Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 89

89. The Summer Transfer Market Heats Up

[…How much? Really? Is that for real?!]

[…Yeah, I believe you. Of course, I do. But has this news been shared with anyone else besides us?]

[…Every club in the Premier League will know? Got it. We need to move fast.]

After finishing the call with the scouting team, Jonathan immediately called their young manager, who was still in Korea.

[…Kim? It’s Jonathan. Sorry to wake you, but Jamal Lewis from Newcastle is available for £4 million!]

Jamal Lewis, a 24-year-old from Northern Ireland, primarily plays as a left-back but is a versatile player who can also cover the left midfield or even as a forward.

While he may lack creativity or exceptional technique, he is fast and has good stamina, making him excellent at direct movements.

Originally from Norwich’s youth academy, he debuted in Norwich’s first team in the 2017/18 season.

He significantly contributed to the team’s performance, playing a total of 92 games over two seasons, including when Norwich was promoted from the Championship [the second-highest league in English football] to the Premier League in the 2018/19 season and during their battle for survival in the Premier League in the 2019/20 season.

When Norwich was relegated again after the 2019/20 season, he was allowed to transfer for various reasons, including boosting the club’s finances. Newcastle acquired him for £15.25 million, but after just two seasons, he was put up for sale at a bargain price of £4 million.

He played 48 games for Newcastle over the past two seasons. Honestly, from the perspective of the scouting team and Jonathan, it didn’t seem like the player was at fault; rather, the team itself was dysfunctional. Considering his performance and potential, there didn’t seem to be any issues.

Newcastle might think their left-back position is saturated with the recent acquisition of Philipp Max from PSV Eindhoven and the likely permanent signing of Matt Targett, who was initially on loan from Aston Villa. But for Burnley, this is practically a steal.

Jonathan, encouraged by the manager’s quick agreement despite being woken up, immediately contacted Newcastle.

For the next week, Jonathan’s days were filled with struggle and anxiety.

Unlike Newcastle, which readily accepted Burnley’s offer to pay the full transfer fee, Jamal Lewis himself and his agent notified them that they would consider other offers on the same terms.

It was the player’s right, of course, but Jonathan, unable to offer wages as high as other clubs, felt increasingly anxious each day.

Meanwhile, after the season ended, Manchester United and Aston Villa rejected Burnley’s requests to re-loan Hannibal Mejbri and Jacob Ramsey outright.

Barcelona refused to re-loan Oscar Mingueza, whose contract was expiring in one season, and reserved their decision on Nico Gonzalez, stating they would discuss it with the player after reviewing the analysis team’s evaluation.

As the midfield void grew, news broke that would create a significant hole in Burnley’s center.

[…How much did you say?]

Hyungmin asked, seemingly dumbfounded by the name and number he heard over the phone.

[…West Ham has made an offer to sign Josh Brownhill. The offer is a lump-sum payment of £30 million.]

[…Uh… um…]

If Josh Brownhill leaves, who will lead the attack from midfield?

With Barcelona still not giving a clear answer on the re-loan offer for Nico Gonzalez, there are no alternatives among the existing players or newly confirmed signings.

Nicolas Seiwald isn’t the type of player who consistently makes incisive passes, and Christian Medina is considered to have definite potential but is still a prospect who hasn’t even debuted in the first team.

Moreover, entrusting Burnley’s midfield, which needs to compete for European competition qualification again next season, to a 20-year-old prospect would be too unfair to the player himself.

No, they can’t run a season with just two midfielders.

Especially with two cup competitions and European competition to participate in!

[…Jonathan, I know it’s a good offer, but if that happens, the squad will be too…]

[…That’s true. But Josh strongly wants to go. Since West Ham is a bigger club than Burnley, we should try to persuade him a bit… x$%!@x&]

[…Jonathan? Jonathan, I can’t hear you well? Jonathan?]

As Hyungmin wondered if the call was disconnected due to the sudden noise, the voice on the other end of the phone suddenly changed.

[…Hyungmin, this is Helena.]

[…Ah, yes, Helena. I was just talking to Jonathan…]

[…I know what you were talking about. Let’s just proceed with this deal.]

[…No, wait a minute!]

[…I’m sorry. The club is too short on funds right now. Even though I blackmailed my brother into getting an additional £10 million loan from Dad, it’s still tight. 80% of £30 million is £24 million, so I think we can sign about two decent players. Good luck!]

Hyungmin stared at the phone with a dumbfounded expression after she said everything she wanted to say and hung up.

“No, even if the player wants to go, you could at least try to persuade him once!”

And why does Dad give money when his brother is blackmailed?

Is this some kind of new phishing scam?

***

The difficulty of suddenly having to sign one more midfielder than planned, and the joy of an increased player acquisition fund of £24 million.

Torn between these two emotions, Jonathan decided to just choose joy since there was no point in worrying about it.

