After a day of training, Tony Twain, the Forest manager, was surrounded by reporters at the side of the training ground. He told these people that the team's regular press conference would be held the day after tomorrow and that they could ask any questions then.
However, the reporters did not intend to let him go just like that. They shouted, "Have you heard the news, Manager Twain? Real Madrid is interested in Ribéry … "
"I've never heard of it. I've never heard of anything …" Twain raised his hands high, as if surrendering to these annoying flies.
"What do you think of this rumor? If it's related to Real Madrid, then it's basically true, right?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything … Don't ask me. I have no thoughts. I have no thoughts at all."
Twain squeezed his way out.
"The regular press conference is the day after tomorrow. Besides, I don't know anything now. I haven't even talked to Ribéry about this. You won't be able to get anything out of me." Twain was anxious to get out of his current situation. He shouted, "You have to let me understand the process of the matter and the whole story before I can answer your questions and satisfy your curiosity … Alright! Let me get out of here now! Damn it! "
He pushed aside the two reporters in front of him and rushed out of the encirclement.
"Getting off work is like fighting a war … Damn it!" Twain muttered as he ran out.
He had indeed not talked to Ribéry, but that did not mean he knew nothing. As a manager, he definitely had his own channels of information.
After learning of this rumor from the media, the first thing he thought of was not to scold the Real Madrid Club for poaching him, but to verify the authenticity of this news.
This was because the timing of this rumor was too inopportune. Just before Forest and Real Madrid met, the media had revealed that Real Madrid was interested in Franck Ribéry of Forest.
From Twain's point of view as a "conspiracy theorist," how could he not let other people think?
Could this news be fake news deliberately created by Real Madrid to divide Nottingham Forest's attention? It was not like this had never been used before. In the professional football world, such tricks were commonplace.
As long as it was for victory, other than murder and arson, any other means could be used.
There was even such a thing as giving the opponent a drugged drink. What else was there to be surprised about?
So, Tang En decided to first verify the truth of this matter.
At that time, he found a European football agent, Mendes, hoping to get some information about the matter from him.
Mendez was a big shot in the brokerage world. He was well-informed and knew whether the news was true or false. From him, Tang En got what he wanted.
But now he did not want to speak to the reporters because he had not spoken to Ribery yet. He felt he needed to hear what Ribery had to say.
Shaking off the annoying media, Tang En walked back to his office.
During training, he told Ribéry to go to the manager's office after training and to change his clothes.
He was delayed by the reporters. When he returned to his office, Ribéry was already waiting for him.
Ribéry already knew why Tang En wanted to talk to him alone. He sat on the sofa and stood up when he saw Tang En enter the room. He still had a smile on his face as he greeted, "Boss!"
Tang En nodded and walked to his desk to sit down.
Without any small talk, he went straight to the point. "I've noticed the recent news …" He paused here, hoping Ribéry would take the initiative to continue the conversation. In the end, Ribéry still looked at him with a smile. He pursed his lips. "Has your agent been in contact with Real Madrid?"
Ribéry nodded. "Mijatović has looked for my agent."
Tang En grunted in acknowledgment. This was the same as what Mendes had told him. Ribéry did not lie to his face. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He hated it when his players lied to him, such as Ashley Young. In that case, no matter how good their relationship was, there would be a grudge in their hearts. It was like a broken mirror that could not be restored. Once there was a crack in the relationship, it would always exist. No matter how big or small it was, it was always something that made people uncomfortable when they thought about it.
If Ribéry lied to him, what would he do? Tang En did not want to think about such things. He liked Ribéry very much and did not want some small things to ruin their relationship.
"Do you want to go to Real Madrid?" Tang En asked.
"Not now, Boss." Ribéry shook his head in reply.
"That means it's possible in the future?"
"Who can say for sure what will happen in the future?" Ribéry answered with a smile.
Tang En had to admit that Ribéry was right. Who could say for sure what would happen in the future? For example, he really wanted to stay on the Forest team. But what if the Forest team's economy collapsed because of the construction of a new stadium in the future and the owner changed? What if the owner could not stand Tang En's bad temper and fired him?
