Chapter 183 The Art of Taking Advantage

In a penthouse on the top floor of a street-facing detached apartment in London's Kensington district, Abramovich sat at the dining table, fork in his left hand and knife in his right hand, eating the medium-rare sirloin steak on the plate in front of him slowly and very gentlemanly.

There were two plates in front of him, one with fruit and the other with toast.

There was also a glass of red wine from Bordeaux, France.

This is what Abramovich eats for breakfast every day.

After finishing breakfast, Abramovich gently wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin.

The whole process was very gentlemanly, just like an elegant British aristocrat.

"Clean up!" Abramovich called to the servant waiting on the side.

He stood up, left the dining room and walked into the living room.

Marina Granovskaia, the personal assistant and confidant, and Pini Zahavi, the famous European football agent, have been sitting on the British aristocratic-style sofa in the living room and have been waiting for a long time.

"boss!"

"Roman!"

Seeing Abramovich coming over, the two of them immediately stood up.

"Sit down!" Abramovich motioned for them to sit down.

Sitting at the host's table, Abramovich was attracted by the several stacked newspapers placed in front of him by the servant at first sight.

The top one is the UK's largest circulation newspaper, The Sun.

The Sun's front-page headline was "A Belated Apology".

"Wow, has The Sun finally found its conscience and is willing to apologise to Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough disaster?"

Abramovich took it jokingly.

Upon closer look, I found that this was not the case at all.

The Sun was reporting on a bet that Southampton owner Yang Huan had made with more than a dozen British media outlets.

This incident later became quite a big deal and many journalists were affected by it.

Yang Huan spent three days to create a globally popular game about shooting airplanes, for which he received numerous praises.

Abramovich clicked his tongue twice, showing no interest, and put it aside.

Below is an independent newspaper.

As a person from Russia, Abramovich likes this newspaper very much, because at least their stance has always been relatively neutral and objective, which is something he can accept.

But today the front page headline of The Independent is a letter of apology.

The Independent's chief reporter Glenn Moore formally apologized to Yang Huan.

Same thing with The Sun.

In the lower half of the front page, there was a colorful advertisement.

There are many colorful and various candies in the advertisement, forming a beautiful pattern.

"Everyone says that a woman can't support a game."

"But, I don't believe it."

“I just want to design a game specifically for female players!”

"You can doubt women, but I believe they will prove themselves!"

"I'm Yang Huan, and this is a gift I give to female gamers around the world."

“Candy Crush Saga!”

After seeing this advertisement, Abramovich couldn't help laughing.

"Women? Aren't they all at home taking care of the kids, cooking, washing clothes and mopping the floor? Do they also play games?"

The Russian kept shaking his head and laughing. "This guy is really stupid. Does he think that he can get women to play games with just these few provocative slogans?"

Games have always been a man’s world.

Marina Granovskia is a middle-aged woman who has been with Abramovich for 18 years. She knows her boss' temper and did not refute what Abramovich said. Instead, she laughed and said, "He is still too young and very naughty."

Abramovich nodded. "Just a lucky kid."

But he still remembered the grievances between him and Yang Huan in the FA Cup.

But when that incident was mentioned, a beautiful image flashed through Abramovich's mind.

If he remembered correctly, the pure and charming female singer seemed to be called Yoona.

He never forgot her.

That night, she was really beautiful.

"By the way, Pini, how did the last bet between me and Yang Huan go?"

For such trivial matters, Abramovich gave full authority to Pini Zahavi to communicate.

It was only after seeing this newspaper today that he remembered this matter.

"It's a little trouble, Roman." Pini Zahavi has also been troubled by this matter recently.

"What? Is his request too outrageous?"

Abramovich sneered with disdain.

"No wonder, a League One team can select players from Premier League teams. Whatever they ask for is outrageous!"

Marina Granovskia at the side also laughed, "I doubt whether they can afford to pay the players' high salaries after they get them."

Abramovich couldn't help but smile when he heard this. This was quite interesting.

Seeing her boss smile, Marina Granovskia became even more excited.

"If they can't afford such high salaries for the players, and if the players refuse to stay in Southampton and run back to Chelsea, what should we do? We must tell them first that we will not be responsible for such a situation!"

Abramovich laughed out loud at the personal assistant's words, and his mood became much better.

"Pini, there's nothing to worry about. We should give them whoever they want. We can't go back on our word!"

Abramovich also has his own plan, which is to take advantage of this opportunity to reorganize the team.

He has already drawn up plans for the next season and has recently been in contact with Porto's young coach, Villas-Boas, who is known as the second Mourinho, hoping that the latter can take over Stamford Bridge in the next season.

The arrival of a young coach at Stamford Bridge has brought about a new round of metabolism.

At this time, Abramovich was willing to send away two famous stars who were beginning to decline.

