CHAPTER 13 — BRØNDBY'S PRICE
**Copenhagen / Glostrup — January 1991**
Brøndby knew it was coming.
That was the uncomfortable truth of the situation — Mikkel wasn't walking into a surprise negotiation but into a room where the other side had spent six weeks preparing their position. The preliminary inquiry from United's administration had given them time, and time in a transfer negotiation almost always benefited the selling club. They'd had Christmas to think about it, to consult with each other, to decide what the number was and how hard they intended to hold it.
He requested the meeting through Ørsted, who responded within a day — which itself said something. Clubs that wanted to obstruct a transfer took three days to return calls. Clubs that had already decided to engage took one. The meeting was set for the second Thursday of January.
Mikkel spent the week before it doing two things. First, building the case for why £300,000 was the right fee — comparable Danish international transfers, Schmeichel's age and contract situation, the leverage that a player entering his final six months of a deal always provided to the buying club. Second, and more practically, calling Gerald Dowd to confirm United's position hadn't shifted since November.
Dowd called back the following day. United were firm at £300,000. Ferguson wanted the deal done before the end of January — he was planning pre-season around Schmeichel being in the squad and didn't want it running into the summer. That was useful information. Deadline pressure cut both ways.
---
The meeting was in a larger room than Ørsted's office — a proper boardroom, which suggested Brøndby were treating this with appropriate seriousness. Ørsted was there, and beside him two men Mikkel hadn't dealt with before. **Anders Vestergaard**, the club chairman — sixties, silver-haired, the comfortable authority of someone who had run the club through its most successful period and knew the weight of every decision made in this room. And **Søren Busk**, the sporting director — younger, mid-forties, with the sharp attentiveness of someone whose job was to think three transfer windows ahead.
Three of them. Mikkel was alone, which he'd decided was the right call — bringing Dowd would have signalled uncertainty, and certainty was the only currency worth spending today.
Coffee was offered and accepted. Then Vestergaard opened.
*"We appreciate the directness of United's approach,"* he said, in the measured tone of a man who had rehearsed his opening. *"Peter Schmeichel is our most important player. Losing him is significant for the club regardless of the compensation."*
*"I understand that,"* Mikkel said.
*"We want to make sure the compensation reflects that significance."*
There it was. Mikkel had expected it — the emotional framing before the number, the acknowledgment of loss as a lever. It was a legitimate position. He just couldn't let it set the terms.
*"The compensation reflects the market,"* he said. *"Peter has six months remaining on his contract. In June he can walk for nothing. United's offer of £300,000 is generous given that reality."*
Busk leaned forward slightly. *"We'd be looking at £450,000."*
---
**⚙ SYSTEM — REAL TIME NEGOTIATION ASSESSMENT**
*Brøndby's opening position: £450,000*
*United's firm position: £300,000*
*Gap: £150,000*
*Brøndby's actual leverage: Limited — Schmeichel has 6 months left*
*Risk: If gap isn't bridged, United could wait for summer and pay nothing*
*Advice: Remind them of the free transfer risk. Find middle ground around £330,000–£350,000.*
---
Mikkel kept his expression neutral. £450,000 was an aggressive opening — not absurd, but well above what United had committed to. The gap between 300 and 450 was the entire negotiation.
*"Four hundred and fifty,"* he said, as though repeating the number helped him think about it. *"Let me be straightforward about something. United's offer is £300,000. That offer exists because Peter has six months on his contract and both parties know it. If this deal doesn't happen in January, Peter leaves in June on a free transfer and Brøndby receive nothing."*
Vestergaard's expression didn't change but something shifted behind it — the specific acknowledgment of a man who knew he was being reminded of something true and didn't enjoy it.
*"We're aware of the contract situation,"* Busk said carefully.
*"Then you know £300,000 in January is better than nothing in June. The question is whether there's a number between those two positions that United will agree to."*
*"Can United move?"* Vestergaard asked.
Mikkel had thought about this carefully. United were firm at 300 — Dowd had been clear. But firm and immovable weren't always the same thing, and a small movement on United's side paired with a significant movement from Brøndby could bridge the gap without blowing up either party's position.
*"I can go back to United with a counter,"* he said. *"But I need it to be realistic. £450,000 is not realistic. If you come to me with something I can actually work with, I'll work with it."*
A silence settled over the room. Vestergaard and Busk exchanged a look — brief, communicative, the shorthand of two people who had sat in enough of these rooms to have developed their own language.
*"£380,000,"* Vestergaard said.
Mikkel wrote it down. *"I'll take that to United. No promises."*
*"And the timeline?"* Busk asked.
*"United want it done by end of January. That works for everyone, I'd think."*
Another look exchanged. Vestergaard nodded once. *"End of January."*
---
**⚙ SYSTEM UPDATE**
*Brøndby Counter: £380,000*
*United Position: £300,000 (firm)*
*Gap: £80,000*
*Next Step: Take Brøndby's counter to United*
*Reputation Unchanged: 270 / 1000*
---
He called Dowd from the office that afternoon. Laid out the situation cleanly — Brøndby had come down from 450 to 380, United were at 300, the gap was 80,000 and someone needed to move.
