Two days later, a piece of good news came from the English Football Association that made Tang En and the entire Forest team heave a sigh of relief: the Brazilian player, Pepe, had obtained a work permit. He could sign a contract with the Forest team and represent the team in various competitions. From now on, Pepe was considered a true member of the Forest team.
This was indeed good news for Tang En. It was as if he would never feel at ease until he had meat in his mouth. Now, the last obstacle in Pepe's transfer to the Forest team had been removed. As long as the Forest team transferred the transfer fee to Porto's bank account, Pepe would officially become a member of the Forest team. In fact, he was already training with the Forest team in Nottingham. The Nottingham Forest players' holiday was over. The entire team regrouped to prepare for the new season. They also focused on the Champions League qualifiers to be held at the end of August. Their opponent was Villarreal, who had lost in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage.
After resolving the issue of Pepe's work permit, Nottingham Forest once again tried to ask Inter Milan about the possibility of Martins' transfer. This time, the result was as Tang En had predicted — Inter Milan very straightforwardly rejected the Forest team's inquiry. Martins also expressed his loyalty to Inter Milan in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, saying that no matter which club was interested in him, he only belonged to Inter Milan. He had received youth training here, became a talent here, stepped onto the European stage here, and became a true professional player here. He had never imagined that he might still leave this great club.
Seeing such an interview, Tang En did not want to say anything else. He had the club withdraw the offer and all transfer plans for Martins. He had originally thought that if the transfer failed, he could go on loan. Now that Martins wanted to be a loyal subject, the Forest team would give him this opportunity. He only hoped that a year later, things would not develop as Tang En remembered: Martins was interested in Inter Milan, but Inter Milan was heartless toward Martins.
Although it was impossible for Martins to come to the Forest team, Tang En's pursuit of a speed-type forward did not stop.
Allan suggested that Tang En consider England's golden boy, Michael Owen, who was not too happy at Real Madrid. In terms of timing, this summer was indeed the best time to bring in Owen. From a commercial development point of view, Owen's value was enormous. However, Tang En told Allan that unless the Forest Football Club had a professional medical institution at the level of the Milan Laboratory, then they should not consider Owen joining them. Otherwise, Tang En did not want to spend more than ten million pounds to bring in a fragile person.
Martins' deal did not work out. Tang En's number one replacement plan was to pursue Ipswich Town's top striker, Darren Bent, who had been in the English Premier League last season but had been relegated at the end of the season. Whether it was price, ability, or potential, Darren Bent fit Tang En's requirements very well. But … among the many clubs that were interested in him, Bent was more inclined to Charlton Athletic. That was because Charlton's manager, Corbishley, was the first to think highly of him and constantly expressed interest in him. Corbishley even let go of the team's two strikers, Jeffers and Lisby, in order to make room for Darren Bent's main position after he joined. Moreover, there were two of Darren Bent's teammates at Charlton when he played for Ipswich Town. When Darren Bent was choosing which club to join, he even specifically called them to ask for their opinions. They must have instigated Bent to join their own team.
Therefore, Darren Bent turned down a number of clubs, including Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland, Aston Villa, and chose to join Charlton Athletic.
Currently, the Forest Team was in a very awkward position. On one hand, the Forest Team had obtained the qualification for the new season's Champions League. They had a strong attraction for many players. But on the other hand, the Forest Team was still not a powerhouse. In the eyes of many star players, the Forest team was not their first choice. This resulted in the situation of the players that Tang En fancied not coming, and the players that wanted to come were not good enough for Tang En.
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Not only that, while the Forest Team was worrying about which striker to bring in, they also faced the problem of being poached.
Following the rocket-like rise in the English Premier League last season, many of the Forest Team's players had become the favorites of the various team managers. Needless to say, if the Forest Team had not re-signed a new contract with Wood, it was estimated that the European clubs that came knocking at the door would have crushed the Forest Team's doorstep. George Wood was named the Professional Footballers' Association's Young Player of the Season for his outstanding performance last season.
Like him, the other young Forest players performed well. Chimbonda played in the right back position for all the games. It seemed that the black kid was not as conspicuous as Wood or Eastwood, but his steady play was still indispensable to the team. The fans might not be able to see it, but the professional coaches and scouts could not. Manchester United had inquired about Chimbonda's price from the Forest Team this summer. Of course, Tang En did not hesitate to directly label Chimbonda as "not for sale."
