lu Wenbin.
Naturally, all of this needs to be implemented in the negotiations with Mendes, and real money must be spent to increase Lu Wenbin's salary and renew his contract.
Otherwise, it is useless to talk about feelings just by using the title of honorary citizen. Even if Lu Wenbin has feelings for Hoffenheim, Mendes will not agree.
…
After the Champions League, UEFA Cup and the five major leagues have all ended, European football has fallen into the smoke of summer transfers.
Although the summer transfer window has not yet started and will not open until July 1, the early negotiations have naturally begun.
Apart from the movements of the two Ballon d'Or winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, Lu Wenbin's transfer is the most eye-catching.
The 19-year-old European Golden Boot winner who scored 82 goals in one season, even though he has not yet proved himself in the Champions League and has never won the Ballon d'Or or the FIFA World Player of the Year, but these 82 goals alone are enough to attract the scramble of world-class giants.
According to media reports, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and AC Milan all directly proposed a penalty fee of 50 million euros and then began negotiations with Mendes.
Other clubs made offers of around 40 million euros in the early stages, and although they were rejected by Hoffenheim, there are countless clubs that are still waiting and watching, and no one knows which club will suddenly offer 50 million euros to join the competition.
Hoffenheim club itself is also seeking contract extensions with Lu Wenbin and Mendes, hoping to keep Lu Wenbin.
The invisible smoke of war revolved around the 19-year-old European Golden Boot winner Lu Wenbin, making Chinese fans scream with excitement and enjoyment, and they commented that they hoped Lu Wenbin would go to their favorite club.
But Hoffenheim fans are more painful.
Today Mendes flew to Manchester, and tomorrow Lu Wenbin appeared in Munich with his parents and girlfriend, which will attract media coverage and make Hoffenheim fans feel tormented.
Many Hoffenheim fans left messages on the official website, hoping that Lu Wenbin would stay and expressing their admiration and love for Lu Wenbin!
In fact, Hope's lobbying of the city government to award Lu Wenbin the title of honorary citizen did have some effect.
Hoffenheim is indeed the first club that Lu Wenbin joined in Europe, and he has deep feelings for it.
With the title of honorary citizen, Lu Wenbin became more determined to leave a Champions League trophy for Hoffenheim before leaving.
However, Mendes was very insightful and guessed that there must be something else behind the title of honorary citizen.
Therefore, under Mendes' analysis and reminder, Lu Wenbin did not publicly express his desire to stay, and even cooperated with Mendes to travel to Munich to put pressure on Hoffenheim club.
Although Lu Wenbin wanted to stay, the club had to spend some money and the new contract had to be in line with his value. Therefore, Lu Wenbin went to Munich according to Mendes' advice.
In fact, Lu Wenbin went to Munich not to meet with a senior executive of Bayern Munich, but to meet a professional sprint coach.
He planned to hire a professional sprint coach to help him train his speed, to see if he could save one or two skill points by upgrading through training, and use the sprint coach to cover up the fact that he used skill points to upgrade his speed attribute.