Chapter 526: Chapter 526
"Gundogan? Who let him come, who made this decision!"
On January 1, 2016, the first day of the new year, Manchester City manager Pellegrini was throwing a fit in his office.
The reason was that the club’s staff responsible for transfer registration informed him that the club had already negotiated the transfer of German midfielder Gundogan with Dortmund from the Bundesliga.
Without surprise, in a few days, he would transfer from Dortmund to Manchester City for a fee of about 30 million euros.
Pellegrini felt his mind spin!
His body, over sixty years old, kept trembling.
Of course, he had heard of the name Gundogan; this 25-year-old German midfielder was a main defensive midfielder for Dortmund.
With broad vision, exquisite skills, and a beautiful long shot, he was a top-notch midfielder.
But neither Pellegrini nor his scouting team had ever put Gundogan on their scouting list, not to mention agreed on a transfer offer for him.
But now they were telling him, in a few days, he was coming to Manchester City!?
So it seemed, the club had secretly reached an agreement on this transfer without informing him at all.
Great, the entire club from top to bottom, does anyone still care about me, the manager!
Pellegrini stormed into CEO Begiristain’s office and had a big argument with him.
Begiristain confirmed it was indeed the case, but he could only gently console Pellegrini.
"Gundogan is an excellent player, and the club has long been pursuing him fiercely. His arrival at Manchester City will certainly greatly help us achieve our season goals, it’s a good thing!"
However, Pellegrini was not appreciative at all.
"Season goals? This season our goal is to win the treble, and we are already leading by 7 points in the league!"
"As for the Champions League, are you blind? Gundogan played in the European War for Dortmund, and according to the rules, when he comes to Manchester City in the second half of the season, we can’t register him for the Champions League. Please immediately cancel this transfer!"
CEO Begiristain firmly said it was impossible.
Because the club had already agreed on the transfer price with Dortmund and was in the process of discussing salary terms with Gundogan and his agent, the transfer would be completed within three days, and no one could change it.
Pellegrini’s face darkened.
Realizing there was no changing Gundogan’s arrival, he persistently pressed Begiristain on who made this decision and why he, the manager, wasn’t informed beforehand.
Pellegrini thought this was terribly done; Gundogan was indeed a good player, but as the manager of Manchester City, he had the right to know about the club’s actions in the transfer market. Otherwise, it showed a lack of respect, a huge insult to his many years of coaching!
Begiristain was evasive and avoided giving a direct answer.
He only mentioned that the Abu Dhabi Consortium held Gundogan in high regard, and it was a decision from the higher-ups that he had no authority over.
"Mr. Pellegrini, I’m sorry to inform you, this decision was made by Mr. Guardiola!"
It wasn’t until the commercial director Berada suddenly entered that the mystery was revealed. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel✶fire.net
Guardiola greatly appreciated this German midfielder and informed Manchester City that if possible, he hoped Gundogan could transfer to Manchester City in the winter to adapt to the Premier League for half a season and practice his English, in preparation for his official takeover.
Begiristain glared angrily at Berada, seemingly accusing him of not speaking up at this moment.
All three, Pellegrini, Begiristain, and Berada, knew that barring any major surprises next season, Guardiola would succeed Pellegrini as the manager of Manchester City.
However, inserting someone Guardiola wanted mid-season without Pellegrini was rather awkward, as Begiristain saw it.
As CEO, he had no choice but to do so, as Guardiola had already gained the support of the Abu Dhabi Consortium’s leadership and had received unanimous approval from the executive evaluations of the City Football Group, considering him the only choice to lead the Blue Moon Corps to dominate Europe!
Begiristain had thought that once Pellegrini heard the reason, he would fly into a rage and shout angrily;
After all, for an over-sixty-year-old coach, to have his tea go cold before he even leaves, that would be hard for anyone to accept!
But what he didn’t expect was that when Pellegrini heard it, he first froze, and after about ten seconds of silence, he nodded expressionlessly, then turned and walked away without saying a word.
Looking at the tall but slightly hunched back of the Chilean, Begiristain felt a pang of sadness, thinking this was indeed not handled kindly.
But the commercial director Berada was indifferent.
"Mr. CEO, we shouldn’t feel guilty. When Pellegrini first joined the club a few years ago, he knew he was a placeholder for Guardiola. This day was bound to come, and as the club management, we just need to boldly advance according to the board’s requirements."
At Manchester International Airport, bidding farewell to Dilata and watching her flight take off for London, Tang Long felt a bit reluctant.
He put one hand in his pocket, fiddling with the crescent-shaped pendant Dilata had given him.
Time flies; another year has passed.
That meal, towards the end, Dilata was red-faced and sweating from the spice, reminding Tang Long of some past memories they shared in Milan.
