Before coming to Manchester, Drogba called his uncle to tell him about his situation. His uncle agreed with his decision, thinking that since someone was interested in him, he might as well go and have a look, and understand the situation for himself.
Michel Goba had also learned that the owner of New Manchester United, Ethan Yu, was a very famous investor in the United States, owned valuable assets there, was well known on Wall Street, and was also a shareholder of the famous Apple company. A club owned by such a person should not be a scam.
With his agent, Drogba's plane landed in Manchester. As they walked out of the arrivals gate, they saw someone holding up a New Manchester United sign from a distance, and they immediately walked toward him.
"Hello, Mr. Drogba?" the chubby man holding the sign asked as soon as he saw someone approaching.
Drogba nodded. "Yes, and you are?"
"I am a staff member of New Manchester United. My name is Jim, and I am the club's newly hired reception driver!" Jim said with great pride and joy when talking about his identity.
Reception driver?
Drogba was a little unfamiliar with this position, but since he was a club employee, he did not suspect much, so he followed Jim into the Audi he had driven.
This was one of the new cars recently purchased by New Manchester United, considered a club vehicle. Jim had accepted Ethan's invitation, resigned from his taxi-driving job, and officially joined New Manchester United as a driver.
Do not underestimate the driver's position. Although it was not high in status, a large group of people had scrambled for it. Jim had even managed to secure the job through connections. Otherwise, he might not have been selected.
"By the way, do you want to go to the stadium first, or the training base?" Jim asked while driving.
Drogba thought for a moment. "Let's go to the stadium first!" He probably thought New Manchester United's offices were at the stadium.
In fact, many clubs had their offices inside the stadium, such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, and others.
Arriving at City Ground, they could see from a distance that the stadium was under construction, with large engineering vehicles coming and going, making the area around the stadium noisy and rather chaotic.
"The club's stadium originally only had three stands, but it has long been unable to meet the needs of supporters, so construction is currently underway to build the North Stand, which will bring the club's stadium capacity to nearly fourteen thousand."
Although compared with Old Trafford and Maine Road, New Manchester United's stadium still seemed small, in the eyes of supporters like Jim, this was already very commendable. It had to be remembered that the club had only been established for three years, and owning its own stadium was an incredibly difficult feat.
"You... the club was only established three years ago?" Drogba was a little skeptical about this.
Jim chuckled and led him through the main entrance of the stadium, then, guided by staff, they arrived at the exhibition hall.
The entire exhibition hall was exquisitely decorated, with several trophies displayed in glass cabinets, along with newspaper clippings that recorded every major event of New Manchester United since its establishment, such as the players they had signed and their victories in crucial matches.
After walking through the exhibition hall, Drogba had to admit that he was attracted to this special club. It was a very unique club, with a distinct appeal, especially its origins.
"What is this?" His agent, who did not understand football deeply and was not as moved as Drogba, was instead interested in the display cases on one side of the exhibition hall, where many footballs were displayed. The footballs had flamboyant signatures on them, and in front of each football was a name.
"Haha, these are the match balls from when all the players scored their first goal for New Manchester United, and those are their signatures!" Then Jim began to introduce each player who had scored for New Manchester United, as if he were showing off family heirlooms. He knew almost every one of them.
"This one is Curtis Davies. He's a player developed in our youth academy, sixteen years old this year, and the team's vice-captain. He started playing for the first team in League Two in the second half of last season, performed very well, and scored several goals. This ball is from his first goal!"
Drogba stared blankly at the football, which had clearly been used many times. The name on it was prominent and somewhat unpolished. It was clear the player who signed it was not very used to giving autographs, so the signature was not particularly good-looking.
"What about the one next to it? There's blood on it!" Drogba's agent pressed.
Jim pointed to the bloodstained football and proudly said, "That's Curtis's blood. In an away match against Brighton last season, which decided the title, Curtis started as captain for the first time. While heading the ball in the opponent's penalty area, he was accidentally caught by an opponent's studs, and blood splashed onto the ball. Afterwards, the players kept this ball, did not wipe off the blood, and sent it here for preservation, to tell everyone who visits that New Manchester United has such a tough central defender."
"Now Curtis has been selected for the England under-18 national team. He is also the youngest player in that team, and the one coming from the lowest league level, but it is said that he will be entrusted with an important role and will start!" Jim was very proud when talking about Curtis.
