CHAPTER 516: TAKING THE INITIATIVE IN AFRICA

As December approached, Manchester City’s office practically turned into a transfer bazaar. Every single day, the club received stacks of faxes from around Europe — inquiries, loan requests, even outright bids for their players.

Richard, together with Miss Heysen and the newly returned Marina Granovskaia, had to go through at least twenty proposals daily.

Most of them were absurd. One million pounds for a first-team player? Ridiculous — even if the offer came from a well-known club. Some bids were outright insulting: £6 million for Pirlo, £7 million for Trezeguet.

Manchester City’s current top scorer... valued at only £7 million?

It was laughable.

Most players weren’t even interested in leaving. Some were loyal, others were simply unimpressed by the clubs making offers. And if they were ever to move, it certainly wouldn’t be to a club with lower ambitions than Manchester City.

Richard shook his head as he tossed another fax aside. Most of the offers were either jokes or blatant attempts to take advantage of Manchester City’s temporary vulnerability.

But not all of them.

Among the piles of rubbish, a few offers stood out — from clubs with real ambition, proper sporting projects, and proposals that could genuinely help the players’ futures if they ever chose to leave. Those were the ones he didn’t immediately reject.

He made three piles on the table:

Trash — lowball offers, unserious clubs

Maybe — respectable teams with realistic interest

Never — Manchester United, without hesitation, went straight here

So after getting approval from O’Neill, he signed off on a few deals — now it would depend on the players’ own decisions.

Wayne Bridge → Southampton — £600K

Jermain Defoe → West Ham United — £1.25 million

Scott Parker → Charlton Athletic — £675K

Gareth Barry → Aston Villa — £900K

Just as Richard was about to hand the finalized documents to Marina, another thought struck him.

Lucio, Terry, Woodgate and Eto’o.

Both were already registered as first-team players, and both had immense potential — but their actual minutes on the pitch were limited. Keeping young stars on the bench could easily halt their development. City’s squad was stacked with world-class players, and even talents like these struggled for consistent match experience.

He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping the desk.

’Maybe loan moves would help them grow...’

He asked Marina to pull up the latest faxes again. Among them were a few intriguing proposals:

Samuel Eto’o: CD Leganés, Espanyol, and RCD Mallorca — all from La Liga

Lucio: SC Internacional and Bayer Leverkusen

John Terry: Nottingham Forest

Jonathan Woodgate: Middlesbrough

Richard stared at the names for a long moment.

"These four... we’ll need a proper discussion with them," he muttered.

However, since City’s defensive depth was already limited, after further consideration Richard only approved loan moves for Terry and Woodgate. Done with that, Richard turned toward Marina Granovskaia, closing the last folder with a soft thud.

"So," he asked calmly, "how’s the situation in Africa?"

Recently, Marina Granovskaia has been incredibly busy. Richard assigned her to conduct a full audit of the scouting network and agents Manchester City acquired from Olympique Marseille — after the French club was hit by a major scandal.

Karren Brady, who previously served as CEO of Olympique Marseille, was actually the one who tipped off Manchester City about the issues within Marseille’s scouting network. However, Richard still assigned Marina to investigate — he didn’t want any complications simply because Karren, who now served as City’s Head of Marketing, was involved in the matter.

Marina stopped flipping through documents and let out a quiet sigh. "Honestly? It’s a mess."

"That bad?"

"There’s talent, sure," she said, giving a small, dismissive wave of her hand. "Plenty of athleticism. But nothing exceptional yet. Infrastructure is poor, logistics are expensive, and everything takes twice the effort for half the results."

"And the scouting potential?"

"It exists," she replied, "but it’s chaotic. Exciting players to watch — then suddenly they make mistakes that you’d never see in Europe. Nigeria looks brilliant one moment and completely lost the next. Cameroon has the physicality and spirit... but overall, they’re still far from the level we need."

"Is that so?"

Richard exhaled, a relieved sigh escaping him as he realized how fortunate he was to have spotted Eto’o’s name from the Kadji Sports Academy. At first, he had completely forgotten about the young striker — just one name among thousands in the scouting database Karen had provided for him through Olympique Marseille’s African scouting network.

"Yes," Marina continued. "Now I understand why Karren insisted we focus only on Nigeria and Cameroon."

Previously, when Karren Brady was the CEO of Olympique Marseille, she expanded their scouting network deep into Africa — reaching Kenya, Zambia, Lesotho, and Rwanda. But after moving to Manchester City and following the scandal that hit Marseille, she only recommended securing scouting rights in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Originally, Richard had wanted to expand Manchester City’s scouting network into all of those African countries. But with the latest reports in hand, he knew he needed to make some adjustments. He opened a drawer, retrieved a file, and slid it across the table toward Marina.

"You’re far more familiar with Africa than I am," he said. "I need your help with this."

Marina opened the document — her eyes widened.

"Football schools? Training camps?" she asked. "What’s the point of Manchester City investing in all of this in Africa? Isn’t that just throwing money away? If we want to expand our market, there are other regions that make more sense."

"It’s not just about Africa. Over the next ten years, I want this club’s brand everywhere. Every continent. We’ll set up football schools and training bases in as many countries as possible — to expand our reach, and our talent pipeline."