Dowd was quiet for a moment. *"Ferguson won't go to 380."*
*"I know. Will he go to 330?"*
*"That I can ask."*
*"Ask today. End of January is the deadline and I need room to work."*
Dowd called back the following morning. Ferguson had agreed to £330,000 — a movement of £30,000 from his original position, which from Alex Ferguson in a transfer negotiation was not nothing. Dowd communicated it with the particular satisfaction of a man who had delivered good news and wanted credit for it.
Mikkel thanked him and called Brøndby.
Ørsted picked up. Mikkel told him United had moved to £330,000 and that it represented the limit of their flexibility. There was a silence on the line, then Ørsted said he'd need to speak to Vestergaard and Busk and would call back by end of day.
He called back at half past four.
*"£350,000,"* Ørsted said. *"That's our final position."*
Mikkel looked at the ceiling. Twenty thousand pounds between them. He thought about it for perhaps ten seconds.
*"I'll recommend United accept it,"* he said.
*"You think they will?"*
*"I think Ferguson wants the player more than he wants to win £20,000."*
He called Dowd immediately. Told him £350,000 was Brøndby's final position and that he was recommending United accept it. Dowd said he'd need to call Manchester. Mikkel said call now.
Dowd called back in twenty-two minutes.
*"Done,"* he said. *"£350,000."*
---
**⚙ SYSTEM UPDATE**
*TRANSFER AGREED: Peter Schmeichel — Brøndby IF to Manchester United FC*
*Transfer Fee: £350,000 (DKK 3,605,000 / $560,000)*
*Player Wages: £2,500/week*
*Contract: 2 years + option*
*Intermediary Fee from United: £12,000 (DKK 123,600 / $19,200) — payable on completion*
*Trane Sports Commission Year 1: 15% of £130,000 = £19,500 (DKK 200,850 / $31,200)*
*Total Funds upon completion: DKK 73,950 + DKK 200,850 + DKK 123,600 = DKK 398,400 (£38,643 / $63,744)*
*Reputation +30 → 300 / 1000*
*System Note: 300 reputation milestone reached. New feature unlocked — Player Development Tracking: monitor client progression and flag when a player's market value has increased significantly.*
---
Three hundred reputation. The system marked it with the same quiet emphasis it always used for milestones — no fanfare, just noted. Mikkel sat with it for a moment and then picked up the phone to call Schmeichel.
The goalkeeper answered on the second ring.
*"It's done,"* Mikkel said. *"£350,000 to Brøndby. Your terms unchanged. Medical and formal contracts in the next two weeks."*
A silence. Shorter than the one in Manchester. Schmeichel had been expecting this call — had known it was coming — and had presumably already processed most of what he felt about it.
*"When do I go?"* he said.
*"Ferguson wants you for pre-season. Probably July."*
*"July,"* Schmeichel repeated. A pause. *"I'll finish the season at Brøndby properly."*
*"Of course."*
*"Tell United that."*
*"They already know. Ferguson would expect nothing less."*
A brief silence with something in it that wasn't quite sentiment but was adjacent to it — a man processing the end of one chapter before the next one started.
*"Alright,"* Schmeichel said. *"Good work, Mikkel."*
It was the first time he'd used the first name without the surname following it. Mikkel noticed it and said nothing about it.
*"I'll be in touch about the medical dates,"* he said, and let the goalkeeper go.
---
The news moved faster this time. Brøndby issued a brief statement acknowledging the transfer on the Friday — professional, warm toward Schmeichel, the carefully managed tone of a club trying to control the narrative of a departure they hadn't wanted. The Danish press ran it prominently. Ekstra Bladet gave it the back page. BT ran a profile of Schmeichel alongside a sidebar on the transfer, which mentioned Trane Sports in the fourth paragraph as the agency that had negotiated the deal.
Fourth paragraph. Six months ago it would have been nothing at all.
In Manchester the coverage was more restrained — a signing in January that wouldn't take effect until summer was a future story rather than a present one, and the English press treated it accordingly. But United's supporters read it with genuine interest, the name unfamiliar to most of them, the fee modest enough not to generate scepticism. A few of the more informed ones noted that Ferguson had gone to Denmark specifically, which meant he'd seen something nobody else had spotted yet.
At Brøndby the reaction in the dressing room had the specific texture of an outcome that had been anticipated for months finally arriving. The players who'd followed the story — which was most of them — received it with the quiet resignation of a squad that knew this was how football worked. The younger players said less and felt more. Henrik Andersen, who'd played alongside Schmeichel for three seasons, said in the canteen after Friday's session that it was the right move for Peter and left it at that.
Brian Laudrup said nothing in the dressing room. He'd already had his conversation about it privately and had a meeting booked with Mikkel the following week. He laced his boots for the afternoon session, went out onto the frozen pitch, and played like someone who had made a decision and was comfortable with it.
On the Brøndby supporters forum — a physical noticeboard inside the stadium that fans pinned handwritten notes to, the 1991 equivalent of social media — a typed note appeared on Saturday morning that read: *Trane Sports — remember that name.* It stayed up for three weeks before someone took it down for reasons that had nothing to do with its contents.
---
**⚙ SYSTEM UPDATE — MID JANUARY 1991**
*Funds: DKK 73,950 (£7,173 / $11,832) — fees pending medical and contract signing*
*Active Clients: 4 (Schmeichel, Elstrup, Vilfort, Sivebæk)*
*Schmeichel: Transfer formally agreed — medical and contracts outstanding*
*Laudrup Meeting: Next week*
*Reputation: 300 / 1000*
*Player Development Tracking: Now active*
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