[Football] Bad Boy Batty

[Jack, hi, congratulations on winning a great game. Pep substituted you in the second half and received a lot of questions. Do you have anything to say?]

Grealish came to the advertising board: "Well, nothing, we talked a few words before going on the court, mainly he told me what to do after going on, but in fact I didn't use much advice afterwards. Most of the time it was Batistuta who told me what to do. Uh, I don't know. I'm very happy to play a role in an important derby."

[You just mentioned Batistuta. It seems that you have a good relationship with your new captain. How is he? Is he easy to get along with? Will he give you some advice on how to integrate into the team?]

Grealish adjusted his headband. "Yeah, Batistuta is a good guy. Although he made me late the first day I arrived, he also helped me solve problems. He is a good captain. I love him like I love football! You saw it just now. On the court, I basically don't think too much. I go wherever he needs me to go."

[What about Guardiola? It takes time to adapt to him and his tactics. Do you think you have adapted well? ]

Grealish's face was blank for a few seconds, and then he blew a breath: "Well, Pep is also a very friendly person. He is very passionate about football. I think people have misunderstood him. I love football and I love training. It is not easy to come to a new club, but now everything is going well. I...ah! Hey!"

As he was speaking, a hand reached out from outside the camera, pulled off his headband, and then ruffled his hair.

Those who know Grealish know that he is always full of joy, smiles at everyone and loves everything in life, but the only thing he hates is someone touching his hair.

At the instruction of the reporter, the camera turned, and the Manchester City captain, who had just taken over the No. 10 jersey, appeared in the picture little by little with his chin raised and his index finger swinging Grealish's headband.

"Hi!" He waved at the camera. "See? This is the guy. He helped a lot in the game. Both goals in the second half were related to him!"

Grealish, who was originally a little angry, was no longer angry in an instant.

Not only was he no longer angry, he even smiled with great pride despite his messy hair.

Grealish rushed over and hugged Batistuta: "He's really great! I don't know how to tell you, uh, on the court, he - the charm he exudes is amazing! Very amazing! A few seasons ago, when I was at Villa, we were uh, we were opponents, and it wasn't so intense at the time."

He began to speak incoherently, which was not surprising, as he would do that when he was excited.

"I saw that last goal and I was on the ground and I thought - wooo that's incredible, it goes in, we win!"

Batty hugged him back, then reached out and patted his back a few times in a rather pretentious manner, while winking at the camera: "I knew he must be saying he loved me, but I didn't understand a word. Isn't Birmingham dialect too scary?"

"Wait... Birminghamese?" Grealish pulled away and looked at Batistuta. "Aren't they English?"

"Only for me, Birminghamese doesn't count as English." Batty touched his head again. "I'm so sorry, dear. I expelled your hometown from British nationality. You won't blame me, will you, Jack?"

"No, no, of course I don't blame you." Grealish was quite open-minded. "A lot of people told me that the Birmingham dialect is not good... Hey! You can understand me!"

He finally reacted, and Batty was still guessing how long it would take him.

Yes, the Birmingham dialect is not easy to understand, but after consulting Stones and Foden for tips and finding listening videos on YouTube, Batistuta gradually learned to understand some daily expressions.

But it was really fun to tease him.

Especially after the buzzer-beater victory, Batistuta's adrenaline was still at a very high level and he needed to do something interesting to release it.

"Hush, Jack." The King of Manchester City, with a face full of sadness, grabbed Grealish and hugged him like the painting of Jesus loving the world in the church. "That's your illusion. As a Brazilian, English is really difficult to understand, not to mention the dialect, so I didn't lie to you."

The reporter on the other side thought, this is too obvious, how could I believe it...

"Oh." Grealish nodded.

He believed it.

And he also apologized to Batty.

"I'm sorry," the England striker felt guilty. He actually doubted Batistuta. Batistuta was not a native English speaker, so it was normal that he didn't understand. "My mistake."

Under the gaze of reporters and cameras, Batistuta forgave Grealish, and the two of them walked towards the locker room with their arms around each other's shoulders.

In the middle of the conversation, Batty suddenly turned around, gave the reporter a sly fox-like grin, and quickly gestured to indicate that the guy next to him was not very smart.

"puff--"

The reporters who saw this scene couldn't hold back any longer.

"Oh, God." He wiped the tears from his eyes and sighed, "This episode will be very exciting when it airs."

……

When they returned to the dressing room, someone was already playing music inside, but it wasn't Oasis, nor was it a hit Spanish song, nor was it a Portuguese remix, but rather a soft, retro English rock song.

"Oh my god, the Beatles?" Buddy was already complaining about the taste of the owner of the playlist before he even entered the room. "Am I back to the beginning of the millennium? Who would listen to this these days?"

"You know who it is." Stones waved at Batistuta with two bottles of champagne. "The whole club, no, the whole dressing room will love this song. Who else but Rodri!"

"Like my grandma heard!" Walker echoed, "Even Bernardo wasn't that bad."

B Seat expressed his protest with a towel that flew over the locker room.

Unfortunately, the towel didn't hit Walker but Grealish's head. The England striker took it off with a bit of annoyance, and then carefully combed his hair in front of the mirror. "I quite like this song." After combing his hair, his mood became brighter, and he sang along for a few words, "but it's not the song now."

