Chapter 44 Catching the Mole

"Time, location, figures, events... It's so detailed, so detailed that I can hardly believe it's a rumor."

Sam MacNeil looked at the four people standing before him—they were the current leadership core of Tyne: Wang Lie, Elliott Goetz, Charlie Cohen, and Matej Katić.

His gaze finally settled on Wang Lie.

"If it weren't for media reports, I wouldn't even have known there was an internal conflict within the team... Wang, as the first captain of the team, this is a failure of your duty."

Before Wang Lie could speak, Elliott Goetz beside him hurriedly defended him, "It's my responsibility, boss. Wang and Dean did have an argument in the recreation room, but it was actually resolved on the spot, and furthermore, I was the one who forbade anyone from speaking of this matter to the outside world..."

"Even to me, the head coach?" MacNeil's expression was stern.

Goetz didn't know what to say.

Wang Lie spoke up, "Sorry, boss, it's my responsibility. I thought the matter had passed at the time..."

"Whether it passed or not, as captain, you need to maintain good communication with me, the head coach. When major events happen within the team, you need to let me know; otherwise, I am blind and deaf. When Dean and Vitini almost came to blows, Goetz, you didn't actively tell me either—you just mentioned it in passing. How can this work?"

Goetz quickly stated, "Yes, it's my fault..."

"I'm not asking you to act as spies in the locker room, but at least you must inform me of major events like conflicts! Otherwise, I won't even know the reason behind their poor performances on the pitch."

The four captains stood in a row, taking MacNeil's reprimand.

Wang Lie, the biggest name among them, stood obediently and silently, standing at attention.

To be honest, although he had always been the captain in the national team, that captain's armband was primarily awarded based on his fame and status.

Wang Lie lacked real experience in captaincy.

His captaincy in the national team served more of a symbolic role, and actual specific captaincy duties were mostly handed over to the vice-captain, Chu Yu; after all, Wang Lie was truly not good at interpersonal relations...

He had never served as captain at club level—whether at his European debut club, French side Beaune, or Barcelona Athletic, or Solfo United, he was never the captain.

Moreover, the duties of a national team captain and a club captain actually had some differences.

At the very least, a national team locker room was temporary; everyone gathered from all corners of the country, played a few matches together, and then dispersed.

Unlike at a club, where everyone lived and breathed together constantly, with frequent contact in daily training and life.

A qualified captain not only had to lead by example on the training ground and lead the team to victory on the pitch, but also cared for teammates, understood their problems in life, training, and matches, and resolved whatever a captain could resolve.

In this regard, Wang Lie indeed fell short.

Since he fell short, being criticized by the head coach meant he had to own it.

Wang Lie took the initiative to express, "Sorry, boss. I'll pay more attention to the situation in the locker room from now on, and if there are any issues, I'll communicate with you in a timely manner."

MacNeil wasn't the kind of head coach who liked to give the "hairdryer treatment." Coupled with his relationship with Wang Lie and Wang's standing, it was impossible for him to truly give Wang Lie a hard time.

Seeing Wang Lie voluntarily admit his mistake, which gave him a graceful way out, he immediately took the opportunity to step down, softening both his tone and expression:

"I also understand that you just arrived at the team and many situations are still unclear to you. Elliott, Charlie, you've been in the team the longest, usually help Wang out more."

"No problem, boss."

"Got it, boss."

Goetz and Cohen answered in unison.

MacNeil then looked at Katić: "Matej, you have rich experience as a captain of a giant club in Madrid. Don't hold anything back."

Katić hurriedly said, "I will help Wang manage the team well, boss."

"Alright then, you all head back first and resume normal training. Also, pacify the players and make sure they aren't affected by this matter. The conflict is a thing of the past; this weekend's match is our top priority."

After the four of them left, assistant coach Cesar Vallo, who had been quietly observing and silent the whole time, asked, "Not going to have them help root out the mole?"

MacNeil shook his head and sighed, "Root out what... The more it's like this, the more we need to stay calm. The match against the Scousers is imminent, and yet we're busy hunting for a mole? How are we supposed to play the match then? Rather than throwing the team into a state of panic over catching a mole, it's better to turn a blind eye and let the matter gently pass. Stability is the top priority right now."

"Then wait until after the match against the Scousers to catch them?"

MacNeil smiled bitterly, "How could we possibly catch them? Almost the entire team was present at the time; you could say everyone is a suspect unless Dadomor lost his mind and voluntarily confessed, or the mole exposes themselves. Otherwise, there's no way we'll know who the mole is."

