Why had Malouda not moved directly to Guingamp after the season, as he had in Ethan's previous life?
The reason was simple.
He had been injured.
At the beginning of the season, when he should have been performing well and helping Châteauroux remain in Ligue 2, he was brought down by a reckless challenge from a newly signed player and ruled out for three months.
By the time he recovered, he had lost his place in the starting lineup and was reduced to waiting on the bench for an opportunity that might never come.
Even more disastrously, Châteauroux, who had been considered serious promotion contenders before the season, somehow ended the campaign relegated to the National.
The result immediately unsettled the squad. Any player with an opportunity to leave began searching for a way out, and many fled the club as quickly as they could.
The French National was similar to England's National League. Both represented the highest level outside the fully professional divisions, with professional and semi-professional clubs competing together and regional amateur leagues beneath them.
Malouda had come through Châteauroux's academy and felt a genuine attachment to the club.
Although he was only twenty, he had already spent two consecutive seasons as a regular starter and performed well.
That made his lack of playing time the previous year especially frustrating. He desperately wanted an opportunity to prove himself again.
At that moment, an official offer from New Manchester United arrived by fax at Châteauroux's offices.
The opening bid was £300,000.
Châteauroux were surprised. They had no idea how an English club had noticed one of their young players.
But that was not important.
What mattered was that they had no intention of selling Malouda, at least not for that price.
New Manchester United soon increased their offer.
This time, they bid £450,000.
Châteauroux found the new figure much harder to reject. The club badly needed money to continue operating and to rebuild a squad capable of returning to Ligue 2.
Under those circumstances, they had to retain the most important members of the team while also selling several valuable players to raise funds.
Malouda was clearly not among those they were determined to keep.
New Manchester United's offer was slightly higher than the bids from the other clubs interested in him. More importantly, they promised to pay the entire fee immediately, while the other sides wanted to pay in instalments.
Châteauroux naturally preferred the cash offer.
After reaching an agreement with the club, Ethan personally called Malouda. He also arranged for Mourinho to speak with him.
They promised that as long as Malouda trained hard and met the manager's requirements, he would be given the chance to start.
Malouda considered the proposal for only three days before deciding to move to Manchester.
...
On the same day Malouda signed for New Manchester United, the club's scouts found a seventeen-year-old named Franck Ribéry in Boulogne-sur-Mer, a port city on the French coast facing England.
Boulogne were a professional club competing in one of France's regional amateur divisions.
Despite their long history and a spell in Ligue 2 during the 1960s, they had never reached Ligue 1. Since dropping into the regional leagues in the 1970s, they had never returned to their former level.
Now an English League Two club wanted one of their players.
Boulogne had little reason to refuse, nor did they want to. New Manchester United had promised to pay compensation.
The amount was insignificant to New Manchester United, but to Boulogne, it was extremely attractive.
Ribéry had previously trained with Lille but had been released after failing to impress.
He joined Boulogne simply hoping to make a living from football. He had never imagined that a professional club from England would approach him and offer a full-time contract.
He accepted immediately and travelled to Manchester the following day.
Arriving in Manchester at around the same time was Brede Hangeland from Norway.
He had previously played for Viking FK, a semi-professional club that had just earned promotion to the Norwegian top flight. Even so, they had been unable to keep him.
As a Norwegian, Hangeland did not require a work permit to play in England. That was one of the main reasons Ethan had felt confident about signing him.
The arrival of this future Premier League defender would make New Manchester United's back line even stronger.
As the flights carrying Ribéry and Hangeland arrived one after the other, Jim, the taxi driver sent by New Manchester United, waited at the airport and collected them both before driving back toward the city.
"Is this Manchester?" Ribéry asked.
Thin and inexperienced, he had never travelled abroad before. The farthest he had ever been was Lille, so he spent the entire journey staring out of the window.
The scenery rushed past, while the grey sky above seemed to stretch endlessly without a trace of sunlight.
"Is the training ground still far away?" Ribéry asked from behind the driver's seat.
"There's still more than half an hour to go," Jim replied, glancing at the frail youngster in the rear-view mirror.
He found it difficult to imagine Ribéry as a professional footballer.
The boy looked so thin that a strong gust of wind might knock him over.
