The following morning, almost every major newspaper in England carried New Manchester United's 10-0 demolition of Millwall on its front page.
The Times had the most eye-catching headline:
League One Kings Return!
Everyone knew New Manchester United were strong.
Everyone knew they were overwhelming favourites for promotion.
But nobody had expected them to be this dominant.
A 10-0 victory, achieved with several first-choice players rested, stunned English football.
David Villa, Franck Ribéry, Palacio, Philipp Lahm and others whose performances had not attracted as much attention as some of their teammates suddenly became household names.
In a single match, they had demonstrated their quality and potential to everyone.
And they were all still remarkably young.
Ishmael and Messi, two highly rated youngsters from the academy, also showed enormous promise.
Mourinho gave them only thirty-five minutes, but Ishmael scored twice, once with a header and once with a close-range finish, demonstrating the variety in his game.
Messi, meanwhile, almost single-handedly tore apart Millwall's defence from the right wing.
De Rossi, another young player developed within the club's system, also impressed after coming on, contributing two excellent assists while remaining defensively strong.
The Guardian approached the story from a different angle.
Its headline read:
The Triumph of Youth Development!
The accompanying article pointed out that while most English clubs remained obsessed with signing established or nearly established players, with only a handful placing genuine emphasis on youth development, New Manchester United had built an extraordinary collection of young talent through recruitment, coaching, and academy development.
Just look at their current first team.
Petr Čech, widely regarded as the most talented goalkeeper in the First Division, was being pursued relentlessly by Arsenal, Manchester United, and several other clubs.
Yet before arriving at Newton Heath, he had merely been a young goalkeeper at a small Czech club and had never even received truly professional goalkeeping coaching.
Then there was Almunia.
The Spanish goalkeeper was capable enough to accept a place on the bench without complaint.
Before joining New Manchester United, his career had been drifting between lower-level clubs with little stability.
Now, whatever anyone thought of his ceiling, he was certainly capable of starting for a Premier League side.
Evra had been one of the club's earliest discoveries.
His development over the years had been steady and obvious.
For a long time, he had lived somewhat in Abidal's shadow.
But after Abidal moved to Bayern Munich that season, Evra immediately demonstrated his own quality, performing excellently in both attack and defence.
Ironically, while Bayern had worked so hard to sign Abidal, they had allowed one of the brightest prospects from their own system to leave for Manchester.
Philipp Lahm's performances on both flanks that season had been outstanding.
Terry had effectively been discarded by Chelsea.
Claudio Ranieri still occasionally complained about Gianluca Vialli's decision, believing Chelsea had sold a future captain and defensive cornerstone for very little.
The player Chelsea had preferred at the time had also gone on to prove himself elsewhere in Europe, but Terry's development at New Manchester United had made the decision look increasingly costly.
Of course, had Terry remained at Chelsea, there was no guarantee he would have developed in quite the same way.
Then there was vice-captain Curtis Davies.
Only eighteen years old, he had already been called into the England setup and had even scored at international level.
He had been with New Manchester United from the club's early years and had become one of the clearest examples of its ability to develop young players.
Even Real Madrid and Barcelona were reportedly monitoring him.
That alone said plenty about his potential.
The Touré brothers, Kolo and Yaya, were another remarkable piece of recruitment.
New Manchester United had brought them out of Ivory Coast for a combined fee of only £250,000.
Now?
Kolo Touré was worth at least £5 million, and the club had no intention of selling him.
Yaya Touré had not yet attracted the same attention as his older brother, but even his market value was already estimated at around £2.5 million.
Essien, De Rossi, Ribéry, and Palacio were further examples of the club's development system working successfully.
All had arrived young.
All had spent significant time working under Newton Heath's coaching staff.
And all had improved enough to become genuine first-team players.
Essien had developed so rapidly that he had already pushed Senna out of the preferred starting eleven.
When these players first arrived, the transfer fees involved had been almost negligible.
Now Manchester United manager Ferguson had reportedly offered £7 million for Essien.
New Manchester United had rejected the approach without hesitation.
De Rossi, Ribéry, and Palacio were each already valued at more than £3 million.
Drogba and David Villa represented two more brilliant pieces of recruitment.
Drogba had cost only £100,000.
His current value was estimated at no less than £8 million.
Villa had arrived the previous summer for £1 million.
After his performances this season, he was already worth at least £5 million, and even that figure might not be enough to tempt Ethan into selling.
Juninho also deserved special mention.
The Brazilian had become New Manchester United's principal playmaker that season.
His ability had been demonstrated repeatedly in both the UEFA Cup and the First Division.
Several major clubs, including Lyon, Liverpool, and Inter Milan, were believed to have expressed interest.
His current market valuation was around £10 million.
That placed him alongside Hleb and Kaká as one of the most valuable players in the squad.
Both Hleb and Kaká had also attracted attention from some of Europe's biggest clubs, including Barcelona, Real Madrid, and AC Milan.
