Chapter 144: The Future Of Three Million Six Hundred Thousand Part 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
George Wood signed an eight-year contract. Nottingham Forest's fans were happy to see that the young player had placed his future in Nottingham Forest instead of going elsewhere for money.
After settling Wood's contract, Tang En also managed to secure the purchase of another important player.
That concerned Ashley Young. When Nottingham Forest first offered five hundred thousand pounds, Watford was not moved at all. Nottingham Forest offered six hundred thousand pounds the second time, but Watford still remained unmoved.
This time, the effect of the one hundred thousand pounds which Allan Adams had given to Ashley Young finally kicked in. Ashley Young made it very clear to Watford club that he wanted them to let him go to Nottingham Forest. That was because he was currently unable to play in any matches there, and he was already eighteen years old. If he was unable to get sufficient play time on the field, he wouldn't be able to improve his skills.
After that, Tang En gave Young a call. Over the phone, Tang En promised Young that he would be given a core position on the team. At the same time, he hoped that Young would continue to cooperate with Nottingham Forest and have one or two press interviews. Publicly expressing his intentions to join Nottingham Forest would also put pressure on Watford FC.
Upon being promised a core position on the team, Ashley Young was naturally willing to do whatever Tang En told him to. One day later, in front of his house, he accepted an interview from Pearce Bruce, a reporter from the Nottingham Evening Post. The interview was mainly centred around Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain.
During the interview, Ashley Young expressed his desire to join the team under Manager Twain. He also casually talked about Nottingham Forest's five win streak in the league, and how he felt that much of the credit should go to Tony Twain. While still wearing the Watford jersey, Ashley Young had already begun to praise Nottingham Forest.
"…Nottingham Forest has a glorious history. It would be a dream come true to play for a team like that! You know that young guys like me tend to experience the greatest spikes in their abilities. So, there is a need for us to participate in more matches to gain experience. Since I'm unable to get many opportunities to play at Watford, why shouldn't I change to a different environment?"
With interviews like that being published, Watford FC could not deny that they would not be able to make the team's greatest hope stay. Now, all they could do was let the team earn as much money as possible through Ashley Young's transfer, and make up for the loss of the player by monetary means.
But Allan was unwilling to be ripped off any more. He made a final offer to Watford—seven hundred thousand pounds, and not a penny more. "After all," he told them, "the player's attitude is clear for everyone to see. The rest is up to you. At worst, Nottingham Forest can just switch to another target. Seven hundred thousand can get a very good player in League One."
Just as Nottingham Forest made their offer, Young called Watford's manager to inform him that he had just suffered an injury and would have to take one day of leave, and that he would be unable to to participate in training.
Given the situation, what more could Watford FC say? They knew full well that a coincidence like that was impossible. It must have been a collusion between Young and Nottingham Forest. But even though they had no doubt that they were right, they did not have enough proof to raise the matter to the English Football Association and FIFA.
Just like that, Nottingham Forest bought Watford's rising star, Ashley Young, with a transfer fee of seven hundred thousand pounds.
But Tang En's footsteps in the transfer market did not stop there. There was still a very big problem with the team's left and right backs. And, at the same time, because Rebrov was playing as a midfielder, there were only three people left on the team's frontline. This was evidently insufficient for the team to deal with the demands of the remaining half-season, considering the team's participation in both League One and the EFL Cup.
In the previous season, the team's right back had had an issue, so Tang En had made John Thompson play as right back instead. It later proved to be a successful switch. Now, it was the left back's turn to be Nottingham Forest's weak spot. Although Gareth Bale was talented, he was only fourteen. As the saying goes, "Distant water cannot quench present thirst." So, the team still needed to search for a suitable left back on the market.
Tang En was not too knowledgeable about League One, but he knew an expert. He told Moore, the old football scout, that the team currently needed a young left back who could be nurtured, and who had a lot of potential and room for growth. After Moore heard the problem, he immediately wrote down an answer: Leighton Baines, a young player from Wigan Athletic F.C., who currently was only a substitute player for the team. If Tony Twain wanted, he just had to do what he had done for Ashley Young and promise him a position as a core player. If that happened, neither Wigan nor Baines himself could reject an offer.
