Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: The Biggest Fish in the Summer Transfer Market
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Club World Cup Quarterfinals
Real Madrid vs Flamengo played out exactly as expected.
ST: Gonzalo Garcia / CAM: Ban Yeager
LW: Rodrygo / RW: Franco Mastantuono
LCM: Dani Ceballos / Harvey Gera
LB: Fran Garcia / RB: Raul Asencio
LCB: Diego Yedro / RCB: Juan Martinez
GK: Giorgi Mamardashvili
A starting lineup that makes you think they didn't put much effort into it just from looking at it.
Even so, facing Flamengo wasn't much of a challenge.
For one thing, the quality of Real Madrid's bench players is just superior.
Beyond that, they borrowed standout talents for the attack—Rodrygo, Ban Yeager, Franco Mastantuono—which made all the difference.
It showed in the final score: 7-4.
A true slugfest with a whopping 11 goals in total.
Real Madrid conceded four, but their offense exploded for seven.
⚽ 23' Ban Yeager ⚽ 30' Fran Garcia ⚽ 42' Ban Yeager
⚽ 51' Ban Yeager ⚽ 57' Franco Mastantuono ⚽ 70' Rodrygo ⚽ 88' Ban Yeager
Ban Yeager notched a poker—a four-goal haul.
Interest poured in on him, and naturally, on Rodrygo too, who played the full match alongside him and showed great chemistry in recent games.
But even so, they couldn't displace Real Madrid's left winger, Vinicius.
No matter how brilliantly Rodrygo performed at Real Madrid now, it no longer positively impacted his standing there.
Vinicius and Mbappe were already massive walls in place.
No matter how well he did, he wouldn't displace them for a starting spot—instead, love calls from other clubs only grew louder.
In that situation, big clubs predictably came knocking for Rodrygo once again.
Real Madrid, in turn, stated they'd respect any suitable offer if that's what he wanted, after nearly a decade of service.
With that transfer fee in mind, their target was midfield reinforcements.
A measure to handle situations like Bellingham's absence without scrambling for loan players from other teams.
Without the Club World Cup special loan, they couldn't have urgently brought in Ban Yeager to put out the fire either.
Anyway, the better Rodrygo played, the more Real Madrid pushed him out—and clubs worldwide pulled him in.
The battle for the 29-30 summer transfer window's biggest fish, Rodrygo, had begun.
EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and beyond.
Clubs from every league and every team wanted Rodrygo.
World-class left wingers are rare on the market, and Rodrygo—forced by Real to develop play on the center and right too—is a true multi-player. No team could resist.
The team that lands him would be declared the transfer window's winner.
To even sit at the negotiation table with Real, clubs needed a personal agreement with Rodrygo first.
As the world's clubs fixated on him, Rodrygo's dilemma only deepened.
Thud—bang!
...
Thud—bang!
...
Thwump—...
Rodrygo sprinted to retrieve the ball, which had slipped behind him on a botched control.
His worries were even affecting his footwork.
Rodrygo—the only player I'd truly gotten close to since joining Real Madrid—was now at a crossroads.
As he came back with the ball, ready to pass it to me, he froze when he saw me right in front of him.
"Let's call it a day."
"...Yeah, maybe."
Regular training had ended long ago.
Surprisingly, Rodrygo had asked me to stay for extra work, and we'd been at it for over an hour now—time to head back for tomorrow's schedule.
His face was still etched with worry; he hadn't achieved the extra session's goal.
"You like Real Madrid that much?"
"Huh?"
"Enough to ruin your career over it?"
"..."
It had been nearly 10 years.
A decade at Real Madrid had made calling him a legend feel natural.
But thinking of Rodrygo evoked not glory, but sacrifice.
Pushed from his natural left wing spot to the right for 7 years.
Now, even the right-wing starting role eluded him; he was a sub.
No point dredging up the past, no reason to—but from now on, things would change.
Wingers' prime in their 20s wasn't far off.
"Let's go together when I head back."
"Manchester United...?"
"Yeah. You can play left wing till you drop."
"Even so, Man U is a bit..."
Damn it.
I'd said that, but Rodrygo was aware of Manchester United's interest too.
He'd synced well with me, the starting attacking midfielder, and knew it felt great.
Above all, among the offers, United's stood out as exceptional.
His loyalty to Real would translate to a hefty fee, putting United at the front of the pack.
But if Rodrygo didn't want to leave, it was meaningless.
Still, getting him to transfer didn't seem too hard.
ST: Kylian Mbappe / CAM: Ban Yeager
LW: Vinicius Junior / RW: Franco Mastantuono
LCM: Eduardo Camavinga / RCM: Federico Valverde
LB: Alvaro Carreras / RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold
LCB: Dean Huijsen / RCB: Eder Militao
GK: Giorgi Mamardashvili
Finally.
Or should I say, at last.
In the Club World Cup, Real Madrid faced a real threat even before kickoff.
Club World Cup Semifinals
Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain
In Etihad Stadium