"Isn't this nonsense?" Walker said disdainfully, "Who would play this after winning a game? God, I never thought that one day I would start to miss Zinchenko's rap!"

"No, no, compared to that, I'd still choose the Beatles." Seat B waved his hand quickly, "At least their lyrics are clear and they don't sound like some young boy trying to be cool."

Batty walked over to the speakers with his phone in hand: "Listen to me, I just made a new playlist yesterday!"

He has recently fallen in love with Ozuna, and his playlist is full of light and sweet Spanish love songs.

"Oh! What song is this? I like it!" Grealish's eyes lit up as soon as he heard the prelude. "Tell me the name, and I'll ask them to remix it next time I go to a nightclub!"

"It already is, the song is called 'Caramelo (Remix)'." Batistuta sent his playlist to the England striker. "Good taste, Jack, remember to invite me to the nightclub."

Walker was quite dissatisfied with Batty's praise of Grealish, but Batty didn't argue with them anymore. He went to his locker to quickly pack up his things, then walked to the shower room with shampoo and other necessities.

Through the glass, he saw that there were few people inside.

"Has anyone seen Leo and Ney?" he asked, stopping.

"They are inside, in the physiotherapy room." De Bruyne, who was originally looking down at his phone, replied, "Kun came back for a while, and then they went over. Pep should be there too."

Batty nodded and walked towards the treatment room with his bathing supplies.

De Bruyne is right, they are all in there, except for Guardiola, who is probably still stuck in the press conference.

Aguero spotted Batistuta first.

"Hey!" He waved his hand and said jokingly, "Why aren't you wearing my jersey? Do you think it's too heavy so soon?"

"Of course, it's heavy as hell." Batistuta made up a story. After greeting Messi and Neymar, he looked at Aguero again: "What are your plans for the future?"

"I don't know." The Argentine striker shrugged. "I'll go back to Argentina first and spend some time with Benjamin, and then decide where to go."

"Back to Manchester? I think you've put your house on the market."

"Honestly, I'm fed up with the weather here," Aguero said with a smile. "You reminded me, Batistuta, maybe I'll go to the United States in a while, California or Miami. I heard the sunshine there is very good."

"Really?" Batty crossed his arms. "Remember to go to Hollywood when the time comes. I'll talk to my godfather and maybe I can arrange a small role for you in his movie."

Aguero smiled, he opened his arms and pulled the little king close to his arms: "Thank you, I'll give you the number 10, keep it well."

"Yes," Batty also hugged him tightly, "Goodbye Kun."

……

Christmas is approaching and it is the international match day again. Although Guardiola is reluctant to see his players being used as a tool to attract tickets and coming back exhausted, he cannot stop them from responding to the national team's call-up.

After winning the derby, Manchester City's form has gradually stabilized, with more wins. It has now returned to the Champions League zone and is ranked third in the Premier League, closely behind Liverpool.

Surprisingly, Manchester United is still at the top of the list. The last-minute goal didn't seem to have much impact on them. Except for the loss to their old rival Manchester City, they haven't lost to any other team.

If this continues, the Blue Moon will most likely become the only team to have defeated Manchester United this season by the end of the season. Of course, there are still 4 months left, and who can predict the final result?

In the conference room of Manchester City's first-team building, sporting director Begiristain held a meeting on the winter transfer window. Chairman Mubarak, head coach Guardiola, and his assistants were all present.

"We have been in contact with Real Madrid. We were unable to reach an agreement on Mario Bekalos, the Brazilian right-back, in the summer window, but we recently made a breakthrough. Real Madrid agreed to loan him for 200 million euros. We will cover his salary and attach a buyout clause. If possible, it can be done in mid-January," he said.

"In addition to Mario, we are also trying to find a center forward that meets Pep's requirements. Dortmund's Haaland will leave the team next summer. We have contacted his agent and father, but their responses were more official and their attitudes were still ambiguous." Begiristain continued.

Then he looked at Guardiola: "The winter transfer window for center forwards will be tight, can we take it easy?"

"The winter window is the best." The Catalan coach said, "None of us expected Aguero to leave. In the game against Manchester United, Grealish played as a center forward and the effect was remarkable. For tactical and overall team considerations, if we can get new players who can fight immediately in the winter window, it will be of great help to the second half of the season."

The chairman nodded, apparently agreeing with Guardiola's idea.

"Okay, in that case..." Begiristain retrieved a document from his tablet and sent it to everyone in the meeting. "This is our initial selection for the target. He is an Argentine who currently plays for River Plate in the Argentine Primera Division. He plays as a center forward but can also play other positions. He is a versatile forward who meets all current requirements, including financial aspects."

When seeing the photo of the player in the information, Guardiola suddenly had an urge to laugh. There was no other meaning, it was just that he gave people the feeling that he was a combination of his two legendary predecessors.

"We have a collection of his match videos," the sporting director said. "You can take your time to watch them, Pep. Just tell me before the international break whether you want him or not."

Guardiola nodded, then slid the tablet down and looked at the basic information column, which contained the young player's name and date of birth.

January 2000, 1, Julian Alvarez.

(End of this chapter)