Although it was only a small possibility, who could guarantee that it would not happen?
Ribéry's statement was very honest. If he patted his chest and said he would not go anywhere, Tang En was afraid that he would be suspicious.
Tang En was distracted. Ribéry noticed it and asked, "Are you worried that I'll be distracted because of this, Boss?"
"Ah, uh … yeah." Tang En acquiesced. In fact, he was not worried about this. He was worried that he would really lose Ribéry. When Scar Face was still not famous, this Nottingham Forest team was everything to him. But as his fame grew, European Footballer of the Year, FIFA World Player of the Year, second place of the FIFA World Player of the Year … these honors came one after another. Would Ribéry feel that Nottingham Forest was too small one day?
There were others who felt the same way as Ribéry.
While Tang En was pursuing continuous victories and championships, he also raised the value and expectations of the players in the team. If there came a day when they felt that the Forest team could no longer satisfy them, would they all leave one by one? There was no denying that there were loyal players in this world who would rather follow the team's relegation than leave. But even more people would still chase after higher interests.
"Men die for wealth, and birds die for food" might be a little serious, but "water flows downhill, and people walk up to higher places" was a very normal thing.
Tang En did not mind the team going through personnel changes. There had to be new blood to maintain vitality. But he did not want the few people he valued the most to leave. After all, as a normal person, he still had a "loyal" complex. He hoped that there would be a few loyal players in his team to accompany him in conquering the world, to endure hardship and happiness together, to rise from here, and to bid farewell here … How wonderful, how romantic!
The most romantic thing I can think of is to accompany you as we slowly grow old.
"Don't worry, Boss." Ribéry smiled again. He had not gone for plastic surgery, and his smile pulled at the scars on his face. It looked a little strange — in fact, it was a little ugly — but he liked to smile and did not care if his face looked good when he smiled.
"This level of harassment won't bother me. I'll still play as I should. Besides, these kinds of things are handled by my agent. Unless it's really time to leave, he basically won't look for me. "
"Your agent is really pitiful, Franck." Tang En joked and ended the conversation.
What Ribéry said was basically the same as what Tang En understood. Ribéry did not lie to him. This was the purpose and the biggest gain from his private conversation with Ribéry. Now he could calmly face the media, because he did not want to be stabbed in the back when he said, "My player is loyal, and Real Madrid will only dig a steel plate when they try to poach him."
※ ※ ※
Madrid, Spain. The sunny Valdebebas Sports City was the training base of the Real Madrid Football Club. It could be considered the largest football training base in the world, so the place was called "Sports City."
As a senior employee of the Real Madrid Football Club's board of directors, Mijatović also had his own office in Valdebebas, but he rarely came here. He always flew around the world in search of extraordinary star players for Real Madrid.
But he appeared here today. President Calderón was here. He had come to report to the president on the results of his trip to England.
It was mainly the result of a meeting with Franck Ribéry's agent.
He had just gotten out of the car when he was stopped by the manager, Schuster, who had also come to guide the team's training.
"Mr. Mijatović, I've heard some rumors about our team recently …"
Being stopped by Schuster made Mijatović a little embarrassed. He laughed dryly and said, "Are you talking about Franck Ribéry, Mr. Schuster?"
"Obviously. I just have one question: Why did I hear about the signing of my team's players from the news media? "Schuster's face did not look good. He was also a famous arrogant manager in Spain. It was just that after joining Real Madrid, he was in a powerhouse club, so he was a little more disciplined. This was just on the surface. It did not mean that he had changed.
"Ah, about that. Mr. Schuster, you're the team's manager. You're only responsible for training and games. I do the transfers. This is the division of labor. Our division of labor is different … "
Schuster interrupted him to defend himself, "Of course I know the division of labor is different. I also know that this is not England, and the manager here is not a 'manager.' My demands are very low. I just hope that when you decide who to buy, can you give me, the manager, a heads up and discuss it a little? " His face did not look good. "I don't want to know from the media who my team needs to bring in."
