Since the beginning of the new century, Africa had increasingly been described as one of the world's emerging economic frontiers.
The continent remained marked by poverty, political instability and regional conflict, but that did not stop major multinational companies from paying attention.
Beneath the problems was a market with enormous long-term potential.
New Manchester United had built an influence in Africa that few European clubs could match.
Accra Free Professionals, the club's Ghanaian partner side, had risen rapidly under Chairman Melo. They had won three consecutive domestic league titles and had even lifted the African Champions League.
ASEC Mimosas in Côte d'Ivoire, one of West Africa's most respected development clubs, was another partner.
New Manchester United's scouting network extended across much of the continent.
Promising young players were identified in Central and West Africa and sent into a network of five football schools supported by the club.
All five used the same technical-development principles introduced at Newton Heath.
Coaches were trained in Manchester before returning to Africa, ensuring that the football schools followed a consistent methodology.
The most promising players were then moved to Accra Free Professionals, where they received more demanding professional training and regular senior football.
The system had begun producing results.
Under Melo's management, Free Professionals had become one of the fastest-rising clubs in Ghana and West Africa.
Players were moving from Accra into European football with increasing regularity.
Anthony Annan was the latest example.
He had played an important role in Free Professionals' African Champions League success and had now moved into New Manchester United's wider European development network.
Ethan had always liked African footballers.
Many possessed outstanding physical qualities.
They often adapted well to tactical instruction.
And the best of them combined athleticism with professionalism and an extraordinary willingness to work.
Managers loved players like that.
There was, however, a practical limit.
New Manchester United already had Drogba, Essien and Mikel.
Whenever the Africa Cup of Nations arrived, Mourinho could potentially lose three important players at once.
Adding too many more African internationals to the first-team squad could create a serious mid-season problem.
That did not mean the African network would be reduced.
It simply meant the club needed to manage how quickly players were moved into the senior squad.
Fortunately, Free Professionals no longer depended heavily on Ethan's direct financial support.
Melo had made the club increasingly self-sufficient.
Player sales contributed.
Commercial income contributed.
And the latest round of sponsorship agreements had strengthened their finances further.
Vodafone had signed a five-year sponsorship agreement with Free Professionals.
The logic behind the deal was obvious.
Vodafone had already worked with New Manchester United.
Now it was extending its presence into Africa.
The company was also supporting the summer tour involving New Manchester United, AC Milan and Real Madrid in the United States.
Its strategy was becoming increasingly clear.
North America and Africa were the two major markets outside Europe that Vodafone wanted to strengthen.
New Manchester United happened to have unusual influence in both.
That made the partnership increasingly valuable.
After the Champions League triumph, Vodafone reassessed the club's commercial position entirely.
New Manchester United were no longer merely an ambitious English side with an exciting brand.
They were European champions.
They had joined G14.
They possessed some of the most marketable players in world football.
Beckham.
Kaká.
Ronaldo.
Messi.
Curtis.
Terry.
Čech.
Robben.
Even players such as Drogba and Essien had become major public figures, particularly through charity work connected to Africa.
The club's commercial appeal had grown far beyond what Vodafone had originally expected when the relationship began.
Other companies noticed too.
Betting firms had made approaches.
Insurance companies had shown interest.
Telecommunications businesses were exploring sponsorship opportunities.
Vodafone understood that if it hesitated, another company could take the most valuable commercial space on New Manchester United's shirt.
So negotiations accelerated.
They were not easy.
Vodafone sent a specialist team to Manchester shortly after the season ended.
Talks lasted more than two weeks.
Both sides wanted to continue the relationship, but the argument was over price.
New Manchester United's commercial department knew exactly what the club had become worth.
Vodafone knew it too.
The Champions League win had increased that value.
G14 membership pushed it higher again.
Eventually, Vodafone moved.
The new agreement would run for five years.
Its guaranteed value was €110 million.
That meant €22 million per season for front-of-shirt sponsorship alone.
Performance bonuses could raise the total even further.
If New Manchester United won the Premier League or Champions League during the contract period, additional payments would be triggered.
