Manuel Redondo, Real Madrid's general manager, and Technical Director Valdano received calls from Yang Yang one after the other.
The content of the calls was more or less the same: Yang Yang wanted to invite them to dinner.
What a lousy excuse!
Redondo and Valdano both knew exactly what was going on, and they found Yang Yang's invitation amusing.
When it came to football, Yang Yang was an absolutely unparalleled genius, but in certain areas, he was indeed still inexperienced.
Of course, asking someone for a favor had never been Yang Yang's style, so this was understandable.
Teasing aside, the two still showed up on time at an Italian restaurant on the shopping street west of La Moraleja.
Yang Yang lived in the neighborhood and was a regular at the restaurant. He had booked a private room early and instructed the waiters beforehand, so they ushered the two men straight inside.
"I really didn't expect us to meet again so soon." Manuel Redondo could not help laughing when he saw Yang Yang.
"Did you change your mind and decide to come back?" Valdano teased with a laugh.
Yang Yang wore an utterly speechless expression as he invited the two to sit down opposite him, then signaled the waiter to start serving the food.
They had been old acquaintances for many years, so after meeting, they exchanged the usual pleasantries.
Both men were very concerned about Yang Yang's situation. They knew that Yang Yang had brought Antonio Pintus into his coaching staff, and that the Italian fitness coach was already conducting preseason training for Ajax's players in the Netherlands.
Not only that, he had also poached Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid's Youth Training Camp.
The former Spanish midfielder had just led the team to a championship, and Real Madrid had been