January 1, 2019.
On this day, Nottingham Forest had sent away a player and welcomed another player.
The Nottingham Forest Football Club announced the termination of the contract with the 34-year-old Brazilian center back, Tiago Silva. He would join Vasco da Gama in Brazil on a free transfer, where he planned to end his career.
Silva left the club in the morning, and the team welcomed their only import in the winter transfer period in the afternoon — midfielder Chen Jian from RCD Espanyol.
"There are only reporters, no fans, and they are basically China reporters … This is different from the future I planned for you, Jian." Sitting in the Ford that the club had specially sent to pick them up, Xia Yang was looking at the media outside the window as he spoke to Chen Jian.
"The boss told me to put the meeting with the fans before the FA Cup game. As for the reporters … The English reporters are waiting to see me make a fool of myself. "Chen Jian also turned his head to look at the Eastern faces outside the window.
Although Nottingham Forest's current ranking in the league was not even as good as RCD Espanyol, they were still a veteran powerhouse who had won the UEFA Champions League five times. His transfer here this time still attracted the attention of domestic attention. He could see several familiar logos just from the interview passes on the chests of the reporters.
Chen Jian was already used to all of this. He was no longer the nobody who went to England and no one paid attention to him. Now he was the number one star player in the China team, so this kind of treatment was normal. The Chinese fans still had fantasies, even though it was already very realistic. Chen Jian alone was enough to make them very happy.
"You're quite open-minded." Xia Yang muttered. The domestic reaction eased his dissatisfaction a little — looking at the domestic reporters in front of him, it was clear that Chen Jian's nine million pound transfer record for a China professional player to join Nottingham Forest had caused a strong reaction in China.
In fact, nine million was said to be for outsiders to hear. It was actually ten million, but one million went into Xia Yang's own pocket.
Evan personally took part in the negotiations this time and cut the price from the initial exorbitant twenty million to nine million. If Chen Jian had not been determined to leave, RCD Espanyol would not have sold at this price.
"But it's not too bad. England is the birthplace of paparazzi. The media industry here is very developed. If you play here, you will get more attention … "As an agent, Xia Yang naturally looked at the transfer from his perspective. As for what happened on the field, he couldn't make the decision, so he didn't consider it.
As they spoke, the car stopped at the entrance of the Crimson Stadium. It was already surrounded by China's media.
As soon as Chen Jian got out of the car, the camera flashed. However, he did not stay for long and walked straight into the press release hall.
Backstage, he saw the club chairman, Evan Doughty, and the team manager, Tony Twain.
"Welcome to Nottingham Forest, Chen." As the chairman of the club, Evan Doughty was the first to welcome Chen Jian. He extended his hand and shook Chen Jian's hand.
"Thank you, Mr. Chairman."
Chen Jian's behavior was neither servile nor overbearing.
Evan knew that he was not the star of the show, but the person behind him. Therefore, he did not say anything to Chen Jian and gave up the stage. He then went to see how the preparations for the press conference were going.
"After going one round, you still came to Forest, Chen Jian." Tang En said to Chen Jian in English.
"It has always been my dream to join Nottingham Forest," Chen Jian replied in English.
"Original dream?"
"Original."
Tang En laughed and extended his hand. Chen Jian thought he wanted to shake hands with him, but he did not expect Tang En to just pat him heavily on the shoulder.
"I hope Nottingham Forest can be the last game of your career."
Chen Jian thought about it. Retiring at Nottingham Forest … It seemed like a pretty good thing. He nodded. "I hope so too."
"What do you think of the team's results? I remember the media said that Nottingham Forest's league ranking was not even comparable to RCD Espanyol. "Tang En asked again. "And the media criticized you for only doing this transfer for money."