And a piece of news that added to his joy arrived.

[…So, Nico’s loan extension is under the same conditions as before?]

[…The loan extension is correct, but they want to adjust the conditions a bit.]

Barcelona’s coaching staff and analysis team expressed great satisfaction with Nico Gonzalez’s situation after spending half a season at Burnley.

Nico Gonzalez played a total of 16 games in the second half of the season, including 12 Premier League games and 4 FA Cup games.

In addition, he experienced the fast and intense football of the English Premier League, which is different from the Spanish Primera Liga [the top professional football division of the Spanish football league system], and even contributed to winning the FA Cup.

The player himself showed a strong desire for a re-loan, so everything was going smoothly, but Jonathan was concerned that the conditions were changing.

[…What conditions do they want to change? Weekly wage?]

[…The weekly wage is fine. They want to keep it the same, with you guys paying for everything.]

[…Then the loan fee? Guaranteed appearances?]

[…No loan fee, and the strong penalties for not playing are the same…]

[…Then what is it?]

Burnley’s Southern European scout, Luis Gonzalez, who had been hesitating on the other end of the phone, conveyed what the other club wanted.

[…They want to remove the option for a permanent transfer.]

[…Hmm.]

The original permanent transfer fee for Nico Gonzalez was £24.5 million.

In fact, it was almost impossible for Burnley to trigger it due to their financial situation, and it was also a reasonable amount if they were to sell a prospect who had only played in two Barcelona first-team games.

However, the fact that they are not raising the permanent transfer fee but completely removing it shows that Barcelona believes Nico Gonzalez’s value is far above £24.5 million and that they plan to use him in their first team in the long term.

However, it’s not like Burnley has the luxury of choosing other options.

[…Haa, okay. Tell them we’ll accept it. But see if you can lower the penalty amount a bit.]

[…You mean the penalty for not playing in games? Hmm… I’ll try.]

[…Okay. Thanks. What about Oscar?]

[…They won’t move a step until he renews his contract.]

With only one year left on Oscar Mingueza’s contract, Barcelona would never send him out on loan for another season.

[…Yeah, I figured. Thanks for your hard work.]

After hanging up, Jonathan let out a sigh mixed with relief and disappointment, then turned his chair to face his whiteboard, which was beginning to resemble an abstract, ultramodern work of art.

“Now that Nico has joined, that’s two more midfielders…”

With the suddenly expanded budget, offers were sent to the next targets on the midfielder ranking list that the Burnley scouting team had compiled under his direction and Hyungmin had approved.

The targets were Tommaso Pobega, a young Italian prospect belonging to AC Milan, and Sebastian Szymanski, a Polish attacking midfielder belonging to Dynamo Moscow.

Tommaso Pobega, who is 22 years old this year, is from AC Milan’s youth team.

Very similar to Burnley, AC Milan was acquired in 2018 by Elliott Management, an American fund that held the bonds after the club owner went bankrupt.

After a long period of perseverance, AC Milan finally won the Italian Serie A title [the top league in Italian football] in the 2021/22 season for the first time in 11 years, but Tommaso Pobega himself could not break through the established players and spent the last four seasons on loan at various teams in Italy.

In the 2018/19 season, when he was 19 years old, he was with Ternana, which belongs to Serie C [the third division of Italian football], in the central region B.

In the 2019/20 season, when he was 20 years old, he was with Pordenone, which belongs to Serie B [the second division of Italian football].

In the 2020/21 season, when he was 21 years old, he finally experienced Serie A, the first division of Italy, with Spezia, and was expected to play as one of the substitutes in AC Milan, if not a starter.

However, he was loaned to Torino, also in Serie A, for one season, confirming that there was no place for him in AC Milan’s first-team plans.

As the player himself wants to settle in a first team somewhere and his contract is rapidly approaching its end, Jonathan Landris confidently started with an offer of £8 million, judging that he could replace Josh Brownhill in the long term.

It was immediately rejected.

[…But why?!]

[…AC Milan has extended the player’s contract until 2025. I guess there was a contract extension clause.]

There is no reason to sell urgently, and the weekly wage is very low because he is from the youth academy.

Jonathan sighed and checked on the other target.

[…What’s the situation with Szymanski?]

[…There, the transfer fee and the other club’s agreement are not a problem… The situation itself is complicated.]

Sebastian Szymanski, who has secured a starting position on the Polish national team, is now 23 years old.

He moved from Legia in Poland to Dynamo Moscow in Russia at the age of 19 and has risen to the ranks of a key player.

The problem is that Dynamo Moscow is a Russian club, and Russia is now subject to all sorts of sanctions due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Frankly, from the perspective of football officials, it is difficult to even grasp exactly what sanctions are being imposed and how.

I understand that the Russian national team and clubs have been kicked out of international competitions and European-level club competitions.