Chapter 250: Valencia Noise
The January transfer window doesn't sound like cheering fans or a kicked ball. It's more of a constant buzz of vibrating phones, quiet hallway chats and endless trade rumors.
By the second week of January, that buzz around Crawley Town had become impossible to ignore.
Niels sat in his office, staring at the iPad that Sports Director Emma Hayes had just slid across his desk. She looked tired holding a black coffee in one hand as she tapped the screen.
"They aren't just testing the waters anymore," Emma said. "His agent is feeding stories to the Spanish press twice a day. Marca ran a two-page spread this morning, and AS has him on their homepage."
Niels looked at the tablet. The translated Spanish article featured a big photo of Dev Patel in his Crawley jersey right next to Valencia's Mestalla stadium.
The headline read: The £27 Million Diamond: Valencia's Future Attacking Option.
27 million pounds.
