Tang En felt he had been deceived. Not that he had been deceived, but by his own wishful thinking. He actually thought all the players under him were obedient dolls, just like the data in the FM game. They had no meaning except for their names.
It seemed that the effects of the transmigration had not completely disappeared …
Sometimes he really treated it like a game of football manager.
But Bendtner gave him a hard slap in the face. He told him that this was a realistic world, so realistic that anyone in the team could break away from his control to pursue the future they wanted. Ribéry was a wake-up call, and Bendtner was about to become a reality.
However, Tang En did not intend to let Bendtner go just like that.
What more to sell to Manchester City?
The day after he spoke to Bendtner's father on the phone, Tang En flatly rejected Manchester City's offer of 18 million pounds in an interview.
"Bendtner is the future of the team. We won't be stupid enough to give him to other clubs." His tone was tough, and there was no room for negotiation.
※ ※ ※
The parking lot in Wilford was getting more and more crowded. All kinds of the latest models of cars filled the empty space — Nottingham Forest's star players came to train one after another.
Bendtner sat in his black Volkswagen and was not in a hurry to get out. He listened to the empty cars around him. Their owners were already in the locker room.
Closing all the windows, Bendtner was on the phone to his father.
Although he had been in England for four years, his family was still in Denmark, and he lived alone in Nottingham. At first, he lived in the dormitory provided by the team. Later, he moved out and rented a house. Unlike his other teammates, he had not bought a house in the city until now.
"Dad, he refused."
"I know. It's all in the media."
"How did you talk to him yesterday?"
Thomas heard some worry in his son's voice. He smiled and comforted his son, "Don't worry. I took all the responsibility on myself. It has nothing to do with you. We planned for the worst. Even if you didn't leave in the end, he wouldn't make things difficult for you. "
Hearing his father say so, Bendtner was a little relieved. Bendtner was under a lot of psychological pressure during training every day. Whenever he saw the boss wearing sunglasses on the sidelines, he would feel that a pair of eyes was staring at him.
As a "traitor" who was determined to escape the kingdom, he had to be wary of the king while meticulously planning his escape. Once his plan was exposed, what awaited him would be a harsh and cruel punishment … This was not an exaggeration. Bendtner was different from Anelka.
The Frenchman wanted to leave, and Tang En also wanted to chase him away. However, he needed to punish him before he left.
On the other hand, Bendtner wanted to leave on his own. Tang En did not want him to leave. If that was the case, then it would not be as simple as just punishing him and letting him go. This was a "rebellion" against the King's will.
How could there be no psychological pressure when doing such a thing?
"Focus on training. Don't think about anything else. I'll take care of everything. " The father comforted his son. "If a reporter asks this question, keep silent and don't accept any interviews …"
"But Dad, if I don't say anything, how can I put pressure on him?"
"You don't have to worry about that. I'll pressure him. I don't want to drag you into it. I'll be the bad guy … "
Just then, Bendtner was startled by the sound of someone knocking on the glass.
He turned his head and realized it was Lennon, who had just arrived. He leaned over the window and gestured to himself, asking why he had not gone to the locker room.
"Sorry, Dad, my teammates are looking for me …"
"Ah … Okay, go ahead. Oh! Remember, if Tang En looks for you, find an excuse to reject him … "
Bendtner hung up the phone in a fluster and crawled out of the car.
Lennon looked at him with a grin. "Who were you calling for so long? Girlfriend? "
Bendtner was worried that he did not know how to answer. Lennon had already found an excuse for him. He smiled a little stiffly. "Yeah."
"Oh … How long have you known each other? We don't even know? You're very secretive, boy. She must be a beauty! "
"Haha, I'll call her out to meet everyone if there's a chance in the future."
Bendtner absentmindedly answered Lennon's question about how beautiful his girlfriend was and left the parking lot side by side with him.
※ ※ ※
During a break in training, Tang En found Bendtner as expected, hoping to talk to him alone. Remembering his father's teachings, Bendtner rejected the proposal with the excuse that he had already made a date with his girlfriend. In order to prove that he had to go on the date, he even said it was because it was his girlfriend's birthday.
Tang En tilted his head and looked at Bendtner for a while. His stare made Bendtner's hair stand on end and he almost confessed. Only then did Tang En nod in agreement. But before he left, he said, "I hope the two of us can have a good talk tomorrow."
As soon as Tang En turned around, Bendtner's eyebrows drooped. What excuse would he find tomorrow …
The training continued. Tang En stood to one side and watched. At this moment, the cell phone in his pocket rang.
He knew that there was only one person who would call him at this time, because he had just rejected Manchester City's offer earlier.