Before the season began, New Manchester United's average first-team age of only 20.4 had been widely regarded as a serious risk.
As the campaign progressed, however, the players had answered those doubts emphatically.
For genuinely exceptional young players, age did not have to be a weakness.
Just look at the squad.
How many of them had already accumulated substantial experience and taken on major responsibilities despite still being so young?
Next season, if New Manchester United entered the Premier League as expected, these players would be another year older and another year more experienced.
The Guardian believed they could bring something genuinely fresh to the competition.
They might even threaten the long-standing dominance of Manchester United and Arsenal and make the Premier League title race more competitive.
Towards the end of the article, the reporter attempted to calculate how much New Manchester United had invested in its academy and player-development system.
That figure was then compared with the fees received for players such as Kitson, Olić, Abidal, Poulsen, and Hangeland.
The conclusion was remarkable.
Those sales alone had almost covered the club's entire investment in youth development.
And during the same period, New Manchester United had climbed from the tenth tier of English football all the way to the First Division and now stood on the verge of entering the Premier League.
The combined market value of the current squad already exceeded that of several established Premier League clubs.
All of it had been built on years of consistent investment in young players.
"There is no question that Ethan Yu is an exceptional investor," The Guardian concluded.
"His investments in technology companies and financial markets have already generated enormous returns.
"His investment in New Manchester United appears to be following exactly the same pattern.
"What other investment could generate this kind of financial growth while simultaneously making him one of the most prominent young owners in world football?"
The reporter then challenged another popular theory.
Many outsiders believed New Manchester United's squad would be torn apart during the summer as major clubs came calling.
The Guardian considered that unlikely.
The club had secured its most important players on long-term contracts.
Their salaries were competitive.
And the wider football economy remained weak following the downturn of 2002.
Even major clubs such as Barcelona were experiencing serious financial difficulties.
How many teams could realistically afford to spend enormous sums prising New Manchester United's best players away from an owner with Ethan's financial resources?
...
"Am I really that rich?"
Ethan shook his head with a helpless smile as he lowered the newspaper.
As far as he was concerned, he had already been restrained enough.
Someone else in his position might have spent enormous sums years ago.
It was not that Ethan opposed major transfers.
He simply understood that any large investment had to be carefully planned.
Footballing requirements mattered.
Commercial considerations mattered.
The wage structure mattered even more.
Without a clear long-term plan, one major signing could easily create problems throughout the entire squad.
Several future world-class players were already inside Newton Heath.
That was something to be proud of.
It was also enormous pressure.
If the club mishandled contracts and wages, the squad could eventually fracture from within.
Years of careful work could disappear remarkably quickly.
Another issue was Mourinho's request for an additional creative midfielder.
Arteta had already made his position clear.
He had no immediate intention of leaving Scotland.
And if he did leave Rangers, his preference would be to return to Spain.
According to reports from Villas-Boas and the scouting department, West Ham midfielder Michael Carrick was another strong option.
West Ham were hovering dangerously close to the Premier League relegation zone.
If they went down, there might be an opportunity to sign him.
Ethan knew Carrick well from his previous life.
Ferguson would eventually place enormous trust in him at Manchester United.
But Ethan also remembered something else.
After West Ham were relegated, Carrick attracted interest from several clubs, yet ultimately chose to stay and try to help them return to the Premier League.
Would he be willing to leave West Ham this time?
And even if he did agree to join New Manchester United, would he accept arriving as a squad player rather than an automatic starter?
The current midfield structure was already very strong.
De Rossi, Essien, and Yaya Touré were all developing rapidly.
Essien had already displaced Senna as Mourinho's preferred defensive midfielder.
Senna had previously spoken privately with Mourinho.
His wife had struggled to settle in Manchester, and he hoped the club would allow him to leave.
Mourinho had agreed.
Several Spanish clubs were already interested, with Villarreal and Deportivo La Coruña the most serious.
Both had submitted offers.
The highest, from Deportivo, was £2.5 million.
That remained below New Manchester United's valuation.
Once Senna left, Essien would become the clear first choice, with De Rossi and Yaya Touré providing competition and rotation.
Because New Manchester United competed on several fronts, both youngsters had already received substantial playing time and improved significantly.
Neither lacked opportunities.
Juninho's situation was completely different.
He remained hugely important to the team.
Whenever he was unavailable, Mourinho could use De Rossi or Yaya Touré in his position.
But neither was a natural tempo-setter or creative organiser.
Without Juninho, New Manchester United's ability to control matches from midfield declined noticeably.
That was why, despite repeated inquiries from other clubs, Ethan had rejected every approach.
He understood Juninho's value to Mourinho's system too well.
What Ethan had not expected was that the interest from outside clubs would not stop with his players.
Now the club itself had attracted attention.
And not from just one potential buyer.
Two clubs had approached them at almost exactly the same time.
(To be continued.)