Chapter 168 Those who leave home and those who return home

“…Wang Lie and Tyne’s contract renewal ceremony was turned into a large-scale recruitment ceremony by him…”

“…Wang issued a call to players with ability and ambition, welcoming them to join Tyne. This is a very rare scene, where players publicly promote the club…”

“The whole of Europe is discussing the contract extension between Tyne and Wang. No one thought that Wang would praise Tyne at the contract extension press conference…”

“…In fact, our reporters went to Newcastle to report on Tyne in the past half season. They were really impressed by the club’s strong financial resources and professional attitude. Wang’s praise for Tyne did not sound like a spokesperson’s “commercial flattery”, but came from the heart…”

“Surprisingly, after Wang praised Tyne, we rarely heard criticism. Very few people stood up to refute Wang’s statement. Perhaps it is because Tyne’s performance this season is obvious to all. Their fourth place in the league is the best proof of Wang’s praise!”

……

After the contract renewal ceremony between Wang Lie and Tyne, as expected, the matter was reported by major European media and sparked heated discussions on the Internet.

With Wang Lie’s current fame and popularity, anything related to him can easily make the front page headlines of the media or become a hot search on social media.

British media have counted that before Wang Lie left, the Tyne Club’s social media account had only over 200,000 fans. Now, half a season has passed, and the number of fans of the Tyne Club on social media has exceeded 10 million, and is still increasing at a very fast rate.

Especially after this renewal ceremony, the number of fans has increased rapidly. Perhaps by the start of the new season, the number of Tyne’s social media fans will exceed 20 million.

If it could really reach 20 million, it would already be ranked in the top ten in the football club fan rankings on the entire Internet.

Wang Lie’s former club Sofo United has 61 million fans, ranking third.

Globally, there is still a huge gap between the number of fans of Tyne and Sofia.

But compared with the original, it is not much different.

Catching up to Sofia United in terms of fan numbers will not help Tyne win more games, let alone win the championship.

But it can well illustrate Wang Lie’s influence.

Especially in the past half season, his experience has been extremely legendary, which has further expanded his influence.

Wang Lie’s own number of social media followers is also increasing.

Now it’s almost 500 million.

You should know that half a year ago, his number of fans started to drop from 410 million and was almost falling below 400 million.

Now, because of his comeback, many of the new followers were not his fans before. They were completely attracted by Wang Lie’s performance in half a season and started following him.

Perhaps there are some haters of Wang Lie who have deep prejudices against him and would be dismissive of Wang Lie’s influence, insisting that this is all an illusion created by the marketing of Middle Eastern oil capital.

But most normal people in this world can clearly distinguish right from wrong and the truth.

At the very least, they all believed that Wang Lie’s influence was real, thanks to Wang Lie’s 27 goals in half a season.

If anyone dared to question Wang Lie’s influence, they would ask him:

“Can your idol perform like this at the age of 38?”

“Let alone being 38 years old, even at the peak of his powers, it would be hard for him to perform like this, right?”

The haters will basically shut up.

In the face of Wang Lie’s actual performance, there is no soil for them to survive.

It’s like under the scorching sun at noon, all the dark and dirty things have nowhere to escape.

※※※

Renzo Pisano is packing his bags at his home in Madrid, preparing to fly back to Argentina for the holiday with his family.

At this moment, he received a call from his agent Rodrigo Astina:
“Renzo, are you ready to talk now?”

Astina’s voice on the other end of the phone sounded serious, and he must have something serious to say to him.

Seeing this, Pisano threw the half-folded clothes in his hand on the bed and turned to walk towards the terrace on the second floor.

“Of course it’s convenient. What’s the matter, Rodrigo? From your tone, the club doesn’t plan to renew my contract?”

As the main midfielder of Madrid FC and one of the top three midfield masters in the world, Renzo Pisano has been negotiating a contract extension with the club for a year, but there is still no progress…

No, there is progress.

But it wasn’t a positive development.

Already 33 years old, the contract extension he is discussing with Madrid FC may very well be his last contract with the club.

However, the two sides could not reach an agreement on two key conditions: contract term and annual salary.

Pisano hopes to sign a three-year contract with the club and hopes to receive an annual salary of 13 million euros after tax.

