Aldridge, Cheshire, England.
Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes opened the back door of the Bentley parked outside an upscale restaurant, got in, then rolled down the window to wave goodbye to Lucas, who had come to see him off.
Only after his assistant, Hugo Badir, urged the driver to depart did Mendes slowly roll up the window and let out a long sigh of relief.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Badir glanced at his boss through the rearview mirror and saw him slumped in the back seat, looking utterly exhausted, as if he had just gone through an intense mental and physical ordeal, like someone who had narrowly escaped death.
This confused him.
When had he ever seen his boss like this?
Even when Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid in 2018, he hadn't looked this drained.
"This is a bit over the top!" Hugo Badir muttered indignantly, clearly feeling sorry for his boss.
Getting no response from Mendes, he continued, "We already went to his place in person. He just treated us to a meal and didn't even bother to see us off, making Fernando Lucas do it instead. Does he really think he's that important?"
"Good thing he's retired. If he were still active, imagine how arrogant he'd be."
Mendes listened with his eyes closed. As sharp as he was, how could he not understand what his assistant was doing?
Wasn't he just talking like that on purpose, to make him feel better?
Yesterday, when he received Gao Shen's call, Mendes was genuinely startled. Only then did he realize that he had made a serious mistake by acting too hastily and immediately apologized over the phone. But afterwards, he still felt it wasn't enough.
So today, he prepared a generous gift and personally went to apologize.
It was frustrating. Gao Shen had hosted him outside, always smiling and welcoming him with impeccable courtesy. It was so polite it felt unnatural, making Mendes feel like he had punched cotton—completely ineffective, and it left him feeling even more anxious.
And when it was time to leave, Gao Shen didn't even see him off personally, instead asking Lucas to do it.
From start to finish, from yesterday to now, Gao Shen hadn't said a single harsh word. Every word had been polite, so polite it made Mendes's heart pound, because he knew very clearly that he had truly offended him.
Oddly enough, when Gao Shen didn't see him off in the end, Mendes wasn't angry at all. On the contrary, he was secretly relieved.
Not because he enjoyed being snubbed, but because this was how someone who was truly angry should behave, wasn't it?
Putting on airs?
What's wrong with putting on airs?
He had every right.
When Gao Shen gets angry, not just Mendes, but all of European football trembles.
"Put Ruben Dias on hold. Bruno Fernandes too. Don't touch those two. Bernardo Silva and Félix can go to Real Madrid, but the transfer fee cannot be low," Mendes instructed.
Badir, driving in front, frowned. "Boss, what's going on here…?"
"I don't get it," Hugo Badir shook his head.
"He's not just the owner of Leeds United, not just Gao Shen. He's also the technical director of Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain."
"Didn't they say his role there was more of a consultant?"
Upon hearing this, Mendes opened his eyes and stared at his assistant, his tone hardening. "Have you ever seen a consultant like him? He's only been at PSG a few days, and he's already sacked four or five department heads and replaced them with his own people. What kind of consultant can do that?"
Badir was speechless.
This matter hadn't drawn much attention from the outside world, and even the media had barely reported on it. When they did, it was mentioned in passing because fans simply didn't care.
Who cares who PSG's team doctor is?
Who cares where PSG hired their new nutritionist from?
Nobody cares. Fans only want one thing—winning matches. Everything else is irrelevant.
But for professionals in football, the world they see is vastly different from the one fans see.
Fans watch the 90-minute performance on the pitch. But insiders see the world beyond that, how the club is managed, how operations are run.
The match is the result. The rest is professional football.
Gao Shen's moves at PSG have indeed caused major ripples in the industry. Everyone is now watching to see what effect his reforms will bring.
"Didn't you say a lot of people don't think he'll succeed?" Badir asked again.
Mendes gave him a sideways glance, clearly displeased. But then he thought about it and let it slide. After all, a too-clever assistant wasn't necessarily a good thing. It might even become a problem.
In this business, it's not uncommon for assistants to break away and eventually edge out their bosses.
"When people see something new, their first reaction is resistance. Just like how fans always say the new generation of stars is worse than the last."
After a pause, Mendes sighed and said, "You need to stop chatting with those idle types. They don't know a thing. The ones who really understand the game are all watching and waiting, including clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Juventus, Napoli, and Bayern Munich."
"They all want Gao Shen to be their CTO. But that's not going to happen, is it?"
