Moreover, Gerard López, after joining Barcelona, rejected AC Milan's sincere offer out of loyalty to his red-and-blue blood!
If he had gone to Serie A, his future might have been very different.
At that time, Gennaro Gattuso—his direct competitor for the same position at AC Milan—had not yet shown anything outstanding. There was a high probability that he wouldn't have been able to beat Gerard López in competition.
In other words, starting from Gerard López, Barcelona began a tradition of poaching players from Valencia. In the future, they would take David Villa, Jordi Alba, André Gomes, Paco Alcácer, and others from the "Bat Army."
Many of them would go on to become superstars.
After this wave of transfers, Barcelona had spent all of Figo's "dirty money" and even lost more than €10 million in the process—but the fans were satisfied.
Barcelona firmly believed that with such strong reinforcements, they were about to enter a glorious new season!
But no one expected that even after spending so much money, Barcelona still couldn't dominate the transfer headlines once Figo's move settled.
Because on the other side of the Iberian Peninsula, a transfer from Sporting Lisbon shocked all of Europe.
"Sporting Lisbon Official Website: Warmly welcome FIFA World Player of the Year, Ballon d'Or winner, and German Footballer Lothar Matthäus to Sporting Lisbon!"
Boom!
Like thunder crashing down!
With news like that—who could ignore it?
Sporting Lisbon had been relatively low-profile.
Matthäus was already considered a fading superstar with limited attention.
But when a star everyone thought would retire suddenly announced he was coming back, fans still went crazy.
It was like Fernando Torres suddenly announcing a comeback in 2022 after years of retirement—shocking, unexpected, and impossible not to pay attention to… even if it was just for hype.
Soon after, more details began to leak.
"Record" almost monopolized first-hand information, once again dominating the summer headlines.
"Matthäus joins mysteriously—his salary is only at Sporting Lisbon's original top level! A massive pay cut compared to his Bayern days!"
"First reason for Matthäus joining Sporting Lisbon: Trigueira and Maxa are excellent coaches—I want to work with the best!"
"Second reason: Although Germany was eliminated in the European Championship group stage, Kai didn't tell me in advance even though he predicted it. Otherwise, we might have performed even worse. Helping Kai and Sporting Lisbon is my way of showing gratitude!"
"Third reason: I want to lead a group of young players to fight for the title—and prove that Bayern and the German national team didn't fail because of me!"
All kinds of rumors and reports were flying everywhere.
But The Sun, with its powerful network in England, quickly came out to refute several of Record's claims.
The Sun: "The biggest force behind Matthäus joining Sporting Lisbon is Kai! The footballers' wives played a key role. We previously believed Matthäus would join Manchester United based on those connections—but now it's clear Kai has been preparing for this move all along!"
"On the eve of his transfer, Matthäus attended a gathering of the footballers' wives in Buckinghamshire, organized by Victoria and Hathaway. Marlene also brought Matthäus along."
"There were other heavyweight stars at the party—two Frenchmen and one Spaniard!"
The Sun really knew how to stir things up.
Two Frenchmen and one Spaniard?
That alone was enough to ignite speculation everywhere.
And soon, one of the Frenchmen was revealed.
"Sporting Lisbon sign Deschamps—member of France's championship-winning squad—from Chelsea for €3.5 million!"
"Deschamps confirms he attended the footballers' wives gathering, but refuses to reveal the identity of the other Frenchman!"
"Confirmed! Zidane and Beckham were filming a commercial in England that day!"
Zidane later said: "I was invited to the party. It was really the ladies' event—we players just gathered and chatted."
Then the dominoes started falling.
France Football: "Zidane may consider leaving Juventus—contract renewal talks have stalled. Could off-field influences play a role?"
Marca: "Florentino is highly interested in Zidane! Real Madrid wants every top superstar!"
Juventus responded calmly: "We are very happy to renew Zidane's contract. He will remain a key player for us in 2005."
Well played.
Kai had been watching the situation unfold and finally understood.
What started as The Sun stirring things up somehow got picked up by France Football, and then Marca jumped in.
In the end, it turned out to be Zidane subtly applying pressure on Juventus to secure a higher salary in contract negotiations.
And the best part?
Juventus couldn't even complain.
Because Zidane had technically done nothing wrong.
It was Real Madrid and the footballers' wives making all the noise.
Otherwise, Zidane was far too smart to openly force the club's hand.
Even if he succeeded that way, would he still be the perfect Zidane in the eyes of management, fans, and teammates?
Of course not.
After the whole thing, Kai even called Zidane to praise him for the move.
Zidane laughed it off, but in the end, he made things easier for Kai and even asked him for some contacts in France and Italy.
Both sides were very satisfied with this "cooperation."
As for the Spaniard at the party—he didn't stay hidden for long.
Guardiola was quickly identified by the media.
In response, Guardiola admitted openly:
"Yes, Kai invited me—but it was just for discussions outside of football. We talked about ideas like investing in restaurants in England."
"We didn't talk much about football. Mostly, I was just signing autographs."
That answer calmed Barcelona fans—for the most part.
But one thing was clear: Barcelona had already signed Petit, which showed that Guardiola's position in the team wasn't as secure as before.
Especially since 1997 and 1998, Guardiola had been dealing with more injuries.
Last season, he even missed several matches the coach wanted him to play, citing physical management—something that drew criticism from fans.
His explanation was simple: his medical team advised rest, otherwise he risked a serious injury.
But people don't care about what might happen.
They only care about what did happen.
As a result, Guardiola lost a lot of trust.
Some Barcelona fans even asked during discussions around the footballers' wives event:
"Why doesn't Guardiola just go to Sporting Lisbon?"
With Petit and Gerard López now in the squad, Guardiola was starting to look… replaceable.
That pissed him off.
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