What had Ethan been thinking? Where had he found this scrawny little player? With that striking scar on his face, Ribéry looked nothing like a professional athlete.
The tall player beside him, however, looked far more convincing.
At only nineteen, Hangeland was already more than 1.9 metres tall and powerfully built.
Sitting beside Ribéry, the contrast was almost comical. They represented two completely opposite physical types.
The taxi soon left the ring road and entered Newton Heath. Before long, the Newton Heath Training Base came into view.
From a distance, the first thing they saw was a long, high wall of greenery running alongside the road.
At first, both players assumed it surrounded a public park.
Only when Jim stopped at the entrance did they realise it belonged to New Manchester United's training complex.
The gate itself was ordinary, no different from the entrance to a typical business.
Once inside, however, they saw a two-storey administrative building to one side, currently being renovated.
The exterior was built mainly from red brick, with carefully added green and gold details.
Beyond the administrative offices stood the most striking feature of the complex, the training building.
New Manchester United's crest was displayed prominently across the front.
The building stood directly beside the training pitches, while The Lab occupied a separate area in one corner of the grounds.
OPTA also maintained an office within The Lab, although its main headquarters had moved to another site near the training base, roughly a twenty-minute walk away.
"Hello. I'm Rui Faria, Mr. Mourinho's assistant," said a young man with a friendly, boyish face as he approached the two stunned newcomers.
Both players had clearly expected New Manchester United's training base to be little more than a neglected patch of grass.
Instead, they had arrived at a modern football complex.
Many of the facilities were still unfinished, but what already existed was more than enough to surprise them.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Faria said with a smile. "I was just as surprised when I first arrived. Then I understood something."
"This is an ambitious club. Only those who prove they belong here will be allowed to stay."
His tone remained friendly, but the meaning behind his words was difficult to miss.
Both young players immediately felt the pressure.
Were they good enough for a club like this?
There was only one way to prove it, through hard work in training and performances on the pitch.
Faria led them into the training building and took them directly to Mourinho's office.
Although Ethan had strongly recommended both players, Mourinho had agreed with the signings, especially Hangeland.
The Norwegian was a tall, powerful center-back who would compete with Abidal, Distin, and Terry for places in defence.
Mourinho knew much less about Ribéry, but Ethan had pushed hard for the deal, and the cost was minimal, so there had been no reason to object.
Mourinho and Ethan had already reached a clear agreement.
The manager alone would decide who played and who sat on the bench.
Even if Mourinho chose to leave Ethan's favourites, such as Essien, De Rossi, or Evra, out of the team, Ethan would not interfere.
After a brief and formal conversation with the two players, Mourinho instructed Faria to take them to The Lab for medical examinations arranged by Professor Fryer.
Every newly signed player had to undergo a full medical.
The Lab would also use the opportunity to create an individual file containing all future testing results, physical data, and training reports for long-term analysis.
Of course, not every examination could be completed inside the training base. Some of the more advanced tests had to be carried out at Manchester Royal Hospital.
Ethan learned from his office that Ribéry had arrived and immediately hurried outside.
Unfortunately, he reached the entrance just in time to see the car carrying Professor Fryer and the two players leave the training ground.
He could only smile helplessly.
Ethan was convinced that Ribéry would become another future star signed by New Manchester United.
Many people might later criticise Ribéry for lacking loyalty, constantly changing clubs and repeatedly seeking transfers.
But Ethan felt that this was simply part of professional football.
Beckham was currently being linked with a move away from Manchester United.
No one could question Beckham's love and loyalty toward the club, yet the calls for him to leave were growing louder by the day.
Watching the car disappear from the training base, Ethan strolled toward the training building, greeting staff members as he went.
No one should have been surprised that Ethan was the most popular person at the club.
He had personally welcomed almost every employee who worked there.
After entering the building, Ethan went straight to Mourinho's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Mourinho called from inside.
Ethan opened the door and stepped in.
"José, there's something I want to discuss with you."
He smiled and sat down opposite Mourinho.
"All right." Mourinho closed the notebook in front of him and leaned back. "What is it?"
"It's about the first-team squad, José."
Ethan's expression became serious.
"I'm a little worried."
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)