However, despite Chimbonda's outstanding performance, he was still not the Forest Team's most successful transfer last season. His fellow Frenchman, Franck Ribéry, was named by the media as England's best transfer of the 04-05 season at the end of the season. The media's evaluation was as follows:
Manager Tony Twain had a pair of curious eyes. He had unearthed players like George Wood and Chimbonda, but the most exciting transfer last season was the young man he brought back from the French Ligue 2: Franck Ribéry. A free transfer that did not cost the Forest Team a single cent, his current value was conservatively estimated to have risen to 10 million pounds. His assists, goals, and speed and momentum when he dribbled the ball from the flank made Ribéry a star player that could be discussed alongside Ryan Giggs in the English Premier League. When the Forest Team had qualified for the Champions League, Manager Mourinho had once said that the Forest Team and their manager were all lucky. But looking at it now, with so many young players with great potential, could it be achieved just by good luck?
After Arsène Wenger, we have another manager that we can look forward to in the transfer market every year. Who was the Brazilian center back, Pepe, whom Manager Tang En did not hesitate to use the "special talent clause" to bring in during this summer's transfer window? No one had heard of him before, but he would definitely be able to bring something new to us in the new season. Why? Because he was a player that Manager Tang En valued so highly.
It was said that SI, which had a partnership with the Forest Club, would consult Tony Twain on the abilities and potential of certain players when they were producing the FM series of games! This was really surprising. We all knew that SI already had more than 2,500 researchers around the world who were responsible for collecting information on players from all over the world. This was truly a powerful alliance.
With Ribéry in such glory, Ashley Young, who was on the other flank, also received unanimous praise. Although he only had a handful of goals in the entire season, including the EFL Cup, his total number of passes was ranked first in the team. It seemed that he preferred assists over goals.
The other young players, such as Piqué and Bendtner, although their performances were not as eye-catching as the others, were still remarkable. Piqué conformed to the norm and did not have too many stunning performances, but he was very stable. This was the most important quality of a defensive player. Stable play, stable growth, and every step he took was something to look forward to.
Bendtner's performance was outstanding in the middle of the season. Due to the Forest team's tactical needs, he did not play much. He was ranked last among the four strikers, but his five goals and excellent physical fitness, as well as his outstanding technical characteristics, still let everyone see his unlimited potential.
With so many outstanding players, it was natural to attract covetous wolves.
Ribéry, Chimbonda, George Wood, Bendtner, Ashley Young, Crouch … had all received invitations from other teams.
Among them, Liverpool's offer of 7.5 million pounds to the Forest team to buy Peter Crouch was completely within Twain's expectations. Because in his memory, Liverpool bought Crouch this summer. Crouch caught Benítez's attention with his performance in the last three months of the league tournament. After Eastwood's injury, Crouch scored a few key goals, but that was not the real reason why Benítez was determined to buy him.
Like Twain, he took a fancy to Crouch's excellent footwork skills as a tall center forward. His presence could greatly enrich the team's tactics and was the key to making the team's offense more varied. Liverpool currently lacked such a center forward. The Reds, who had just won the Champions League title, hoped to go to the next level in the new season, so such a center forward was indispensable.
The Forest team had spent 1.8 million pounds to bring in Crouch, which had appreciated to 7.5 million after a season! But such an increase did not satisfy Twain, so he rejected Liverpool's offer. And after the rejection, he immediately contacted Pierce Brosnan, a reporter from the Nottingham Evening Post, to do an interview with Tang En. In the interview, the two naturally talked about the recent transfer news of Crouch in a "timely" manner. Twain trumpeted Crouch's special role to the point that almost all of England's clubs needed such an atypical tall center forward who was "tall, skillful, selfless, able to pass the ball to his teammates and score by himself." Finally, after talking about Crouch's various strengths, Twain claimed that Crouch was an important member of the Forest team. With the Forest team fighting on multiple fronts, he was not prepared to let such a player with a special role leave.
But in reality? When he received Liverpool's first offer, Twain had already planned to sell the tall man. On one hand, Evan was not Abramovich, and Nottingham Forest was not Chelsea. The club's finances could not be without income. After purchasing many players for two years in a row but rarely selling them, the Forest team should appropriately cut costs by selling players.
On the other hand, he knew that the team had too many tall center forwards: Viduka, Bendtner, and Crouch. There was a surplus of three tall center forwards, and selling one was the best solution. There were not many teams interested in Viduka in the transfer market. Twain would never sell Bendtner because of his age advantage and the fact that he could still play for the Forest team for a long time. In that case, only Crouch was suitable.
It was just that Liverpool's 7.5 million made Twain somewhat disdainful.
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Sorry, it was a moment of carelessness. It has already been amended.
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