However, considering his age, the club only wants to give him a two-year contract. There is no disagreement on the annual salary, which is a total of 26 million euros after tax for two years.

Because the contract term could not be agreed upon, the renewal negotiations between the two parties reached a deadlock.

As a result, just as the contract extension negotiations were underway, Renzo Pisano was injured and missed nearly four months of play.

At the age of thirty-three, he was seriously injured again.

These give the club the upper hand in the contract renewal negotiations.

Because Pisano has no way to add weight to himself through his performance on the court.

In addition, this season FC Madrid was eliminated from the Champions League and then overtaken by Athletic Barcelona in the league, resulting in a fruitless season.

It seems that the club’s management is planning to update the team’s lineup.

Since we need to renew the team, the matter of renewing the contract of a 33-year-old veteran is naturally not so urgent.

Because his contract with the club expires in one season, Renzo Pisano has given up hope of reaching a new agreement with the team this summer.

He plans to use his outstanding performance next season to impress the club management again and regain the advantage in contract renewal negotiations.

So when he received a call from his agent at this time, and the tone was so serious, he naturally thought that something had happened regarding the contract renewal.

But his agent Rodrigo Astina said something else that surprised him even more:
“Will Foster, the general manager of Tyne FC, called me and asked me if I had considered leaving Madrid FC?”

“Ah?” Renzo Pisano’s brain couldn’t keep up and fell into a daze.

When his agent Astina saw that Pisano said “ah” and then fell silent, he continued, “To put it simply, Tyne is interested in you. Ask me if you are willing to go to Tyne.”

“Why are they looking for me?”

Pisano asked this almost subconsciously, and as soon as he said it, he realized that he had asked a nonsense question.

The news that his contract renewal with Madrid FC was unfavorable was known to everyone in the past season.

However, Astina still answered Pisano’s question: “Tyne needs a top passer who can continuously deliver ammunition to Wang and Vitini. And you, Renzo, are one of the best passers in the world. At the same time, there are news that your contract renewal with the club is not favorable. In Tyne’s view, you are the best target. Will Foster expressed Tyne’s sincerity on the phone, and they are willing to meet ‘all’ your salary requirements.”

Astina puts emphasis on “everything.”

Pisano also came to his senses and laughed, “What a boast!”

Astina reminded him: “Renzo, everyone knows that Tyne is not short of money.”

Pisano was silent.

“I didn’t give Foster any reply because the decision is yours, Renzo.”

Astina finished speaking and waited patiently for Pisano’s response.

Pisano didn’t say anything either, he was lost in thought.

He was not completely ignorant of Tyne, because that was the team Wang Lie played for.

Over the past six months, this team, like that man, has always been mentioned throughout European football.

Not to mention that he himself is in a team that has a close relationship with Wang Lie.

Whenever there was any movement on Wang Lie’s part, there would be a discussion in the Madrid FC locker room.

In fact, he could understand why Tyne invited him without his agent’s explanation.

The team that has made it to the Champions League for the first time in history needs to increase its strength in order to be able to cope with a competition of this level.

Judging from Tyne’s games last season, they had three sharp arrows in the offensive end: Wang Lie, Vitini and Dean, and his former teammate Matej Katic in the backcourt. The only thing they were slightly worse in the midfield.

Van Ginkel is an offensive midfielder, and passing the ball to organize the offense is not his best skill. As a result, Wang Lie often needs to retreat to participate in the offensive organization.

This certainly reflects Wang Lie’s superb and comprehensive personal ability, but if there could be a real organizer in the midfield, wouldn’t it free up Wang Lie and allow him to score more goals?

Therefore, Tyne really needs players like himself to strengthen his strength. With his ability and status, he doesn’t have to worry about not being able to play in the game after going there.

For a player of his level, the only thing he needs to consider is:
Personal wishes.

Do I want to go to Tyne?
Do I need to go to Tyne?
But in Renzo Pisano’s mind, there are still no answers to these two questions.

He couldn’t just hold the phone and keep his agent Astina waiting. So he said, “I need to think about this carefully, Rodrigo. I’ll tell you when I come to a conclusion.”

“No problem, this issue does require careful consideration.”

