Jagged Wings

Chapter 16 Wenger's Worries

"Real Madrid offer £600 million for Reyes!"

This is not news, this is a document.

In the office area of ​​the Kearney training ground, I asked someone to sit behind a large desk. Although today is a rare sunny day in London, the winter sun poured into the floor-to-ceiling windows, warming my body.

Wenger felt warm, but cold inside.Looking at the document on the table in front of him, he felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart.

Could it be that after the peak period, it will become a player supermarket?
Although Wenger's business philosophy is indeed "buy high and sell low", train young players to become famous and then sell them, but that does not mean that he is a profit-seeking person.

In fact, Wenger has a lot of affection for the players he bought, and he wants to educate and train everyone like his own children.

This is exactly the case with "Reyes", this talented Spanish boy, is the player who spent the most transfer fees during Wenger's coaching of Arsenal.Wenger, who has always been reluctant to spend money, can invest such a large amount of money in a young player, which in itself proves his "concern about Reyes".

"I'll think about it!" Wenger looked at the invitation from Real Madrid and thought for a while, then dialed Reyes' cell phone.

"BOSS?" Reyes was surprised to receive a call from Wenger. Wenger is a person who separates work and life. When he is resting, he rarely disturbs the lives of the players, and he will not have any contact with the players. What intersection.

"Antonio, I think I have some news to tell you." Wenger thought of "Reyes"'s homesickness: "Real Madrid officially offered us an offer to buy you."

"Oh," Reyes has no doubts. In the real world, since Reyes joined Arsenal, such a soap opera will be staged on "Reyes" every season: "How much is Real Madrid's bid?"

A pain appeared on Wenger's face: "600 million pounds, do you accept it, Antonio?"

"No, I refuse!" Reyes categorically said: "I like Arsenal very much and hope to continue to play for her, sir!"

"Oh oh oh, that's it..." Wenger felt happy for a while, and a silent smile appeared on his face, but he, who was not good at words, suddenly couldn't find any words to encourage him.

"Boss, I have a request!"

"Say!" Wenger said, although he couldn't say much in words, he could express it with actions.

"My injury has healed, and I want to start the next game!"

"Next game," Wenger looked at the schedule, Arsenal's next opponent was Bolton: "Okay, no problem!"

"Well, thank you boss, and I have one more thing, can I give Xiaoxiao a raise?
"..."

After hanging up the phone, Wenger felt a big stone in his heart, and simply rejected Real Madrid's invitation.

The match against Bolton was scheduled for the weekend of January 2005, 1. After the brutal Christmas battle, it returned to the rhythm of one game per week, and everyone's physical fitness was almost at the end. up.

Bolton are not considered a strong team in the Premier League. So far this season, they are ranked seventh in the league, which is a position that is neither high nor low.But one thing is strange, when the Premier League teams basically have the characteristics of "home dragons, away worms", Bolton is going against the current. So far, their away record is better than their home record.

This is related to the composition of their players. In the increasingly international Premier League, Bolton is a very "international" team, with 22 players in their lineup from 19 different countries.

Bolton is a truly international team, too much internationalization makes communication between players extremely difficult.With such personnel, it is not difficult to explain Bolton's wonderful record.Bolton can be regarded as a "nerve knife", which can not only lose to the relegation team at home, but also draw a strong opponent in the away game.

Bolton is a traditional British team, good at physical confrontation and long pass, their main striker Kevin Davis is known as "the striker who hurts the most defenders".Including the main players such as Diouf, Konchesky, and Jenna Copoulos, they are all muscular players.

"Arsenal, who are not doing well in this game, will face Bolton. I believe that the tough Bolton will teach Arsenal a profound lesson." The commentator said in the live broadcast room.

Although Arsenal are at home, most critics are still optimistic about the visiting team in view of Bolton's excellent away record.In the 23rd round of the league, Arsenal are still 7 points behind Chelsea.Chelsea has won the previous game, so Arsenal can only maintain the pressure on Chelsea if they win this game.

"In this game, our goal is to take all three points!" Wenger said solemnly in the locker room.

The next thing is the appearance of players from both sides. Arsenal's recent poor performance has also made the Gunners fans who have always been at ease anxious, but the attendance at Highbury is still very high. The fans show their support for the team with actions .

During the appearance ceremony, every player who enters the field will be welcomed by the fans, and the level of the welcome voice indicates the status of this person among the fans.When it came to Reyes, who was standing on the cusp of the storm, the Highbury fans' voices were much smaller, and there were even sporadic boos.

The downturn in the first half of the season is a test for Gunmi's patience.

At home and in the Bolton League, many people, including reporters, have given up hope for Reyes. They don't understand why Reyes should be played as the starter.

