Football: Salary System - Chapter 145: Planning Ahead (Patreon)

“Long time no see, Mino.”

“This is a surprise, Ms. Granovskaia.”

The unusually gentle tone from London’s “Iron Lady” caught Raiola off guard for a moment.

After all, they were hardly on the sort of terms where they could exchange pleasantries and reminisce about old times.

The last time Raiola had spoken to her had been decidedly unpleasant.

The two had fallen out badly the previous summer.

In the 2016-17 season, Chelsea had won the Premier League title under Conte, but starting striker Diego Costa had struggled for form and fallen out with his manager. His departure had become all but inevitable.

With Chelsea also preparing to compete on two fronts in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League the following season, they identified Romelu Lukaku, who had been outstanding at Everton, as their main target to strengthen the attack.

Marina therefore held several rounds of talks with Lukaku’s agent, Raiola.

During those meetings, the portly Italian made promise after promise and said everything Marina wanted to hear, leaving her with the impression that bringing Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge would be relatively straightforward.

Then, just when she thought everything was settled and all that remained was to sign the contract and make the official announcement, Raiola engineered Lukaku’s £75 million move to Manchester United late in the transfer window.

The Blues were forced to scramble for an alternative, eventually turning to Real Madrid striker Álvaro Morata and bringing him to Stamford Bridge for £70 million.

But after a promising start, Morata’s Premier League spell went steadily downhill. Goal droughts, problems adapting, and a collapse in confidence followed one after another, and his time at Chelsea was far from a success.

He had since become one of the most notorious examples of Stamford Bridge’s “No. 9 Curse.”

As the woman effectively running Chelsea’s transfer business and carrying out the club’s biggest decisions, Marina naturally blamed that damned fat Italian for the whole mess.

“It certainly has been a while,” Raiola said with a dry chuckle. “I hear Chelsea have been playing some excellent football under Mr. Sarri this season. You deserve plenty of credit for that, Ms. Granovskaia.”

“Spare me the pleasantries. I’m calling to talk about Zayn Ryder.”

“Of course. Are we discussing how Zayn should spend his winter?”

“Exactly.”

Marina answered without hesitation, prompting Raiola to whistle.

Chelsea had offered £70 million for Zayn during the summer window, but Sarri had been more interested in signing his former player Higuaín at the time. Once Chelsea learned that Zayn wanted wages placing him among the three highest-paid players at the club, they had gone no further with negotiations.

Raiola hadn’t expected them to come back for Zayn just six months later.

Of course, Zayn’s performances over those six months had been sensational.

The doubts that he “wouldn’t be able to reproduce his FIFA World Cup dominance up front in a top league” had already been completely put to rest.

Still, there was more than a month left before the winter transfer window even opened.

Wasn’t Chelsea moving a little too quickly?

“Zayn has only been at Dortmund for half a season, Ms. Granovskaia. This won’t be an easy deal.”

“No transfer is easy, Mino. Chelsea are serious about this, and we have the budget to back it up.”

“I’ll need to ask the kid first,” Raiola said with a quiet laugh. “He’s happy at Dortmund, and his form couldn’t be better. To be honest, I’m not particularly confident I can persuade him to consider a move right now.”

Marina was silent for a moment before replying.

“Then find out as soon as possible. I want to know the player’s intentions before the winter window opens. Once we know that, we can discuss personal terms.”

“No problem.”

“Good. I’ll wait for your call.”

Marina hung up.

She had always been tough, decisive, and efficient. She wouldn’t have earned the nickname “Iron Lady” otherwise.

Raiola, however, couldn’t resist entertaining a rather spiteful thought. The Russian woman had probably forced herself to suppress her dislike of him just long enough to make this call, sound him out, and signal Chelsea’s interest.

Why else would she have hung up so quickly?

“Haha, interesting.”

The portly Italian laughed without a care, then immediately began running through the possibilities.

Could Zayn’s trip to Manchester really have made the “Iron Lady” nervous?

Surely not...

Still, Chelsea suddenly taking an interest in Zayn at this point was undeniably strange.

Sarri’s team wasn’t exactly short of center forwards.

Besides Morata, they also had the Frenchman Giroud on the bench.

And Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham, both currently out on loan, were due to return after the winter transfer window.

What puzzled Raiola even more was that Chelsea were having a perfectly good season.

By the start of this international break, twelve Premier League matches had been played. Chelsea sat third with eight wins and four draws. They had conceded only eight goals, tied for the best defensive record in the league.

Together with the top two, Manchester City and Liverpool, Chelsea had also made history. For the first time in the English top flight, the top three teams were all still unbeaten after twelve matches.

Sarri himself had also set a new Premier League record for the longest unbeaten start by a new manager, going undefeated in his first twelve league matches.

Chelsea were doing just as well in the UEFA Europa League. They had won all four of their group-stage matches and secured a place in the knockout rounds with games to spare.

A team functioning this smoothly should have had no reason to spend a fortune on a young superstar in the middle of the season.

Granted, their Russian owner certainly wasn’t short of money.

But given Zayn’s current ability and status, bringing him in would inevitably have an impact on both the team’s tactical setup and the dressing-room hierarchy.

With results already this good, there seemed to be no reason to take that risk.

Raiola sat back down at his computer and pulled up the mountain of information his people had gathered over the previous six months.

He focused on everything related to Chelsea, the people involved, recent developments, and the club’s overall situation. Before long, the portly Italian had a pretty good idea what was going on.

In September 2017, FIFA had formally opened an investigation into Chelsea over alleged breaches involving the signing of players under the age of eighteen.

Abramovich placed enormous importance on youth development, and Chelsea’s worldwide academy network was staggering in scale. Deals involving underage players were practically routine for the club.

According to Raiola’s sources, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s year-long investigation had been nearing its conclusion by early November.

Judging by punishments handed down in similar cases, if Chelsea failed to overturn the case against them, they were highly likely to be banned from registering new players for two transfer windows.

In simple terms, they wouldn’t be able to sign anyone for an entire year.

Seen in light of today’s phone call, the answer became obvious.

The “Iron Lady” had clearly received advance warning and knew the decision could no longer be changed.

If the ban came into force, Chelsea would be unable to strengthen their squad at all throughout the 2019-20 season.

For a powerhouse with title ambitions and a long-standing habit of spending freely, that would be a devastating blow.

Their only option was to use the winter window, their final opportunity, to spend whatever needed to be spent and reinforce every position that needed attention.

Still, even that probably wasn’t enough to explain why Chelsea’s calculating decision-makers were acting with such urgency.

Raiola remembered something else.

After the FIFA World Cup in Russia, Chelsea’s star man, Hazard, had repeatedly hinted in interviews, sometimes subtly and sometimes not, that “it was time to look for a new challenge.”

He had even said outright, “If I decide to leave, you know where I want to go!”

There was no mistaking the message. He was openly signaling his interest in Spanish giants Real Madrid, who had been linked with Hazard even before Cristiano Ronaldo left the club.

Despite Hazard’s repeated hints, Real Madrid’s plans to renovate the Bernabéu had restricted their transfer budget at the time. That left Florentino unable to meet Chelsea’s astronomical £200 million asking price even if he wanted to.

Combined with Chelsea’s firm determination to keep Hazard and Sarri’s promise to make him the centerpiece of the team, Hazard ultimately chose to stay.

But his desire to bring his Chelsea career to an end clearly hadn’t disappeared altogether.

Raiola had always had a sharp nose for transfers. Once he put the pieces together, he was almost certain he understood Chelsea’s thinking.

If Chelsea were going to be unable to strengthen the squad over the next two windows, then signing a player of Zayn’s caliber this winter, someone who could make an immediate impact, would be one of the smartest moves they could make.

Even if Real Madrid eventually lured Hazard away, Stamford Bridge would already have its next marquee star.

And what if Hazard saw the club’s ambition and commitment and decided to stay?

The two played different positions. Chelsea could build around both of them and make a serious push for the summit of European football.

The “Iron Lady” moving for Zayn this winter was both a way of planning ahead and a response to the possibility of Chelsea losing their biggest star.

“Time to have a coffee with Zorc.”

Raiola was in an excellent mood.

Whatever happened, he might as well start by discussing that pay raise he had promised Zayn.