Nottingham Forest's weekly salary for Chen Jian was definitely higher than his at RCD Espanyol. This was normal. With Chen Jian's current age and condition, if he were to jump ship and get less money than his original employer, then why would he jump ship? RCD Espanyol had not increased Chen Jian's salary. Chen Jian was the main force of RCD Espanyol, but he was still receiving his initial salary from the Eredivisie. His salary level was only in the lower middle of the team. It was not unreasonable for Xia Yang to want Chen Jian to leave RCD Espanyol. This salary was really not in line with Chen Jian's contribution.
RCD Espanyol might think that China's labor was cheap … But Xia Yang was smarter than they thought.
"I'm looking at the future." Chen Jian avoided the topic of "money." He was not lying. Compared to that small weekly salary, Chen Jian was most eager to get the opportunity to participate in the European competition from Nottingham Forest. As a professional player, his biggest regret now was not that he had not won any championship titles, but that he had never participated in European competitions. It was the same in Spain and the Netherlands. He longed to participate in the highest level of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
"The future …"
Tang En did not continue to ask. He and Chen Jian sat backstage, quietly waiting for their appearance.
※ ※ ※
Evan Doughty welcomed Chen Jian's arrival on behalf of the club. Then Chen Jian walked out from behind the background advertising board under the attention of the Chinese media.
It was not as lively as when the big name star players joined. Not even half of the seats in the press conference hall were full. Most of the seats were from the Chinese media, and the rest of the English media were from Nottingham. Chen Jian's eyes did not stay on this. He glanced around, shook hands with Evan Doughty and Tony Twain, and stood in front of the microphone prepared for him.
"I'm very happy to join the team that nurtured me. It has always been my dream to wear the Nottingham Forest jersey. "
Basically, many new players would say such words.
For example, "I've wanted to play for Real Madrid since I was a child."
"Joining AC Milan is my highest dream."
"I've always been a Barcelona fan …"
"It's my honor to play for Inter Milan."
…
And so on. This was the standard template. All the players had to do was change the name of the club.
Therefore, no one in the media present took Chen Jian's words seriously, even though they all knew that Chen Jian was really from the Nottingham Forest youth team.
During the media's free time to ask questions, a local Nottingham media immediately stood up and asked, "Nottingham Forest's current ranking is not good. Do you feel the pressure?"
"I hope to contribute to the team's ranking through my own efforts." Chen Jian's answer was watertight and quite mature.
The local Nottingham media was concerned about whether Chen Jian's arrival could really strengthen the team, while the Chinese media was only concerned about whether Chen Jian could play in the team.
A CCTV5 reporter stood up and asked, "You and George Wood have similar technical characteristics. Before you joined the team, did Manager Tony Twain promise you anything?" He asked in Chinese.
Tang En heard this sentence. He grabbed the microphone and answered on behalf of Chen Jian, "You'll know when the game starts. For now, Chen Jian and I will not answer questions about tactics. Thank you for your cooperation. "
When Chen Jian heard Tang En say this, he just smiled and did not add anything.
This disappointed many of the Chinese media. They did not ask the question that they were most concerned about, so the press conference was meaningless.
As there was no fan meeting ceremony, the press conference was very brief. After the media finished asking their questions, Chen Jian and Tang En pulled up a red Nottingham Forest jersey together and showed it to the reporters. Chen Jian's surname "CHEN" and number "14" were printed on it.
If there were no accidents, this jersey would accompany him through five seasons on the Forest team. By then, he would be thirty-three years old. If he wanted to retire on the Forest team, then he had to show his best form to conquer the picky manager.
Standing in front of the reporters' cameras, Tang En and Chen Jian both had smiles on their faces, but they were not bright. They both knew that this was just the starting point, and not the end point where they could breathe a sigh of relief.
※ ※ ※
"Chen Jian joins a Champions League team and is known as Wood's successor!"
This was the sports news headline on China's most famous portal website. What was interesting was not the text under the headline, but the comments under the text.
