Chapter 588 A Lifetime of Regret

On the evening of July 11, 2010, the Spanish national team played in the World Cup final at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. When the game reached the 116th minute, Fabregas passed the ball to the right side at the top of the penalty area. Iniesta successfully countered the offside, stopped the ball with his right foot, and volleyed it into the far corner about nine meters away from the goal, scoring the winning goal for Spain.

This goal not only made Iniesta famous, but also made the value of Tottenham Hotspur's midfield core, Spanish international Fabregas, soar like a rocket. But at the same time, it also made a person sitting in front of the TV in a luxurious villa in La Finca, a wealthy area in the west of Madrid, the capital of Spain, 10,000 kilometers away, watching the Spanish players celebrating wildly, and couldn't help crying, with his whole head stuck in his legs, revealing only his curly hair.

He has a name that all fans around the world are familiar with, Raul Gonzalez.

As the flag of Real Madrid and the star of the Galaxy Battleship, Raul has been the main player of the Spanish national team since his debut. No matter how his teammates around him change, he is the hope of all Spanish fans.

But in the past, Spain has never been able to have too convincing results, but even so, Raul is still supported and loved by Spanish fans. They prefer to believe that this is not Raul's responsibility, but the responsibility of the Spanish national team as a whole.

When Raul was in Real Madrid, in order to make room for the superstars who joined one by one, he kept retreating away from the penalty area he loved, and his task in every game was transformed from scoring goals to helping the superstars score goals, and even helping the team defend, but he silently endured all of this.

But behind this, with the blowout of Spanish youth training talents, the strength of this national team is constantly improving. Raul's performance in Real Madrid and his age eventually made Aragones choose to give him up in 2008, but ironically, the Spanish national team without Raul won the European Championship.

On that night, Raul asked himself countless times, is it really his own problem? Is he really the cancer of the Spanish national team? Is it really because he was expelled from the national team that Spain won the European Championship?

No one will believe this nonsense. Even after Spain won the European Cup, even with top scorers such as Torres and Villa, there are still countless fans, countless media reporters, and countless professionals calling for the recall of Raul.

"We owe Raul a championship. He should come back to the national team and enjoy the current results, because without his efforts and dedication, there would be no achievements of the Spanish national team today!"

History is moving forward, and all the remarks that tear history apart and forget history are nonsense!

If there was no Raul, and one person held up the banner of the Spanish national team, would there be the achievements of Spain today? It is hard to say. Perhaps today Raul has become a burden to the national team, but it should never be considered a cancer of Spain because of this, because Raul has never been a problem with the head coach, whether in the national team or in Real Madrid.

So, after Aragones won the European Cup, Hierro, the former Real Madrid teammate and captain, took control of the Spanish national team, and Bosque, the former Real Madrid head coach, took over the national team.

In this case, all Spanish fans, even fans all over the world, knew one thing very well: Raul was coming back!

Bosque and Hierro's homes were not far from Raul's home, and they often met. After they both took over the national team, Bosque made a promise to Raul that as long as he showed a little performance, as long as he could participate in the game and maintain his condition, he would definitely appear in the big list to South Africa, which was the reward he deserved.

Raul knew Bosque very well. He was a typical Real Madrid man who valued feelings and traditions, so he understood Raul's situation and Raul's difficulties. Therefore, when Raul was in the most difficult time in Real Madrid or the Spanish national team, Bosque must have been among the people who stood up to defend Raul.

Hierro also told Raul that the president of the Spanish Football Association, Villa, also strongly supported Raul's return to the national team. Hierro was Raul's big brother and captain in Real Madrid, and was also the object and role model that Raul had been learning from all his life. When Hierro was expelled from the Bernabeu, Raul defended and fought for his big brother countless times. When Raul was scolded as a ball tyrant and a cancer in the Bernabeu, Hierro also stood up again and again to feel sorry for Raul, thinking that what the so-called Real Madrid fans did to him in the past was now transferred to Raul, and that Raul alone bore the mistakes of everyone in Real Madrid.

Raul found Florentino and Pellegrini, and everyone sat down to talk, so there was news from the outside world that Raul was going to leave Real Madrid, and this was indeed an option at the time.

Frankly speaking, after Hierro's lesson, although Florentino did not like Raul, because he always felt that Raul represented the Real Madrid of the past, not the Real Madrid of the present in his mind, but this time he did not make things difficult for Raul. He even promised that as long as Raul was willing, he could stay in the Bernabeu at any time.

Pellegrini also made his promise that he would give Raul a fair chance to compete.

So Raul stayed because he had spent his entire career in Real Madrid and he hoped to retire here, but it turned out that he was wrong.

