Chapter 917: Volume 7: Heart of the Lion King

Pepe's statement set off a storm in Nottingham and even England. No one thought that the most loyal fighter of Nottingham Forest would take the initiative to ask for a transfer. You must know that when he was suspended by UEFA, the club stood behind him and supported him.

But those who are familiar with the relationship between Pepe and Twain will understand after a little thought. The object of Pepe's allegiance is Tony Twain, not Evan Dalgety. Now that Tang En had already left the forest team, there was no need for Pepe to stay here. For him, there must be problems within a club that can't even retain a meritorious coach, and there is no need for him to play for such a team.

His choice to leave was natural.

But Nottingham Forest fans don't think so.

They thought this was another betrayal that no one could tolerate after Tony Twain.

For days at a time, when Pepe went to training, he would see banners swearing at him around the training ground.

"Go to Real Madrid! Traitor!"

"Think about who gave you everything today? Nottingham Forest!!"

Such a slogan was held up by the fans, very eye-catching.

Even some people on the team couldn't understand his decision.

Of course, the one who was most dissatisfied was Evan Dalgety.

In an interview, Pepe publicly announced that he wanted to leave the team, which was tantamount to slapping him in the face in public.

He called O'Neal to his office, nominally wanting to hear what the head coach had to say, but in fact he had already made a decision, and O'Neal just came to hear the result.

"Real Madrid, Milan and Manchester United...all did give us Pepe's offer." Dalgety sat in his boss chair, a bit condescending. "I didn't want to think about it before, but things are different now, Martin."

It's different from when Twain first met him. Now Dalgetty is one of the most successful club chairmen in England. After Twain left the position of head coach, his exposure rate increased greatly, and now the whole world We all know that the leader of Nottingham Forest turned out to be such a number one figure.

Just last week, when the club's new stadium opened, he frequently accepted five TV media, three magazines, newspapers and media interviews, and his smiling photos frequently appeared on various media. He was touted by the media as the behind-the-scenes leader of Nottingham Forest's previous glory, and the soul of Nottingham Forest's continued glory in the future. He frequently expressed his football philosophy and team building policy, showing his ambition.

"I hope that in another five years, Nottingham Forest can truly become a world-class giants team. Taking this new stadium as an opportunity, we will also plan to build a new training base. Wilford is too old and too old. It's too small, and it will continue to play a role as Nottingham Forest Football School in the future..."

He said so in the media. Not to mention whether he has the money to carry out these grand plans, this blueprint alone scares many people. Wilford has only been put into use since the early 1990s, and it has only been more than 20 years now, so it is too old... It really is bold.

As a successful club chairman, Evan Dougherty, who frequently goes to high-end parties, it is naturally impossible for him to put his arms around the head coach's shoulders and make intimate gestures like a newcomer. He had to keep a distance between himself and the people below. A second Tony Twain would never appear under his command.

O'Neill was horrified by Dougherty's words: "We can't sell Pepe, he is the most important part of the team's defense..."

Dougherty shook his head, not paying attention to the coach's protest. "Now it's not whether we want to sell him, but he asks to leave. Forcing to stay may not have good results, Martin. In addition, I remind you that Pepe is 31 years old. As a central defender, if If you don’t sell it now, you won’t be able to sell it at a good price in the future.”

His tone seemed to be discussing the international crude oil price, or the market of gold futures.

O'Neal didn't intend to give in. The people who sold before were all substitutes and marginal figures, and he didn't care if they sold. But the team has already sold two central defenders in a row. If Pepe is sold again, where can they find a suitable candidate to take over this position? The defense is unstable, how to maintain this year's results? You must know that the goal given to him by Evan Dalgety is to ensure that he enters the main competition circle of the Champions Cup next season.

"I can talk to him. I believe he must have been affected by Tony Twain's resignation, and he couldn't accept it for a while. This is just childish..."

"Thirty-one-year-old kid?" Evan's sneer interrupted O'Neill.

O'Neill didn't care about Mr. Chairman's ridicule. He continued to state his opinion: "Pepe is the core of our defense line. If he leaves, the entire defense line will experience great turmoil. And we can't stand such turmoil now. Yes, Mr. Chairman. After changing the head coach, the team’s internal morale is unstable. If you sell people frequently, such a team will not even have the basic cohesion... The new season will start soon, I think we should try our best to maintain The lineup is stable."

