After leaving the administrative building, Ethan first went to the training area. Finding that the team's training had already ended, he walked into the single-storey indoor football hall beside the training building.
This was a venue Ethan had specifically asked Walsh to arrange for construction. Several indoor pitches had been set up inside, including five-a-side and three-a-side courts. The latter were smaller and were generally used by friends playing casually, while the team's training was usually carried out on the five-a-side pitches.
When Ethan walked in, an intense indoor match was taking place on one of the five-a-side courts.
Ever since Palacio Sr. had proposed this new training method, it had almost become the favourite activity of New Manchester United's players.
Kaká and Juninho Pernambucano from Brazil, along with Palacio and Messi from Argentina, were undoubtedly the best indoor football players in the team. Playing alongside them was De Rossi from Italy.
Their opponents were Curtis Davies, Evra, Essien, Michael Johnson, and Olić. Another team was waiting on the sideline, consisting of Terry, Bosingwa, Abidal, Ribéry, and Ismail. They were waiting for the two teams on the court to decide a winner before taking their turn.
On another court farther away, a group of young players were also happily playing football. They were now required to come to this hall more often for indoor football training, which helped improve their technique, reactions, and anticipation.
The players who were not here were almost certainly in the training building. Each of them had their own preferred way to relax, whether it was playing video games, table tennis, or badminton. They did not all have to crowd into this place.
Standing by the court, Ethan immediately noticed the technical gap between the players.
Juninho's team had especially refined close-control skills. Their ability to keep the ball in tight spaces left Essien's team chasing shadows. In particular, the attacking trio of Kaká, Palacio, and Messi repeatedly produced beautiful combinations without letting the ball touch the ground.
Juninho's organisation was also very interesting. He and De Rossi hardly chased the ball. They simply moved in support of Kaká, Palacio, and Messi. Once the ball was intercepted, they immediately pressed forward, clearly taking advantage of Essien's team's technical shortcomings and their tendency to make mistakes in tight spaces.
An indoor football pitch was only so big, and with ten players crowded together, the space became even smaller. No wonder Palacio Sr. had said that this kind of training was extremely helpful for a player's technique, body coordination, and flexibility.
After the match ended, Essien's team were naturally frustrated because they had lost again, while Kaká's team happily stayed on as winners, allowing the next team to come up and challenge them.
"Ricardo!" Ethan waved toward Kaká.
Kaká saw Ethan and immediately waved to Michael Johnson, who had just been substituted out, signalling for him to take his place on the court.
Among these players, Michael Johnson had the best first touch. His passing was accurate, and his body coordination was good. He played indoor football quite well and could combine with Palacio and Messi.
"How is it? You look like you're enjoying yourself," Ethan said with a smile.
Kaká pointed behind him.
"I used to play this with friends all the time in Brazil. Our club even started training us in indoor football when we were very young. It's very helpful for our technique!"
Ethan smiled and patted him on the shoulder. The two walked out of the indoor football hall side by side.
"You came looking for me earlier. Is something wrong?" Ethan asked with concern.
Kaká hesitated for a moment, but still said, "My father told me that you made an offer to the club and have signed me."
Ethan nodded. He had mentioned this to Kaká before, but the final agreement had only been reached today, so Kaká had not known the details yet.
"Yes. £1.5 million."
"You're my player now, Ricardo!"
Kaká smiled. He was happy to be able to play for Ethan, but there was still something weighing on his mind.
"I'm very happy to play for New Manchester United, Mr. Yu. This is a remarkable club, but I have a request!"
Ethan nodded. "Go ahead."
Kaká clearly hesitated again.
"I hope you can loan me back to São Paulo. My father told me that São Paulo's current situation is very bad. Several key players are injured, and the team is short of players. Before this, the club's head coach also called me to ask about my injury. I know he needs me to play for him.
"Although the club has decided to sell me to New Manchester United, I still hope you can agree to let me return to São Paulo and help them through this difficult period."
Kaká had always held great respect for São Paulo.
Even later, when he transferred to AC Milan, his contract with São Paulo had already expired according to the agreement at the time, and he could have moved for free. Even so, he still asked AC Milan to pay São Paulo a transfer fee as a way of expressing his gratitude.
This time, he had suffered a spinal injury, and São Paulo had helped cover part of his medical expenses. Although Ethan had also paid a transfer fee for him, Kaká still hoped Ethan would allow him to go back and help São Paulo through their difficulties.
After that, he would serve New Manchester United wholeheartedly.
