Triguera: "No need. Nobody even remembers him anyway. Look, not a single media outlet mentioned his name."
Maxa: "That's true. Jardel probably doesn't even hold a grudge against Fonte. There were too many people beating him at the time, and a public-face guy like Fonte probably wasn't high on the list."
…
On August 17th, Sporting Lisbon won again in their second warm-up match.
This time their opponent was a Serie B side.
Jardel scored once, while Quaresma and Matthäus each added a goal.
But perhaps Sporting Lisbon's attitude toward Jardel only fueled his arrogance further.
During the following training match, Jardel clashed with Terry again.
The reason was simple—Terry tackled him.
Terry had come here to fight for a starting position.
However, in the last two warm-up matches, he had repeatedly been beaten by his teammates.
Triguera was clearly dissatisfied with his performances.
A large part of that had to do with Matthäus constantly pushing forward, Deschamps lacking defensive hardness, and the huge spaces left behind Viana.
As a center back, Terry had to constantly cover those holes. Under that kind of pressure, mistakes and lost balls were completely normal.
Because of this, Terry began missing the training matches he used to play with Kai.
Kai's offensive attributes were no worse than Viana's, but his defensive awareness was far superior, especially when it came to interceptions. He was incredibly sharp and could often cut off attacks at the first opportunity.
And Kai was excellent at controlling the rhythm. If Kai didn't want Matthäus pushing forward, then Matthäus would barely have any opportunities to do so.
With Matthäus sitting deeper, Deschamps' lack of defensive intensity naturally stopped being a problem, because Matthäus himself provided enough intensity.
How easy would life be for Terry then?
Most threats would never even reach him, so how could his performances possibly be bad?
He'd probably catch a cold from having nothing to do on the pitch.
Precisely because his position was under threat, Terry became desperate during the following training sessions.
Flying tackles and rough challenges might look excessive in other leagues, but in the Premier League?
That was just normal football.
Forget Jardel—even if it were Beckham or Michael Owen, if a teammate decided to tackle you, then you got tackled. If you got wiped out, you could only blame yourself for not being fast enough or not dribbling well enough.
As for fighting?
After being tackled by Terry, Jardel immediately got up and slapped him, stunning Terry on the spot.
Afterward, Triguera dragged Terry into the office and scolded him for a full two hours.
That same evening, Sporting Lisbon officially released another statement, sending Terry down to the U19 squad for a week of training.
The incident caused huge outrage among Chelsea fans.
The fans all claimed Sporting Lisbon was clueless for treating their academy captain this way.
"Bring Terry back!"
"Don't ever go to Sporting Lisbon!"
"Trash Portuguese league!"
"This is disgusting! Terry should've stayed at Chelsea!"
"He picked the wrong club for this loan. One year of his career is going to waste!"
"Fuck, I'm furious! Terry already made a first-team appearance at Chelsea, and now he's playing for a Portuguese U19 team!"
"I really want to tear Jardel apart!"
"From now on, every time England plays Brazil, we're going to slaughter them!"
As soon as this situation appeared, Porto realized it was impossible to drive down Jardel's value.
Kai, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sporting Lisbon's new signings this season, and even the talented youngsters on loan had all been demoted.
Sporting Lisbon clearly could not lose Jardel now.
This was basically preparing to build the entire club around him as the ultimate trump card!
Porto even started wondering whether Sporting Lisbon would send Matthäus to the U19s too if he ever clashed with Jardel.
But it was also understandable.
Nuno Gomes had exploded during the European Championship, and Benfica's popularity had risen sharply because of it.
And in the Portuguese league, Jardel was an even more dominant striker than Nuno Gomes—possibly by quite a bit.
A super striker determined the strength of a team.
Sporting Lisbon protecting Jardel this fiercely meant they were preparing to dominate Portuguese football for the next five years!
If Sporting Lisbon truly rose to power, Porto would suffer massive losses.
After understanding this, Porto suddenly submitted an offer for Jardel without any warning.
Fifteen million euros!
After making the offer, they specifically contacted Maxa in an attempt to seize the initiative.
"Jardel has caused too much chaos in your squad. Team atmosphere is one of the keys to success. With him around, Sporting Lisbon can never truly unite. Why not let us bear that burden for you?"
Maxa immediately rejected them.
"How could that be? Sporting Lisbon will revolve around Jardel in the future. Any player who clashes with him will be abandoned by us."
"There's no question about his strength. I spent an entire season helping him adapt to Sporting Lisbon. This season is when he'll truly unleash his power. Believe me, he'll definitely score more than forty goals this year!"
"I'm warning you not to make another offer. He is absolutely not for sale!"
How could Porto possibly doubt Marquesa?
After all, Marquesa was Jardel's favorite coach at Sporting Lisbon.
Through Jardel's agent, Porto had long since learned about Marquesa's tactical favoritism toward Jardel last season.
No player would dislike working with a coach like that.
Porto: "Seventeen million euros! That's what he cost last year, but now he's older and earning a higher salary. Other than us, nobody else can pay that price!"
Maxa: "But we aren't looking for buyers at all. Come on, this is Jardel. We're even planning to bring Simão back from Barcelona and give him devil wings. I've already spoken with Quaresma—his shooting rights this season belong to Jardel. Otherwise, the U19s can take care of him too!"
At first, Porto thought Marquesa was joking.
After all, Quaresma was genuinely a superstar developed by Sporting Lisbon's own academy.
Jardel was the foreign star, while Quaresma was the local prince.
Suppressing your own academy talent for an outsider...
Only one club had successfully done that in recent years.
Real Madrid.
And the results were obvious.
Real Madrid had won two Champions League titles in three years. Even outside Serie A, they had become a giant on the level of Manchester United, attracting countless players.
Sporting Lisbon wanted to become the Real Madrid of the Portuguese Super League?
No!
They absolutely could not be allowed to succeed!
Within two days, Quaresma was genuinely demoted!
Viana was sent down alongside him.
Triguera gave no explanation regarding Quaresma, but when discussing Viana's demotion, he said:
"Viana has never been able to develop chemistry with Jardel. He needs calmness and confidence. Maybe he can rediscover those things with the U19s."
For a time, Jardel looked like the future king of Portuguese football!
No player had ever enjoyed privileges like his at a club before.
Maxa even personally asked Jardel what kind of teammates he wanted to play with.
"How about Deco from Porto?"
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