Le Cong Vinh and the failed billion-dollar deals at SLNA

Convince Huy Hoang to leave SLNA for 5 billion

The period 2005 - 2006 was the peak of player Nguyen Huy Hoang's performance. Demand was greater than supply, the captain of SLNA was also highly appreciated and sought after by many big teams such as Dong Tam Long An, Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Hanoi ACB...

It is reported that at that time, the owners such as Mr. Kien (HN ACB), Mr. Duc (HAGL), Mr. Truong (Ninh Binh) went to Vinh to meet Huy Hoang directly to negotiate and brought a large amount of cash (about 5 billion VND). Their request was that if Huy Hoang just agreed to leave SLNA, he would immediately receive 5 billion VND. If Huy Hoang joined a new team at that time, the amount of money he received could be much larger.

Center back Huy Hoang is considered a symbol of loyalty at SLNA. Photo: NVCC

However, Huy Hoang, with his vow to play for SLNA until retirement, refused the above offers, accepting to stay with his hometown team with quite generous treatment. Huy Hoang's salary was equal to that of foreign players and he was allowed to own a valuable piece of land in Vinh city. Later, Huy Hoang was still recognized by his leaders and teammates as a symbol of loyalty.

Le Cong Vinh is valued at 1 million USD

That was in 2007, Le Cong Vinh was the number 1 young talent of SLNA as well as Vietnamese football. The striker born in 1985 still had 1 year left on his contract with his hometown team. This was the time when the Hanoi T&T Club of Mr. Do Quang Hien was investing heavily and the delegation of this team came to work with SLNA.

At that time, the price for SLNA to "sell" Le Cong Vinh that the representative of Hanoi T&T Club offered was 1 million USD. That was a "huge" amount, the highest in the history of Vietnamese transfers, but according to the disclosure of the representative of Hanoi Club, this deal was not approved by SLNA for unknown reasons.

Le Cong Vinh in 2008. Photo: SLNA FC

Finally, Le Cong Vinh played for SLNA until the end of V.League 2008 and he joined Hanoi T&T Club as a free transfer with a much smaller signing bonus of 8 billion VND. Of course, Le Cong Vinh was entitled to all of this money, Hanoi Club only had to pay SLNA 500 million VND in training fees.

Trong Hoang used to be worth 14 billion VND.

At the end of V.League 2012, SLNA expired contracts with a series of players Trong Hoang, Van Binh, Au Hoan and among them, Trong Hoang is the hottest player on the transfer market. The team most eager to get the signature of the player born in 1989 is the "tycoon" Xuan Thanh Saigon with the figure of 14 billion VND for a 3-year contract. Previously in 2009, Trong Hoang was valued at 9 billion VND by B. Binh Duong.

Trong Hoang in 2012 in SLNA shirt. Photo: TT&VH

When Trong Hoang and his family were negotiating a contract extension with SLNA's leaders, the two brothers, Mr. Thuy and Mr. Thuy, personally prepared a car carrying about 7-8 billion VND in cash, waiting on the other side of Ben Thuy bridge. Just waiting for Trong Hoang and SLNA to not find a common voice, this amount of money would immediately belong to Trong Hoang.

Finally, with the desire to play for his homeland, Trong Hoang agreed to join SLNA under a preliminary agreement of 10 billion VND (4 billion in cash and other benefits). However, because the agreement was not on paper, Trong Hoang only stayed at SLNA for 1 more year with a signing bonus of less than 1.5 billion VND and joined B. Binh Duong in 2014.

Japanese club spends 5 billion VND to buy Cong Vinh

In 2013, returning to his homeland from Hanoi ACB, Le Cong Vinh was loaned by SLNA to Consadole Sapporo for 5 months to play in Japan's J.League 2. The amount of money the Japanese team spent to have Cong Vinh's service was about 1.2 billion VND.

According to Cong Vinh, when Cong Vinh returned to SLNA from Japan, the Japanese club still offered him a new 2-year contract and the clause to break the contract with SLNA was 5 billion VND. Consadole Sapporo club sent an offer of 240,000 USD for Cong Vinh to return to Japan, not including the signing bonus.

Le Cong Vinh during his days in Japan. Photo: FBNV

However, because he was still tied to SLNA, Cong Vinh could not make his own decision and in the end he continued to play until the end of V.League 2014 in SLNA's shirt, moving to B. Binh Duong to play from V.League 2015 to be closer to his family.

Later, in 2015, central defender Que Ngoc Hai was also sought after by the Hanoi Club of owner Do Quang Hien. However, this deal was also unsuccessful and led to controversy and trouble surrounding the matter of Ngoc Hai having to pay compensation for causing injury to player Anh Khoa of SHB Da Nang.

When Que Ngoc Hai was stuck between many sides, HAGL's boss Doan Nguyen Duc helped the SLNA player with 400 million VND to solve the difficulty. Playing for SLNA until the end of V.League 2018, Que Ngoc Hai joined Viettel Club with a transfer fee of about 9 billion VND/3-year contract.

'Legend' Le Cong Vinh: Talented or not talented?

(Baonghean.vn) - Former striker Le Cong Vinh is considered a "legend" of Vietnamese football. When mentioning Le Cong Vinh, people will think of hard work, diligence and constant efforts to improve. But was the former striker who grew up at SLNA successful just because of luck?