332 Eight Million Part 1 (1/2)

Three days after Allan called Twain, he still had not received any updates about the transfer negotiations for Anelka. Twain thought the matter was over, and it looked like Allan could not handle the two Frenchmen either. Unexpectedly, he received a telephone call from Fenerbahçe in Turkey this time, hoping to talk to the Forest team about Anelka's transfer.

Meanwhile, Allan showed up at Evan Doughty's office, looking travel-worn. Evan joked that Allan had returned with the sand from Turkey. Twain realized the delay in the last few days was because Allan had gone to Turkey to negotiate with the Fenerbahçe club.

When he saw Twain, Allan showed a bright smile. ”There's nothing good to drink in Turkey; no tea, no coffee, no coke.”

The two men laughed loudly.

”It's settled.” After laughing, Allan sat down, ready to reap the rewards for his efforts. ”We'll give Anelka's brothers some appropriate remuneration. They helped us put pressure on the Fenerbahçe club. Because you're in England, you don't know the news over there. In Turkey, lots of negative news had popped up recently about Anelka being late for training and talking back to the coach. They were the work of the two agents. Fenerbahçe Club had been overwhelmed by the disruptions. When I went to Turkey, I was able to quickly put the process of Anelka's purchase into place. Guess how much money we need to buy Anelka?”

Both men shook their heads.

Allan raised both hands and splayed his ten fingers.

”Ten million?” Twain slightly creased his brows.

Allan shook his head with a smile and retracted two fingers. ”Eight million.”

The other two men laughed at the same time. This deal was a bargain. The price of eight million to buy Anelka was well within the range that Twain could afford. If it were ten million, Twain would inevitably feel the pinch.

”To have earned one million in half a season, the Turks don't feel like they've lost out. In addition, the individual contract with Anelka was settled before that. A four-year contract period with a weekly wage of...” Allan deliberately kept them in suspense, ”forty-five thousand pounds and an annual increase of 10% percent per year, plus a six hundred thousand signing fee. As a concession, we gave up all of Anelka's publicity rights.”

Twain was also very satisfied with the conditions. Previously, the team's top weekly wage was forty thousand pounds for Edwin van der Sar. However, with the new season, the Forest team had adjusted the team's pay structure. Although it had not been publicly announced yet, the level of forty-five thousand was only in the upper middle strata of the new wage structure.

As for publicity rights, it was fine to give that up. Anelka's publicity rights were not worth much money. Only his brothers were still hanging on to it like a treasure.

Delighted, Evan suddenly thought of a problem. ”Allan, what you said made me a little worried. Now that we've allowed Anelka's two agents to treat Fenerbahçe this way, who can guarantee that after a year or two, no other team will secretly instigate these two greedy guys to treat us like this too?”

Allan did not answer but looked to Twain.

Twain gave a cough. ”Evan, you know… The football world may be short of good players in many positions, but there is never a shortage of good strikers. It does not mean that we stop looking for a good striker now that we have bought Anelka. I will always keep an eye on the transfer market. If they want to make trouble, let them. We'll make a profit in the transfer market.”

Evan suddenly saw the light. He turned around to retrieve a bottle of whiskey and three glasses from the liquor cabinet. He poured into each glass and then gave them to Twain and Allan.

”Two and a half years ago, my father summoned me back from the United States and wanted me to take over his club. In order to make me interested in running a football club, he took me to the Forest team's training base to look at the Forest team's stadium, and to meet with the Forest players and coaches. But he didn't think those were enough. He thought that perhaps the best way to make a basketball fan like myself interested in football was to watch a match. So, he brought me to an official Forest team game.” Evan looked at Twain. ”It was the third round of the English FA Cup, and the League One team Nottingham Forest's home challenge against the Premier League team, West Ham United.”

Twain knew what Evan wanted to say. He touched the tip of his nose somewhat embarrassedly.

”In the first half, I looked at the full grandstand and felt unable to comprehend the thoughts of those people. It was a game with a low-level team which was of a low standard, played badly, and even conceded three goals to their opponent... What was so good about a game like that? I thought the fans who sat in the stands to watch the game, or my father who spent his energy and money on the team, were stupid and wasting their time.”