Greatest Of All Legends

416  Sports Talks I

***11th January 2021***

At a studio of one of the leading sports TV channels in Portugal, three people were seated at a table and looking at their cue cards to remember what they would be talking about as soon as the advert break was over.

Soon someone among the shooting crew held up a sign that indicated to the people at the table that the advert break was going to be over in a few seconds.

"3, 2, 1…" the host of the show counted in a whisper as he received signals from the shooting crew.

"Now!"

"Welcome back to Sports Talks, I'm still your host, Patricio Ortega and here with me are fellow pundits and reporters, William Jose and Martin Leveida," Patricio introduced himself and his co-hosts again despite having just gone on a short break just two minutes ago.

It was a customary thing among reporters to keep introducing themselves for the benefits of any new viewers who might have joined the show later than the starting time.

"Still on transfer news for the first month of the new year, let's get right into the next topic which I have to admit is a very interesting one,"

"I'm sure you guys would agree with me on this, Oporto's very own Jason Rose on a loan deal to Serie A giants Uventus," Patricio laid out the topic and the screen of the TV behind him immediately switched to a prepared graphic showing Jason edited into a Uventus shirt.

"He does look good in a Uventus shirt, I'm not gonna lie," William could not help starting wittily.

"That statement can have the Oporto fans come after you," Patricio said with a laugh.

"How true is this though?" Martin asked, glancing at the picture.

"Well, it's been confirmed that Oporto has already received an offer and the two teams are currently negotiating the deal,"

"Sources say that Uventus is looking to get him on a short-term loan deal with an option to buy at the end of the loan period. They seem to have made an offer of around 60 million Euros," Patricio explained the information that he had received prior to the show.

"Oh, that's a good deal, both for the club and the player. I mean, it's not every day one gets to play for a team with as much presence and history as the men in Turin," Martis nodded after hearing Patricio's explanation.

"The problem is how would the fans react to this transfer?" William butted in.

"That is an important question, haha," Martin laughed.

"Well, I am sure the Uventus fans would be quite happy to bring a top talent to their club, but I don't think the Oporto fans would be happy to lose him, especially now that it's mid-season,"

"Especially with their performances just beginning to perk up after a shaky beginning to the season which some of the Oporto fans still believe was due to his injury,"

"In fact, I saw a poll on Twitter yesterday that was in favor of them not wanting him to leave, however, the comment section was a bit of a madhouse," Patricio said with a laugh.

"Haha, I can imagine that," William laughed.

"I think at this point, it all boils down to the player himself, there were talks about him submitting a loan request to the club not long ago, weren't there?" Martin asked calmly, thinking quite deeply about the matter.

"Well, there's nothing confirmed and so far, it's just a rumor-" Patricio began but was interrupted by Martin.

"A very well-known rumor," Martin added.

"But a rumor nonetheless," Patricio continued.

"However one thing we do know that was confirmed was that there was an issue at training on the last day of last year which led to him facing disciplinary actions and he hasn't played since, on the other hand, the person he was said to have gotten into a trifle with, Mylo has played in all the matches after that, amassing five goals in just two goals," Patricio said.

"Oh, that's a very good record, the kid's on fire," William butted in.

"True, but that's beside the point, we're trying to determine Jason's feelings about the transfer, and whether or not he submitted a loan deal or not," Patricio cut back in, taking hold of the conversation again before they derailed from their topic.

"If you put it like that, then there is a possibility of a quarrel between the two players, or even more players on the team and this could lead to him wanting to leave… or there might be something none of us know about that could be the driving force behind his choice to leave," Martin calmly laid out his opinion.

"We aren't sure that he wants to leave though," William said.

"We aren't sure that he doesn't want to leave either," Martin immediately replied.

"I am sure that he's at least entertaining the thought. Apart from it being a very good choice for a transfer, if he truly had no plans of leaving, he would have made it clear that he has no plans of leaving, but so far, the player's side has been silent,"

"He hasn't said anything, his agent hasn't said anything, and we know that negotiation is ongoing," Martin calmly explained.

"What would you say is the likelihood of him leaving, like in percentage?" Patricio immediately threw a question at Martin who was currently on fire as he dissected the matter and had almost taken the reins of the show.

"Eighty-eight percent," Martin replied without hesitation.

"Oh wow, no hesitation with such a specific number," Patricio laughed lightly. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I'll tell you why, I'll tell you why," Martin once again took the reins of the show,

"The reason for me giving such a high number is because firstly, Uventus is sort of a dream team for any footballer. It's a top club with top players and their chances in any trophy run are quite high, both domestically and on the continental stage, hence, Jason would likely want to join such a team and much sooner than later,"

"Why would he give up an opportunity on a platter of gold?" Martin asked.