After saying what was on his mind, Kaká looked at Ethan somewhat nervously.
He knew that many clubs would not allow this, especially European clubs. They would believe that since he was their player, he should focus entirely on his new club rather than think about his former one.
No matter what Ethan decided, Kaká would accept it. He simply wanted to say what he truly felt.
After hearing Kaká's words, Ethan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He had thought Kaká might have some other idea.
The current Kaká had not yet played a single match for São Paulo's first team, nor had he taken part in the World Youth Championship or entered Brazil's World Cup squad. He was not famous yet and was indeed quite inconspicuous, especially in Brazil, where talent was everywhere.
Ethan could not help wondering.
If Kaká stayed at New Manchester United now, would he still become the Kaká of the future?
Could the level of competition in League Two really satisfy a genius like Kaká?
Kaká was different from Messi. Messi was still young and had enough time to grow together with the team, but Kaká did not. What he needed most right now was matches, high-intensity match experience that would help him improve. If he stayed at New Manchester United, he clearly would not receive that kind of development.
"All right, Ricardo. I'll speak to Mr. José Mourinho. As long as he doesn't object, I'll agree to let you return to Brazil.
"But this will be a loan, Ricardo. Perhaps one year, perhaps two or three, but your future will definitely be here with us!" Ethan said solemnly.
Kaká smiled brightly after hearing that.
"I'm very happy to hear you say that, Mr. Yu. I will definitely come back, because I'm already a New Manchester United player, aren't I?"
"It's written in black and white. You can't run away, Ricardo!" Ethan laughed.
But he soon thought of another issue.
"Before you leave, you'd better talk to Professor Fryer and the others at the laboratory. You still need to improve your ability to handle physical challenges, so your strength programme must continue."
"Mhm!" Kaká nodded firmly in agreement.
After parting with Kaká, Ethan walked into the training building and went directly to Mourinho's office to tell him about Kaká's idea.
Since Kaká currently did not qualify for a work permit, and New Manchester United's midfield was functioning well, with the three-man midfield of Juninho Pernambucano, Alou Diarra, and Poulsen balanced in both attack and defence, plus the potential of youngsters Essien and De Rossi, Mourinho also felt that Kaká might not immediately receive opportunities if he stayed.
These two major factors led Mourinho to agree with Ethan's decision to loan Kaká back to São Paulo.
After receiving Mourinho's approval, Ethan returned to the laboratory to discuss Kaká's return to São Paulo with Professor Fryer and the others.
He asked the laboratory to tailor a strength programme for Kaká based on his condition. At the same time, he planned to personally travel to Brazil, because besides Kaká's transfer, he also wanted to pursue deeper cooperation with São Paulo.
In addition to going to Brazil himself, he specifically called Cassell, who was responsible for the club's academy, and Malin from OPTA Sports Data Company to join him.
Since being acquired by Ethan, OPTA had taken the lead in expanding online. They had successively cooperated with several online portals, and their partnership with Yahoo in particular made OPTA's data more widely accepted by the public.
Besides the internet, OPTA had also begun full cooperation with British and European media outlets.
Because Ethan's ample capital had created the conditions for OPTA's development, under Malin's leadership, the data company had successively cooperated with major British broadcasters such as Sky TV and the BBC.
At present, leading newspapers and magazines in Britain, including The Times, The Sun, and The Guardian, had begun using OPTA's data.
News Corp, led by Murdoch, had previously asked through Sky TV whether Ethan was willing to sell the company, as they were interested in discussing a partnership.
However, Ethan certainly would not let it go.
He knew that it was not easy to make people trust data, but once it was accepted, he could simply sit back and wait for the money to come in.
Why would he sell it at a time like this?
At present, OPTA had already begun extending its network to Europe's four major leagues. They were preparing to establish a complete statistical data network across all four leagues.
At this point, Ethan no longer needed to inject more capital into the company. It was fully capable of supporting itself.
This would clearly become another classic case in Ethan's investment career.
But Ethan was not thinking about those things yet.
He was thinking more about what he could gain from this trip to Brazil, and after that, he also wanted to make a trip to Ghana.
In the future, as football information became increasingly developed, South America and Africa would become Europe's great treasure troves of football talent for many years to come. They would provide a steady stream of talented players to Europe, with Essien, Kaká, and Messi being only a small part of that.
What Ethan wanted to do now was move ahead of every other club and plant the Red Rebels' flag in those two places first.
(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.)