Glory Of The Football Manager System

[Beckenham. Tuesday 7 August 2018.]

Bzzz.

Dougie rang at 7. I had been in that office since 10 past 6.

”Right. Before you say anything to me about a Brazilian.”

”Dougie.”

”18 million pounds.”

I put a coffee down with a lip that had gone purple overnight.

”Say the name.”

”You know the name, son. You have known the name since about 4 o’clock this morning, and I have known you were going to say it since Sunday night, and I have been on the phone to Milan since half 7 yesterday so that I could say a number to you before you said a name to me.”

”18.”

”They will take 18 and they will take it this week.”

”Dougie, that man has got a 54 million pound clause in a contract he signed 11 months ago, and Manchester United had 40 on the table for him last summer and Inter pushed it to 50 at the last minute and killed it. Why is it 18?”

”You know why it is 18. Everybody in Europe knows why it is 18.”

”21.”

”21.” Paper going on his end. ”Inter have been in a Financial Fair Play settlement with UEFA since 2015 and they can only register 21 men for a Champions League squad instead of 25, and that has been in every newspaper in Italy since May.

”20 sporting directors know that number. That is not what I have got.”

”So what have you got?”

”A date.” A drawer went. ”They have qualified for the first time since 2012 and they hand UEFA 21 names in September, and since June they have signed de Vrij, Nainggolan, Lautaro Martínez, Politano, Vrsaljko and Asamoah, and they are not done.

”27 men for 21 shirts and 4 of them are wingers. Everybody knows that as well.”

”Dougie.”

”Their window runs to the 17th. Ours shuts at 5 on Thursday.” He let that sit. ”Every director in Italy is waiting for September because they think Inter get desperate in September.

”Inter get desperate on Friday morning, when the English money has gone and there are 5 weeks of Italians offering them 9.”

I did not work that out. Dougie did, 14 hours before he rang me, on his own, in a house in Croydon.

”So it is not that they want to sell him,” I said.

”It is that they have to leave 6 men off a list in September, and 1 of them was always going to be a 29-year-old on 5 million euros a year.” A drawer went. ”And their window runs to the 17th and ours shuts at 5 on Thursday.

”If he is still in Milan on Friday morning, every club in Italy knows Inter have to move him and the price falls. So Thursday is worth about 12 million pounds to them.

”They worked that out at about the same time I did and neither of us has said it.”

”Have you told them we know?”

”I have told them nothing at all,” Dougie said. ”I rang Ausilio at 8 o’clock last night and I asked him whether Ivan Perišić was available, and he said, and I am quoting him, for the right structure.

”A sporting director says structure when he means please.”

”18, Danny. Today.”

In the Luzhniki, in Moscow, Ivan Perišić walked from the halfway line into a wall of whistling and put a penalty against the inside of a post, and Croatia went out of a World Cup in a quarter-final.

Dnk.

I was 40 yards away with my hands behind my back.

He stood in that box afterwards with both hands laced on top of his head, staring at the woodwork like it had said something to him, and he was still stood there when Bounou went past him.

4 weeks and 3 days ago.

United went quiet on the 8th. Everybody went quiet on the 8th.

”They are not selling a footballer,” Dougie said. ”They are selling a fortnight.”

I got Mateo Kovačić at 20 past 9 in my own office with the door shut. It cost a phone call, 10 minutes of his rehab, and an apology to Rebecca.

I did not ask him about a medical and I did not ask him about a fee. Dougie was on with an agent in Milan while I was sat there and I did not know a single number he was saying.

I asked him about a man.

”Your mouth is worse today.”

”I know.”

”It is on the internet in Croatia.” He sat down without being asked. ”You want to ask me about Ivan.”

”I want to ask you a football question.”

”Ask it, then. But you are not asking me a football question.”

”Is he finished?”

He took about 6 seconds over that. I wanted 1.

Mateo Kovačić has played 41 times for Croatia and he has been in dressing rooms with Ivan Perišić since he was 19, and 5 weeks ago he came on against my Morocco and equalised in the 118th minute and nearly ended my summer himself.

”No,” he said. ”He is not finished. He is embarrassed.”

”Those are the same thing in August.”

”They are not the same thing at all and that is why you are stood in a medical room at 20 past 9 instead of ringing an agent.” He shifted that leg. ”Coach, listen to me properly.

”He is 29. He turns 30 in February. He has 2 years of being what he is and then he has 4 years of being something else, and everybody in this game knows it and everybody is waiting for it.

”He is embarrassed for about 3 more weeks. Then he stops being embarrassed and he starts being 30, and the difference between those 2 men is about 10 million pounds and 1 season.”

Perišić was born in February 1989. I was born in June.

”So I have got 3 weeks.”

”You have got 60 hours,” Kovačić said, ”and I do not know why I am explaining a window to a manager.”

”Right. Give me the football.”

”He crosses better than anybody in Italy and he heads it better than most centre-halves, and he has played 40 games a season for 6 years and he does not get injured.” He counted it off on his own fingers. Croatians do that. English players never do. ”He is not quick any more. He was never quick. He is 6 foot 2 and he arrives.

”Put him on the left and tell him to come inside for the second ball and Benteke gets 6 more headers a season.”

”And in a dressing room?”

”He is quiet for 3 weeks and then he is the loudest man in the building.” Kovačić shrugged. ”He will tell your 16-year-old what he is doing wrong and your 16-year-old will listen to him, because he is 29 and he has done it and he does not shout.”

He put both hands on the arms of that chair.

”1 more thing, coach, and then I will give you the number.”

”Go on.”

”Do not talk to him about Russia.”

I did not say anything.

”He has had 5 weeks of it. His father has talked to him about it. Journalists have knocked on a door in Split.” He was looking at me properly now. ”Everybody who rings him says the same 2 sentences first and he has to be polite about it 40 times.

”So do not be number 41.”

”Have you spoken to him?”

”Sunday night. He rang me about your Community Shield and we talked for an hour and 40 minutes of it was about him.” Kovačić stood up. ”He will not ring you first. He has been waiting 5 weeks for somebody to ring him and say something that is not about July.

”Do you want the number or not?”

***

Thank you to Sir nameyelus for the support.