Denmark, a land rich in fairy tales, the home of Hans Christian Andersen.
It was also Poulsen's hometown!
Poulsen's family lived in Aars, in northwest Denmark, where his parents still resided.
There was an amateur club in Aars where Poulsen first began his football journey. This club was his favourite, and even though he was now a professional player, he returned home every holiday to the place that had nurtured him.
Unknowingly, he was already twenty-one years old.
In Manchester, he had a bit of a reputation. Although he was not the biggest star on the team, that did not stop him from becoming a darling of the New Manchester United supporters. His tireless running in midfield, tenacious fighting spirit, and fierce interceptions were all guarantees of the team's continuous victories.
After two years in England, he had matured significantly. He was now certain that he could pursue a career as a professional footballer, and he knew he could do very well.
This confidence had been built during his two years at New Manchester United. In fact, the manager, José Mourinho, the Portuguese who had served as an assistant coach at Barcelona for many years, thought highly of him, believing he had a bright future and was still very young.
When Mourinho said this, he wanted Poulsen to stay with the team and continue growing with them. Poulsen at the time was also very willing to do so, because New Manchester United had given him a profession, a contract, and let him know that he could truly be a professional player. He was grateful to the club.
But whether to continue playing for this club was another matter.
"Even if I leave England, I will miss every match I played there, every teammate, the manager, and you, Mr. Yu, whom I respect the most, just as I miss the days of training at Aars!"
Looking at the dilapidated old stands of the Aars club, Poulsen was filled with emotion.
From the moment he first encountered football, the first two club names he heard were Aars, the local amateur club, and Copenhagen, the Danish giant. These two clubs accompanied Poulsen's growth and were his favourites.
Now he had another favourite team, New Manchester United, a very unique club, but he knew it would be difficult for him to stay there.
It was like how he knew very well that he could not return to Aars to play for his hometown team.
There were many ways to love something, but that did not mean dedicating one's entire life to it.
Thinking of this, Poulsen made up his mind about the difficult choice he had been putting off. He knew he was very grateful to New Manchester United, but he yearned for a broader stage to showcase himself.
Of course, even if he left, he would silently wish New Manchester United and his teammates there well.
"Hello, Mr. Holmström, I have made my decision!" Poulsen made a phone call.
"Really? Christian, that's great! Do you know? Playing back in Denmark, you'll be selected for the national team, you'll have the chance to participate in European competition, and you'll receive unanimous support from Danish supporters!" the middle-aged man on the other end of the phone said excitedly.
His name was Holmström, a technical adviser and board member of Danish giant FC Copenhagen. A few days earlier, he had contacted Poulsen, expressing his hope that Poulsen would return to play for a Danish team. Furthermore, Copenhagen had won the Danish Superliga title this season and could participate in European competition next season.
"Thank you, Mr. Holmström, but I hope you can talk to New Manchester United properly. They are a club worthy of respect, and I don't want to offend the people I respect during the transfer."
"Of course, you can rest assured on that, Christian. We will respect your wishes!"
After hanging up with Holmström, Poulsen walked around the Aars club's stadium for a while longer. He finally mustered the courage to call Ethan, who was far away in England.
He felt that even if he was leaving, he should personally inform the boss.
...
Ethan hung up the phone and sighed with mixed emotions.
On the phone, Poulsen told him that he found it difficult to refuse the invitation from Copenhagen, so he hoped Ethan would seriously consider Copenhagen's offer, but he repeatedly emphasized that he respected any decision made by the club.
Immediately after this call, Copenhagen's offer arrived by fax at New Manchester United's administrative office.
Previously, Ethan had instructed the club to reject all transfer offers for Curtis, Essien, De Rossi, and others. They were non-transferable assets of the club. The same applied to others, such as John Terry, Evra, Abidal, and so on.
Ethan had already prepared improved contracts for them, which would allow them to stay at the club with greater peace of mind.
Seeing Copenhagen's offer fax, Ethan knew he could not keep the player.
"José!" Ethan picked up the phone and called Mourinho, who was on holiday.
"Getting a call from you, I know it's never good news, boss!" Mourinho said with a chuckle, seemingly enjoying his relaxing holiday.