Tang En stared at the name for quite some time before he finally recalled who this person was: the team captain of Wigan during the 06-07 English Premier League, England National Team U21 core left back, and the new talent whom Manchester United's Manager, Ferguson, openly expressed his desire for.
And it just so happened that Leighton Baines was currently only playing as a substitute for Wigan. From this, Tang En knew that he had gotten a good deal once again. If Tang En did not buy him now, it would be difficult for Nottingham Forest to purchase him once Wigan realized his true value.
As such, without uttering another word, Tang En sent a request to Wigan for the purchase of Leighton Baines, along with an offer of four hundred thousand pounds. For a young player who had just started playing for the first team, this price was far from low. So, Wigan did not have any reason to refuse it. Just like that, the future team captain of Wigan was snatched away by Tang En.
With Leighton Baines and the Norwegian Davy Oyen, Tang En was finally able to rest assured about Nottingham Forest's left back issues.
As for the striker position, Tang En had thought of a suitable candidate long ago.
That person was Peter Crouch, who liked to perform a robot dance after he scored, and who would later become Liverpool and England's tall-guys killer. However, he was currently very unsatisfied with his time at Aston Villa. Crouch had debuted in Tottenham Hotspurs, but he only started to draw the attention of other clubs when he was in Portsmouth. There, he scored a total of eighteen goals in thirty-seven matches over the span of one season. Following that, he had been bought over by Aston Villa at a price of five million pounds, where he still remained. However, he had been unable to recapture the glory of his time at Portsmouth.
In the 01-02 season, when he had just joined Aston Villa, he had scored two goals in seven matches. After that, he represented the team fourteen times in the 02-03 season and did not score a single goal. By the end of the first half of the 03-04 season, he had been fielded sixteen times and was part of the starting lineup for nearly every match of the season, but he only scored four goals…
For a core striker, these kinds of results were nothing short of miserable.
Aston Villa had started to regret its impulses back then, and was currently in a hurry to get rid of him. Hence, Nottingham Forest appeared at the right time, bringing up a loan-to-buy proposal to Aston Villa. Crouch would be loaned to Nottingham Forest till the end of this season, and, should his performance be good, they would buy him for one million eight hundred thousand pounds.
The English Premier League team, Aston Villa, agreed to this proposal, so the only thing left to do was to discuss personal benefits with Crouch. Tang En was originally a bit worried that a core striker playing for an English Premier League team like Crouch might not be willing to play in a League One team. But this turned out not to be an issue at all. Crouch wanted a change of environment, and the league which had made him famous before was League One.
Since the player had no objections, things were much simpler. Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa came to an agreement on the loan-to-buy proposal, and Crouch made things easy for Nottingham Forest in terms of his personal benefits. With both parties willing, Tang En got the tallest striker in the England National football team's history, Peter Crouch, who was six feet, seven inches tall.
Two days before the first round of the EFL Cup semi-finals, Tang En brought all the Nottingham Forest players, including those who had just joined the team during the winter transfer window, to attend a press conference. This was so that he could do a simple announcement of the new players to the public.
Freddy Eastwood (transferred from Grays Athletic for one hundred thousand pounds), Clint Hill (transferred from Oldham Athletic for three hundred thousand pounds), Robert Huth (on loan from Chelsea), Kris Commons (transferred from Stoke City for three hundred thousand pounds), George Wood (transferred to first team, new contract), Stephen McPhail (on loan from Leeds United), Ashley Young (transferred over from Watford for seven hundred thousand pounds), Leighton Baines (transferred from Wigan Athletic for four hundred thousand pounds), and Peter Crouch (loan-to-buy from Aston Villa for one million eight hundred thousand pounds).
Tang En smiled as he stood amidst the players and let the media take pictures of them. That winter, Nottingham Forest spent a total of three million, six hundred thousand pounds in the transfer market. Tang En had already assured Evan that the money would not go to waste. These people were Nottingham Forest's future. Under the flashing lights, an entirely new Nottingham Forest was forming.