George Wood signed his name on an eight-year contract, and the Nottingham Forest fans were happy to see the young player put his future in the Forest team, rather than go elsewhere for money.
After settling Wood's contract, Tang En also secured another very important acquisition of a player.
It was about Ashley Young. The Forest team's first offer of 500,000 pounds, and Watford was unmoved. The second offer rose to 600,000 pounds, and Watford was still unmoved.
At this time, the 100,000 pounds that Allan Adams had previously given to Ashley Young came into play. Ashley Young made it clear to the Watford club that he hoped the club would let him go to the Forest team. He was already 18 years old, and if he could not get enough playing time, it would not be good for the growth of his ability.
Then Twain gave Young a call. He promised Young a main position on the phone, and hoped that Young would continue to cooperate with the Forest team, accept one or two media interviews, and publicly announce his intention to come to the Forest team to create pressure on the Watford club.
Ashley Young, who was assured of a main position, was naturally happy to do as Twain asked. A day later, he was interviewed by Pierce Brosnan, a reporter from the Nottingham Evening Post, at his doorstep. The topic of the interview was almost all about the Nottingham Forest team and Tony Twain.
Ashley Young expressed his yearning to play under Manager Twain in the interview, and talked about the Forest team's five-game winning streak in the league tournament. He believed that a large part of the credit for this result should be credited to Tony Twain. When he was still wearing the Watford jersey, he had already begun to praise Nottingham Forest's glorious history.
"… Nottingham Forest has a very glorious history. I feel like I'm dreaming to be able to play in such a team! You know, young players at my age level rise the fastest, and I really need to participate in games to accumulate experience. Since I don't have many opportunities to play at Watford, why don't I change the environment? "
When such an interview appeared in the media, the Watford club was clear that they could not keep the team's star of hope. The only thing they could do now was to let the team make more money through Ashley Young's transfer and make up for the loss of players with money.
But Allan did not want to be a sucker. He offered Watford 700,000 pounds for the last time, not even a penny more. Anyway, the players' attitudes are there. You guys can do as you see fit. Worst comes to worst, our Forest team can just change their target. 700,000 RMB can buy a very good player in the First Division.
Just after the Forest team made the offer, Ashley Young called to inform the team manager that he was injured and could not report to the team for training. He needed to take a day off.
Now that things had come to this, what else did Watford have to say? They knew in their hearts how could there be such a coincidence? The Forest team must have colluded with the players in private. But even if they knew in their hearts, there was no evidence on hand that could allow them to bring it to the English Football Association and FIFA.
In this way, Nottingham Forest bought Watford's star of the future, Ashley Young, for a transfer fee of 700,000 pounds.
But Twain's footsteps in the transfer market did not stop there. The team still had a big problem with the two full backs on the left and right. At the same time, because of Rebrov's switch to the midfield, the team only had three strikers, which was clearly not enough to cope with the demands of the remaining half of the season and the League Cup.
Last season, the team had a problem with the right back. Later, Twain let John Thompson switch to the right back, which proved to be very successful. Now it was the left back's turn to become the Forest team's weak link. Although Gareth Bale was talented, he was only 14 years old. Distant water could not quench the present thirst. The team also needed to search for a qualified left back in the market.
Twain did not know much about the League Championship, but he had an expert in this area. He told the old scout, Moir, that the team now needed a young, potential, nurturing, and a left back with a lot of room for improvement. After listening to the question, Moir wrote the answer: Leighton Baines. The Wigan team's young player could only play as a substitute for the team at the moment. If Tony Twain needed him, he only needed to promise him a main position like he did with Ashley Young. He believed that Wigan and Baines himself would not reject the offer.
Twain stared at the name for a long time and finally remembered who this person was. In the 06-07 English Premier League season, Wigan's field captain, the main left back of the England U21 national team, and the rookie that Manchester United manager Ferguson publicly expressed his desire to bring in.
At this time, Baines was still playing as a substitute for the Wigan team. Twain knew that he had profited again. If he did not buy him now, it would be difficult for the Forest team to buy him when the Wigan team discovered his value.
So, without another word, he made a request to the Wigan team to buy Leighton Baines, offering a price of 400,000 pounds. The price was not low for a young defender who had just played in the First Team. The Wigan team had no reason to refuse. Deal! Just like that, the future Wigan team captain was intercepted and killed by Twain.
With Leighton Baines and the Norwegian, David Oyer, Twain could finally rest assured about the Forest team's left back position.
Twain also had a suitable candidate for the position of striker.
Peter Crouch, who later became the killer of Liverpool and England and liked to dance like a robot after scoring a goal, was very unhappy at Aston Villa at this time. Crouch made his debut with Tottenham Hotspur, but it was at Portsmouth that he began to be noticed by other teams. He scored 18 goals in 37 games in a season. Later on, he was bought by Aston Villa for five million pounds and played there until now, but he never regained the glory he had at Portsmouth.
He only joined Aston Villa in the second half of the 01-02 season and scored two goals in seven games. Then in the 02-03 season, he represented the team 14 times and did not score a single goal. By the end of the first half of the 03-04 season, he had played 16 times and started almost every game, but only scored four goals.
For a main striker, such a result could be said to be too tragic to look at.
Aston Villa began to regret their initial impulsiveness. They were now anxious to get rid of this bamboo-like tall man. As a result, Nottingham Forest appeared in time. They proposed a loan plan to Aston Villa, which was to loan Crouch until the end of the season. If he performed well, they would buy him out for 1.8 million pounds.
The English Premier League team, Aston Villa, agreed to the plan. All that was left was to discuss personal treatment with Crouch. Twain had been a little worried that Crouch, who played as a main striker in the English Premier League, might not be willing to play in League One. He did not expect this to not be a problem at all. Crouch also wanted a change of environment to play football. Moreover, the league that made him famous was League One.
The players had no objections, so the matter was very simple. The Forest team and Aston Villa reached an agreement to loan first and buy later. Crouch did not make things difficult for the Forest team in terms of personal treatment. Twain got the future tallest striker in the history of the England national team, the 2.01 meters tall Peter Crouch.
Two days before the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals, Twain attended a press conference with all the players who joined the team during the winter transfer period to introduce these new players to the public.
Freddy Eastwood (100,000 pounds transfer from Grays Athletic), Clint Hill (300,000 pounds transfer from Oldham Athletic), Robert Huth (on loan from Chelsea), Chris Commons (300,000 pounds transfer from Stoke City), George Wood (transferred to the first team, new contract), Stephen McPhail (on loan from Leeds United), Ashley Young (700,000 pounds transfer from Watford), Leighton Baines (400,000 pounds transfer from Wigan Athletic), Peter Crouch (1.8 million pounds transfer from Aston Villa).
Twain smiled as he stood in the middle of the group of players, allowing the media to take pictures. The Forest team spent 3.6 million in the transfer market this winter. He had already promised Evan that the 3.6 million would not be spent in vain. These people were the future of the Forest team. Under the illumination of the flashing lights, a brand new Nottingham Forest team was gradually taking shape.
(To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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