However, Tang Long quickly detached himself from these romantic feelings.
Because right after seeing off a friend, an old acquaintance was coming.
This is quite a heavyweight figure, held in much higher esteem in his heart than Dilata.
Berni is coming to Manchester!
After retiring, this third goalkeeper from Inter Milan started the second spring of his career across the Atlantic Ocean in the United States.
Over the past six months, his music career in New York has been thriving and bustling.
The Celestial Street Band he formed has not only gained fame in the United States but also frequently received invitations from music fans in Europe.
Now, after his last tour in Milan, Berni has finally come to Manchester in the United Kingdom to begin his second European tour.
After training in the morning, Tang Long went with Ranocchia to watch Berni’s band’s concert.
Although as a guitarist, Berni didn’t sing, his passionate guitar performance was a unique spectacle at the concert. With ten fingertips plucking at strings, he pushed the whole music event to its peak!
"Uncle Berni is still as passionate as ever," Ranocchia said with a smile.
"I think Berni is a musical genius delayed by his goalkeeper profession; he should have retired earlier," Tang Long teased.
During dinner with the three of them later, when Tang Long repeated this idea that Berni should have retired earlier to focus on music;
This bald Italian replied with disdain ~
Berni said that being the third goalkeeper at Inter Milan was the most comfortable thing in his career, and there was no better profession than being the third goalkeeper.
"Back in the day at Inter, I was purely there to meet the training quota for European youth competitions! Training just for fun, during matches, sitting on the sidelines, watching for free, drinking water, waving towels, and if anyone I didn’t like was playing, I’d just shout at them from the sidelines, not caring about getting a red card. I could earn tens of thousands of euros a year! Isn’t that good? Without this money, how would I have gone to New York to play music?"
Ranocchia nodded his head, laughing and agreeing.
"That’s right; being the third goalkeeper in a top Italian team is practically a job where you can lie flat. I remember once during a game against Rome, Uncle Berni and Totti got into it, one was cursing on the field, and the other was cursing off the field, and both ended up with red cards, hahaha, Mr. Mancini was there bowing his head and laughing secretly!"
As the three of them chatted, the topic naturally turned to football.
First, they reminisced about their days at Inter.
Tang Long asked about the old Inter junior Bonazzoli.
Berni said that the kid is good now, and Kandrewa no longer dares to bully him, and the two have become good buddies.
"The day before I came to Manchester, Kandrewa was on the phone bragging to me, saying Bonazzoli scored 8 goals in 18 league matches, 4 of which were assisted by him, telling me to say more good things for him to my cousin, hahahaha!"
The topic then shifted to Manchester City.
Berni helped Tang Long a lot when he was at Inter.
Back in November 2014, when Tang Long was unexpectedly promoted to the first team from a youth player;
No one paid attention to him as a minor character, except for Berni, the equally unnoticed third goalkeeper, who took good care of Tang Long.
Not only did he teach Tang Long a lot about on-field and off-field matters, but he also helped him quickly understand Italian football culture.
Tang Long trusted Berni a lot, so he started talking to Berni about the happenings in the Manchester City locker room.
Especially the recent incident involving The Sun’s undercover shooting, which Berni listened to with great interest.
"Well done, Tang, you’ve improved. The way you handled that was great—someone like Nasri who betrays his team doesn’t deserve to be a teammate; you should get him!"
Berni then said if this were Italy, he could make a call to the southern mafia to cripple Nasri’s tendons and have him sit in a wheelchair forever, unable to play the game.
Tang Long laughed, saying no need for such harsh measures, as he’d already entrusted Nasri to his good buddy Gualin.
"That’s also good! Gualin is a sincere kid and will surely treat Nasri well," Berni said with a mischievous grin.
The three of them became more excited as they chatted, even starting to drink.
Tang Long and Ranocchia just had a small sip of beer;
Berni drank strong liquor alone, ending up completely drunk.
Tang Long said, "There is one thing that Ranocchia and I couldn’t figure out until now—the incident at Captain Kompany’s home party. Who was it among those present that leaked the incident to The Sun, causing unnecessary trouble?"
"Agüero privately told me that day that we must unite to clear out the factions in the dressing room and find this mole!"
Berni, so drunk that he couldn’t open his eyes, only replied with a sentence about being cautious of his mention of "we," then he collapsed onto the table, snoring.
On January 3, the 20th round of the Premier League was scheduled as planned.
The 19-round cycle, Manchester City’s opponent for the 20th round was the strong London Tottenham from the first round of matches!
This time, Manchester City would sit at home, welcoming their opponents.
Tang Long received another provocative text from Gualin.
[Tang, I’ve subdued Nasri these days; now, it’s my turn to come to Manchester City to deal with you!]