"On the contrary, Mr. O'Neill." Evan became a little impatient with the coach who always disobeyed him, and his address changed from the friendly "Martin" to the indifferent "Mr. O'Neill". "I know exactly who Pepe's heart is towards. He doesn't listen to you. Keeping such a person in the locker room is the biggest threat to the stability of the team."

Evan is right, although he never enters the locker room, there are some things that you don't need to enter the locker room to understand. Pepe really doesn't accept the new head coach very much, even though he has also made outstanding achievements. But for Pepe, there is only one person in the world who can convince him sincerely, and no one else can replace that person's position in his heart no matter how powerful he is.

O'Neill was silent for a while and wanted to struggle: "I still think that as long as I have an interview with him, any problem can be solved..."

Evan Dalgety laughed: "No matter how many times I have interviewed him, the result is the same. Pepe is determined to leave. So listen to me, Mr. O'Neill, let him go, let's go find a high-level man now." There is still time for the central defender to come. You still have time to run the team. If you keep procrastinating without making a decision, it will be too late after the league starts.”

"I still have to talk to him once. I am the head coach. This is my responsibility." O'Neal stood up and left without saying goodbye.

Behind him, Evan Dalgety smiled disdainfully.

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The result of the interview was not as expected by Evan Dalgety, and exhausted Martin O'Neill.

No matter what O'Neal said, Pepe just didn't agree to stay in the team. Of course, he also said that he was not dissatisfied with Coach O'Neill, but he told O'Neill straightforwardly that he was very disappointed with the current club. Originally, Tony Twain's Forest team was very humane, but the current team Can't see the slightest warmth. He doesn't like to play in such an environment, it has nothing to do with which club pays a high salary. He has the right to choose to play where he likes, he used to like playing for Forest, now he doesn't like it, it's as simple as that.

The players don't want to stay, the club chairman must intervene in the sale, but he can't do anything in the middle. Martin O'Neill felt that the two months in the Forest team were more tiring than his one season in Manchester United.

In the end, he nodded helplessly and agreed that Pepe would leave.

In just one day, it was only one day since he agreed to sell Pepe, and the news of the official confirmation came from Milan, Italy.

AC Milan spent 30 million pounds to bring in 31-year-old world-class defender Pepe from Nottingham Forest. The deal has been officially confirmed by both clubs.

After seeing this news, O'Neill discovered a fact-even if he didn't nod, Pepe couldn't escape the fact that he was sold. The Alan Adams who has been hiding all this time must have flown to Milan long ago to sign all the agreements that should be signed. Even if he threatened Mr. Chairman with his resignation at the club, it cannot change this fait accompli.

The top management of the club has done everything, but the head coach himself was kept in the dark. He even felt that Pepe must have known the result of the negotiation in advance, only he wanted to persuade him to stay in the forest team like a fool...

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When Pepe left from Nottingham, there must not be few people who still remember him well. No one would go to Birmingham Airport and smash him with rotten eggs as a treat.

The media saw another interesting thing from it——

Martin O'Neill said helplessly in an interview: "Pepe is an excellent central defender. I have to rewrite my plan after losing him..."

Obviously, this transfer is not what the head coach wants to see, so it means that it is the result of the club's senior management forcibly intervening. It looked like the once impenetrable HMS Nottingham Forest was crumbling from the inside. This is what the media are most interested in.

So they hyped up the news of Pepe's transfer, causing the entire Nottingham Forest to panic, not knowing who the next person to be sold would be.

After Pepe escaped from this vortex, he held up AC Milan's red and black sword-striped shirt at the press conference in Milan, but his smile was not bright. Every child who runs away from home will occasionally recall the happy time at home in the dead of night, right?

In the future Champions League match, when his AC Milan and Nottingham Forest meet, that kind of memory may drown him like a flood. Of course, maybe nothing will happen. As a professional player, you must get used to such separation.

"I... hope to... bring Milan a championship trophy..." He stumbled in his unproficient Italian in front of the TV camera.

AC Milan's head coach Marco Van Basten is very happy, because AC Milan's weak defense finally ushered in a qualified central defender, and he can re-plan to dominate Europe.

