Restricted Superstar

Andrews arrived at the chairman of Porto. When Costa was at home, Porto Chairman Costa was chatting with a middle-aged man with a hook nose who looked very energetic. Andrews knew that this middle-aged man with a hook nose was the famous Portuguese agent Mendes.

Da Costa is 69 years old this year, tall and burly, with a hairline close to the horizon, revealing a huge bright forehead, and wearing a pair of gold glasses, he looks very wise.

In Portugal, Costa is a stomped legend who can make Portuguese football three shakes.

In 1982, in the last century, Costa began to serve as the chairman of Porto. At that time, Porto could only play the role of competitor under the rule of Sporting Lisbon and Benfica. After only two seasons, Porto rose rapidly, and it was impossible to receive a single serve. In the last 22 seasons, they have won 14 league titles, 9 Portuguese Cups, 15 Super Cups, and magically won 2 European Champions Cups.

So far, under Costa’s leadership, Porto has won a total of 40 championships. At the same time, the Dragon Stadium has an average attendance of more than 38,000 fans. It is the team with the highest support rate in Portugal. It can be said to be both good and popular.

Da Costa is not only the chairman of Porto, but also a successful businessman. He once served as chairman of the Porto Metro system. He managed the Porto Club and adopted the way of managing enterprises. He established a huge scouting network in Porto from South America. , Africa and other places to introduce players at low prices, or dig into the corners of other clubs in the country, buy 50% of the players in the first year, then train and grow in the team, and finally buy out and sell them at a high price.

For others, when you have a team of good players, it may mean that the championship will be soft; for Costa, this means that black shops can be opened, and counting money will be soft. In 2004, after Mourinho led his team to win the Champions League, the main lineup included Paul Ferreira, Carvalho, Valente, Maniche, Costinha, Deco and many other cores in the next two years. All the transfers within time, and later even the head coach Mourinho also left, which in exchange for Porto at least 100 million euros in transfer fees. Up. Costa can always buy talented players at low prices and sell them at high prices, so that among European giants such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Chelsea, there has been such a metaphor that Costa is a difficult vampire, and Porto is a black shop industry. Model, regardless of the quality of the goods, but the price guarantee is so black that people vomit blood.

But people can't always go smoothly. Costa is in trouble now. He is under residential surveillance for allegedly bribing the referee in the 2004 Portuguese Super League. If the crime is convicted, Costa may even go to jail.

However, Costa didn’t care about his situation. He also published a book called "One Hundred Years of Leisurely Years" last week. At this moment, he was smoking a limited-edition cigar leisurely and said to Andrews: "I Detective, do you have anything to do with me?"

Andrews greeted Mendes and said to Costa: "Chairman, how dare you come to interrupt your rest if there is nothing to do. Since I am also involved, I won't talk about this matter, so as not to affect your judgment, you Let’s take a look at the video first."

"Oh." Costa was a little surprised, and nodded, "You let it go."

There is no shortage of video recorders in the living room, and Andrews edited the videotapes of Gao Xiaodong's game and training one by one.

At the beginning, when he saw that he was a Chinese, Costa didn't care. Now there are so many Chinese players? It’s the same thing about playing football. He watched and laughed with Mendes, saying that if this fat Chinese can also play Portugal, I can also play Portugal. Mendes said that Costa wants to play Portugal. Super will have clubs too.

But when they saw the second round of the Immigration Cup final, Costa and Mendes showed shocked expressions and stopped talking. They stared at Gao Xiaodong unblinkingly, as if a miser had discovered a treasure of gold.

After watching the video, Costa stared at Andrews solemnly, "How old is this little fat guy?"

Andrews said: "17 years old."

Costa showed a look of surprise on his face and said, "You found him so early, have you signed the contract?"

Andrews shook his head.

Costa sank and said angrily: "What's the matter, you tell me exactly what's going on."

Andrews first discovered that Gao Xiaodong selected him as the Star of Hope, how Porto gave up working with the Star of Hope, the evaluation of coaches such as Pereira, and the decision of the youth training director Carlos from beginning to end. Repeated and finally said: "Many clubs are now focusing on Gao Xiaodong, but Director Carlos has to wait a while before I came to find you. You can't hesitate about this matter. If you hesitate, you will be gone."

Mendes shook his head as he listened, obviously disagreeing with the handling of Carlos and others.