"They..." Pini Zahavi saw that both of them were laughing so happily and felt reluctant to ruin their mood.

But things always have to be revealed.

"...They have no interest in our stars at all."

"What?" Abramovich's smile froze, and he was very surprised.

Pini Zahavi sighed, "Yang Huan said that he is not interested in our star player."

"Bullshit!" Abramovich felt humiliated.

Marina Granovskia was also surprised. "If they don't want stars, what do they want?"

Pini Zahavi shrugged his shoulders. He also felt that this was a bit outrageous in the eyes of ordinary people.

But this is exactly where Yang Huan is most astute.

"They asked for two players who couldn't play here."

"Who?" Abramovich was really interested and wanted to know.

"Daniel Sturridge and Nemanja Matic."

"Matic?" Abramovich frowned. He seemed to have vaguely heard of this name.

Pini Zahavi nodded and said, "A player under the management of agent Dimitrov."

Abramovich slapped his thigh and said, "Yes, Timić's player. Timić kept recommending him to me. It seemed that we spent nearly 2 million euros. It was you, Pini, who negotiated the deal."

Pini Zahavi nodded. He and Timic had a close personal relationship, and it was he who introduced Timic to Abramovich.

"Is this player in the team? I didn't see him in any game." Abramovich asked curiously.

Marina Granovskaia immediately replied: "After Nemanja Matic came to the team, he has not been able to play in the game. This season, he was loaned to Vitesse in the Netherlands and is a main player for Vitesse."

"What about Daniel Sturridge?" Abramovich asked again.

It was Marina Granovskia who answered first.

"Since Sturridge joined the team from Manchester City, he has always been a substitute. During the winter break of this season, we loaned him to Bolton."

Abramovich shook his head and smiled after hearing this. "He wants these two players who can't play in Chelsea?"

He looked as if he had gotten a great bargain.

It also seemed like he was mocking Yang Huan for not knowing the value of things.

How could he have missed such a good opportunity to kill someone?

If this isn’t something stupid, then what is?

Pini Zahavi hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not point it out.

Because he knew very well that speaking out would not necessarily please Abramovich.

Although he didn't say it out loud, Yang Huan must have known it in his mind.

I heard that the Chinese have a saying that if you don't take advantage of an opportunity, you are a coward.

But there are some rules to follow when it comes to how to get the bargain.

Matic performed well for Vitesse, but Sturridge was even more eye-catching.

After joining Bolton, the local rookie came on as a substitute in his first home game against Wolves and scored a crucial winning goal for Bolton after 23 minutes. He also scored a goal in each of the next three Premier League games.

Sturridge has scored four goals in four consecutive games and is simply amazing for Bolton.

But if that's all, then it's okay.

In the last two rounds of the Premier League, Bolton played against West Ham United and Arsenal respectively, and Sturridge scored twice and the winning goal respectively.

It can be said that Sturridge is now the hottest supernova in the entire English football world.

At first glance, the 22-year-old Matic and the 21-year-old Sturridge are both unknown now. Compared with top superstars such as Drogba, Cech, and Terry, the gap is really huge.

But the problem is, these two promising stars have a bright future. Who dares to say that they will not become top stars in the future?

Rather than taking advantage of those superstars who are already on the decline but have terrifyingly high salaries and may not be willing to go to Southampton, it is better to take these two young rookies.

The superstars are the present, but the rookies have the future!

So, this is where Yang Huan’s cleverness lies.

"Pini, I don't understand. Since they want these two players, just give them. What's there to worry about?"

Abramovich doesn't quite understand where Pini Zahavi's troubles come from?

Pini Zahavi smiled bitterly, "Roman, do you remember the deal we made with Benfica when we brought in David Luiz?"

Abramovich still didn't understand that this was not something he needed to worry about.

Marina Granovskia immediately understood and quickly explained: "When we signed David Luiz, we made an agreement with Benfica to use Matic's five million as part of David Luiz's transfer fee, so that the Serbian would transfer to Benfica after the season."

Abramovich understood that this was the relationship.

"It's very simple. You just tell Benfica that we have other uses for this player. As for David Luiz's part of the transfer fee, we will pay it in cash. Even if Benfica is not satisfied, we can give them some compensation."

Abramovich is still very generous in this regard.

"So are we really going to send these two players to Southampton?" Pini Zahavi asked again to confirm.

Abramovich's face flashed with displeasure, and he nodded coldly, "Since they want it, give it to them!"

He was in a good mood, but as soon as he thought of the bet, he got angry.

"Sooner or later, I will make him pay the most painful price. Just wait and see!"

When Abramovich indignantly decided to give Yang Huan two future stars in London, Yang Huan in Southampton was in his office, shouting and jumping up with excitement.

"I'm rich, I'm rich!"