Marina stared at him, bewildered. "So what, you want to mark children as Manchester City players from the moment they’re born? Are you that obsessed with youth recruitment?"

Richard chuckled. "I have my reasons. But I’m pretty sure you don’t want the long explanation."

Marina shrugged — fair point.

In essence, African football today is rich with raw talent, athleticism, and passion — traits ideal for the modern game. However, inconsistent infrastructure and coaching standards mean development remains uneven. Some regions are progressing well, while others still require significant support.

Based on Marina’s assessment, issues involving travel, politics, and administration often slow progress and make European clubs hesitant to invest heavily. Many African players grow up with limited resources, yet their determination drives them to succeed once they’re given the opportunity.

This is why many players of African descent tend to flourish after moving abroad, rather than fully developing within their home countries. European clubs, therefore, focus mainly on standout prospects rather than building large-scale scouting networks — only a small number of talents appear refined enough to transition smoothly into European football.

But what if Richard starts from the ground up?

At the end of the day, money is the answer to everything — or at least, the first step. So Richard had decided: If the system didn’t exist, he would build it. It would take time, money, and patience — but in football, those who invested early in tomorrow’s stars always reaped the greatest rewards.

He aimed to establish football schools and training camps around the world, primarily to build a foundation for future talent recruitment and prepare for FIFA’s new transfer-policy came into force in ten years — a policy that would bar international transfers of players under eighteen.

Under existing rules, clubs like Manchester City could still sign under-18 players from certain EU countries — Portugal, Spain, Italy — and relocate them to England without much hassle. But once the ban arrived, that door would shut. If City waited until the policy took effect, the club risked losing access to a valuable segment of the global talent pool — especially emerging stars from Africa, Asia, South America and regions outside EU.

And beyond competitive advantage, it was also a reputational and financial risk: buying older players once they hit 18 tends to be more expensive — transfer fees rise with visibility and age; wages can be higher; competition for those players is fiercer.

So the question became: How to legally, ethically, and practically secure elite under-18 prospects now, while ensuring compliance in the future?

Fortunately, there were loopholes. In the future, top clubs would continue to field under-eighteen foreign talents in their youth academies. The key would be determining how those players arrived.

If a player under eighteen transferred directly from one club to another internationally, the move would be blocked.

If he wasn’t registered to any club and attempted to sign with a foreign team, that would also be prohibited.

The only feasible solution was for clubs to invest in football infrastructure abroad — establishing academies and training programs — and then recruit players from those academies. Afterward, those players could temporarily return home, following a pathway similar to students attending preparatory school before progressing to university.

Without this process, it would appear as though a player was going abroad directly for employment — something FIFA rules would reject. Barcelona’s La Masia had already been penalized for similar violations: several young players from outside Spain were sanctioned. Meanwhile, Japanese talents avoided punishment because they had been recruited through Barcelona’s training camp in Japan.

Richard wanted to take preventive measures now; he couldn’t afford to wait until the policy was enforced.

Beyond regulatory concerns, this strategy would also strengthen Manchester City’s global reputation and long-term recruitment pipeline.

Richard pointed to several African countries. "After Nigeria and Cameroon," he said, "here — Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Ghana."

He then drafted a charter: each academy must provide full schooling, psychological counseling, regular family visits, and bilingual education. Contracts would include exit clauses, scholarship-style stipends, and clear performance reviews. Agents would not be allowed. All expenses would be covered by City.

The payoff could be enormous: in a decade, they could have a broad base of homegrown talent from around the globe, molded in City’s style — and ready to compete at the top level once they reached adulthood.

Even if only one in twenty made it to the senior squad, the long-term return — both sporting and commercial — would justify the upfront investment and operational complexity.

"Just like—"

Richard stopped mid-sentence as his eyes landed on Ghana. After reviewing the documents Marina provided, he found an unexpected opportunity.

"This young man," he said, tapping a profile sheet, "let’s sign him and help him come to Europe. We’ll cover all expenses."

He handed the paper to Marina.

She glanced at the dark-skinned boy pictured on it. "Michael Essien? Are we helping him immigrate?"

Richard shook his head. "Immigration is too costly and complicated. He can’t come to Manchester without an EU passport or work visa. Instead, we’ll loan him to Europe — let Cannes develop him. I’ll ensure Elineau personally oversees his progress. In four years, once he turns twenty and secures EU citizenship, he’ll come back to Manchester. City will fund everything until then."

Richard trusted Jean-Claude Elineau — AS Cannes’ academy director — more than anyone when it came to nurturing young footballers. After all, Zinedine Zidane was proof of what a player could become under Elineau’s guidance. No doubt Essien would be in the right hands.

Marina agreed without hesitation. She was genuinely enthusiastic about this sort of initiative. She took great pride in working with young players and had witnessed countless unsung talents over the years. Her goal was to become an influential figure in British football — and ultimately, a force in Europe that could not be underestimated.

Although competition with other clubs had reached a fever pitch, she had already managed to establish a foothold in places such as Spain and Germany. Yet there were still some markets — like Italy — that remained difficult to penetrate.