"It's indeed not good news. Danish giant Copenhagen have offered £1.5 million for Poulsen, and I can't think of a reason to refuse." Ethan had already become quite open-minded about it.
As the saying went, the club remains, players come and go. No one was indispensable. The key was whether the price was right.
"Do you have a replacement?" Mourinho asked with concern.
Ethan nodded. "Yes. There's one in Brazil, but he has already applied for Spanish nationality and can absolutely play for our team. And I personally feel that his defensive ability is similar to Poulsen's, but his attacking ability is even better."
"A Brazilian, huh? Don't you have any English local player options? Don't you know the FA has been constantly advocating for homegrown players recently?" Mourinho joked over the phone.
"Of course! Gerrard from Liverpool, Bayern's rising star Hargreaves, they are all excellent. Oh, and Lampard, but Chelsea got to him first. I just don't know if they'd be willing to come!" Ethan said with a laugh.
Gerrard and Hargreaves could be said to be the two most prominent midfielders this year, one in the Premier League and the other in the Champions League, both showing considerable strength. As for Lampard, Chelsea had already lined him up before the league even ended.
"All right, boss, I trust your judgment!" Mourinho nodded.
Ethan responded, "I'll have Villas-Boas go to Brazil after the World Youth Championship to scout Marcos Senna. He'll then prepare a scout report for you, and we'll make a decision when you return!"
Mourinho naturally had no objections and agreed.
"Oh, by the way, Kitson's transfer is done. £2 million! Brighton really bled for him. It seems they really think highly of Kitson to pay such a high price!" Ethan sounded as if he had got the better end of the deal and was gloating a little.
"Frankly, Kitson's ability is still good, and Brighton favour a fast attacking pair. With Kitson joining, I believe their strength will improve by at least a level compared with last season!"
"What about us?" Ethan asked with a chuckle.
Mourinho also laughed. "With Drogba, as long as you keep everyone else on the team and fill the positions I need, I can guarantee you that we'll be champions again next year!"
When he gave this guarantee, Mourinho exuded full confidence.
"All right then, I won't bother you anymore. You just wait to come back and inspect the transfer results!" Ethan was very happy to hear that.
After hanging up the phone, he immediately opened the computer in front of him, clicked a shortcut, and a football database system immediately popped up. The system was divided into several sections, including major European leagues such as England, Italy, and others.
Ethan directly selected Italy. After entering, he clicked on the league standings for Group A of Serie C1, where Livorno were ranked third.
Opening Livorno's player list, Ethan immediately found the player he was looking for, but the position he was currently playing was attacking midfielder, which surprised Ethan a little. However, he looked at the data and confirmed that this person was Giorgio Chiellini, who would become Italy's main center-back in the future.
"Hey, Malin, have someone from the Italian branch help me find out about that player from Livorno named Giorgio Chiellini. He's almost seventeen. Help me gather information on him as soon as possible!"
After speaking, Ethan hung up the phone.
In his memory, there were many future world-class center-backs who could be bought now. For example, Vidić could be bought for a bit of money, but Vidić could not get a work permit unless New Manchester United wanted to apply for the exceptional talent route for him.
But for this year's exceptional talent application, Ethan already had a more suitable candidate.
Both Mourinho and Ethan clearly realized that Almunia could only ever be considered a decent goalkeeper. If the team wanted to achieve greater things, they would have to bring in a better goalkeeper.
In Ethan's previous life, even when Almunia later became Arsenal's starting goalkeeper, he never showed convincing ability, and now he similarly failed to reassure Mourinho, especially after Schmeichel decided to retire.
When considering goalkeepers, Ethan thought of many, such as Júlio César, who later helped Inter Milan win the treble. But this young man was already a member of the Brazilian youth national team, currently representing the Brazilian youth team in the World Youth Championship, and was an opponent of Essien.
Juventus did want to sell Van der Sar, but there was no way he would ever come to the English third tier, and Van der Sar's form was also unstable at the moment. Otherwise, Juventus would not have needed to spend a sky-high fee on Buffon.
As for other relatively good goalkeepers, most of them were already taken, or New Manchester United could not afford them even if they wanted to. The only one who could come, and whom Ethan also liked, was a non-European player, which was truly a headache!
(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.)