Carles Puyol...Jacob was a die-hard fan of this player in his previous life since after all he was a future member of the Spanish team that won the Euro and the World Cup, and well...Jacob was spanish in his previous life so he knew his players well although come on, you didn't have to be from Spain to know a player of Puyol's caliber, you might not believe it but in his first season Puyol played as a right winger for Barca B.
In the entire season Puyol played one game in which he scored a goal, in addition to that he did not play a single more game, after all he was very young but he needs game time and Jacob can offer him that.
Ok, returning to reality after having been abruptly rejected by Mourinho, Jacob and Charlie went to the hotel where they were staying to discuss the plan of action.
"Boss, you told me that Mourinho is not the only reason we came to Spain, I suppose you want a player but which one?" Charlie said with some hesitation, he wasn't retarded, it was obvious that they weren't just coming for a coach, Jacob specifically told him that this was a trip to rebuild the team, which also involves staff and players.
"You are right Charlie, there is a player that interests me in this city, his name is Carles Puyol and he played a little bit for Barca B last season" Jacob expressed his interest in the player that he saw as the future captain and leader of his team.
"Well, I don't really know him" Charlie said with a bit of skepticism.
"Don't worry, you'll soon meet him when he's on our team,in fact, tomorrow we'll go see one of Barca B's practices, I really doubt they'll restrict our passage, after all, it's just a small field in the giant sports complex of the Barcelona" said Jacob, referring to the Miniestadi, the field where the Barca B and Juvenil A players train, this since the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper had not yet been built.
After a brief talk they went to sleep since the talk about Puyol took place at night.
Jacob got up early so it didn't take him long to get Charlie up to take a bath, have breakfast and soon go to the Miniestadi.
"Swiiokidodk, Swiiiijfnej" This was Jacob's attempt to whistle to call a taxi.
"Boss, are you sick?" Charlie said with some concern since Jacob was making strange sounds while putting 2 fingers in his mouth, it was definitely not normal.
Jacob just looked at him with a frown, the people around him were looking at him a little strangely so he simply chose to raise his thumb while shouting every time he saw a taxi, he continued like this for half an hour until finally one taxi finally notice them.
Once Charlie and Jacob got into the taxi, Jacob, who because of his past life knew perfect spanish, he told to the driver the direction.
Jacob and Charlie got off and entered the small stadium to watch the training.
"Look Charlie, there's the player I want" Jacob said pointing to a young 19 years old Carles Puyol with his Tarzan hair flying in the air, Charlie simply nodded.
It was early so they stayed for a few hours watching the training until it was over and the players left the field, but there was a peculiarity, Puyol stayed practicing...
"I'm going to run a few more laps," I heard Puyol say to his teammates who were already leaving.
Jacob let time pass but it just seemed like Puyol's training was never going to end, he thought about butting in but didn't want his signing target to get angry so he opted to wait a little longer until it was finally over.
"Hey, boy, stop !" Jacob shouted just as Puyol finished practicing and was heading to the exit of the field.
"What's wrong sir?" Puyol asked with some authority in his voice, but without sounding rude or anything like that.
"You see, I don't have much time (actually I have all the time in the world) but here is my card, I own a team and we think you have courage, call if you are interested" said Jacob trying to act busy to attract attention, the tactic didn't seem to have completely convinced Puyol but there was some interest in his eyes.
"I will keep it in mind, sir," said the future captain of the Spain national team with some kindness, just after saying that he left…
"Charlie… I think we did well!" Jacob said excitedly.
(We? I didn't do anything) Charlie thought but he wasn't going to say that to his boss so he just nodded, he would make sure to learn spanish for the next time they came to Spain or any country where people speak spanish.
Now all that remains is to order a taxi again…
To be continue…