On the morning of January 9th, 2006, Freddy woke up in a hotel. He walked to the window wearing only his underwear. When he opened the curtains, the dazzling sunlight shone into the room, causing him to close his eyes slightly and look away. He was surprised by the particularly beautiful weather in London today.
The middle-aged man still maintained a very good figure. He used to train with Qin Xiong, but now he deliberately paid attention to the maintenance of his own health.
A beautiful mature woman was lying on the big bed in the hotel suite. She was his recent girlfriend.
Just as Freddy was doing some body stretching in front of the window, his cell phone rang.
He picked it up and looked at it. The corners of his mouth, surrounded by a light stubble, raised slightly.
"Hello."
"Kyle, I want Qin Xiong."
"Pérez, this is the middle of the season. It's very, very difficult."
"I can convince Arsenal, you can convince Qin Xiong. Why are you in a deadlock with Arsenal now?"
"I'll try."
"Okay, please let me know if you have any news."
Freddy hung up the phone and closed his eyes with a smile.
The person who had just spoken to him was the Real Madrid president, Florentino.
They often spoke on the phone in the past year. Whenever Real Madrid's results were poor and they were questioned by the outside world, Florentino would call Freddy to ask about the possibility of Qin Xiong's transfer.
Freddy did not doubt Real Madrid's sincerity. The 30 million pound offer last summer was for real!
It was more real than the flirting with Vieira in the past few years!
But the transfer was not an olive branch extended by Real Madrid. Qin Xiong would definitely take the initiative to accept it with a smile.
The player, the team, emotions, all aspects had to be considered.
The reason Florentino called this time, before Freddy answered the phone, he knew it was the other party calling.
Real Madrid was competing with Barcelona in the league this season. Before November, everything was fine.
Real Madrid used to lead Barcelona by six points, but this beautiful situation went to the other extreme at the end of 2005.
Real Madrid came to an end in 2005, 10 points behind Barcelona in the league!
In November and December, Barcelona, led by Mr. Golden Ball Ronaldinho, overtook Real Madrid by 16 points in two months!
That included the 0: 3 score in the Spanish Derby in late November, which made Florentino lose all face. All the Bernabéu fans stood up and applauded for Florentino, which was like countless slaps to the face!
The bad situation continued. La Liga had a 10-day break during the winter break. On January 8th, which was yesterday's league match, Barcelona won. Real Madrid, on the other hand, drew with their opponents at Villarreal's home stadium, El Madrigal. This led to a shocking 12-point gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid!
La Liga's half-season league was not over yet. Only 18 rounds had been played!
Because of this, Real Madrid hoped to bring in strong reinforcements in the winter to complete the turnaround in the second half of the season. Or, they did not want to lose too badly to Barcelona in the league!
Moreover, Florentino wanted to bring in Qin Xiong this winter. In addition to improving competitiveness in the league, he also wanted to reduce the pressure on Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Who was Real Madrid's opponent in the Champions League 18 finals?
Wasn't it Arsenal?
If Qin Xiong could be transferred to Real Madrid in the winter, even if Qin Xiong would lose the qualification to play in the Champions League in the second half of the season, without Qin Xiong in Arsenal, Real Madrid's chances of beating their opponents and advancing would definitely be greatly improved!
(In a single season, a player could not play for different teams in Europe.)
But this was also the difficulty of bringing in Qin Xiong in the winter.
If Florentino had his way, it might save him from the crisis of trust in Bernabéu that was close to being besieged on all sides.
But Arsenal's board of directors were not fools.
After washing up in the hotel, Freddy left the hotel hand in hand with his girlfriend. Just as he got in the car and was about to go to dinner, his phone rang again.
He was not in a hurry to talk to Qin Xiong about Real Madrid's invitation.
After all, it was not special, nor was it particularly sudden. Plus, Qin Xiong had been resting recently, so he did not want to disturb him at an inappropriate time.
However, the second call did surprise him.
It was from Chelsea's boss, Abramovich.
When Qin Xiong was playing for Ajax, Chelsea had wanted to recruit Qin Xiong.
This was the second time Freddy had spoken to Abramovich on the phone. The content of the call was very brief. Freddy declined Abramovich's invitation to Qin Xiong, because whether it was Qin Xiong or Freddy himself, in the current environment and time, it was impossible to approve of Qin Xiong joining Chelsea.
This would almost make him bear the infamy of a traitor and a Judas!
But Freddy still agreed to Abramovich's request: Don't be in a hurry to refuse, first meet with Chelsea's CEO, and carefully listen to Chelsea's conditions.
Freddy had to comfort his girlfriend with a few words and let her take a taxi to leave first, while he drove to meet with Chelsea's CEO, Kenyon.
.....
The four games in the devil's competition schedule had indeed consumed a lot of Qin Xiong. Due to the start of the FA Cup, the Premier League would not start its 22nd round until mid-January.
Qin Xiong had almost a week of rest, which was enough to relieve the recent physical exhaustion.
The weekend came and the FA Cup started. Qin Xiong, Sylvia, and Freddy sat together in the VIP seats at Highbury to watch the FA Cup game.
Arsenal was really light. As the defending champions of the FA Cup, they did not have the aura of a champion at all. Wenger did not even put out the main lineup in the substitutes' list.
Everyone knew that Arsenal had chosen to strategically give up the FA Cup in order to face the cruel competition in the Premier League in the second half of the season and the challenge of the Champions League knockout stage!
Sitting in the VIP seats, Qin Xiong's hand was placed on Sylvia's leg. Sylvia held his hand and subconsciously stroked his palm gently.
When the game started, Freddy took advantage of the situation to turn his head and whisper something in Qin Xiong's ear.
Qin Xiong shook his head repeatedly after listening.
Although Chelsea and Real Madrid were not the only ones who wanted to get Qin Xiong in the winter, there were not many clubs who really had a chance to get Arsenal's board of directors to let him go.
Not to mention that Real Madrid and Chelsea only had a very low probability, those first-tier clubs did not have a chance at all.
After all, this was not just the club's consideration. Qin Xiong also had to consider himself.
If he transferred during the winter break, he would definitely not be able to participate in the Champions League in the second half of the season.
Also, this year was the year of the World Cup. To ensure his condition before the World Cup and ensure his playing time, of course, it was better to be in a familiar team.
Joining Chelsea or Real Madrid, no matter which club it was, would make him a traitor if he joined in the winter!
Joining Chelsea would almost cut off Arsenal's path to defending the Premier League title.
Joining Real Madrid would also make it more difficult for Arsenal to face Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Therefore, Qin Xiong did not even listen to Freddy's description of the two clubs' conditions and shook his head to refuse.
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