With the arrival of superstars one after another, Raul had no place at all and it was difficult for him to even get a chance to play. This gave Bosque no reason to recruit people. Could he give up the main players who played and performed well in the national team and choose Raul who couldn't even play in Real Madrid?

To some extent, it was Real Madrid, his most beloved Madrid in his life, that completely ruined his last chance to play for the national team and completely lost his chance to touch the World Cup!

When Hierro left the team, young Raul took over the captain's armband of Real Madrid amidst all kinds of controversy. When he met the challenge of a superstar, he did not cry; when he saw Real Madrid win every year without a championship and stop in the top 16 of the Champions League every year, he did not cry; when he was cursed by his favorite Real Madrid fans, calling him a ball bully, calling him a cancer, and even asking him to get out of the Bernabeu Stadium, he did not cry!

But now, when he saw Iniesta score the lore goal for Spain in the last minute of the game, and when he saw the players of the Spanish national team on the podium of the World Cup champion, he cried, cried loudly, just like a child crying.

He no longer has the chance to win the World Cup, and his life is destined to end with regret. This is fate!

Mammen Sanz, his wife, was taking care of the children until they fell asleep. When she heard her husband crying, she rushed out of the room and saw Raul curled up on the sofa, crying loudly, while the TV was showing the scene of Spain winning the World Cup without any emotion. She couldn't help but shed tears.

She knew better than anyone what her husband had suffered in the past few years. He didn't deserve to be treated like this.

If Raul had chosen to leave after Hierro and Bosque left the team, I believe his career would be much better than it is now. At that time, Raul had no shortage of next clubs. There were a lot of wealthy teams that wanted to get Raul.

He gave everything for Real Madrid, including his youth and his career, but what did he get?

Mammen Sanz walked over, sat down next to Raul, and hugged her husband tightly, just like a mother comforting her injured child. She believed that Raul needed her now.

No one knew how long Raul had cried, and no one had counted it. Anyway, the live broadcast of the World Cup final ended very early, and it was unclear what time it was in the middle of the night. Raul fell asleep in his wife's arms.

The next morning, it was another rare good weather outside.

Although they were in the wealthy community of La Finca and could not feel the crazy atmosphere of Spanish fans, they could imagine that all Spanish fans would be like celebrating a festival today because Spain finally won a World Cup trophy.

Mammon Sanz got up early to make breakfast for the children and husband, and Raul, who she thought would sleep for a long time, got up not long after she got up, with bloodshot eyes and a little red and swollen eye sockets, obviously left after crying last night.

After getting up in the morning, Raul didn't say anything, but walked out of the living room alone and sat in the garden for two or three hours. When he returned home, he went to the living room to get his phone.

"Ginez!" Mammon Sanz listened silently on the side, and Ginez Caravajal, this is Raul's agent.

"Please help me call the Bernabeu and tell them that I hope to terminate the current contract in advance!"

"What did you say?" Ginez Caravajal on the other end of the phone was obviously full of shock. This was too sudden.

"Yes, you heard it right, Ginez, I want to leave the Bernabeu!" Raul was very sure, and his face, which always gave people a very weak feeling, was full of seriousness and determination at this moment.

Perhaps this decision came a little late for him, but he knew he had to do something.

He is Raul Gonzalez, the Spanish golden boy, the captain of Real Madrid. He must use his strength and his performance to tell everyone and prove one thing, that he is a professional player, and just a professional player. He has never been a ball tyrant of Real Madrid or the Spanish national team, let alone a cancer!

This is the only thing he can do now and must do!

The World Cup has not ended yet, but Tottenham's training has already begun. With the end of the World Cup, the transfer market has also begun to surge, and Tottenham receives some transfer faxes almost every day.

Ye Qiu still handed all matters to Peter Kenyon as in the past. He specially arranged and supervised the team's pre-season training at the Theobald Training Base. Considering that Tottenham has a large number of international players participating in the South Africa World Cup, Tottenham will no longer go abroad for training this summer.

But on this day, he abandoned the training team and drove back to downtown London by himself. He came to the Bulgari Hotel in the south of Hyde Park, which is one of the most luxurious hotels in London. Today, all the big names who can cause earthquakes in the Premier League are here.

Before the start of each Premier League season, there will be a summit meeting, which is basically arranged for the chairman or CEO of each club to attend. The Premier League is responsible for organizing it. The purpose is to coordinate the cooperation between the clubs and arrange all the situations for the new season.

The English Football Association also often invites clubs to attend some meetings, but the attendees are basically the agents or head coaches of each club. But the person who appeared at the Bulgari Hotel this time was obviously different, because he was not only attending a summit meeting, but also the chairman of the club.