It was a matter of a manager's dignity, and Schuster had reason to be upset. After entering a powerhouse club, he found that it was not easy to be the manager of a powerhouse club. He was more like a puppet than a manager. The chairman had to meddle in the line-up, and he had no right to express his opinion in the transfer market.
Looking at Mijatović's anxious look, Schuster smiled and said, "Is the chairman waiting for you?"
Look, he did not even have a place in such a meeting. The people I want can't be bought, and the people I don't want are stuffed hard.
Mijatović did not answer the obvious question.
"Well, good luck, Mr. Mijatović. Also, I'd like to remind you that our left flank can't even fit an ant. "
When Mijatović heard this, he walked away with a sullen face. He even forgot to say "goodbye."
Looking at his back, Schuster made a disgusted expression.
He looked up at the blue sky, and his thoughts followed Ribéry's topic to their opponent in the Champions League quarterfinals — Nottingham Forest.
This was a tricky opponent, the type that Real Madrid hated the most …
They hated it from their manager to their players.
※ ※ ※
"I don't think there's any need to continue to hype up something that the Real Madrid club has denied …" At the regular press conference, Twain and George Wood attended together. He did not bring Ribéry because he did not want to give the group of reporters a chance to continue to hype up. Now that the league tournament and the Champions League were staggered, the team was already under a lot of pressure as the front-runner in the league tournament. He did not want the media to continue to put pressure on the team because of this matter.
He said to the media, "There's no such thing at all. It's just a silly rumor."
"But Manager Twain, before the summer of 2003, Real Madrid also said they had no contact with Beckham at all …"
"Then you have to ask the Real Madrid chairman, not come here to ask me." Twain was unhappy. "You go and ask them, 'May I ask if you lied to the public? We have the right to know. '"He imitated the sharp tone of the reporter.
Someone laughed.
"Franck Ribéry is a Nottingham Forest player now and will be in the future. It was such a simple matter, but you guys insisted on making it complicated. I don't think there's any need to continue the discussion on this topic. From now on, if you ask about the league tournament and the Champions League, I'll be happy to answer you. But if it's still about Franck Ribéry, I won't answer. "
"We have the right to ask questions …"
"I also have the right to refuse to answer."
Twain blocked the other person back.
The other person glanced at the two people sitting on the stage, Tony Twain and George Wood, the most difficult combination to deal with. He gave up …
"Well, can you talk about the latest training situation?"
The press conference returned to the track that Twain wanted.
George Wood sat to one side and did not say a word. He looked more like a background decoration than a living person. The reporters also knew that they could not get anything valuable from Wood, so basically no one bothered him.
After the press conference ended, on the way out, Wood, who had been silent, asked Twain, "Is Ribéry really going to leave?"
Twain was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "You should ask Ribéry himself that question."
"I've asked, and he said he definitely won't leave."
"That's it. Why are you still asking me?" Twain spread his hands.
"Didn't Real Madrid also say they didn't have any private contact with Ribéry's agent?"
"Hey, you kid …" Twain's breath was blocked by Wood. "Well … I don't want him to leave, and I believe he won't. I can't think of any other place that's suitable for him other than Nottingham Forest. Are you satisfied with this answer, George? "
Wood did not answer, but he did not continue to pursue the matter.
Because he also felt that there was no better team in the world than Nottingham Forest.
※ ※ ※
The rumors about Real Madrid's pursuit of Franck Ribéry came to an end the next day.
The Nottingham Evening Post published an interview with Ribéry by Pierce Brosnan, in which he expressed his love and loyalty to the Forest team.
"… I like this team very much, and my life in Nottingham is very happy. I feel that there is no team more suitable for me to play in than this team … I want to thank Real Madrid for their interest in me, even if it's just a rumor … After all, to be noticed by a club like Real Madrid is equivalent to being recognized for my ability. But I want to reiterate that I won't leave here. I like this team, like my teammates and manager here, and we're like a big family. Of course, the fans here are also the best I've ever seen. I'm enjoying all of this, and I don't see any need to leave. "
Twain smiled happily as he held the newspaper.
He was really happy, and he was happy from the bottom of his heart.
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