322 An Exceptional Talent Part 1 (2/2)

On one end of the phone, Mendes regretted that he could not see Twain's expression. And on the other end, Twain rested his forehead in one hand while he held the phone in another. He had never thought it would be Mourinho. Although it could have been deduced from some of the previous data, he would always involuntarily bypass this every time he came close to this subject.

He did not need Mendes to tell him. He was well aware of what Mourinho thought of him. As last season's champion, Chelsea almost swept all the teams in England during their championship season. Only two teams were unbeaten when they faced Chelsea. One was Arsenal, led by the French manager, Arsène Wenger, and the other one was Nottingham Forest. Arsenal only tied with Chelsea for two rounds, and Nottingham Forest was the only team that won against Chelsea in the entire season. Mourinho initially had been very hopeful that Chelsea would be unbeaten again for thirty-eight matches for another season after Arsenal, but it was destroyed by Nottingham Forest.

If Mourinho could still have cordial feelings towards Tony Twain who always opposing him, hell would have frozen over.

Why would such a person be willing to step out and help testify for a player whom Forest was interested in and help Pepe to obtain a work permit?

Twain was perplexed, his head full of questions.

However, on the surface, he was still grateful for all the efforts made by Mr. Mendes. ”That's terrific, getting a European championship coach to testify for Pepe. I don't think there should be a problem. Thank you, Mr. Mendes. Oh, and please thank Mr. Mourinho on my behalf.”

Mendes laughed and interrupted Twain. ”If you want to thank José, you can do it in person. The two of you will definitely meet at the hearing.”

At this end of the phone call, the corner of Twain's mouth twitched. Such a meeting was really not what he wanted.

But he would endure it for Pepe's work permit.

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The call with Mendes quickly ended after he confirmed the hearing time. Twain got up to head upstairs and find the club chairman, Evan Doughty, to inform him of the latest developments.

Evan was surprised to hear that Mourinho had agreed to attend the hearing for a Forest team player. He was aware of the story between Tony Twain and José Mourinho.

He thought about it for a while and asked distrustfully, ”Could it be that Mourinho is going to stir trouble up at the hearing?”

Twain did not expect his words at all. It took him a while to respond. He shook his head. ”I don't think so. But one thing is certain. His willingness to attend the hearing is not to help us. It must be to help his friend Jorge Mendes.”

Speaking of Mendes, Evan smiled. ”This agent is an interesting guy.”

Twain knew what Evan's ”interesting” meant, and Allan, who was not around, was probably even more aware. The unanimous view of the three of them was to make use of what they could, and whatever they could not make use of they would discuss when the time came.

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Now that Mourinho had agreed to attend the hearing, Nottingham Forest submitted all of Pepe's information to the English Football Association to appeal Pepe's work permit.

The next thing was to wait for the Football Association's reply.

During this time, the Forest team and Twain were not idle. They still had to continue with the many jobs required for the purchase and sale of players and not delay the team due to a single player like Pepe.

Eastwood's injury did not just cost the Forest team a good striker, but it also served as a wake-up call to Twain——He realized that his players were not robots which would never get hurt, get tired, or be in a messy state. Although fate had been very good to him these two seasons and his team had not been plagued by extensive injuries, who could guarantee what would happen in the future?

The Forest team's most important target this summer was the striker. With Eastwood still injured, it was likely that he would not recover in time to return at the start of the new season. The remaining three strikers on the Forest team were mainly center forwards now. Therefore, the Forest team tactics would become unvaried. This was not what Twain wanted to see. What he advocated was the idea that ”water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing,” and not being a one-trick pony.

The Forest team needed a fast striker to match up with the center forwards.

Eastwood did not rely on his speed. He was stronger in his overall skill. Now, Twain much preferred to organize around a player's distinctive skills.

The Forest team's first target was Inter Milan's Obafemi Martins. But Martins' loyalty to Inter Milan would not be moved by the English pound. Inter Milan told the Forest team that Martins did not want to leave the Giuseppe Meazza stadium because he was very happy here.

When he heard this reply, Tang En scoffed. After this season, Martins' loyalty to Inter Milan would be worthless. No, maybe it was still worth ten million; that was the amount Newcastle United paid to Inter Milan in transfer fees when they brought in the Nigerian striker. After a season, Inter Milan had hoarded six strikers and a housecleaning was needed, so the lowest-status Martins were forced to move to the United Kingdom.

But Tang En could not use a future matter to persuade Martins to leave the Meazza stadium ahead of time to avoid watching the celebratory scene of the newcomers Zlatan Ibrahimović and Hernán Crespo scoring a goal at the sidelines of the training ground. Martins would definitely not believe it if he were to say that now. Currently, he and Inter Milan were in the ”honeymoon period”. The combination of him and Adriano was the main striker partnership in Inter Milan.

Twain also knew that if he were to poach Martins now, he would have to pay a very high price. He did not want that. The Forest team was not a wealthy club now and did not have the ability to spend large sums of money. They should save in areas where they could.

Just after the transfer plan for Martins was abandoned, the Nottingham Forest team received a notice from the Football Association summoning them to the Football Association headquarters in London to attend a special hearing for Pepe.