novelraw Chapter 553 - 378: At 19 that year, standing like a lackey, now 20, still a child!
Chapter 553 - 378: At 19 that year, standing like a lackey, now 20, still a child!
Crotch walk???
The moment Fernando said this, the whole audience was in an uproar.
The leader of the Spanish Language Gang, Agüero, squinted his eyes and looked at this Portuguese Language Gang leader.
A barely noticeable smile flashed across Joe Hart’s lips.
Captain Kompany shrugged, sat down, and touched his forehead with his hand.
The owner of this house, Yaya Toure, was taken aback at first, then immediately looked at Gundogan, watching his reaction.
When he saw Gundogan’s expression, with a smile frozen on his face and his whole body stiff, Toure nodded his head and came to the rescue.
"I don’t think it’s necessary, let’s welcome him in another way."
"Why not, isn’t this the usual initiation ceremony," Fernando said with a mischievous smile as he glanced around, "Every new player who joins the team has to crawl under the arches of us veteran players, it’s part of the ritual, can’t skip it."
"Gundogan, come on!"
After he spoke, Fernando took a few steps to stand in front of Gundogan, spreading his legs and calling others to line up behind him.
Gundogan’s face dropped.
Indeed, as Fernando said, the crotch walk is a unique initiation ritual in many teams.
However, this ceremony isn’t meant with malice.
Generally speaking, in a new player’s first training session, the team lines up, and the newcomer has to crawl under the older players to lighten the atmosphere.
Having been in the football world for years, Gundogan naturally knew this tradition.
But over time, the ceremony became more civilized.
It changed from crawling under to tapping the head.
A single line becomes two, with the new player bending over to walk through the middle, while teammates lightly tap his head amidst laughter and applause.
Young and open-minded coaches sometimes join in too.
Gundogan joined the team in the winter.
As soon as he arrived, he faced Manchester City’s packed January schedule with eight matches to play!
Perhaps due to the intense schedule, the players in Manchester City’s locker room focused more on the games and neglected the welcome ceremony for the newcomer, Gundogan.
There wasn’t even a head-tapping aisle ceremony for him.
Today was a dinner party hosted by Toure for the whole team.
Those who came to the house were the key figures in the team.
Fernando suddenly brought this up at such a time and even replaced the head-tapping with the old-fashioned crotch walk, what was his real intention?
Wasn’t this deliberately trying to make me look foolish in front of everyone!
Gundogan wasn’t a new recruit; he immediately spotted Fernando’s true intentions.
So he held his ground and didn’t move, staring Fernando down.
Sterling felt he couldn’t stand it anymore.
Poor Sterling had also walked under Milner when he joined Manchester City, which Milner specifically demanded, as a test to see if he could join the English Language Gang.
He remembered the mocking grin on Milner’s face when he was ducking under the player and felt an inward spite, understanding Gundogan’s feelings at that moment.
"In my opinion, let’s just go with head-tapping, it’s the modern age, come on!"
Sterling, with a cheerful smile, walked up to Gundogan, intending to tap him on the head~
Fernando was quick on the draw and knocked his hand away!
"Go with your opinion? You’re nothing! Sterling, let the adults talk; you, a kid, step aside!"
Sterling rubbed his somewhat red hand, feeling aggrieved.
Last year I was 19 and a mere lackey, now I’m 20, and I’m still being called a kid?
You’re only ten-odd years older than me, yet you think you’re so great.
Sterling opened his mouth, ready to argue, but Joe Hart beside him pulled him away.
Hart whispered a few words in the ear of his English Language Gang junior, pulling him behind himself.
Hart understood that Fernando deliberately wanted to mess with Gundogan. At best, it was to give him a wake-up call, and bluntly, it was to assert himself by publicly humiliating someone.
As for why Fernando wanted to do this?
Hart could easily guess that his role as a defensive midfielder was taken by Gundogan, so he was unhappy!
Hart sneaked a glance at Agüero, wanting to see the reaction of the Spanish Language Gang leader.
He expected Agüero to say something yet found him lounging on the sofa, scrolling through his phone, looking indifferent.
Agüero truly didn’t care!
Do whatever you want to do.
I don’t know Gundogan well; he’s new to the team, unaffiliated. You play your games; I’ll play with my phone. Once you’re done, I’ll have my meal.
Joe Hart and Agüero’s indifference made Fernando even more confident!
The Portuguese Language Gang is a small group, long dependent on the French Language Gang.
This was at Toure’s home, their home ground, so this Brazilian Fernando acted with impunity.
Fernando, with an extremely narrow mind, insisted that Gundogan crawl through his legs!
He even grabbed Gundogan’s hand, forcing him to bend down.
The two were tugging at each other, though both wore a fake smile on the surface, they secretly wished they could stab each other.