He took out his cell phone and stood by the side of the training ground to press the answer button.
"Hello, Mr. Thomas Bendtner," he said in a cold voice.
"Hello, Mr. Tony Twain." There was a hint of a smile in the voice on the other side.
"I rejected Manchester City's offer. You must be very annoyed, right?"
"No, how can that be? I understand very well because their offer is really too low. My son should not only be worth 18 million pounds. "
"This is not a matter of price, Mr. Bendtner. Your son is not for sale by the club. He is the future of Nottingham Forest. He will be the team's leading striker and number one center forward for the next ten years! "Tang En emphasized his tone, hoping to let the old man understand how important his son's position was.
"As far as I know, many clubs claim that a certain person is not for sale, but they sell him to the highest bidder." Perhaps sensing that Tang En would be angry because of this sentence, he hurriedly continued, "I agree with your first sentence, Mr. Twain. This is really not a matter of price. This is a matter of the player's will. As I said, it is not suitable for my son to continue to stay here, because you are completely unable to fulfill the promise you once made to him … No, let's not talk about the future. I hope you can respect the player's individual will. Didn't you just agree to let Piqué return to Barcelona? Why can't you respect my son's thoughts in the same way? "
"This is completely different!" Tang En growled.
Of course it was different. The effort he spent on Piqué was definitely not as much as he spent on Bendtner.
"I don't think there's any difference. Anyway, you have van Nistelrooy to play center forward."
Tang En felt that there was nothing to talk about with the stubborn old man who insisted that he did not believe him. He hung up the phone rudely and stood there sulking.
※ ※ ※
Manchester City raised their offer again. This time, they offered 20 million pounds to buy Bendtner.
After a hidden battle, the Manchester United Football Club bought Berbatov for 30.75 million pounds. There were fewer and fewer good center forwards on the transfer market. If Manchester City did not hurry, the transfer window would close. Even if Bendtner really wanted to go, he would have to wait until January next year. Half a year was not long, but it was not short either. Who knew what would happen in the meantime?
At the same time, Manchester City, after hard work, finally succeeded in signing the Brazilian star player Robinho, who had a conflict with the top management at Real Madrid, for 40 million pounds. The deal made Schuster very, very unhappy, but what could he do? He was not a manager working in an English club. In a Spanish club, the club's sporting director had more power than him. Other than complaining that they had wasted an entire summer, that the planned winger, Ronaldo, did not come, and that the original winger, Robinho, had left instead. Now the team only had Robben as a winger, which was detrimental to the team's tactics, he did not dare to do anything else.
At this point, the transfer curtain was basically about to fall. The whole world was paying attention to the news of Manchester City's pursuit of Bendtner. Because if it was not done well, it would be the last bombshell before the summer transfer window closed.
Bendtner rose to fame with Nottingham Forest's results in the Premier League and European football over the past three seasons. He was no longer a fledgling star of tomorrow, but a star player. In Denmark, he was the main center forward and had a stable goal scoring rate in the Forest team. Many team managers believed that Bendtner had a bright future ahead of him. If Tang En had not kept him under tight wraps, there would have been people lining up to buy him.
This time, Tang En finally met a thick-skinned opponent who was good at pestering. Most importantly, this opponent was very, very rich.
They could not buy van Nistelrooy because the Dutchman did not want to leave the Forest team to go to Manchester City. Therefore, Tang En and the club had the confidence to refuse. After all, no matter how much money was offered, as long as the player did not want to leave, no one could do anything about it. Bendtner's situation was completely different. Now it was the player himself who wanted to leave …
Tang En patiently waited for Bendtner to finish celebrating his girlfriend's birthday before he found him again. This time, he had to talk to the Danish kid in person no matter what.
"After training, can we talk in person? About the recent transfer rumors. "
"This …" Bendtner was a little troubled.
"Your dad won't let you talk to me, right?"
Bendtner looked up at his boss in surprise.
"He didn't tell me, but even a fool can guess the connection between the two." Tang En said with a smile. "I think it's necessary for me to talk to you. I want to know what's on your mind. You know, I just figured out one thing the day before yesterday: I don't know anything about the person I see all the time, the person I thought I knew very well. "
Having said that, Tang En tilted his head slightly and looked at Bendtner in front of him.
Bendtner hesitated internally. Should he listen to his father or listen to the boss?
In the end, he chose the latter. He knew what his father was afraid of not letting him talk to the boss. Back then, Ribéry was brought to Mallorca by his agent to hide from the boss. In the end, after the boss flew to Mallorca, Ribéry's attitude immediately changed.
