Chapter 280: Volume 3: The Red Forest: The New Goalkeeper (Part 1)
The team practiced on the training ground, led by assistant coach David Chris Lack. Tang En and the club's chairman, Evan Dougherty, watched the training in the chairman's office through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows.
"Tony, is there a problem with the team now?"
Evan's question is purely knowing. The team has lost two games in a row. Tang En took the initiative to come to him. Any fool would know that there must be a problem. Perhaps knowing he was being silly for asking, Evan added, "Well, I was asking what's wrong."
Tang En looked at the training ground below, hesitated for a while, nodded and said: "Well, Evan, you may have to pay again. There is a position that needs to be filled. Eighteen rounds of the league have been played, and the team has almost lost every game. Ball. Looking at the last game... I must say Darren Ward has fallen short of me."
"Darren Ward? Are you going to buy a new goalkeeper when the winter transfer window opens?"
"Yes, I already have a suitable candidate. But we may face competition from somewhere..." In fact, Dunn knew that the competition that the Forest team would face was the Manchester United team that made George Wood famous in the first battle. "So financially I need the full support of the club."
Evan didn't answer right away, but bowed his head in thought for a while.
Tang En didn't urge him either, he stood aside and pretended to watch the training. He understood Evan's difficulty.
After all, he spent money a little crazy in summer. The Premier League is not the same as Serie A and La Liga. It is not a small expenditure for a non-rich club to spend several million pounds in transfer fees. Things like La Liga that spend more than 100 million yuan in one summer were almost unheard of before. It is absolutely impossible to appear in a Premier League club.
This summer, because Abramovich's Chelsea ushered in a champion-level coach Mourinho, so the expenses are naturally champion-level. Abramovich has led to a consumption boom in English football. This summer, Premier League clubs have greatly increased their spending on player transfers.
As usual, Nottingham Forest, a newly promoted team, has just come out of the economic crisis. It would be nice to have a transfer budget of five or six million pounds for the new season, but Twain spent twelve million pounds in one go, basically The team's finances were drained. He also knew that if he made a financial request now, Evan's promise would definitely not be as straightforward as Xia Tian.
"I'm very interested in your target, Tony." As a result of his contemplation, Evan still didn't nod, but asked a question.
Tang En said: "Fulham and the main goalkeeper of the Dutch national team Van der Sar."
Evan thought about it in his mind, and seemed to have a little impression: "That tall and thin guy? He's not bad, but I heard that Manchester United is also interested in him..."
Tang En smiled wryly: "So we need to prepare more money... The only conditions we can take advantage of are to increase the transfer fee and meet the Dutch's salary needs."
"How much does he earn a week at Fulham?"
"Forty thousand pounds." Dunn held out four fingers.
Hearing this number, Evan frowned. If you want the Netherlands to come to the country, at least the salary level cannot be lower than this number. If this is the case, it will definitely destroy the existing salary structure of the Forest team. At present, Viduka has the highest salary in the forest team, and his weekly salary is only 40,000. For George Wood, who has just become famous, the weekly salary is still the amount in the contract signed last season-2,500 pounds.
"How much transfer fee do you expect to need, Tony?" Evan asked again.
"I think..." Dunn recalled, Manchester United signed Van der Sar on July 1 next year, how much did they spend at that time? three hundred? five hundred? It seems to be a rather special number... I remembered! "At least it must be more than two and a half million pounds..."
"Why two and a half million?"
"Uh, if it's lower, Fulham won't agree, right? They spent more than five million pounds to bring the Dutchman from Juventus. Van der Sar is almost thirty-four years old. It is impossible to sell at a higher price than before, but it cannot be too low, after all, our family is not interested in Van der Sar now."
Hearing Tang En's explanation, Evan nodded: "You are right, Tony. But I don't think there will be only one name on your shortlist, right?"
