Chapter 1 Indecisiveness

In recent years, Borussia Dortmund's sporting director, Michael Zorc, had a fixed task at the end of each season: rejecting various transfer requests for Mario Götze.

In the eyes of those wealthy clubs, Götze was like a delicious cake that everyone wanted to take a bite of.

How could that be allowed?

And his reasons for rejecting those offers were quite consistent—"Sorry, Mario is not for sale at Borussia Dortmund!"

The words "not for sale" depend on how you understand them.

In some places, it means exactly what it says, not for sale, priceless. But in other places, it just means the other party's asking price isn't high enough.

Specifically, for Borussia Dortmund and Götze, is it really "not for sale"?

Zorc has been the sporting director at Borussia Dortmund since 1998 and has never left the position, holding exclusive power over Borussia Dortmund's transfers. He couldn't be clearer about what "not for sale" means.

There is no such thing as a truly "not for sale" person in this world.

Many people think they are loyal to their love, some think blood is thicker than water and family is above all else, and others pat their chests and say they will never betray their friends.

In most cases, that's true.

But Zorc knew very well that it was only because the cost of betrayal was too high and the benefits too small, making it not worth it.

If someone was offered 10,000 euros to abandon their girlfriend, they might scoff and dismiss it. What about increasing it to 100,000 euros, 500,000 euros, 1 million euros, or even 10 million euros?

Still not giving up?

Okay, then increase it to 100 million euros, 500 million euros, 1 billion euros… just keep adding until there's a price that makes that person let go.

It's just that in reality, who would pay 1 billion euros for a woman? Even if that woman is very beautiful… Similarly, who would be unmoved by 1 billion euros for a woman?

Such people exist, but mostly in the fantasy worlds of movies and novels.

Götze is not really not for sale. It's not that Borussia Dortmund doesn't want to keep Götze, but it's a question of whether they can keep him. Whether Götze is not for sale is not up to them; it's up to Götze. Zorc also knew very well that Borussia Dortmund couldn't keep a super talent like Götze forever. Götze didn't want to leave before, but who knows what will happen in the future?

But for now, at least he can continue to use this word to reject those flies chasing Götze.

Sitting down at his desk, Zorc began to check how many faxes about Götze had arrived from last night until now.

A thick stack.

The Brazil World Cup is about to begin, and who knows how Götze will perform at the World Cup, yet so many clubs are already snatching him up. This made Zorc feel more and more that it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep him.

"Okay, let me see what new faces there are today…" Zorc muttered to himself as he opened the faxes.

Most of them were names he was already very familiar with—not in the traditional sense of familiarity, but in the sense that he had seen these names too many times during this period, so he felt familiar.

Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich…

Zorc snorted. These teams really wouldn't give up. He had clearly told them that Götze was not for sale, so why were they still coming to offer again and again? Did they really think Götze would leave Borussia Dortmund so easily?

Zorc was inwardly criticizing those wealthy clubs, but his hands didn't stop. He continued to flip through the fax sheets.

His hand stopped when he saw a new name.

"Liverpool?"

Zorc was surprised.

In the past few years, Liverpool's name hadn't been among the teams interested in Götze. But even if Liverpool had pursued Götze at that time, Zorc would have rejected them without hesitation, while also sneering at Liverpool in his heart: With your terrible situation, you still want to pursue our Mario?

Zorc was like Götze's mother. If his daughter had to marry, then he would do his best to choose a man who was a good match, so that his daughter wouldn't suffer or be wronged… Of course, the most important thing was that the other party's bride price had to be high enough!

Everyone knew what Liverpool was like in the past, and he knew it even better. At that time, Liverpool was simply a joke in Europe. Such a glorious century-old club had fallen to such a state, without even a trace of dignity.

But in the past two years, Liverpool had suddenly risen. They first won the Europa League in the 2012-2013 season, and then unexpectedly won the Premier League title in the 2013-2014 season. This was the first Premier League title in their club's history.

Suddenly, Liverpool seemed to have turned from serfs to masters…

And they did have players in their squad that made other team managers and coaches envious. That was… Chen Hero.

Zorc had once fantasized that if Chen Hero was in his team, he would have completely pulled Bayern Munich down from the position of Bundesliga overlord…

Coming back to his senses from recalling his past evaluation of Liverpool, Zorc decided to see what conditions Liverpool was prepared to use to discuss Götze's future with Borussia Dortmund.