After hanging up the phone, Pisano was about to go back to his room when his cell phone rang again.

He thought it was his agent Astina calling again, but when he picked up the phone he saw:
Katic
Just by seeing the name, Pisano guessed why Katic called him.

But he was still very surprised. He didn’t expect that Katic would call him personally to persuade him…

So he answered the phone and wanted to hear what Katic had to say.

“Renzo, are you interested in coming to Tain to play football?”

As soon as the call was connected, Katic asked straight to the point.

Pisano was so amused: “Majie, you’re just going to start right away without any preparation?”

Katic also smiled: “How should I prepare for this? First, talk to you about the weather difference between Madrid and Newcastle? Then ask about the progress of your contract renewal negotiations with Madrid FC? Or should I say no? Let’s get straight to the point… Huh? You don’t seem very surprised by this reaction…”

“Hey, I just got off the phone with my agent ten seconds before you called.”

This time it was Katic’s turn to be surprised: “Tain has already contacted your agent? Are they so quick?”

Pisano was also surprised when he heard this: “Aren’t you a lobbyist sent by Tyne?”

Katic quickly explained: “It has nothing to do with Tyne, and Will Foster didn’t ask me to persuade you. It was my own idea to call you.”

“Ha! Haha!” Pisano laughed when he heard this.

Katich was surprised: “What are you laughing at, Renzo?”

“What am I laughing at? Ha!” Pisano was still smiling as he spoke, “I find it interesting, incredibly interesting! Previously, the king used the contract renewal ceremony to publicly advertise for Tyne’s recruitment. I didn’t expect that now you would take the initiative to lobby for Tyne… I’m curious, what magic does Tyne have that allows you to do this for it?”

“What kind of magic is it? You will know it when you come, Renzo?” Katic said, “I just want to find a helper for Wang, and then I thought of you. I think there is no one in the world who is more suitable to partner with Wang than you.”

“This is the second point I’m curious about: you and the king seemed to get along very well in Taien, but I know that you and the king didn’t get along very well back then…”

“We were opponents back then and now we are teammates. Isn’t this normal?” said Katic.

“Is it normal? I think it’s very abnormal. You seem to be very proactive in doing this… This is the third point that I’m curious about: Matej, if I remember correctly, you left Madrid to go to Tain for retirement, right? You told all of us that Tain made you an offer you couldn’t refuse, and that you wanted nothing more than to get such a contract at the end of your career. You would retire when the contract expires. What? Have you changed your mind? Do you also want to play until you are over 40 like Wang?”

Katic laughed: “I won’t be like him, and I won’t renew my contract with Tayne. I still have two seasons left on my contract with the club. These are the last two seasons of my professional career, and I will retire after the season – this idea has not changed.”

“Then why are you so positive?”

“Ha! Did you watch the contract renewal ceremony between Wang and Taeun?”

“I didn’t watch the live broadcast, but I watched the news. There was all kinds of news everywhere, and I couldn’t hide from it. It was the first time I saw European media pay so much attention to a Premier League fourth-placed team…”

Katic smiled happily at the complaints from his former teammates.

Then he said, “The news should have mentioned the last words of the king, right? He said that we are carrying out a great cause…”

“Yes, ‘a great cause’. I’m curious as to what could have made him say that…”

“‘Great Cause’ is a crazy blueprint. I bet it’s the craziest idea you’ve never heard of in your life, Renzo. But this is a long-term cause, and I don’t know if it will succeed in the end. But Wang also has a crazy short-term plan.” Katic explained for Renzo Pisano.

“Crazy short-term plan? It can’t be the Champions League, right? Ha!”

Pisano teased with a smile.

Katic also laughed: “Ha! You guessed it right! Renzo! That’s right, it’s the Champions League champion! Wang wants to lead Tyne to win the Champions League! From this point of view, you should come to Tyne, Renzo. You will form a golden partnership with Wang because you two have the same tacit understanding!”

Renzo Pisano’s laughter caught in his throat and stopped abruptly.

※※※

“… Next season, we will participate in the Champions League. I hope that all those players who have ideals, abilities and ambitions can consider coming to Tyne. I am here to invite you. If you are full of desire for victory and you are willing to fight for victory, then you are welcome to come to Tyne. We are carrying out a great cause, and you will write your name in history. Thank you.”