The boss was an expert in language and was best at using words to bewitch people. He was very clear about that. But he was also confident in his own will. This time, no matter how nicely the boss said it, he would not stay.
It was not that he had a heart of stone, but he knew that since things had gotten to this point. If all previous efforts were wasted and he chose to stay, he could not be sure that the boss would not find a chance to make things difficult for him. He looked broad-minded, but in fact, he was narrow-minded. He would always remember what you did to him.
Once there was the slightest crack in the relationship between people, it was impossible to restore it to its original perfect state. It was inevitable that there would be some awkwardness between the two.
From this point of view, he had no way out this time.
He nodded.
Tang En smiled. "After noon training, I'll treat you to lunch. What do you like? "
"Let's do it at the restaurant." After Bendtner made a decision, his mood became much more relaxed. "I don't care about food."
※ ※ ※
During the lunch break, most players chose to go home. Only a small number of people would stay at the restaurant at the training base for lunch.
Tang En and Bendtner found a small corner and started their lunch, which had an ulterior motive behind it.
The two men ate in silence at first. When they were almost done, Tang En wiped his mouth with a napkin. He was about to speak. Bendtner looked at him and stopped what he was doing.
"Your father told me that you're planning to leave?"
Bendtner was mentally prepared. He nodded without hesitation.
"Can you tell me why?" Tang En was amiable and did not have the slightest intention of getting angry.
"I don't think I'm being put in an important position here."
So, Tang En began to list the numbers to prove that his appearances in the Forest team had gradually increased over the past few seasons. His goal scoring rate was also very stable. He even cited his performance in some important matches to prove that he was really an important member of the team.
Bendtner just shook his head. "To be honest, Boss … I don't like the position you've given me. I'm a center forward. My task is to score, but more often than not, I need to pass the ball to my teammates on the field … "
Tang En suddenly understood. So this was what he meant by not being put in an important position?
But, this made the problem complicated. In Tang En's tactical system, a center forward could not simply be used to score goals. More often than not, they needed to contribute to the team's overall offense. Assists were a very important indicator. After van Nistelrooy came to Nottingham Forest, his ability actually did not decline. But he also did not win the league's best striker again. That was because most of the time, he needed to sacrifice his position in the penalty area to pull to the middle and back fields, or even the flanks to receive his teammates and protect the ball as a bridgehead. As a result, the number of goals he scored was naturally less than when he was at Manchester United. But van Nistelrooy did not have the slightest complaint. He had never publicly or privately revealed his dissatisfaction with this arrangement. This was also one of the reasons why Tang En especially liked van Nistelrooy.
Now, Bendtner and Tang En's tactical habits were completely different, which made him a little uncomfortable.
"Why would you think that, Nicklas? The center forward is also a member of the team. What you're doing is helpful to the team, and it's not bad for you. "
"I don't want to be a center forward who has more assists than goals, Boss," Bendtner said resolutely. He already had a plan in mind. "I'm only interested in scoring goals."
Tang En grinned. "I thought at Nottingham Forest, everyone was used to my tactics. I didn't expect there to be an opponent here. If the team can't win, what's the use of the striker scoring so many goals? "
"I think it's impossible for the team to win if the striker can't score goals."
Tang En listened to him and sighed. "I'm now even more determined that you should continue to experience growth. You've got it backwards, Nicklas. A team that doesn't know how to defend can't win the game. Defense is the foundation of everything. "
Bendtner spread his hands. "This is the difference between us, Boss. I advocate offense, while you're more conservative. "
"Ha, I'm conservative?" The outside media often used this word to describe him, but Tang En did not expect to hear it from his own player's mouth. "Well, if I can win the championship, I'll accept being conservative. Don't you like being a champion? "Tang En stared at the bold kid in front of him and asked.
"I like it. But I want to win the championship in my own way. "
Bendtner looked straight at Tang En and did not flinch.
"Very good, very good." Tang En pushed away the cutlery in front of him and stood up. "Then you can use your method to win the championship!"
With that, he walked away without looking back.
He really did not expect it to turn out like this in the end.
※ ※ ※
Thomas Bendtner was delighted to hear his son's retelling. "It looks like he agreed for you to leave, son!"
As a result, the next day, Tang En once again rejected Manchester City's transfer offer of 20 million pounds. The reason was no different from before. "Bendtner is not for sale. He's the future of the team. I won't be a fool and give him away to others. I won't do it even if they pay me!"
It was really hard to guess what he was thinking. It was clear that he parted on bad terms with Bendtner the day before. Why did he immediately seem to have made a private agreement with Bendtner?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