"Shanxi netizen: Stop joking! 'Wood's successor'? This reporter, are you Chen Jian's father? "
"Sichuan netizen: A Sichuan netizen sends a congratulatory message to congratulate Wood for finding a successor!"
"Beijing netizen: It's the headline party again. Sticking to the headline party for more than twenty years, what kind of mental … illness is this! "
"Tianjin netizen: 'Chen Jian, when will you become Wood's successor?' 'Tomorrow, tomorrow!'"
"Sichuan netizen: Why can't Chen Jian be Wood's successor? I think it's quite suitable … I believe Tony bought him with this intention? "
"Chongqing netizen: The melon upstairs, our captain can play until he's forty years old. Can Chen Jian do it? When he retires, the captain will still be playing! "
"Shanghai netizen: Ah, we won't see Chen Jian in the Barcelona derby in the future …"
"Zhejiang netizen: Shouldn't Silly Ba be happy? Look at their results on RCD Espanyol's home ground in the past few years, it's really terrible … "
"Hubei netizen: Yellow dog, go to hell!"
…
"This is really interesting. News about you can even relate to the grievances of other clubs."
In the hotel room where he was temporarily staying in Nottingham, Chen Jian was preparing to write an article for the blog of this portal website through the Internet.
Xia Yang was looking at the relevant news on the website. This sentence was exactly what he lamented after reading the comments.
It was Xia Yang who had helped him contact this website at the beginning to open a special blog for him to gather popularity. However, the news headlines of this website were still tasteless.
"I don't remember saying that I'm Wood's successor at the press conference." Chen Jian looked at Xia Yang.
"Then publish an article to refute it on the blog. It's a good opportunity to further increase your popularity."
"You arranged it, right, Uncle Xia?"
Xia Yang spread his hands.
"You're known as' a small George Wood 'in RCD Espanyol. This has long been spread in China, and people will naturally make the connection."
Then Chen Jian wrote some details of the press conference when he joined the team on the blog, and explained why the website's sports news misunderstood that he was Wood's successor. He said that he was not Wood's successor, and that no one had said such a thing. It must have been a misunderstanding by the China reporters.
The original title of the blog post was "I've finally fulfilled my initial dream!"
This was originally a very inspirational title, but there was nothing new about it. However, the editor of the portal website waved his pen and changed it to "I'm not Wood the Second, I want to be Chen Jian the First!"
The click-through rate and comments came in like a tide. Of course, there was also a lot of scolding …
The next day, Chen Jian told his agent that he would stop blogging on this website after his contract with the website expired. This approach was really too cowardly. Xia Yang shrugged and said, "You're a public figure. Every word you say may be distorted by the media with ulterior motives."
"So I'll keep quiet in the future." Chen Jian said with a serious face, "I'll only show myself on the field. I'll refuse any media blog or column invitation!"
Xia Yang agreed verbally, but in his heart, he thought: You can't refuse all forms of interviews, can you, Chen Jian? You know that the media makes a living by playing with words and writing. You've got to get used to it …
※ ※ ※
The next day, Xia Yang went to find a house for Chen Jian, and Chen Jian went to Wilford to report and participate in the training as usual. At the training ground, George Wood, as the captain, represented the team to welcome the new teammate. As Nottingham Forest players, they were no strangers to their former teammate who had left Nottingham Forest.
Without Thiago Silva, and with Tang En having subdued Balotelli, the atmosphere in the team was now very harmonious. Chen Jian did not suffer any difficulties.
Fortunately, the influence of China's online media was limited to China. Otherwise, if the Nottingham Forest teammates knew what happened on the Chinese Internet two days ago, who knew what they would think of their new teammate … How could there be a fool who challenged the authority of the captain and wanted to replace him as soon as he entered the team?
That was why these uncultured online media in China were not good at accomplishing anything, but they were good at spoiling things. In order to attract attention, they did not even care about their reputation. Plagiarism and fabricating fake news were common occurrences, let alone distorting the original text.
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