If the club collected at least one major trophy in every season of the agreement, the total value could rise to €125 million.
It was the richest shirt sponsorship in world football.
The figures immediately placed New Manchester United ahead of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea in this particular category.
Chelsea had recently completed a major agreement with Samsung.
Manchester United remained one of the most commercially powerful clubs in the world.
Real Madrid still had extraordinary global reach.
Yet New Manchester United had just surpassed them all in guaranteed annual shirt value.
The football industry reacted with disbelief.
Only weeks earlier, analysts had been estimating that the Champions League victory could push New Manchester United's annual revenue beyond £100 million.
Now the Vodafone agreement made the club look even richer.
Naturally, the transfer rumours began immediately.
If New Manchester United had that much money, who were they going to buy?
The answer became even more confusing when Mark Davey's department announced another enormous commercial deal.
Adidas.
This agreement was longer.
Ten years.
Total value: €380 million.
The annual kit-supply component alone was worth around €18 million, enough to surpass Manchester United's previous benchmark deal with Nike and Chelsea's recent agreement with Adidas.
Again, New Manchester United had set a record.
Adidas's European president attended the announcement in person.
He made no attempt to hide the company's reasoning.
New Manchester United's commercial value justified the price.
Adidas had already profited enormously from the partnership.
Sales had risen.
Brand visibility had increased.
And the club's unusually young supporter base made it especially attractive.
New Manchester United had become one of the most fashionable football clubs among younger consumers.
The image helped.
The Red Rebels name.
The supporter-driven identity.
The rebellious branding.
The rapid rise through English football.
The mixture of elite football and anti-establishment imagery gave the club a personality that was difficult to manufacture artificially.
That appeal travelled especially well in the United States.
Even members of the British royal family had been linked publicly with the club.
Prince William and Prince Harry were both known to follow New Manchester United closely.
Adidas's merchandise numbers made the commercial case even stronger.
Beckham shirts alone were approaching one million annual sales.
Kaká's popularity had surged.
Ronaldo's rise was accelerating rapidly.
Messi was beginning to generate extraordinary attention despite his age.
Internal projections suggested that New Manchester United could sell more than 2.5 million shirts over the coming year.
That would put them well ahead of the traditional commercial giants.
Real Madrid and Manchester United were generally estimated to sell somewhere between 1.2 million and 1.5 million shirts annually.
New Manchester United were threatening to exceed those numbers by a remarkable margin.
At an average retail price of roughly £50 per shirt, the gross sales potential was enormous.
Naturally, that money would not belong entirely to Adidas.
Retailers took a share.
Distribution costs mattered.
The club received its contractual portion.
But even after all of that, the commercial return remained substantial.
The partnership with Adidas also extended beyond football shirts.
Two years earlier, Ethan had brought Adidas and Apple together for a joint sports-technology project.
The concept was simple in principle.
Sensors embedded in Adidas footwear would communicate with a receiver connected to an iPod.
The system could record basic exercise data such as time, distance, estimated calories burned and stride information.
That data could then be transferred to a computer for storage and analysis.
The project had taken more than two years to refine.
Now it was ready for commercial release.
It would be marketed as a joint development involving New Manchester United, Adidas and Apple.
Apple's internal research suggested that a significant proportion of iPod users already listened to music while exercising.
If even a small percentage adopted the new sports accessories, the potential market would be enormous.
Accessories alone, including receivers, cases and related products, were projected to generate more than $100 million in sales.
Steve Jobs had been enthusiastic about the concept from the beginning.
For the launch campaign, the companies selected Beckham, Kaká, Ronaldo and Messi.
All four would appear in promotional material for the new product line.
The endorsement contracts gave the players additional income.
New Manchester United would participate in the official launch during the club's summer tour of the United States.
Ethan's willingness to pursue projects outside conventional football sponsorship had become one of the reasons the club's commercial growth was so rapid.
The football department built the team.
The commercial department turned sporting success into global revenue.
Each strengthened the other.
After the Vodafone and Adidas deals were announced, the transfer market became even more obsessed with New Manchester United.
Surely, people argued, a club with this much money would finally abandon its restraint and make one spectacular signing.