Mendes looked at his assistant as if he were clueless. "They want to see if the things Gao Shen implemented at Leeds United—especially those emerging technologies and data analysis systems—can be replicated at other clubs."
"In tech circles, there's something called Moore's Law, which says that technology doubles in capability every six months. If that's true, things will develop very quickly. In a few years, job titles in football could start looking ridiculously long."
"And it will definitely begin with the top clubs."
With that, Mendes stopped explaining.
Some things didn't need to be said in full. Saying too much to an assistant could backfire.
Others might not see it clearly, but he did. Professional football was constantly converging toward the top.
This was true across the board—technology, financial power, talent.
One piece of data that clearly illustrated this was UEFA's European coefficient rankings.
This ranking, based on results from the last five years, determined Champions League and Europa League qualification slots for national leagues.
Looking at 2009, which included results from the 2004/05 to 2008/09 seasons, the Premier League ranked first with 79.499 points. Spain was second with 74.266, Serie A third with 62.910, Bundesliga fourth with 56.695, and Ligue 1 fifth with 50.168.
Now, in 2019, considering results from 2014 to the present, the ranking was different.
La Liga was in first with 103.569 points, thanks in large part to Gao Shen and Real Madrid's six consecutive titles.
Second was the Premier League with 85.462. Serie A came in third with 74.725, Bundesliga fourth with 71.927, and Ligue 1 fifth with 58.498.
It was obvious that the top five leagues were pulling away.
The rules hadn't changed. The point system was the same. The structure of the competitions remained unchanged. Yet the point totals of the top five leagues were rising, which meant someone else had to be losing ground. That someone was the smaller leagues—Primeira Liga, Belgian Pro League, Eredivisie, Turkish Süper Lig, Austrian Bundesliga, and Russian Premier League.
Among the top five, Ligue 1 had the slowest growth, despite PSG's massive investments over the years.
Given the Premier League's monstrous spending power, fueled by broadcast revenue, it was clear this trend would continue. The smaller leagues would be further weakened, and Ligue 1 was at risk of being hit first.
This data reflected the performance of entire leagues, not individual clubs. Even PSG's massive presence couldn't boost Ligue 1 much.
And if Ligue 1 continued to slide, there was no telling whether the Qatari owners would still be interested after the 2022 World Cup.
Would they withdraw? Or would they redirect their investments to the Premier League?
This trend was unavoidable.
Talent, capital, technology—everything was flowing toward the elite.
What Gao Shen had right now was exactly what the top clubs needed.
As an agent, Mendes had business across Europe. Some transfers were just about volume. Others brought both massive profits and prestige.
That's why the Italian brand Raiola always emphasized quality over quantity.
Mendes understood very clearly—once Gao Shen opened the gates to this new era, if he wanted to continue working with top clubs, he had to stay on good terms with Gao Shen. Otherwise, his career would hit a ceiling.
That was the real reason Mendes had taken the initiative to make peace.
...
"Hugo." Mendes opened his eyes again and looked toward the front seat.
"Yes, boss." Badir quickly turned around.
"Nuno Mendes from Sporting Lisbon hasn't signed a professional contract yet, has he?"
"Not yet. Several clubs are interested, but Sporting Lisbon wants to keep him."
"Leeds United are interested too?"
"Yes, but the deal didn't go through. Sporting were firm."
With FIFA and UEFA having banned third-party ownership, youth training academies were now much more cautious about losing players.
"Talk to Sporting. Get Nuno Mendes to Leeds United."
Badir gasped. "Boss, but that's one of our top prospects. He…"
"I know." Mendes waved him off. "Let him go to Leeds United. I heard Cucurella hasn't been playing well. Let Nuno go there and let them train him for a few years. By then, he'll be ready to shine."
"Also, pass along the message. Any business involving Gao Shen or Leeds United must be reported to me immediately."
Badir was stunned. Why was his boss, known in football circles as a ruthless dealmaker, being so accommodating to Leeds United?
It didn't make any sense.
Mendes controlled nearly 70 percent of all foreign transfers out of Portugal each year. He had close ties with Sporting, Benfica, and Porto. If he wanted to make a deal, he could make it happen easily—and at a low cost.
Sporting would, at best, get a youth development compensation fee.
So why?
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Badir grew increasingly confused. The more he thought about it, the more mysterious and incomprehensible it all felt.
(To be continued.)
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