Ye Qiu's BMW stopped at the gate of the Bulgari Hotel. Immediately, a service staff came forward to take his car keys and planned to drive to the parking lot. Ye Qiu walked directly into the lobby of the hotel, and then, accompanied by the staff, entered the elevator and went directly to the private meeting place on the eighth floor.

After pushing open the door, Ye Qiu took a quick look. There were many people sitting in the not very spacious meeting room, and he knew many of them, such as the initiator of this party, Mr. Peter Hill-Wood, chairman of Arsenal Club, and Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea, and Bruce Buck, the chairman of the club. They were old acquaintances.

In addition, there was David Gill of Manchester United, and representatives of the Glazer family, and Mubarak, the agent of Manchester City's Abu Dhabi consortium, and Cook, the CEO of the club, and Rebolovlev, the owner of the new Premier League West Ham United, and so on.

Each of these people is a powerful figure in the Premier League, and being able to invite so many people to the Bulgari Hotel at the same time shows the influence of the two major Premier League giants, Arsenal and Manchester United, the initiators of this time. As newly rising giants, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur are still a little lacking in this aspect.

Tottenham Hotspur, led by Ye Qiu, rarely participates in these aspects, and is more focused on its own development, but it would be wrong to ignore the influence of Tottenham Hotspur just because of this.

If we want to describe the current influence of Tottenham Hotspur very well, that is to say, Tottenham Hotspur may not have the right to decide on the agreements reached between all Premier League clubs, and what they say may not count, but if Tottenham Hotspur does not speak, then any resolution will definitely not count.

Ye Qiu was able to attend such a meeting mainly because the relationship between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal and Manchester United has always been very good, so Ye Qiu and Peter Kenyon attended this meeting at the same time.

"Thank you very much for taking the time to attend, Mr. Ye Qiu!" Peter Hill-Wood and David Gill walked up side by side to greet Ye Qiu at the gate. Although Manchester United and Arsenal are mortal enemies, the relationship between the top management of the two clubs is actually very good. After all, they have quite a lot of common interests.

"If you invite me, I will definitely come!" Ye Qiu smiled and shook hands with Hill-Wood and David Gill respectively.

Peter Hillwood immediately felt very proud. Just then, a few people saw Ye Qiu coming in and came over. In addition, he was the one who organized the venue and the event, so he naturally assumed the role of host.

"Come, Mr. Ye Qiu, let me introduce you!" Peter Hillwood pointed to a young man nearby who obviously did not look like a British man. Although he had a thick mustache and looked a bit like a German, Ye Qiu just heard his accent, which did not sound like a European. He should be a foreign boss.

The answer was already very clear. Either he was the spokesperson for Liverpool's boss Ambani, or the spokesperson for the Qatari royal family, the behind-the-scenes boss of Newcastle, because these were the only two groups that Ye Qiu did not know.

But the answer surprised Ye Qiu a little, because the person in front of him turned out to be the crown prince of Qatar, Tamim Al Thani.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Ye Qiu, I am your fan and your challenger!" Tamim Al Thani seemed to know how to socialize, and the first sentence he said after meeting was a joke.

"Nice to meet you!" Ye Qiu was polite and courteous.

"Although I studied in the UK, my English is still a little..." Tamim Al Thani said with a smile.

"No, I think it's OK!" Ye Qiu replied with a smile.

He had seen media reports before that the Crown Prince of Qatar graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, less than 50 kilometers west of London. This military academy is known as the same as the United States West Point Military Academy, the Russian Frunze Military Academy, and the French Saint-Cyr Military Academy, and is ranked among the world's four major military academies.

And Ye Qiu was also thinking that perhaps it was because he had studied in the UK before that the Crown Prince of Qatar was so interested in Premier League football. After failing to buy Manchester United, he moved to teams including Liverpool and Arsenal, and finally acquired Newcastle.

Of course, Ye Qiu would not be so stupid as to think that this was purely a hobby. No one would have such an expensive hobby, no matter how rich he was. So Ye Qiu had no doubt that Tamim Al Thani's acquisition of Newcastle and entry into the Premier League also had his own purposes and interests, such as advertising for Qatar's bid for the World Cup hosting rights.

"Mr. Ye Qiu, to be honest, I admire you very much!" Tamim Al Thani said in a joking tone, "You not only successfully run a great company like Yezi Technology, but you also built Tottenham Hotspur into a top team. Since I acquired Newcastle, I have always regarded you as my goal."

Ye Qiu listened with a humble smile. He didn't know how to react, nor did he know whether what this guy said was true or false.

Sure enough, he changed the subject, "So, I really hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with you, Mr. Ye Qiu, such as in the transfer of players. I hope you and your team can consider our sincerity!"