Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 713 - 504: Manchester City Executives Major Reshuffle, Discerning Talent Rises to Power, Transfer Budget Revealed!
Bonazzoli was given a three-day leave by Guardiola so he could stay with his mother in the hospital.
The Italian forward was initially unhappy, saying he would miss the Champions League match against Gladbach. He wanted to join the team on the trip to Germany, to participate in the match against Gladbach—even if it was just to sit on the bench.
Guardiola firmly refused, and even reprimanded him in the office.
"We have at least two matches to play every week, but you only have one mother. You are first a son, and then a professional player. Family always comes first; you need to understand this!"
Guardiola knew Bonazzoli’s background, aware that Bonazzoli lost his father early, raised solely by his mother, and Bonazzoli was the only close family member by his Italian mother’s side.
"Spend more time with family, remember to hire more caregivers for your mother during her recovery, don’t let her move alone. Kid, after the Champions League match against Gladbach, I’ll make time to visit her."
... 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
October has ended.
The first day of November, the climate of Manchester was suddenly bleak.
With the temperature dropping suddenly, the sycamore trees on the roadside shed all their yellow leaves.
In the morning, Guardiola donned a thick down jacket, wore a black hat, and walked down the street with his head down.
Stepping on sycamore leaves that the cleaners hadn’t had time to sweep, the crisp yellow leaves crackled under Guardiola’s shoes like glass shards, making him feel quite irritable.
What made him irritable was not football-related matters.
Manchester’s recent momentum was extraordinarily strong, not only winning continuously in the league with a record of 9 wins and 1 draw in the first 10 rounds, making them the only undefeated team among the top five leagues so far;
In the Champions League, they were also making great strides, winning all three group stage matches, ranking first with 9 points, surpassing Barça with 6 points.
Whether domestically or in European contests, they were advancing on both fronts simultaneously.
The thing troubling Guardiola at this time, is about his eldest daughter.
Guardiola has three children, his eldest daughter named Maria, his second daughter named Valentina, and his son named Marius.
Maria, currently 16 years old, attended elementary and middle school in Spain. After Guardiola began coaching Bayern, he wanted to bring her to Germany.
However, his wife wanted to send their daughter to study in the UK, believing that the UK had the best education in Europe and that English instruction would be beneficial for their child’s development. She even said she had chosen an international high school in Manchester, ready for Maria after middle school graduation.
Guardiola couldn’t go against his wife, so he agreed.
One reason he moved from Bayern to Manchester was to accompany his daughter’s growth and take care of her life and studies.
Guardiola adores his eldest daughter and hopes his daughter could attend a prestigious university, and in the future, become a doctor or a lawyer.
However, after rebellious Maria came to high school in the UK, her perspective widened immensely. This graceful, tall girl said she wanted to become an online celebrity and a model, to sign with a talent agency, excitedly saying someone took notice of her.
"Dad, I don’t want to attend high school anymore, please give me freedom!"
Slap!
Guardiola was so furious he didn’t grant her freedom, instead, gave her a slap.
"My daughter of Guardiola dropping out of high school? Dream on! Don’t think just because your dad is wealthy, you can do whatever you want. That talent agency is just trying to ride on my fame. Do you believe if you weren’t my daughter, no one would care about you!"
This incident happened the day before Guardiola led the team to the away game against Norwich.
Maria locked herself in the room, cried, didn’t eat for a day, stubbornly declared she’d rather die than go to school.
For this, his wife had a huge fight with him, making their already disharmonious marital relationship worse, eventually, his wife even threatened to divorce him!
Having slapped his beloved eldest daughter made Guardiola full of regret, but no matter how he apologized and tried to make amends, his daughter wouldn’t speak to him.
So it’s no surprise that when Bonazzoli said he didn’t want to accompany his mom and wanted to go to the away game against Gladbach, Guardiola, unaware of Bonazzoli’s plight, was so angry, sternly scolding him to spend more time with family.
That day the weather was cold and windy.
Guardiola intentionally didn’t drive and walked to work, just to feel the wind and relax.
The piercing cold wind penetrated his neck, sweeping away the warmth under his down jacket. Guardiola shivered, becoming much more clear-headed.
