Manchester, Carrington Base.

It's already past 5 p.m., and the players have finished training and clocked out.

Ferguson didn't leave; instead, he returned to the office building as the sun set.

Sir Alex Ferguson was preparing to return to his office to work a little longer and prepare for Manchester United's next match.

Two days later.

Manchester United will travel to Pride Park to face Derby County away.

On paper, Derby County, currently ranked last in the league, is definitely no match for Manchester United.

However, the Premier League has entered the ninth round to go. With a chance to avoid relegation, these teams often unleash amazing potential and become the nightmare of title contenders. If they were to unexpectedly fail, Ferguson would certainly not be able to accept it.

When I got to the office door, it wasn't open yet.

A voice came from not far away.

"Hey Alex, I knew you weren't gone."

Ferguson turned his head and looked.

It turned out to be his close friend, David Gill, the CEO of Manchester United.

Push open the door.

Ferguson looked at Jill and pointed into the office: "David, why aren't you off work yet?"

David Gill is holding a newspaper.

Hearing Ferguson ask him this, he held the newspaper in front of him and waved it at Ferguson: "I just saw a news article that I think you should see it too."

"Come in." Ferguson nodded and walked into the office first.

····

Ferguson placed the coffee on the coffee table, plopped down on the sofa, and looked at David Gill: "Speak, what is it?"

David Gill took a sip of his coffee, but instead of immediately handing Ferguson the newspaper beside him, he frowned and looked at Ferguson: "Alex, after you talked with Cristiano and Mendes yesterday, did you notice anything unusual about Cristiano?"

Ferguson was taken aback. He hadn't expected David Gill to call him to discuss this matter, especially since Cristiano hadn't been present when he was talking to Mendes.

I thought about it briefly.

Ferguson shook his head: "I didn't notice anything unusual about Cristiano. Besides, Cristiano wasn't there when I met with Mendes yesterday; he went to have dinner with Dolores."

"Nothing unusual?" David Gill frowned even deeper, said nothing more, and simply handed Ferguson the newspaper that was on the sofa.

Ferguson took the newspaper, glanced at it, and lost interest after reading only two lines.

The Manchester Evening News featured a large black-and-white photo of Mendes sitting on a sofa, talking animatedly. The photo reported that a club had contacted him, hoping to sign Cristiano Ronaldo with a high salary after the season.

"Has the Manchester Evening News gone mad?" Ferguson threw the newspaper on the coffee table, a hint of disdain on his face. "They actually publish this kind of news? And it's an exclusive interview, no less! I think they're not going to get any inside information from us anymore!"

The Manchester Evening News has always been Manchester United's mouthpiece, and almost all of its news about the club is positive.

In recent years, Ferguson has been unable to bring Manchester United a significant trophy.

Every season, many media outlets would bring up this incident for jokes, but the Manchester Evening News always stood by Ferguson and never said a bad word about him.

However, it's quite obvious that today's report has hit a nerve with Manchester United.

After all, to anyone who sees this news, it seems to imply that Manchester United is being pressured to accept Mendes's offer to pay Ronaldo a high salary.

It's well known that the slow progress of the contract renewal negotiations with Cristiano Ronaldo has been a major concern for both Ferguson and David Gill. Now that they finally saw a glimmer of hope, the Manchester Evening News had to step in and speak on behalf of Mendes, an outsider.

This behavior is somewhat unacceptable.

“Sigh…we’re still too slow,” David Gill sighed. “Cristiano is getting better and better. If we don’t hurry up and renew his contract, in a few months, Florentino will be back in power…”

"I know, David."

Upon hearing the name Florentino, Ferguson's face darkened.

If it weren't for that wretched Spaniard, the contract renewal negotiations between Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn't have progressed so slowly.

Ferguson still remembers the heart-to-heart talk he had with Cristiano Ronaldo last Christmas.

Ferguson expressed his desire to do everything possible to keep Ronaldo.

Faced with Ferguson's sincere attitude, Ronaldo also frankly told Ferguson his true thoughts, saying that Real Madrid was still his first choice.

However, Ferguson also recalled some information that Mendes had intentionally or unintentionally revealed during yesterday's conversation. From his words, Ferguson could sense that Florentino's interest in Ronaldo was not as high as before.

Thinking about this...

Ferguson's eyes lit up, and a new idea suddenly came to mind.

Ferguson lightly tapped his thigh with his finger and looked at David Gill: "David, could you... could you investigate and see if Real Madrid is still interested in Cristiano?"

“What do you mean?” David Gill was taken aback.

“I think Mendes is putting on airs a bit.” Ferguson spread his hands and began to talk about his meeting with Mendes yesterday. “You see, the previous times we took the initiative to contact him to talk about Cristiano’s contract renewal, he always refused outright. But this time, unexpectedly, he took the initiative to contact us. There’s something fishy about that.”

"And there's something else that's been bothering me more and more lately. When we got down to business yesterday, Mendes' demands for a pay rise for Cristiano were absolutely outrageous. He knew I wouldn't agree, so why did he even bother talking to me about it?"

"How much does he want?" David Gill asked curiously.

“I’m afraid I’ll make you furious if I tell you,” Ferguson said with a look of disgust. “You probably don’t want to hear the specific figures either, but here’s the thing: didn’t you set a rule that the club’s salary costs cannot exceed 50% of the club’s total revenue? If we agree to that, then we will definitely exceed that rule.”

“Hmm…” David Gill stroked his chin and murmured, “That’s definitely not acceptable. No one can cross that line.”

“That’s why I find it strange.” Ferguson nodded. “He knew our bottom line, but he still brought it up without any hesitation, and then in such a short time he came to England to do an interview in the newspaper, saying that other teams wanted to pursue Cristiano.”

"To be honest, I think he's just putting on an act, trying to use this to force us to agree to a pay rise for Cristiano... Maybe Real Madrid has already given up on signing Cristiano!"

Ferguson finished speaking.

David Gill lowered his head and thought about it seriously for a while.

One minute later.

A slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Alex, if you're right... we might actually be able to save a lot of money! Hahahaha!"