These days, all kinds of "bombardment" and "criticism" against Reyes have been heard endlessly, even extending to criticizing Wenger's signing ideas.

Wenger also lay down the gun.

The media lamented "another shooting star across the sky and then nothing left" while preparing to watch jokes during this game and criticize them after the game.

Even when he was on the court, Vieira ran over and patted Reyes on the shoulder as a sign of encouragement.

Reyes smiled at Vieira and said nothing: let the action prove everything!

Once you figure out some things, you will find that there is a completely new world in front of you.Now he figured it out and saw a world full of hope.

"Don't give me face, teach that Spanish striker a lesson!" Bolton's coach said to his defender on the sidelines.

Reyes dribbled the ball wide as Bolton midfielder Jenna Kopoulos came running from behind.He found that what he couldn't keep up with Reyes was his speed, so he fell to the ground and tackled behind him.While sliding the shovel, his right foot kicked Reyes' ankle intentionally or unintentionally.

"Watch your back, baby!" Jenna Kopoulos yelled strangely, he liked to confuse his opponents with words.

Out of the corner of Reyes' eyes, he saw Jenna Kopoulos's action. Judging from his performance in the previous games, he could only lose the ball in the face of this action.

But this time when Reyes ran, he flicked the ball up slightly and jumped up at the same time.Jenna Kopoulos, who was full of momentum, swiped past without touching the man or the ball.

"How?" The Greek midfielder was stunned.

After stopping the ball, Reyes was not greedy for credit, and took advantage of this opportunity to push the ball diagonally towards the ribs of Bolton's penalty area, and Henry appeared in the position to receive the ball.

The football got in through the crowd and went straight to the right side of the goal!But the opponent's goalkeeper concentrated his energy, flew and fished and hit the football with a single palm!
Just when the Bolton players and fans breathed a sigh of relief, Gilberto appeared in front of the goal. Before he had time to adjust, he jumped directly to the top, and the football flew into the empty goal!

1: o!In the 10th minute of the first half, Arsenal at home took the lead!

"Gilberto! Gilberto's iron tree blossomed and he saved Arsenal! But I have to say that 70% of this goal is due to Reyes' previous escape! Reyes is resurrected!"

"Good pass! Gilbertoli came running and hugged Reyes tightly.

And Reyes waved his fist, indicating his return.

Next, the Bolton defenders found that close pressing and rough movements could no longer scare the Spanish winger.

Konchesky ran up, and he was responsible for marking Reyes specifically.

Reyes looked up and saw Bergkamp sitting on the bench, and immediately gained strength: Dennis, I want to give you a gift!
Reyes began to ask the midfielder for the ball frequently.

"Hey, nice haircut!" Reyes said to Konchesky, who was tucked behind him.

Konchesky is actually a big bald head.

"That's not funny at all!" Konchesky replied bluntly.

"Okay." Reyes shrugged, then suddenly looked up at the sky: "What is that?"

"Huh?" Konchesky subconsciously followed Reyes and raised his head.

At this moment, Gilberto passed a half-high ball, and Reyes used his right foot as a support foot and stretched his left leg forward.Then with a flick of the toe of his left foot, the football flew over his and Konchesky's heads and went straight behind!

At the same time, Reyes took advantage of Konchesky's distraction, turned around suddenly, and sprinted over!
"Bergkamp!" shouted the name at the same time from the commentators and the Arsenal fans.

This action of Reyes has the same effect as Bergkamp's gorgeous rear-foot pull-ball turn when he scored against Newcastle in 02.

By the time Konchesky reacted, he had been beautifully broken by Reyes!And behind him is the empty wing. Just now Reyes attracted him, the full-back, and there was an empty space behind Bolton.

Bolton's central defender ran over to try to pull Reyes down, but he waved his hand and pulled it out, turning over and falling to the ground.

When he looked up, he saw that Reyes was facing the goalkeeper and swung his left leg!

The goalkeeper didn't expect that his defense would be broken so easily by Reyes, and he rushed to attack, but he was not ready at all.Facing such a goalkeeper, Reyes didn't think much about it, and just swung his foot and shot.

The football rolls into the goal from the goalkeeper's crotch against the turf.

Wear crotch!

2:0, Arsenal extended their lead!
Bolton's players lay on the ground weakly, not wanting to watch that scene again.

After Reyes picked the ball with his back and passed Koncheski, the cheers at Highbury never stopped.

When he saw him finally put the football into the goal, the cheers increased a hundredfold and turned into an exciting storm, sweeping the whole of Highbury!

"goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaL!!! Ray-yes-!!!"

(End of this chapter)