Costa showed sullen expression on his face, slapped the table, and said: "Stupid! Andrews, you call Carlos and Pereira to me."

"Good chairman."

Andrews ran to the imperial court and waited for these words. He excitedly called Carlos and Pereira and asked them to rush to Chairman Costa's house immediately.

Andrews said in a hurry on the phone, Carlos and Pereira did not know what had happened, and hurried to Costa's house.

"Chairman, are you looking for us?" Carlos and Pereira came over to greet Costa.

"Yeah." Costa nodded and said coldly: "You watch a video before talking."

Andrews replayed the video clip of Gao Xiaodong in the second round of the Immigration Cup final. Carlos and Pereira were disdainful at first, isn't it still that way? Then, seeing Gao Xiaodong's magical performance, the two of them seemed to have had a ghost, and the boss with his mouth opened could not close together, "God! Is this the fat man?" "Is this a different person?"

Costa spoke at this time and said: "Director Carlos, why don't you sign a player like this right away, but continue to investigate?"

After watching the video, Carlos knew that he had made a mistake. He explained: "His performance was not so good at the time. Some people supported to stay, and some thought that they should give up. I remember you said that when there is a dispute, don’t do it. Busy making a decision, so I put it on hold."

"Pop!" Costa slapped the table hard, "pedantic! I was talking about players who need to spend money. This Gao Xiaodong is free, don’t you understand? You don’t need to spend even one euro cent on us, he is only 17 years old. Not 19 years old, his U17 echelon does not need any quota restrictions, why not sign? Even if he can't play in the professional league in the future, how much money can he cost us?"

Carlos and Pereira lowered their heads. They were aggrieved, but they had nothing to say. Who would have thought that this fat man could make such a rapid progress in less than two months. Carlos even thought, Mr. Chairman, you were there at the time, I'm afraid you might not sign this fat man.

Andrews can finally vent his depression. He added fuel to the fire and said: "In the Immigration Cup final, there were dozens of scouts. Gao Xiaodong's performance shocked them. Many people have begun to contact Gao Xiaodong. If we wanted to sign him, if we signed the contract at that time, with Porto’s strength and reputation, no one would be able to dig Gao Xiaodong, it’s hard to say now.”

Costa waved his hand and said coldly: "Carlos and Pereira, you two should make up for the mistakes you made. You immediately go to Gao Xiaodong, sign a contract with him, and take him to the Porto youth academy."

Carlos finally raised his head and said: "Chairman, the most potential that Gao Xiaodong has shown is to play in the Portuguese Super League. Let's not be so nervous. This kind of talent is what Porto does."

Costa snorted and said: "According to the Andrews scout, this Gao Xiaodong has a very strong understanding of football. This kind of epiphany has appeared twice. This man is a very different genius with an unpredictable future. He tried out in Porto. If we don’t sign, if he plays out and becomes a star in the future, then Porto will be a joke. This is a huge blow to our reputation. We Porto have played for so many years. The reputation of the star processing factory, are you going to destroy it?"

Hearing this, Mendes nodded secretly, and said in his heart, this old guy has been able to dominate the Portuguese football for so many years, and he is really scheming. At such an old age, he is not confused at all.

Carlos and Pereira understood why Costa had to sign Gao Xiaodong and why he asked them to find Gao Xiaodong in person. This is not purely embarrassing for them, but worried about the reputation of the Porto star processing factory.

Carlos and Pereira really didn’t want to go to Gao Xiaodong. When Gao Xiaodong tried out at the Porto Youth Training Base, the two of them picked his thorns, and in the end they didn’t sign with him. Now they are going to beg. He signed the contract, so crooked nuts are also for the sake of face. It's really difficult for them to get this face down.

Carlos said to Andrews: "Andrews, you and Gao Xiaodong are more familiar with each other, you can go with us, so it's easy to talk to each other."

Grass, when I begged you to keep Gao Xiaodong, what was your attitude? Now I beg me, I’m stupid, I’ll go, Andrews said solemnly: "I’m sorry, Director Carlos, there is a talented player in South America. I have to go and see it in person. I don’t have time. Besides, I won’t be in charge of signing the contract."

This is a naked revenge, but Andrews has very good reasons. Chairman Costa also pretended not to hear anything. The youth training director Carlos and U17 coach Pereira had nothing to say and could only leave dingy. The Costa family went to Gao Xiaodong.