Didier Drogba had a good impression of Sporting Lisbon. The first reason was that Didier Deschamps from the French national team had just transferred from Chelsea F.C. to join Sporting Lisbon.
Drogba held dual nationality—Côte d'Ivoire and France—and had been playing in France, so he was very familiar with many players in the French national team.
The second reason was that Drogba found Mr. Trigueira's assistant—who communicated with him in French—very agreeable. The assistant spoke politely and clearly understood the concerns of young players.
He told Drogba frankly that there was a style of football best suited to him. They wouldn't force him to show off flashy technique or footwork—instead, they would build tactics around his strengths.
The assistant even sent Drogba some match highlights from Moreirense.
Among them, the way Moreirense striker Anderson played suited Drogba perfectly.
Drogba even felt he could perform much better than Anderson.
If the head coach truly understood and valued a striker of Drogba's style, then his playing time and tactical importance would naturally be guaranteed.
No one wants to abandon what they're good at just to adapt to an unfamiliar system.
En Avant Guingamp seemed to want to mold Drogba into a player similar to David Trezeguet, but Drogba believed he could offer much more than that.
The final reason was what the assistant said to him:
"I know you have children, so I've applied for additional housing subsidies from the club for you. You can bring them over—the pressure won't be too heavy."
"Or you can send money back home to improve their lives."
"Personally, I think the second option might be better for now. Your children are still young. And with your ability, I believe that within two or three years, wherever you play, you'll be able to bring them over."
That gave Drogba a huge boost of confidence.
Of course, the assistant coach also reminded him to cut down on junk food—otherwise he might fail the club's fitness tests.
To Drogba, this assistant was the most impressive person he had met, aside from his uncle Michel.
Maxa looked at all these transfers and felt like she couldn't even breathe.
Barzagli was supposed to cost €100,000—you pushed it to €200,000.
Drogba was valued at €200,000—you paid €400,000.
And the key point? Even at the lower prices, neither of them was guaranteed to be worth it.
What the hell was this?
Buying the dip?
Gambling?
Hedging stocks?
Shouldn't you at least go after players that youth academies widely recognize as top talents?
"By the way, have we received any feedback from our scouts in South America?" Kai suddenly remembered that the club still had some scouting connections there.
"They've sent over a batch of young players for trials," Trigueira replied. "I've looked at their data and videos—they don't seem particularly impressive."
"Oh, right—this is the player strongly recommended by Corinthians. His name is Gutierrez. They're asking for €400,000."
Kai glanced at the file and wasn't impressed.
Maxa said nervously, "I've heard that player ownership in South America is extremely complicated, and transfer fees often get inflated. Based on Gutierrez's performance, €400,000 might be fair—but I'm worried it could end up costing €700,000 or even €800,000!"
Trigueira nodded. That was entirely possible.
Back then, many South American transfers involved shared ownership, which often led to disputes and lawsuits.
"But they also said that if we buy Gutierrez, for another €100,000, they'll include two additional players as a package deal. One of them is Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira—his name is ridiculously long—and there's another one…" Maxa was clearly tempted by the "buy more, get more" deal.
Kai suddenly stopped mid-call. "Who?"
"Gutierrez?" Maxa froze.
Kai shook his head. "No. The next one."
Maxa fumbled, "Uh… toilet cleaner buy-one-get-one-free—oh no, I mean, Kepler Laveran—"
Kai immediately nodded. "That's him! We want him!"
Maxa was stunned. "What? You want the buy-one-get-two-free deal as well?"
Kai shook his head again. "No. You don't approach South American deals like that—you have to be careful. Do it like this: tell them we want Gutierrez, but the other two players must be included for free. We won't pay a single extra cent."
"And make sure we get full ownership of both of those players. Double-check everything."
Maxa looked troubled. "But if we try to verify Gutierrez's ownership, we definitely won't get him at that price. Something about this deal feels off—otherwise it wouldn't be our turn."
Kai laughed. "Who said we need to check Gutierrez? If they're hiding something, the moment we ask for documentation, they'll only provide ownership details for the two players they're giving away."
"Once we confirm that Kepler's ownership is clean, we finalize the deal."
"If there really is an issue with Gutierrez, they'll just sell part of his rights elsewhere and recover €250,000."
Maxa was speechless. "So after all this… we're still losing €150,000?"
Kai pointed at the names in his notebook. "Your math is solid. But… didn't we just get two extra players?"
Maxa panicked. "What's the point of players no one wants? You think these two are actually worth something?"
Kai looked at Trigueira and said calmly, "Maybe one of them will anchor Portugal's defense for the next fifteen years?"
Trigueira nodded, agreeing to the plan, though still puzzled. "You've never even been to South America. How can you be so confident in this player?"
Kai brushed it off. "Didn't my personal fund sponsor Lionel Messi last year? Later, I had a falling-out with the Argentinians, and they started pushing various young players to compete with me."
"Brazil also took advantage of the situation and launched a wave of talent scouting. I've seen this player's highlights—he's aggressive, mentally strong, extremely combative, and has excellent defensive and passing instincts."
"He'll definitely make it. He's seriously good… probably much better than Fonte!"
Fonte: If I've done something wrong, let the law judge me. But why are you humiliating me like this? Is it just because I played in the Chinese Super League? Damn… the logic suddenly makes sense. Maybe I really am innocent?
…
Soon, the South American agent—who had brought over a batch of young players hoping to scam smaller clubs—completed the deal with Sporting Lisbon.
Originally, they had planned to target a small, inexperienced club from Madeira, thinking there would be no consequences even if the scam was exposed.
But unexpectedly, a bigger fool had taken the bait.
And this "big fool" happily completed a "buy one, get two free" deal—centered around Gutierrez.
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