195 The Future Of Youth Players Part 1 (2/2)
Afterwards, Tang En represented Nottingham Forest and signed a four-year professional contract with Gerard Pique Bernabeu in the restaurant. From that moment onwards, Pique, the pure-Barcelonan player born in Catalonia, became Nottingham Forest's player.
And Nottingham Forest only had to pay a sum of two hundred and twenty thousand pounds. To Barcelona, that amount of money was almost nothing compared to the amount that the club had spent on nurturing a player like Pique. However, they had no choice but to watch helplessly as the Englishman took him away, snatching away the team's future core backline defender.
Of course, the Barcelonans had reasons to be angry about this. After all, they had nurtured Pique, and Pique's grandfather had been Barcelona FC vice-chairman in the past. That added layer of relationship would make the Barcelonans view Pique's leaving as a form of betrayal. However, the most angry person was not a Barcelonan, but a Scottish man.
Pique signed his name on the contract, finally putting an end to his worries for his future, which had plagued him for half a year. He revealed a relaxed smile to Tang En and said, ”Should I learn from those English players and address you as Boss? Mister?”
”Hmm, not necessarily… Welcome to the Nottingham Forest's big family. You'll have a lot of freedom here, including how you choose to address me. There are a few ways you may choose to address me: A, boss; B, mister; C, chief; D, manager. Which do you like?” Tang En said to Pique, mimicking the voice of a robot.
Pique smiled and replied, ”C.”
”Very good, kid! You'll love this team, I guarantee it!” Tang En said, laughing loudly and patting Pique's shoulder. That was the person who would become the future pillar of the team!
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When Pique and Tang En were signing the contract in the restaurant, Manchester United's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who was preparing for the next season in Manchester, received a call from Barcelona.
”Boss, bad news. Pique no longer belongs to us.”
”What?” Ferguson thought he had misheard. Half a month ago, his assistant had still been telling him that Pique was very willing to sign a contract with Manchester United. The Scottish manager was feeling extremely triumphant for being able to defeat Arsenal in terms of the competition for talents. Little did he know that after a mere two weeks…”Is it the French guy?” The first person Ferguson thought of was Wenger. As the two of them were arch rivals, Wenger was naturally the first person that came to mind whenever his plans were foiled.
”No, boss. It's not Arsenal. They've already given up. It's another Englishman… Tony Twain.”
Ferguson was momentarily stumped. This name sounded somewhat familiar, but he could not recall who it was. He asked, ”Who is that?”
”Nottingham Forest's manager, boss. They just got promoted to the Premier League this season.
After hearing that, Ferguson remembered fully who it was. It was that young man who had made Mark Lawrenson disgrace himself and shave his moustache on a television program!
”What reason did he give? I want to know what the newly-promoted team did to snatch away our player!” Ferguson's face started to flush. That usually foreshadowed an outburst of anger.
”He did not divulge any specific details. He only said that while Manchester United can only promise him his future, Nottingham Forest is able to promise him the present.”
Those words struck at the Achilles' heel of Manchester United, causing Ferguson's anger to stick in his throat, unable to be released. Manchester United could not refute that reasoning for snatching away his player. Ferguson suddenly became extremely interested in the ”youngest manager of the English Premier League,” whom he had not had much knowledge of prior to this.
Who is he? And what abilities does he have?
Most importantly… Can he pose a threat to Manchester United?