Yet the biggest spenders of the summer remained elsewhere.
Manchester City and Chelsea.
Both had dominated the transfer market for two consecutive years.
Chelsea had already acquired Shaun Wright-Phillips from Manchester City.
The Ashley Cole dispute had finally moved towards a solution as well.
Chelsea were prepared to send William Gallas to Arsenal as part of the deal while also paying a substantial fee.
Then came an even bigger move.
Michael Ballack.
Chelsea paid around £24.4 million to bring the Bayern midfielder to Stamford Bridge.
The signing transformed an already extraordinary midfield.
Lampard.
Deco.
Verón.
Emerson.
Ballack.
On paper, few teams in Europe could match that collection of quality.
Ballack added height, goals, physical power and leadership.
Ancelotti now possessed several different midfield combinations depending on the opponent.
Manchester City responded almost immediately.
Van der Vaart and Sneijder had already arrived from Ajax.
Van Bommel had been taken from under Barcelona's nose.
Then City went after Patrick Vieira.
The move was completed for close to £20 million.
Van Gaal now had the midfield he wanted.
Vieira.
Van Bommel.
Yaya Touré.
Van der Vaart.
Sneijder.
Behind them sat a defence strengthened by Kolo Touré, Kompany and Shay Given.
Ahead of them was Ibrahimović.
It was no longer possible to dismiss Manchester City as an expensive project without structure.
Van Gaal was building a very specific team.
Power through the middle.
Technical quality between the lines.
Aggression without the ball.
Control in possession.
The recruitment was expensive, but it was not random.
Their next problem was attack.
Gilardino had chosen AC Milan.
That forced City to look elsewhere.
Two names began appearing repeatedly.
Thierry Henry.
Fernando Torres.
Henry remained Arsenal's defining player.
Torres was Atlético Madrid's young captain and one of the most highly rated forwards in Spain.
Either transfer would be enormous.
Signing both would transform the balance of the Premier League again.
With Ibrahimović already leading the line and a midfield containing Vieira, Van Bommel, Yaya Touré, Van der Vaart and Sneijder, adding Henry or Torres would give Van Gaal one of the most intimidating squads in Europe.
Meanwhile, Arsenal used the income from losing major players to rebuild more selectively.
Vieira's departure created funds.
Ashley Cole's expected transfer would add more.
Wenger invested part of that money in Tomáš Rosický from Borussia Dortmund.
The fee was approximately €7 million.
Samir Nasri arrived from Marseille for around €10 million.
Both fitted Wenger's preferred profile.
Young.
Technical.
Intelligent.
Capable of growing in value.
Arsenal were losing established stars but trying to build the next generation before the new stadium fully transformed the club's finances.
Manchester United and Liverpool remained relatively quiet by comparison.
That contrast made the coming season even more intriguing.
Chelsea had spent.
Manchester City had spent even more.
New Manchester United had barely touched their transfer budget.
Arsenal were rebuilding.
Manchester United were navigating the consequences of the Glazer takeover.
Liverpool were trying to strengthen without entering the same financial race.
The bookmakers began publishing their early title odds.
Chelsea and New Manchester United were placed at the front.
Chelsea, as defending champions, received a slight edge from several firms.
New Manchester United were given almost identical odds.
Nobody could ignore them after Istanbul.
Kaká was entering his prime.
Ronaldo was improving rapidly.
Robben would return from injury.
Messi was developing at a frightening rate.
Beckham remained the organiser.
The defence had already proved itself at the highest European level.
Manchester City were the surprise third favourites.
A year earlier, that would have sounded absurd.
Now it made perfect sense.
Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool were grouped just behind.
Most observers believed that, barring something extraordinary, the Premier League title would come from those six clubs.
It promised to be the most competitive season England had seen in years.
Chelsea were stronger.
Manchester City had launched an arms race.
New Manchester United were European champions.
And everyone else knew they had to respond.
Then the Premier League released the fixture list.
The summer speculation finally had dates attached to it.
The superstorm was no longer approaching.
It was already beginning.
(To be continued.)
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