Super Marshal

The evening of August 22nd.

The office at Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium is still brightly lit, as bright as day.

Club CEO Angel Sanchez is still busy working overtime in the office, and staff from other departments have also stayed at their jobs, ready to deal with various emergencies.

Tonight, in the superior conference room at the Santiago Bernabeu, a big decision will be made.

Should James Rodriguez buy it or not?

Sanchez was sitting on a chair in the office, with his back to his desk, looking out the window at the Bernabeu Stadium, in a daze.

He still clearly remembers that when he came to the Bernabeu, the club's president, Florentino, who was in his first term, was very high-spirited and threatened to bring the best superstars in the world to the Bernabeu to create an unprecedented team. The star-studded Galacticos have made this Real Madrid team a legend.

In fact, Florentino actually did it later.

At its peak, the first phase of Galacticos gathered Zidane, Figo, Raul, Beckham, Ronaldo, Irving, Casillas, Roberto Carlos... superstars in almost every position.

But such a team has encountered an unprecedented crisis. Since Del Bosque dismissed get out of class in 2003, the team's performance has been declining. Not to mention that it has not won a championship for many years, even the Champions League that the club is proud of has stopped at 16 for many years. Strong, it was not broken until last season.

During Florentino's second term, he made a profound summary and reflection on his first term. He learned from the experience and formulated standards for introducing superstars. One of them is that the age of the stars must not be too high and they must be able to play for Real Madrid for a long time.

But who would have thought that in recent years, two super capital giants, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, have emerged in European football. With the strong attraction of the cold, they have swallowed up many superstar players in Europe. This makes There is a strong talent crisis in European football, so much so that even rookies like Carroll, Neymar and James Rodriguez can be sold at high prices.

Real Madrid's business operations have been quite good in recent years, and its financial revenue has also been rising steadily. It has the ability to operate higher-priced stars, but does it really want to invest 80 million euros for players like James Rodriguez?

It seemed absurd to Sanchez just thinking about it.

But this is the current situation of the European transfer market, a seller's market, and Real Madrid, as a buyer, does not have much initiative.

No, after nearly two months of talking and one month of in-depth contact, Chinatown refused to let go. The day before yesterday, Chinatown’s general manager Armando Marcos even called Sanchez and made a final offer. Ultimatum.

"We will hold a press conference on the morning of the 23rd to announce the team's roster. If no agreement is reached before then, James Rodriguez will appear on the 23rd. In the Champions League match tonight."

Armando Marcos' tone was very calm, but with an unquestionable meaning.

Chinatown has also been troubled by this transfer recently, and the players have been reluctant to express their opinions. This makes Real Madrid very passive. The main reason is that the head coach Mourinho does not want James Rodri. Gus, so so far, the Portuguese has never even made a statement on the transfer of James Rodriguez, let alone made a phone call to the player.

Presumably, Mendes, who has great hands and eyes, is also very aware of Mourinho's attitude towards James Rodriguez.

With the current situation of the Colombian, can he be reused if he moves to Real Madrid?

Sanchez exhaled heavily and shook his head helplessly.

European transfers, especially blockbuster transfers of this kind, are becoming increasingly difficult to operate.

Just when Sanchez had a splitting headache, the phone on the table suddenly vibrated. He turned around, took the phone, and took a closer look. The caller ID showed that it was Jorge Mendez.

This made the Real Madrid CEO frown and show some resistance.

"Hello, Jorge." Sanchez finally answered the phone.

"Angel, it's already ten o'clock, I want to know what your final opinion is?" Mendes asked on the phone.

"Mr. Perez is having a meeting with several directors inside. You know, we are a member-only team. Such a blockbuster transfer is not a decision that Mr. Perez can make alone. It must be made by the board of directors. Participate. In short, I promise you that I will notify you as soon as there is news, okay?"

Mendes on the other side of the phone sighed softly, "Okay then, I'll wait for your news."

"Okay." Sanchez said helplessly, "By the way, are you with James now?"

"No, I'm at home. He's staying at the training center tonight. He said he wanted to prepare for tomorrow night's game."

Sanchez was moved when he heard this. Even at this point, James Rodriguez still had no intention of betraying Chinatown. Gao Han's team did not say anything else, but in terms of club culture, it is true that very successful.

Of course, this has a lot to do with Gao Han's background as a head coach.

"Well, anyway, I'll let you know as soon as possible."

"good."

After hanging up the phone from Mendes, Sanchez let out another heavy breath.

Mendes is a very friendly partner. He has a close relationship with Gao Han, but business is business, and he is very reassuring in what he does. This is why he has been able to rise rapidly in European football in just a few years, and has The reason for becoming the world's number one agent, in comparison, Mourinho's agent Jose Vega is far behind.

Thinking of this, Sanchez stood up from his seat, got up and walked out of the office.