Captain Kompany frowned tightly, he was just about to say something for Gundogan when Bony shouted a curse:
"Fernando, you son of a bitch, you can’t bully people like this!" After finishing speaking, he picked up a crystal glass on the table, preparing to smash it on Fernando’s head.
There was quite a bit of conflict between these two.
When Bony had initially joined the French Language Gang, Fernando used his position to bully Bony quite often.
Back when Bony first joined the team, he even had to carry his bags for him.
The thing is, Bony genuinely despises this Fernando. You Portuguese Language Gang only have two people, what kind of status do you hold in the team? Aren’t you just riding on Toure’s coattails, acting like a bully?
Toure quickly panicked when he saw Bony picking up an object!
He wasn’t actually concerned about Fernando’s head getting smashed, but that cup was a gift from his daughter’s school teacher, awarded for winning a painting contest. Being a doting dad, Toure had always cherished it, leaving it on the table as a decorative display without ever using it for beverages.
Seeing the cup about to hit Fernando’s head.
Toure rushed forward, grabbed the cup, and slapped Bony!
Slap!
"Bony, have I tolerated you enough? This is my house, talking dirty is one thing, but raising your hand? Don’t blame me for hitting you!"
Bony had already betrayed him, so Toure felt no guilt in slapping him.
As the leader of the French Language Gang, Toure certainly had to protect Fernando, who had sought protection from him, and maintain ties with the Portuguese Language Gang.
Bony held his burning cheek in shock, seeing Toure glaring at him viciously, half of his arrogance was instantly extinguished;
He glanced around, looking for someone to support him, only to find Sterling and Gundogan were the ones giving uneasy glances, while others wore indifferent expressions.
"What are you staring at, Bony," Fernando sneered, "Your daddy, Tang, isn’t here today, no one will bother with you."
Bony’s face reddened, cursed at Fernando, and turned to grab the car keys on the table before leaving.
Captain Kompany wanted to step up and stop him, but was halted by Toure.
"Let him go, he’s not welcome here!"
Kompany insisted on moving forward, but Toure recalled the humiliation he suffered in Kompany’s house previously because of Nasri and felt strongly unjustified;
At his own venue, he sought to regain some dignity, deciding not to let Kompany budge by forcefully restraining him.
Watching Bony jump into his car and roar away, Kompany let out a sigh!
He sadly thought: "Fight, go on and fight, none of this has anything to do with me! I continue to earn my salary, play my ball, next season, I won’t be the captain, whoever wants it can have it!"
Watching teammates fight back and forth, Kompany, unaligned with any faction, felt a bit frustrated.
He plopped down beside Agüero and started fiddling with his phone too.
"Let’s start, Gundogan, the food is getting cold, after you crawl, the welcome ceremony is over, shall we eat?" Fernando returned to the topic.
With Tang Long absent, neither first captain Kompany nor second captain Agüero showed concern, leaving Gundogan isolated.
He had thought about leaving like Bony.
But being new to the team, he couldn’t muster up the courage to offend these bigger players right away.
Just like in a previous match when Tang Long critiqued his passes for being too purposeful and lacking in surprise, Gundogan didn’t dare to retort and could only sulk secretly.
"Fine, I’ll crawl..."
Gundogan lowered his head and crouched on the ground.
Others weren’t lining up behind Fernando, but they were watching the spectacle in the living room.
Agüero thought: "Gundogan has no affiliation, it’s normal for a new recruit to suffer a bit, Toure won’t be around for long, it’s clear that Fernando can’t match Gundogan’s ability in the midfield position, haha, let’s see how long you can jump."
Joe Hart thought: "I’m just a substitute, I can’t even compete with Caballero, why get involved with Gundogan’s issue? Whatever you do is your business."
Kompany’s face was gloomy, "Bullying is naturally wrong, but... forget it, let’s give Toure some face, after all, this is his house."
Fernando is full of wickedness inside.
Seeing Gundogan about to crouch on the ground and slowly move through the space between his long legs;
Fernando suddenly squatted lower, reducing the space underneath by half!
Gundogan, upon seeing this, became so mad his beard bristled.
With the previous space, he could squat and shuffle through in a duck walk;
With the reduced space now, he couldn’t move squat, only crawl on the ground!
Seeing Gundogan’s face turn red, Toure was also disturbed, what was supposed to be a nice dinner party had become chaotic.
But since he had raised his hand to attack, he decided to go all the way with no turning back.
It was also a chance to reestablish his authority in front of several of the locker room leaders with this incident.
"Hurry and crawl, Gundogan! Everyone is waiting for you, once you’re through, we can all sit and eat!"
He finished, grabbed the remote on the table and pressed the button to close the door.
The electric control door between the living room and the yard gently shut...