430 First Meeting with New Teammates

Tévez raised both eyebrows and tilted his head to glance at Zachary. He regarded him for a few seconds with intense scrutiny before nodding and saying, "Nice to meet you, too, Zachary Bemba. I have heard many incredible things about you. Welcome to Turin." He took his hand for a very firm handshake.

"Thank you, Carlos," Zachary said, smiling. He was both delighted and relieved after the striker had accepted his gesture of goodwill. "Let's work well together as teammates in the future."

"Just a moment before you get ahead of yourself," Tévez said in very fluent English. "Let's get one thing straight. You're not my teammate or a teammate of anyone on the Juventus squad until you go through the traditional initiation ceremony for all new players. Got it?"

Zachary's eyes narrowed as a flicker of doubt arose within his mind. "There's an initiation ceremony! Didn't I go through it when the management unveiled me in front of the fans and the press six days ago?"