As soon as they heard the sound of his door opening, other employees in the office stood up reflexively. When they saw it was Sanchez, they couldn't help but feel a little disappointed and sat back down.

Sanchez could understand their mood. He looked back and saw that the door of the high-level conference room was still closed. He shook his head helplessly and sighed, when will this meeting be held?

Just when Sanchez turned around and was about to walk back to the office, the door to the conference room opened with a click.

Everyone immediately looked over and saw Florentino and five directors walking out of it.

"Don't worry, leave this matter to me."

"We believe in you, Florentino."

Florentino watched the five directors leave the office, stood next to Sanchez, rubbed the corners of his sore eyes, and shook his head, "Angel, call Mendes and Armando Marcos immediately. , just say..."

The chairman of Real Madrid paused and took a deep breath, as if this decision was quite difficult for him.

Everyone's eyes were focused on him, waiting for him to finish.

"Just say, James Rodriguez, we bought it for 80 million euros!" Florentino said in one breath.

"Bought?" Sanchez confirmed again.

Florentino hesitated for a moment, then nodded heavily and said, "Buy it!"

After saying that, he turned around and walked back to his office.

When Sanchez heard the news, his dull eyes suddenly became bright again, and he clapped his hands vigorously.

"Everyone, did you hear that? Take action immediately!"

Following his greeting, employees in various departments of the office began to operate step by step.

A sky-high transfer price of 80 million euros involves too many things.

…………

…………

"I'm sorry, James Rodriguez failed to pass the clearance from the team's medical team, so we can't arrange for him to participate in tonight's game, but we are still full of confidence and will definitely win Odan at home. Si.”

It was early the next morning at the press conference at the Chinatown Training Center. After head coach Pochettino announced the team's 18-man roster, reporters discovered that James Rodriguez was still missing. , all raised questions.

But no one would believe Pochettino's words, because last night, news leaked from Real Madrid that the Galacticos finally couldn't hold on in the tug-of-war, agreed to Chinatown's request, and decided to pay for James Rodriguez paid a termination fee of up to 80 million euros.

This will set a new sky-high price in the world football transfer market this summer. James Rodriguez will surpass Neymar and become the new top bidder in this summer's transfer market.

But regarding this question from the media, Pochettino said that he had not heard any news in this regard and refused to answer.

The Chinatown head coach just emphasized time and time again that he was full of confidence in defeating Hortense at home.

Even without James Rodriguez, the team will definitely win.

Facts have proved that Pochettino's resounding guarantee is still very reliable.

In the second leg of the Champions League fourth qualifying round at the Broker Stadium that night, Hortense, who won an upset victory at home, came to Madrid with the determination to defend. From the beginning of the game, they guarded the penalty area and refused to give up. Chinatown the slightest chance.

In the first half, the two sides were still zero to zero. Chinatown had an overwhelming advantage, but it was still unable to break through Hortense's goal. This made the fans at the scene a little nervous. The team was still lagging behind in the total score. a ball.

But after the halftime break, Pochettino made adjustments. Center Pellet was very active at the beginning of the second half and finally made a difference in the 50th minute.

After Hazard took the ball from the left and cut inside, he passed it to Herrera, who passed it straight to the feet of Pelle.

The Italian center leaned on the opponent's central defender at the front of the penalty area and deftly passed the ball behind him. Aubameyang quickly stepped in, calmly seized the opportunity, and scored with a single shot, one to zero!

After scoring a goal, Chinatown was in full swing, but as Hortense's physical fitness declined, cracks appeared in the defense.

In the 66th minute, left back Alba quickly stepped in. After forming a cooperation with Hazard, the Belgian passed the ball into the penalty area with a through ball. Pellet inserted in the back row and scored again. Score, two to zero!

After the reversal, Hortense's morale was disrupted. Midfielder Kadri fouled during a defense and received the second yellow card of the game. He was ejected with a red card. Chinatown continued to maintain pressure and in the 80th Another victory came in two minutes, this time a corner kick scored by centre-back Miranda.

In the end, Chinatown defeated Hortons 3-0 at home and successfully advanced to the Champions League group stage with a total score of 3-1.

This victory gave Chinatown a chance to finally take a breather. The newly joined center Pellet also showed his prominence with every pass and shot, which gradually changed everyone's doubts about him.

Coupled with the progress of Hazard and Aubameyang, it also makes people realize that Chinatown is still very strong this season.

Just the day after Chinatown defeated Hortense, Paris Saint-Germain also defeated Luxembourg's Defdague 3-0 at home and advanced to the main match with a score of 7-0.

After Paris Saint-Germain was promoted, Real Madrid and Chinatown simultaneously announced that James Rodriguez had officially transferred to Real Madrid. The Colombian genius is worth as much as 80 million euros, once again setting a new summer transfer record this year. Become the new standard king.