When queuing up to register for the team's tryouts when the club was first established, Curtis had been right behind him. Because of this, Jim often used it to show off, saying that he had been the first person to know Curtis.
Drogba gazed at everything in the exhibition hall, somewhat lost in thought. Le Mans' stadium did not have such an exhibition hall, and French clubs rarely had such exhibition halls. Even if they did, they would certainly display the team's trophies and honours, not these goals scored by players.
Of course, New Manchester United's exhibition hall also displayed the trophies the team had won, but they were not particularly prominent. It was clear that when arranging them, they had deliberately placed these trophies, symbolizing honour, on the same level as the players' goals and the club's history.
This truly is a different kind of club!
Drogba thought to himself.
...
Leaving City Ground, Drogba followed Jim back to the Newton Heath training base.
Like everyone who saw the training base for the first time, Drogba was surprised that New Manchester United could have such a modern training base, especially when Jim introduced him to all the facilities at the base. He was even more amazed by Ethan's investment in the club.
It would be impossible to invest so much without a lot of passion!
Since the season was over, the players and coaches had gone on holiday, so the training base was empty.
Ethan and Mourinho were not at the training base, so Jim first took Drogba on a tour of the training base.
Arriving at the youth team's training ground, they saw a few teenagers training in the distance. Or, more accurately, playing around.
"Hi, Jim!" Messi immediately greeted him as soon as he saw him.
The other players also greeted him. They all lived nearby, including Michael Johnson, John Obi Mikel, and Ishmael Miller. They were clearly all training.
"Here, Ishmael!" Messi shouted from the left wing, then accelerated with the ball and crossed.
The ball quickly reached the goal. The tall Mikel desperately leaned into Ishmael with his body. Under his interference, Ishmael used his foot to bring Messi's low cross to his left, then turned past Mikel and took a shot.
The ball went wide!
"Hey, Ishmael, your movement is wrong!" Michael Johnson immediately ran over from a distance.
"What's wrong?" Ishmael was a little unconvinced.
Johnson pulled the ball over and demonstrated against the tall Mikel. His movements were smoother and his technique was better than Ishmael's. His touch was also more polished. After controlling the ball, he adjusted his body well, and his subsequent shooting motion was light, not powerful, but the ball accurately nestled into the far corner of the goal.
"See, Michael is right. You should be lighter, and after turning, don't rush, because you're holding off Mikel. You have enough time to adjust the angle." Messi, who had followed, also analyzed.
Drogba, from a distance, found these kids quite interesting. The boys named Michael Johnson and Messi had excellent technique, but the one named Ishmael was much rougher. This made him watch the training for a while longer from the sidelines, and he could not help but laugh several times.
"Hey, big guy, what are you laughing at? If you've got the guts, come on!" Ishmael had long been annoyed by the guy on the sidelines who was laughing so irritatingly, so he simply challenged him.
"Me?" Drogba was a little surprised.
"Yes, you!" Ishmael challenged directly.
Drogba looked at Jim, who shrugged. "It's fine. Outside training hours, his challenge to you is reasonable and allowed. You can consider whether to accept it!"
As a supporter, Jim was very happy to see such a contest.
Drogba happened to be wearing loose clothes, and his feet were itching a bit, so he smiled and walked onto the pitch.
The rules of the game were simple. Messi would cross five balls from each of the left and right wings, and then Michael Johnson would pass five balls from the center. Then they would see who took more chances.
At first, Drogba thought this was too childish, but once he personally stepped onto the pitch, he realized he was wrong.
First, the dark-skinned kid behind him was very strong, big, and powerful in challenges. Drogba almost could not handle him. Then, Messi and Johnson's passes came at great speed. In this situation, having to deal with the challenge from behind while also controlling the ball, turning, and shooting cleanly was truly not an easy task.
Most crucially, Drogba's technique was rough. Although he could control Messi and Johnson's passes, he was always pushed out of position by Mikel behind him, thereby losing shooting opportunities.
At this point, he was astonished to discover that these kids' playful training was really no joke.
Seeing Drogba get frustrated, Ishmael chuckled, as if he was happy to see someone more incompetent than himself, and asked provocatively, "Hey, big guy, want to play some indoor football?"
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)