Greatest Of All Legends

Pirlo slumped in his chair, feeling a headache coming on, but there was nothing he could do about it. The chairman had already acquiesced to the sale of Ronaldo… or maybe he was the one who started the motion in the first place.

Pirlo understood that despite Uventus being a football club, it was still a business and a business was inherently to make profit.

Right now, the chairman only saw Ronaldo as a hole in his pocket, not realizing that even though money was falling out from this hole, the benefits the hole brought outweighed the money it caused him to lose.

To Pirlo, it seemed like nobody understood, but as a former football player, Pirlo knew what it was like for a club that lost its main man, especially when this main man was an attacker who scored most of the team's goals.

The Uventus players had gotten in tune with getting the ball to Ronaldo, and Ronaldo being the monster that he was could convert those passes into goals, even in unexpected situations.

If he was not there to work his magic like usual, the whole team would become discombobulated.

'Madrid is still recovering for Christ's sake!' he raged internally, but stayed silent and controlled his breathing.

The worst part was that if the club couldn't maintain the peak they were at right now, he would be shown the door, and quickly too. In fact, people were already eyeing his job when the team was in a slump earlier in the season, but luckily he overcame that and was able to hold on to his job, but now he could see the job security he had spent his time building fly out the window.

Gritting his teeth, he sat back up. He couldn't stop the sale, but he could try to ensure that the team didn't fall apart and the only way to do that now was to secure good transfers.

Listening to the sport director explain that he had already mentioned the matter with Ronaldo in a meeting and Ronaldo had not been strongly against it had readily accepted it, saying he didn't mind a new challenge.

"What about Jason's issue?" Pirlo said immediately the sport director stopped talking.

"That was the next topic actually. His stint with us has shown his quality and though we know there is a lot for him to improve, there is no doubt that he would be a good signing for us… but his situation is probably the most complicated one," the sporting director began.

"As we know, he has six months left on his current contract with Oporto, but I've spoken with his agent and his demands are for an immediate transfer rather than waiting for the next six months," the sporting director said.

"That's to be expected. His relationship with his home team is not very good," Pirlo muttered, rubbing his chin.

"That constitutes a problem for us actually. With the potential he has shown, he is not likely to go for a price less than 80 million euros, and considering his age or that those Portuguese teams like to sell talented players for inflated prices, we are looking at at least a hundred million…" audible gasps swept through the room immediately, but if they were being honest, this was to be expected.

"Clearly, we cannot afford to pay that much," the finance director said, almost in a scoff.

"Right. The only other way to get him for cheaper is to sign him on a free contract once the transfer window opens, after which we can then pay a smaller transfer fee to have him join us earlier, right?" the sporting director said, looking at the legal representative who nodded.

"Since he's younger than 23, we'll have to pay a training compensation fee and all that, but even if they inflate the prices, we still wouldn't have to pay that much… probably about 10 to 15 million, but it could reach anywhere from 20 to 30 million if they're being greedy,"

'Which they definitely are,' the sporting director thought but didn't say out loud.

"Can't we do that then?" the chairman asked, he considered Jason a player who could be a good replacement for Ronaldo as long as he could be gotten for cheap.

"It's definitely a good plan… there's just one other problem. We're not the only ones who want him," the sporting director said.

"Wait, you're saying, if we don't do a bidding war over his transfer fee, there will be a bidding war on his wages instead?" Pirlo asked immediately, feeling his gut sink deeper.

"Exactly. We could end up having to make a terribly overpriced offer and if he does end up signing for us, his wages would probably only get higher and higher," the finance director replied this time.

"That's not necessarily a bad thing, right? He's worth a high wage," Pirlo said, trying to reason.

"... Hmmm… Which teams did you say are interested in him?" the chairman asked, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Uh, well…" the sporting director began, swiping quickly at his computer.

"Well, Milan and Barcelona for one are considering it, but they are in even worse financial situations than we are so I doubt they would end up making an offer,"

"Clubs that could potentially get into the bidding battle with us include Chelsea, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, and some others,"

"There are a few other teams that have shown some interest at some point in time, but even now, we'll have to wait to know which teams would actually make offers. Some of those teams already have transfers arranged for winger positions and don't need another one," the sporting director was explaining but a dry cough from the chairman stopped him.

"Send me the list of those clubs," the chairman said, ideas brewing in his head.

'Player transfers isn't always about which teams has more money after all,' the chairman thought to himself with a sly grin.

***

On the training grounds, Jason ran around the field, shuttling up and down and hitting the ball when he had to, not knowing that talks to determine his future was going on somewhere not to far away.