Confirmations and Introductions
For the past hundred minutes, a crazy half-Central African, half-American, who had been switching radio channels - from Reggae to American Pop music, and an Italian fifty year-old man who could go hours without uttering a word, were on either side of me in the car. When Lager wasn't busy screaming at his driver to change the channel, in a language I recognized to be French because of numerous months I spent in Belgian, he was on the phone with someone else. He could as easily have been plotting to kill us, as he could've been ordering dinner, because I didn't understand one single word. We stood inside AS Saint-Etienne's Stade Geoffroy Guichard, busy looking at the trophies and medals on display, when a man came running towards us. More than a bit on the heavy side, he was completely left gasping for air - as he attempted to introduce himself - "Hello..my name..is..Destin..Ningamba"
Gian, perhaps still bitter from the comment made by Jim earlier regarding the handling of negotiations, reacted once again, saying, "We were told you don't speak English, Mr. Ningamba. I guess someone wanted credit for this deal. I knew something was wrong, boss."
I motioned for the Italian to stop. Taking an aggressive approach would've never have helped us in the situation. I tried to calm the situation down by requesting him, "Why don't you go and check when Lucas' flight is coming in? Even if we aren't able to come to an agreement with Zouma, we need to hold a press conference, introducing Lucas as a part of our club." It seemed to work, as Biscotti started punching numbers in his phone and walked out, but neither was I too happy about the idea of being lured into coming here on the back of an extravagant story, only for it to all be a lie. With the figure of my coach disappearing in the distance, Ningamba and Lager started arguing, in what seemed to be a language I couldn't have an input on.
With them trading statements on multiple occasions, I stepped in, hoping to put an end to it. "Excuse me, gentlemen, but we don't have a lot of time. I would like to proceed with what I had come here for.", to which Lager quickly replied, "My apologies, sir, but yesterday I was notified about Kurt Zouma's availability at roughly £4 Million, and that I should pass that message on to you. Although I have performed my duties, Destin here now tells me Saint-Etienne initially set the asking price at £6 Million." "Is that true, Destin?", I asked Ningamba, who looked at Lager with a blank look on his face. Perhaps he really couldn't understand my accent, and didn't have grasp over basic english. Lager could, indeed, be telling us the truth.
"We understand that being linked with Manchester United is automatically going to bring the player's value up, and we are ready to come to an agreement with the club. If only you can lead me to someone that can take charge and help us out - the chairman or manager, perhaps.", I said, hoping to finish the deal off before the media gets a sniff of it. Once again, I realized the French system worked differently. "They are still out on vacation, and Destin has already spoken to the officials, sir. They expect you to pay a minimum of £4.2 Million to acquire the player's services, as a one-time fee, or £6 Million in installments. Of course, if you would like to add conditions and clauses, you will have to wait till they return in a couple of days", said Lavin, compelling me to think about whether or not I should take advantage of the offer.
We weren't expecting to get Kurt Zouma, a highly-regarded youngster, on something as low as £6 Million. And we were planning to pay a one-time fee of £24 Million for Cesar Azpiliceuta, so paying a fraction of that for Kurt shouldn't be a controversial decision. The guy labelled to be the next Philippe Mexes was definitely worth the money. I nodded my head, in acceptance, saying, "£4.2 Million, it is", and extending my hand in Destin Ningamba's direction for a handshake. All we needed now was to agree personal terms with the sixteen year old and we would have made a signing within two hours - which is sure to be quite a surprise to anyone aware of the egos involved in the footballing world.