Evan was right, Dunn would definitely not put all his eggs in one basket. "Of course... I have many names, but Van der Sar is probably the most suitable one. Evan, do you know the French goalkeeper Frey? He is the main goalkeeper of Parma. Although Parma is now in an economic crisis, we I am afraid that the transfer fee to get him will be higher. Moreover, they also have to face the competition from Manchester United... Their goalkeeper problem this season is as prominent as ours. In order to save money, we can also consider asking Inter Milan to rent Toldo Requirements - but I don't think it was a wise choice, old Italian goalkeepers are in decline... Also, I have a lot of young goalkeeper names, but they are too young, they belong to the future, and it doesn't work out Our problem now."
After listening to Tang En's analysis, Evan had to admit that his proposal was well thought out.
"Okay, Tony. We're talking to the bank about refinancing. I think if it goes well, you shouldn't be short of money in January next year." Evan Dalgety finally nodded.
Hearing that the money was used, the stone in Tang En's heart finally fell to the ground. The forest team is currently in the stage of transformation and change, and they need money everywhere. Twain is still a little grateful for Evan's cooperation with him. After all, there are fewer and fewer such club chairmen now. Perhaps it is precisely because of Evan's identity as an American who doesn't understand football that he can delegate more power to himself and doesn't care about the team's affairs. As long as Dunn can give a reasonable reason, he won't have any objection.
Although we don't have any Russians who are rich, but thinking about the dirty things between Mourinho and Abramovich in the future, Twain is still very content.
Just when he breathed a sigh of relief, Evan suddenly added: "Of course, Tony. Increased investment needs to be rewarded. What is our goal this season?"
Tang En understood the meaning of Evan's question. As the team chairman, it is impossible for Evan Dougherty not to know the team's goals for this season, which were set before the season. He nodded: "Our goal is definitely not relegation. I think after the end of this season, we will appear in the list of teams that can participate in European competitions next season."
Evan laughed loudly with satisfaction: "I just said, we can cooperate tacitly, Tony!"
Tang En scratched his head and laughed.
※ ※ ※
The league is still going on, and Nottingham Forest has sent someone to contact Fulham. For Twain, his advantage is that he knows Manchester United's cards. Although it has not been a day or two since Ferguson flirted with van der Sar, the media has already reported this matter. But there are still many candidates for Manchester United to choose from, so they have no substantive contact.
Frey, who is not happy in Parma now, Juventus goalkeeper Buffon, and even Real Madrid goalkeeper Casillas. As a giant, Manchester United has a sense of superiority over the Forest team. They must be looking for important players. Although Van der Sar was once the best goalkeeper in the world, after all, he has three Fourteen years old, if Manchester United spend too much money to buy an old man who will retire after playing for two years, first of all, Manchester United general manager David Gill will not pass the test.
In the end, Manchester United bought Van der Sar for only 2.5 million pounds after successive attempts to introduce Buffon and Casillas failed. When Van der Sar came to Manchester United, not many people were optimistic about him. After all, he was a 34-year-old veteran. Everyone believed that Ferguson bought Van der Sar as a temporary emergency, and Manchester United would not stop turning. The footsteps of looking for an excellent goalkeeper in the market, and the fact is the same, the rumors between them and Casillas have never stopped.
Fulham's current economic situation is not very good. Van der Sar, a 34-year-old man, still needs to get a salary of 40,000 pounds a week, which makes them a bit overwhelmed. When someone asks the price, I am naturally happy to answer it. Of course, I still have to be reserved on face.
Facing Forest's asking price, Fulham put on a posture of "Van der Sar is the team's main goalkeeper. Although it is not for sale, it is impossible to buy it cheaply".
Nottingham Forest replied under Tang En's instruction: "We definitely won't spend another five million pounds for a thirty-four-year-old guy!"
Fulham also knows this truth, the buyer is not a fool. So they raised Manchester United: "Manchester United is also interested in Van der Sar now..."
Nottingham Forest asked: "Have they made an offer?"
The answer is definitely "no". There are only three clubs that can still look at Van der Sar now, one is the rumored Manchester United-note that it is "rumored"; the other is the Dutch team Ajax, but Van der Sar has lived in England for four years. Sa is used to the football and life here, and does not plan to return to the Netherlands. After all, the Premier League is the top league; the third one is Nottingham Forest.
Among the three clubs, the only club that made an offer was the Forest team.
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