Roman Abramovich has formalized the sale of Chelsea, 19 years after its acquisition for less than 200 million euros.
The Russian oligarch, if he quickly withdrew from current affairs, often participated himself in transfer negotiations in the early stages.
In France, Jean-Michel Aulas is one of the rare presidents to have rubbed shoulders with him closely.
Thomas Tuchel has only seen him once, after the final victory against City in the Champions League last year.
An impromptu meeting that had inspired this tongue-in-cheek comment from the German coach: “It was the best time for it – or maybe the worst, because it can only get worse after that.
»
Roman Abramovich, who reluctantly decided to part with his Chelsea club, overtaken by his past closeness with Putin and the bad weather on the Russian oligarchs, lived very far from London for a lease.
In fact, he had even given the operational reins to his former personal assistant Marina Granovskaia, only showing up very rarely in the locker room after 2010.
Almost 19 years after his arrival in the Premier League, there are very few European leaders who can conjure up even a conversation with the often silent, always elusive Roman Abramovich.
Some presidents of French clubs, however, had this chance, the very first months, when the “godfather” of the Russian oligarchs wet the shirt personally to conclude a transfer.
A visit to the Park for Ronaldinho
The word "luck" is used intentionally.
At the beginning of the 2000s, drinking a coffee with Roman Abramovich was like getting together with the fantasy of the Russian businessman of the time, these sulphurous fortunes dealt on a corner of the table with the Kremlin, this country butchered like a well-fed bear after the hunt.
Not too dangerous, but a bit exciting nonetheless.
Francis Graille, then president of PSG, was quick to dwell on an interview lasting a good quarter of an hour at the Parc des Princes in order to negotiate the departure of Ronaldinho in the summer of 2003. hour, it's light, but it's enough to define a character.
The terms of the conversation, already: “He had my secretariat called by a deputy from the Duma [a certain German German Tkatchenko] He wanted us to meet at the George V, I replied that it was out of the question let me go to the George V. That was game, since he was the one who wanted to make an offer.
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Abramovich complies: “I see a little guy come in, not a force of nature as you might expect from a Russian, all in jeans, pants and jacket included.
A rather nice guy, not at all arrogant, almost shy, who said he didn't understand a word of English, which I think was completely wrong”.
A guy who doesn't care about Ronaldinho like his first million.
"He had absolutely no control over the player, he didn't even speak for three seconds about Ronaldinho, it was just the money.
But you have to put it in context.
It was a period when the origin of his money was questioned, it was suspect, and I represented Canal + who told me to beware.
So I offered 40 million, which was a lot more than we wanted because I couldn't tell him 'I'm not selling you a player because you look bad'.
Abramovich does find that a little expensive, but he doesn't seem offended.
A week later, he will notify PSG that he is dropping the deal, cooled by the salary demands of Ronnie's brother and agent, who was finally sold to Barça for ten million less.
“I met him again briefly during a Chelsea-PSG match just after in C1, but he is someone who does not show himself.
Lots of people told me that no one had ever met him, especially in Marseille.
Truthful.
Jean-Michel Aulas, the privileged
Christophe Bouchet, who will give him Drogba the following year, has never seen even the shadow of Abramovich.
Two meetings with Peter Kenyon, its CEO at the time, in Paris, were enough to lead to an agreement.
But proof that the oligarch has not removed all the doubts that accompany his sensational arrival in football (almost 200 million slammed from the first transfer window), the president of OM checks the bank details of the transfer:
“I was extremely suspicious, like others, I didn't want anyone to get money from who knows where.
I saw that it was ING, domiciled in the Netherlands, it was good for me”.
33.75 million, to be precise, soon pulverized by the 38 million snatched from the businessman of Lithuanian origin by Jean-Michel Aulas in August 2005.
The Lyon president can not only be proud of this record, but also of an almost intimate proximity with Abramovich.
Four meetings in one year, it's almost an adulterous relationship on the scale of the Russian.
They are all tasty, but the first in particular, partly told in
Roman Abramovitch, football, petrol, power,
Alban Traquet's investigative book published in 2008. We were in Courchevel during the previous Christmas holidays.
Jean-Paul Revillon, administrator of OL groupe, gave a little helping hand to his new chalet neighbour, our friend Roman.
In exchange, he invites him to an aperitif, and Revillon brings back the whole dairy, including a commissioner from the DST and an official from the RG, a sign that the man is plotting in high places.
André Soulier, a renowned lawyer from the Lyon bar close to JMA who was also present, recounts this first sniffing between the boss of OL, then a leading European outsider, and Roman Abramovitch, recent buyer of Chelsea.
“I tell myself that he has the physique of Laspalès”
“His cabin was on the road leading to the heliport where the very wealthy people of the resort land.
At the entrance, we are greeted by two armed guards.
Good.
And there, I see him, and I say to myself “but it is not possible, this extremely wealthy businessman, he has the physique of Laspalès” [laughs].
That said, the conversation turns out to be very interesting right away, we haven't talked about the depth of the snow on the red slopes”.
No condescension on either side, but true freedom and equality of tone.
"There was no hint of diplomacy or economic resources of either, we had in front of us a man quite comfortable without being sufficient, a kind of hero modern version of a novel by Tolstoy, with whom Jean-Michel had mainly talked about football, in a discussion of businessman to businessman".
A first contact formed a first round of window shopping for the Lyon workforce, before a move to Chelsea action in July 2005 for Michael Essien.
But we must forget the heat of the Courchevel exchanges.
JMA rediscovers his cunning good negotiator, sometimes disdainful, sometimes suave, always seeming to say cause, Essien can be seen from afar, like the colonel's daughter.
Abramovich, to make up for having stood him up for the first time in Saint-Tropez, pulls out all the stops: the helicopter to serve as a taxi on the beach, then a casual conversation on the deck of the Pelorus, the sumptuous yacht of the oligarch, on a stroll in the Bay of Pampelonne.
Three hours on the Pelorus to buy Essien
It's won, even if Aulas makes the pleasure last.
“I arrived in shorts and I was with my son, explains the latter in a recent paper from
The Athletic
.
It wasn't really a formal date.
We talked about everything and nothing for three hours, but especially not about the subject that occupied us.
When I got up, I said to him "By the way Essien is not for sale, well not at less than 40 million".
The transfer will be concluded a week later for 38 million euros, still in Abramovich's yacht.
Rebelote two later for Florent Malouda, against a much smaller check and without the Roman tour.
Now boss of the champion of England and a real European power, the former governor of Tchoukotchka no longer bothers to play the merchant, nor to rub shoulders with the agents he has always avoided.
No more French leader will deal with him, except in Rennes, the last hunting ground of the Blues in L1.
But with François Pinault, his ex-Breton counterpart, Abramovitch prefers to talk about painting.
The two men also exchanged their collections for a while in their respective galleries.
In that of the Russian, you could admire a triptych by Francis Bacon which had cost the sum of an Essien and a Drogba combined.
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