I changed football.

2016 1 Month 3 Day.

The entire Monaco team traveled to Dubai for winter training.

On that very day, Li Yuan officially announced his collaboration with Raiola.

This incident quickly became a trending topic on social media in the country.

"Li Yuan and Mino Raiola have officially announced their partnership, with Raiola officially becoming Li Yuan's agent."

"Raiola represents many legendary football stars, including Ibrahimovic and Pogba. He is a renowned football agent on par with Mendes in the world of football."

"But he is also a highly controversial agent."

He fought for maximum salaries and freedom of choice for players, and was regarded as a "mentor and friend" by them.

"The club views him as a greedy bloodsucker, accusing him of inciting transfers, demanding exorbitant commissions, and disrupting team stability. He has also publicly criticized the clubs, head coaches, and even FIFA of his players."

Domestic fans have mixed opinions on this matter.

Supporters believe that Li Yuan's choice of Raiola was a very professional and excellent one.

"He is a true protector of the players, always striving for the best interests of his clients. From Li Yuan's perspective, choosing him was the best choice!"

"You always see things from the club's perspective, so you only see the club criticizing him. But look at Ibrahimovic, he once said that Raiola is the person he trusts the most."

"Agents are supposed to serve the players; the club that criticizes him for being greedy is the one applying double standards!"

"Raiola is one of the world's top agents. The fact that Li Yuan is working with him speaks volumes. It shows that Li Yuan's talent has attracted Raiola's attention, which is a fantastic thing."

"European football has its own rules and social dynamics. If Li Yuan, a Chinese player, wants to play in Europe for a long time, he needs a top agent like Raiola who is deeply involved in European football. At least when Li Yuan goes to a bigger club in the future, we won't have to worry about his treatment."

"Raiola is more personable than Mendes. Mendes operates like a company, while Raiola has become friends with all the players."

Of course, this is from the side that supports Raiola.

Just as there are those who support Raiola, there are also those who oppose her.

"A club bloodsucker! He instigated Pogba to leave Juventus, disrupting the locker room. He used Donnarumma's repeated contract extensions and pay raises, driving AC Milan to the brink of collapse. These are all extremely negative impacts on both the club and the players."

"Everyone says he's doing it for the players' own good, but the fact that he sends players to clubs that aren't a good fit just so they can earn higher salaries is nothing new."

"He's the culprit behind Ibrahimovic's frequent transfers! It's quite an ability for him to persuade players to listen to him."

"It's no exaggeration to say that he is partly responsible for the current financialization of football."

Li Yuan glanced at the comments from both sides.

I didn't say much more.

He doesn't care about the fans' opinions on this matter; he's concerned about signing his first professional contract.

On January 4th, Li Yuan was in Dubai for winter training with the whole team.

After returning to his hotel room that evening, Li Yuan received a call from Raiola.

"Oh! My friend, how's it going in Dubai? Beaches, beautiful women!"

"I'm doing winter training here. There are no beaches or pretty girls, just the sun."

"Alright! Now let's get down to business."

"Is it about your professional contract?"

"Of course! Today is just the first negotiation, but we already have a preliminary draft. Our demand has always been to keep the contract term at 3 years and to have it expire in July 2018 if possible."

"Yes, that's our idea."

"But unfortunately, I have some bad news to tell you first."

"Oh, Mino, what bad news?"

"They disagree with the contract that expires in July 2018. Monaco's management believes that such a contract, which expires in two and a half years, is not in their best interest. They want the annual salary to be set at July 2019, which means that if they sign now, without considering retroactive dates, it would be a three-and-a-half-year contract."

"But that would make it too long." Li Yuan wasn't worried, because there was clearly a hook in Raiola's words.

"Don't worry, if the club makes demands, we can make demands too. This isn't a corporate league like the NBA. It might seem like we're completely unequal with the club, but when it comes to negotiations, we're equals."

"Alright, then tell me how we should set our conditions?"

"It's very simple. We can negotiate this from two aspects. First, we can negotiate the contract length by reducing the salary, or change the last year into a conditional renewal."

"Speaking of salaries, what are the salaries offered by Monaco?"

"Monaco is offering you a weekly salary of 16,000 euros after tax, which is approximately 830,000 euros per year."

"What level of salary is this?"

"To put it simply, I found out that Mbappe's salary is around 19,200 euros, which is exactly 1 million euros after tax each year. You are a bit lower than him. However, this salary level is already quite good in Monaco, especially for a newcomer, because the top salary in Monaco is 3 million euros."

"Does that mean we're already at the middle salary level within the team?"

"Monaco is different from other Ligue 1 teams. France only abolished its exorbitant luxury tax in 2015, and now their tax rate is 45%, which is already the highest among the top five leagues. However, unlike other Ligue 1 teams, Monaco does not levy personal income tax unless you are a citizen of a country that is taxed globally. Therefore, Monaco can actually offer high salaries to its players. After all, they have used high salaries to sign other players before. James Rodriguez's annual salary at Monaco was 8 million euros after tax, which was higher than the annual salary of many Premier League big names. This is their advantage. Now those big names have either left or retired, and their current top salary is only over 3 million euros, which is already very economical."

"So you mean they actually gave a little too little?"

"That's quite a lot. It's not bad. By the way, Mbappe's asking price isn't actually that high. I asked his mother about it. They also put a limit on the contract length. They hope the contract will expire in July 2019. They're a bit more financially comfortable than you. After all, they've been in Monaco longer than you, so they probably still have some feelings for him."

"Mino, it would be best if we could negotiate a contract that expires in July 2018, that would give me a lot more options."

The voice on the other end of the phone said, "Of course, I know how to do it."