Liverpool offered 30 million euros…

Zorc smiled.

Thirty million to buy Götze? Have you gone crazy from poverty!

He laughed at Liverpool in his heart.

But his laughter stopped abruptly because he saw a clause next to it.

"Transfer fee of 30 million euros, plus Şahin."

When Zorc saw Şahin's name, his eyebrows twitched.

※※※

Back then, Borussia Dortmund was unwilling to let Şahin leave, but Şahin insisted on leaving the team because he felt that there was nothing left to pursue at Borussia Dortmund. He had already won the league title, and the Champions League title was very distant with Borussia Dortmund's strength. The Bundesliga was too small for him, and he wanted to go to a broader stage.

Borussia Dortmund knew that forced melons are not sweet. If the player insisted on leaving, it was best to let him go; otherwise, the relationship between the two parties would be completely over.

But in reality, if they could choose, Borussia Dortmund definitely wouldn't let Şahin leave.

After all, Şahin's departure reduced Borussia Dortmund's midfield strength somewhat.

Originally, if both parties went their separate ways like this, perhaps Zorc wouldn't have raised his eyebrows at this time.

But unfortunately, Borussia Dortmund was now in a midfield crisis…

Shinji Kagawa had already been booked by Manchester United, and if they couldn't keep Götze, they would be finished. At that time, Borussia Dortmund wouldn't even have a usable attacking midfielder…

If Şahin could come back… He was very familiar with Borussia Dortmund's football, and he definitely had feelings for Borussia Dortmund. If he came back, he could adapt to the team immediately, so there was no need to worry about that.

But… use Götze to exchange for Şahin? Was he out of his mind?

Zorc laughed mockingly, feeling that he was really too stupid. Götze might leave in the future, but that didn't mean he would leave now.

Who knew what would happen in the future? It was too early to start thinking about it now.

He put Liverpool's offer aside as well.

※※※

Liverpool Football Club received a fax reply from Borussia Dortmund Football Club. The reply was quite polite, but the coldness of rejecting people from thousands of miles away could still be easily felt.

"We regret to inform your club that Mario Götze is not for sale at Borussia Dortmund."

"Not for sale?" Niang sneered, but he didn't immediately make another offer.

He also put Borussia Dortmund's fax aside and ignored it.

Of course, this didn't mean that Liverpool had given up on signing Götze after being rejected by Borussia Dortmund. Niang was determined to get this highly sought-after genius in European football today.

It's just that he didn't need to appear too anxious now, as that would give his opponent a chance to raise the price.

He wasn't worried that Götze would eventually stay at Borussia Dortmund, making him work for nothing.

Someone would knock on the door for him—the other wealthy clubs wouldn't be as calm as he was now. They would keep making offers and creating momentum for Götze's departure in the media. These things would accumulate and eventually force Borussia Dortmund to give up Götze.

As for himself, he didn't need to join in the fun. Being too high-profile would make him a target, so it was better to keep a low profile.

He just needed to wait patiently, watch from the sidelines, and reap the benefits when the time was right.

For now, it was time to cool Borussia Dortmund off…

He pressed the button for the secretary's direct line: "Book me a ticket to Brazil for tomorrow."

He wasn't going to watch the World Cup; he was going to meet the famous agent Jorge Mendes.

He had to find an excellent center back for his team, a center back who could serve as a starter, be fast, and be flexible enough. Škrtel and Agger were both tall, strong center backs who were good at aerial duels, but their turning speed was too slow, and the space behind them would become an opportunity for the opponent to exploit.

Last season, Liverpool encountered this situation many times, with the opponent deliberately using the space behind the two center backs and their slow turning speed to frequently play through balls.

This made Martin O'Neill very distressed. But at that time, the team's center backs were all of this type, so he had no choice. He could only prevent the two center backs from pressing up easily, which would inevitably affect the overall coordination of the entire defense, because if the center backs didn't press up, the two full backs naturally wouldn't dare to press up boldly either. If the two full backs didn't press up, or pressed up less, Liverpool's attack would also be affected. This was a problem that affected the whole body with one move.

Now there was time and opportunity to make up for this mistake.

His trip to Brazil was to pull teeth from a tiger's mouth.

He was going to pull their fangs from the mouth of Real Madrid.

His target was… Portuguese national team starting center back Pepe!