Rejection

John was delighted after signing Muller. Muller signed a three year contract with Leicester with an annual salary of 80,000 pounds. John wanted to give a higher salary, but as Muller was only 17, the maximum length of contract he could sign for was only 3 years. So John negotiated his wages to 80,000 pounds annually so that he could negotiate a new contract with a better salary as soon as next year. They also wanted a release clause in his contract, but John was determined not to have a release clause in Muller's contract. They finally relented after John convinced them for a long time.

After a long negotiation, John was satisfied with the contract.

John was walking down the street when he received a phone call. John looked at his phone before receiving the call. It was Sean. John was in regular contact with Sean to know what was going on at the club, but especially since the last few days because players will be flying to Leicester to sign their contracts.

"Yeah, Sean" John said as he received the call.

"John, you may not like the news I am about to give you." Sean said to John.

"What is it?" John asked with concern.

"Well, Reus didn't want to sign the contract." Sean told John expecting him to be upset. Sean remembered that John liked the players that he wanted to sign very much and he was even going personally all over the Europe to sign them.

"Oh" John said with a sigh, "What was the reason? Was it because he didn't like his role in the team or was it some other reason?"

John felt disappointed, but that was it. He knew that he won't be able to sign all the players he wanted. But he wanted to know the reason because as far as he thought, John had given him the best conditions Reus could get from any team. He wanted to know so he could do a better job at convincing players in the future.

"No, it wasn't anything like that. In fact, he liked the role we wanted to give him." Sean said to John, before continuing, "He just didn't want to leave Germany."

John sighed. John knew that players all had different personalities and it affected their game. Some players were quick to adjust going to new clubs, some adapt gradually and some players were never able to fit in a new environment. Even if they had tactics tailor made for them, some players were never able to perform to the best of their abilities outside of their comfort zone. Even players with big reputations fail due to these reasons.

So, while John could've tried to convince Reus once again, he had no plans to do so.

"Alright Sean, I will try to find other players for his position." John said to Sean. John had already prepared for multiple choices at every position in case of an eventuality like this.

"Wait, you are not upset." Sean asked John, bewildered.

John was pretty excited about these players before leaving to sign them. Although Sean wasn't experienced in football, but since Simeone and Michael also said that these players had some potential, he felt it was alright. But John had told them, that these players didn't just have some potential, but they were going to be world class. Although, no one agreed with John on this, they gave the go ahead because these players were good enough to play in Championship and had some potential. But many players had potential, not all of them grew to be world class. But John was adamant, he told them that this transfer window will be remembered for a long time because of Leicester's recruitment. So, Sean was expecting John to be upset at not getting the player of his choice.

"Why would I be? As a great man once said, 'You can't always get what you want.'" John replied in a humourous tone.

John honestly wasn't upset, a little disappointed, maybe, but not upset.

"Alright, now I still have to go to a lot of places and meet a lot of people, so I'm hanging up." John said to Sean.

"Alright, I have a lot of work to do as well." Sean replied before hanging up.