Chapter Three: Not for Sale to Northport

Elias Kovac's transfer papers reached the legal department at ten in the morning. They could be signed by eleven. Northport offered three million pounds in two installments. Seabridge would pay ten percent of the defender's first-season wages after departure. For a twenty-three-year-old bought for twelve million the previous summer, it was complete surrender. Salin cared about one thing: reducing the wage ledger before the first Luca Bello installment fell due. Lin had no authority to stop the deal. He wasn't even copied on the email. Elena turned her screen toward him for three seconds. “Give me a reason I can put on the table,” she said. “Not combinations. Not intuition. Ten minutes.” Lin ran to the basement.