"We got the most outstanding central defender on the planet!" Excited, he even put the world's number one hat on Pepe's head.

So on the other hand, Nottingham Forest has lost one of the best central defenders in the world...

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Pepe's transfer is not as simple as the departure of a player. Since Pepe, who is the core and main force of the defense, can be sold, can Gareth Bale be sold? Is Aaron Mitchell for sale? George Wood... for sale?

Who else can't sell this Nottingham Forest team?

Teams all over Europe are crazy. In the eyes of those shrewd or not so shrewd team managers, the current Nottingham Forest does not have a bright future because it has just won the treble and moved to a new stadium. On the contrary, this team The team is simply a large supermarket with high quality and low price.

Tony Twain spent eleven years collecting and cultivating the players, each of them has their value, the main players are favored by wealthy clubs, and the substitutes are also favored by mid-range teams. As long as Evan Dalgety is willing, his team can bring him at least 500 million pounds in transfer fee income in an instant.

George Wood alone is estimated to be worth at least 60 million pounds, and if he is an offensive player, it can even be worth 90 million pounds.

Just signing a new contract with a club is not a reason to deter those suitors. Renewing the contract is just to deceive the sky and ask for a price, we have money!

"George Wood is the best midfielder in the world, even better than Gerrard." Mourinho showed his favor to Wood, and by the way, beat his old rival Liverpool. He hopes that this steel midfielder can join Manchester United to help the team against other strong players. In addition, he is also very interested in the Forest team's goalkeeper: "I hope the team can introduce a high-level goalkeeper, which is the key to the championship. Akinfeev is very good. He's got a good workout in the forest, but I think he should consider a different location..."

"Mitchell is the second Ibrahimovic, he should play in a giant like Inter Milan." The new Inter Milan coach Zola threw an olive branch to the little giant of the Forest team.

"Franck Ribery is great, but he is old after all. Perhaps for Michel, now is the best time to correct Real Madrid's previous mistakes." "Aspen" reported that Real Madrid's pursuit of Pepe failed and will The target turned to Gago's news.

"Barcelona's tradition is to attack. We need a left-back who is good at attacking. Bell just meets our needs. It's that simple." Guardiola said when talking about the summer signings plan.

"Abanglahuo is very fast. The past few years in the Forest team have made him more mature, and his shooting ability has also improved than before. He is the type of player we need..." Manchester City also wants to come in to share .

"Shaheen is a talented player. If Bayern wants to prove themselves in Europe again, such a talented player cannot be let go." According to German media, Bayern Munich and the Turkish midfielder who was born in Germany are getting closer and closer getting closer.

There are also Chris Cohen, Adriano Mok, Niklas Milan, Joe Mattock, Rafinha... and other players have more or less received invitations from other teams. The sale of Pepe was taken as a signal all over Europe:

My supermarket is always open, and all the players are easy to sell. As long as you can afford it, I wish you a happy shopping.

A new wave of offers for Forest players has hit Nottingham Forest. Every night before going to bed, Martin O'Neill would worry about getting up the next morning, watching the news and discovering that his main players had been sold out by Alan Adams. He has no doubts about this, because Allen Adams is indeed a guy who sees nothing but money. Although he has only been together for two months, O'Neill inevitably hates this businessman.

When he was overwhelmed by these transfer rumors, he received a call from Pierce Bruce.

"Mr. O'Neill, do you remember? I'm Pierce Bruce, a reporter from the Nottingham Evening Post. Tomorrow's interview, you promised me a week ago." Bruce knew that O'Neill had a hard time recently, and he was a little worried that the other party would go back on his word. .

It was only then that O'Neill remembered that there was such a thing. Originally, he was not in the mood to accept any special interview at this time.

But... Thinking of the things that happened these days, he suddenly had a desire to tell others, and he wanted to tell others urgently, he didn't care if the audience was the media or his wife and children.

Anyway, there are some words that can't be said quickly, and he doesn't care about the reaction to what they say.

"Okay, I haven't forgotten, Mr. Bruce. Come to my office at 10:30 tomorrow morning, and I will wait for you there."

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PS, the climax is coming, ask for a monthly ticket~~~~~~~