After the agent watched the video on his phone, Miguel Ribeiro excitedly told him: “Bruno, I’m going to Taine! You go and contact Taine!”

His agent Bruno Figueroa covered his forehead with his hand: “I know you are a fan of Wang, but Miguel, can you consider the current situation? Your contract with AC Milan will not expire for another three years, and you are the absolute main force of the team. Do you think AC Milan will let you leave?”

Ribeiro grinned: “Isn’t this your job, Bruno? You go talk to both clubs, let Tyne be willing to sign me, and convince Milan to let me leave. I believe you can do it!”

Figueroa was speechless: “Damn it, Miguel! I’m not a god! I’m not a wizard who can bewitch people…”

Ribeiro waved his hand at him: “Go ahead and give it a try, Bruno. Go ahead and give it a try. There’s no harm in trying. What if it works? Go find Tyne first. If they’re interested in me, then go find Milan. I don’t want to miss this opportunity. This is not just a chance to play football with Wang, but also a chance to create a great career with Wang! I want to leave my name in history!”

He even paced back and forth in front of his agent excitedly and couldn’t calm down at all.

Bruno Figueroa looked at him so excited and sighed: “I will contact Tyne, but I can’t guarantee that it will succeed…”

“Go ahead, Bruno, pick up your phone and contact Tyne right now. I don’t want to wait for an hour!”

Ribeiro simply jumped up.

※※※

“…After Wang and Tyne renewed their contract for five years, the Tyne Club recently received good news: Brazilian talent Vitini has signed a new eight-year contract with the club! Vitini, who had been rumored to leave the team, has tied himself to Tyne with an extra-long contract. This decision should have a lot to do with Wang. When this contract expires, Vitini will be thirty years old…”

“…Kensington FC announced that they have signed free agent Sonny Dean from Tyne for free. The Tyne FC official also announced Dean’s departure today, and thanked him for his contribution to Tyne and wished him good luck in Kensington in the future…”

※※※

“You really won’t come to London with me, mother?”

Standing in the tidied living room of the villa, Sonny Dean asked his mother beside him.

“If you don’t go, do you still need me to accompany you? You are an adult, Sonny.” Mom shook her head. “Compared to the big city of London, I still like Newcastle more. Besides, if I go to London, it will be difficult for me to watch the Tyne game.”

“You don’t watch your son’s games?”

“I can watch your games on TV, but to watch Tyne’s games, I have to go there.”

Dean laughed: “How biased…”

“What are you going to do with this house?” Mom asked, looking around. “Sell it?”

Dean shook his head: “No, not for sale. Put it up with a real estate agency and rent it out.”

“Well, it would be a shame if we really sold it…” Mom muttered.

“Let’s go, Mom.” Dean turned around, opened the door behind him, and gestured to his mother to come in.

Mom took one more look around the room and then walked out.

Behind her, Dean took one last look.

This villa was a gift to himself after he signed a big contract with his hometown team.

Now these are memories he can’t take away.

He withdrew his gaze, closed and locked the door, and left the villa where he had lived for five years with his mother.

※※※

Wang Lie had just walked to the gate of the villa when the thick armored door was opened from the inside.

“father!”

“father!”

Two children, a boy and a girl, rushed over at the same time.

Wang Lie threw his luggage aside, hugged them, and looked behind them.

Inside, relatives gathered together and rushed up, surrounding his mother Zhou Hong.

Seeing his mother, Wang Lie said:
“Mom, I’m back.”

Zhou Hong smiled happily and nodded repeatedly: “Okay, okay, I’m glad to be back… Are you tired?”

Wang Lie shook his head: “Not tired.”

Tang Xingmei stood behind Wang Lie, watching the scene with a smile on her face.

(The first volume “The Man Racing Against Time” is finished)

※※※

PS, I finished writing this at almost six in the morning, and didn’t have time to check and revise it. If there are typos, please point them out in the chapter and paragraph comments, and I will revise them after I get up.

Also, I will write the end-of-volume summary after I get up.

Now I have to hurry up and go to bed…

(End of this chapter)