"Let it be, whether she wants to study or not, it’s all my fault for being too busy coaching, having too little time to communicate with my daughter..." Guardiola felt a pang of heartache.
After walking to the head coach’s office, he just sat down, ready to have a cup of coffee and watch the Bundesliga video footage of Gladbach, when he heard a commotion.
When Guardiola looked up, he felt the dust on the ceiling was falling down.
He stepped out of the office, went up one floor, arrived at the CEO’s office door, seeing Business Director Belada directing Manchester staff in moving furniture, arranging the room.
"Hmm, what’s this?" Guardiola asked in confusion.
Belada gave Guardiola a big hug.
The hug was so firm and spirited, it nearly caused the coffee in Guardiola’s hand to drop to the ground.
"It’s done, Pep! I’ve succeeded, haha!"
Belada warmly pulled Guardiola aside to sit and chat, only then did Guardiola know, that Belada got promoted.
He replaced Belgistan’s position, advancing from Business Director to Manchester City Club’s CEO!
"Congratulations," Guardiola said with surprise, "Where did Mr. Belgistan go?"
"Him? He went to serve at the City’s Group headquarters. Haha, I finally outlasted him." Belada was evidently very happy, he kept smiling ever since Guardiola entered, speaking with an unmistakable tone of joy.
"The City Group was conducting a rotation among executives. With Belgistan gone, this position was mine to take."
"Of course, my performance report was important too, thanks to you, Pep, for bringing the club so well. You know, Belgistan even had thoughts about keeping Pellegrini back then. I firmly disagreed! Oh, also Tang, the key was Tang, Tang was my high-priced acquisition insisted against opposition, his performance has been exceptionally perfect, enhancing the club both competitively and commercially! Abu Dhabi Consortium appreciates my eye for talent, something the City Group also recognizes."
Back then, during the summer transfer window of 2015, Pellegrini was still Manchester City’s head coach, he intended to buy De Bruyne.
The opinion of then CEO Belgistan was aligned with Pellegrini.
"Compared to Tang, De Bruyne is more mature, with a few good years of Bundesliga experience. Choosing him is a more prudent decision; Tang is too young, not yet 20 years old. Whether he is a flash in the pan is still to be tested."
Pellegrini agreed: "Right, stability is one thing. On the other hand, though Tang has many assists, the number of goals he scored is much less than Kevin. Kevin is a versatile midfielder who can assist and score, with stronger offensive capability. I very much like this Belgian."
But Belada resolutely disagreed!
He said Tang’s potential far exceeds De Bruyne, and moreover, Tang has the vast Asian market behind him, something De Bruyne doesn’t have.
"Looking at it now, I was completely right, Pep, would you say my eye for talent is accurate?" Belada was quite proud.
Guardiola nodded, complimenting him a few times, then said, "Since you’ve been promoted to CEO, I must propose an expectation to you, you can’t refuse."
Belada smiled and said, "I know what you want to say, Pep, I’ll give you a big gift. This winter window, I’ll help negotiate 70 million British Pounds of transfer budget for you, spend it however you like."
Guardiola’s eyes lit up, immediately raised a thumbs up, offering the first praise of the day!
"This is so generous, thank Abu Dhabi Consortium on my behalf. Though perhaps I don’t need that much, I only need to buy a goalkeeper."
"Bravo is ultimately just a transitional player, his physical condition is somewhat inadequate. I hope next season to acquire a goalkeeper proficient both in goal-line and footwork skills, ideally joining the team from the winter window onwards, giving him half a season to adapt before taking over Bravo’s primary position."
...
Wednesday, the fourth round of the Champions League group stage.
Gladbach host Manchester City at their home.
Bonazzoli was at the hospital at that time, accompanying his mother as they watched the live TV broadcast.
When the announcement of "Number 9, Tang" in the starting lineup resounded, the high-decibel cheer from merely 1000 Manchester City fans in the away stand had such strong penetration that it surprisingly drowned out the noise created by 50000 Gladbach fans!
Bonazzoli heard it clearly in front of the television.
He watched the close-up of Tang Long, excitedly rubbing his hands, saying to his mother:
"Mom, did you hear that? Someday, I will receive such applause when I appear on the field!"
