The Winds of Change
The wind blew gently. Even after traveling around several stadiums in England and thinking deeply, Ha Sunmoon ultimately couldn’t decide where he wanted to go most.
“Hmm… it seems making a decision isn’t easy after all. I wanted to give you the choice…”
“It actually feels harder now. If there was even a little connection, I could decide right away…”
After spending all that time in England without reaching a conclusion, the moment came for Ha Sunmoon to return to Espanyol.
“For now, I’ll stay in England and make some counteroffers. Go back to Espanyol first and rebuild your body. The season is about to start.”
The preseason was practically over. In just a few days, the Community Shield would kick off the Premier League season, so Ha Sunmoon agreed and left for Barcelona to return to Espanyol.
Felipe, who hadn’t heard about any offer from Espanyol, now had to go around making counteroffers. First, he needed to decide which club to approach.
‘First… Manchester United, who showed the highest interest.’
It was a club that had previously had a Korean player, and their current fullback quality left something to be desired. As a Korean fullback, Ha Sunmoon would be easy to pitch. Felipe set up a meeting with Manchester United and, fortunately, had no trouble securing time with the director, Woodward.
“Nice to meet you, Director.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Since the other party held full authority over player transfers at Manchester United, Felipe was cautious. Though a promising agent, he was still far from the big leagues, so he tried hard not to show his nerves.
“I know why you’re here.”
“You do?”
Woodward gave a small nod.
“The reason you came all this way is because you want that player to play for Manchester United, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“There’s a small problem with that. It’s difficult to tell you the full story… Anyway, I can only inform you that we’re currently in a situation where it’s difficult to sign Harold. I can’t say more than that.”
‘Damn it! Why withdraw right before making an offer?’
Frustration boiled inside him, but Felipe stayed calm and thought it through.
‘A sudden withdrawal… means something in the situation has changed…’
“Harold is a truly excellent player. If you miss him now, you’ll regret it greatly.”
“But it can’t be helped. We have our own circumstances. The only reason we met today was to acknowledge the effort you made coming here and to let you know that we were genuinely interested.”
Woodward’s attitude was serious, which only made Felipe feel more frustrated. Then, suddenly, thinking about Manchester United’s current situation, the pieces began to fall into place.
‘The current manager is Solskjaer. The one who finished second last season. But he couldn’t go any further. Could it be…’
“Do you want to sack Manager Solskjaer?”
At Felipe’s words, Woodward looked at him for a moment. Silence. But it was answer enough.
Ziiiing.
‘Oh no. At such an important moment…’
Felipe’s phone suddenly began vibrating, but he frowned and quickly turned it off.
“Harold was Solskjaer’s pick. Still, he’s the manager who finished second last season…”
“Second place after being overwhelmingly beaten by Pep Guardiola, who took first. No one remembers second place.”
Woodward gave a brief explanation, and Felipe sighed inwardly.
“Who will remember Manchester United finishing second in a few years? It wasn’t even a fierce second place—just one that happened because other teams collapsed. If Klopp’s Liverpool hadn’t been decimated by injuries, we would have been third. A second place without competitiveness has no future. We’re looking for a new manager… but the one we contacted demanded the sports director position as well. That’s why we have no choice but to wait with the current squad intact.”
‘Tsk… so that’s how it is… then there’s nothing we can do.’
“Thank you for explaining so kindly. I understand the situation now.”
“Then… I’d appreciate it if this conversation didn’t spread elsewhere.”
“I swear on my name as an agent that I won’t spread it.”
Felipe exchanged a light farewell with Woodward and stepped outside.
“Whew… this won’t be easy. The place I thought was most advantageous turned out like this…”
Felipe turned his phone back on.
“What the…?”
The phone was filled with several missed calls and countless messages.
Ziiiing!
And not long after turning it on, another call came in along with more messages.
Manchester City’s board members were in a serious meeting.
They should have had a successful transfer window with the dream of winning the Champions League, but it had ended in complete failure.
“Ha…”
Txiki Begiristain recalled the transfer saga of the past few days.
Grealish. Signing Grealish had seemed perfect. No, he had thought it was perfect. A hundred million pounds was a huge sum, but it was the right price to pry the ace from a mid-to-upper table team.
But Txiki had no idea what problems would arise from accepting that deal.
Kane. He had been the top target of this transfer window, but everything started going wrong after buying Grealish. They made an offer to Tottenham, but Levy showed absolute determination not to let Kane go, and the bidding war escalated insanely to 150 million pounds. Levy had never intended to sell Kane in the first place, turning it into a one-sided tug-of-war.
A deal that kept increasing but was never accepted. Realizing he had been played by Levy until the end, Txiki Begiristain gave up on the Kane deal.
Messi. While dealing with the Kane saga, Barcelona suddenly exploded with debt in La Liga and Messi hit the market. Rumors had circulated that they couldn’t re-sign him, and news of Barcelona’s financial problems kept coming, but no one had imagined hundreds of billions in debt. Because of that, Messi became available, and it could have fulfilled owner Mansour’s long-held wish—but having already bought Grealish, they couldn’t offer Messi a satisfactory salary. The fatal mistake was assuming Messi would definitely stay at Barcelona.
Messi ended up signing with PSG, and Manchester City missed out on him again.
In this maddening situation, Ronaldo’s agent Mendes knocked on Manchester City’s door, and Txiki’s head began to throb.
Pep didn’t prefer players like Ronaldo. But the fans, perhaps because of losing out on Messi and Kane, were excited, and Txiki Begiristain agonized over whether to proceed with the uncomfortable deal.
But even this had been a scheme using Manchester City. Manchester United, who hadn’t even looked at Ronaldo, now had to buy him. Ronaldo used Manchester City perfectly and returned to Manchester United.
“This is a disaster… we need more reinforcements…”
With successive deal failures, fan criticism of Txiki Begiristain was growing fierce, and CEO Ferran Soriano was also taking the current situation very seriously.
“Txiki, we need to give Pep some power. The squad’s morale is terrible after failing to win the Champions League last season…”
That was true. The Champions League final. That dream moment had been right in front of them, but Manchester City couldn’t seize it. After conceding to Kai Havertz in the 42nd minute of the first half, they lost 0-1.
“Isn’t there any other good player?”
“There was one Pep was interested in.”
Txiki checked the player Pep had shown interest in.
“You mean Harold? The 2003-born player who was in La Liga 2.”
“But he performed well against Barcelona.”
“Sigh… sign him for a reasonable fee and send him on loan to one of the City Football Group clubs. That should be enough for now.”
“We should sign that player quickly.”
Just as they were about to decide, a scout who had been attending the meeting spoke up urgently.
“Huh? Why?”
“Right now, this player is creating quite a buzz on social media.”
“Hmm?”
“A fairly skilled football analysis YouTuber did a review and called him an absolute world-class player, and the fans are loving it.”
The scout played the video as he spoke.
The viral video began with praise for Ha Sunmoon and then showed clips of his plays.
Txiki, who had been watching Ha Sunmoon’s plays, opened his mouth.
“How much did you say this kid costs?”
“Around 30 million euros.”
“Make the offer. 30 million? That’s nothing.”