Vallo felt somewhat displeased: "We're just going to let it go like this? This time it's leaking the conflict between Wang and Dean, what if they leak our tactical arrangements in the future? Do you think Gill already knows our new tactics?"

Giuseppe Gill was precisely the head coach of the Scousers.

MacNeil shook his head: "Unlikely. Besides, these tactics aren't our secret weapon; they're just the most suitable setup for us right now. Anyone with a professional eye can guess how we'll adjust—we certainly won't go out and play an open attacking game against the Scousers; counter-attacking defense is a strategy we will definitely adopt.

"Actually, I can understand why someone would leak the news of Wang and Dean's conflict. Because of Wang's arrival, their comfortable days of coasting in the team are over. They don't like Wang, so naturally, they want to cause him some trouble. But they don't dare step out to oppose Wang face-to-face, fearing they'd get their faces beaten to a pulp by him, which is why they could only resort to anonymous leaks..."

Vallo didn't quite understand: "But the conflict between Wang and Dean happened before our match against Hellingham. It's been almost twenty days now, why leak it back then, yet suddenly expose it now?"

MacNeil mused, "I think... it's probably because our upcoming match is against the Scousers. And this match is particularly crucial for Wang's goals. Cesar, you surely don't still think Wang's so-called 'bigger stage' refers to the Europa League or the Conference League, do you?"

Vallo shook his head: "How could that be? Even a fool can see he wants to go to the Champions League."

"Right. If he wants to go to the Champions League, the upcoming match against the Scousers is a very crucial one. The crucial point is that this isn't just about three points; it's actually an opportunity for Wang to prove to his teammates that he can lead them to the Champions League. If we lose to the Scousers, all the big talk Wang previously uttered in the locker room will go bankrupt. Whenever he talks about grand ambitions in the future, far fewer people will believe him."

MacNeil explained to Vallo.

Upon hearing this, Vallo frowned: "Isn't going to the Champions League a good thing?"

"For those who used to coast along, doing nothing while easily collecting high weekly wages, of course it's not a good thing. And most importantly, can you guarantee that as Wang said, after pouring in so much effort, sweat, and fighting tooth and nail, we will definitely make it to the Champions League?"

Vallo was left speechless by MacNeil's rhetorical question.

Leaving aside the first reason, he truly couldn't refute the second one.

A football match isn't like solving a math problem, where if you follow the standard answer step by step, you end up with the correct result.

A football match means you've done a lot of work, poured in sweat, risked injuries, done everything that should be done, and in the end, you might still end up with nothing.

Let alone the entire season—the thirty-eight rounds of the league process are too long, and many unexpected events occur along the way that determine the season's outcome.

Just looking at a single match, aren't there often examples of strong teams bombarding a weak team with dozens of shots without scoring, only to be sucker-punched by the weak team once, conceding a goal, and losing the match?

Talking big is always easy, but fulfilling what you said is not nearly so easy.

If you can't prove you can do it, why should you expect others to bleed for your goal?

Wang Lie could certainly rely on his personal charisma to get a portion of his fans, like Vitini, to help him.

However, there were still many people in the team who were not his fans. Or even if they appreciated him, they weren't fanatic enough to sacrifice themselves for his sake.

As Vallo thought about it, he suddenly chuckled.

"What is it?" MacNeil asked.

"With you putting it that way... why do I feel like the mole might be that kid Dean?"

"Huh?"

"Look here, isn't Dean extremely dissatisfied with Wang Lie? And what good does us participating in the Champions League next season do for him? He won't even be on the team next season... He practically screams 'motive'!"

MacNeil shook his head: "I actually feel that Dean is definitely not the mole."

"Why?"

"Because he's afraid of being cursed at. Having performed poorly in previous matches and drawn curses from the media and fans, he was terrified to the point of self-abandonment. How could someone like that act as a mole and expose the conflict between himself and Wang? You must remember he is also one of the involved parties. If Wang gets cursed at, can he possibly escape unscathed?"

Vallo thought for a moment and nodded: "True, last night I saw a lot of people online cursing Dean, and some even pinned all the blame for our previous poor results on Dean..."

MacNeil spread his hands and shrugged: "So why would he have nothing better to do than actively invite curses?"

***

"Damn it, if I find out who the mole is, I won't let him off!"

Walking out of the head coach's office and heading back to the locker room, Charlie Cohen said through clenched teeth.

Goetz hesitated before speaking, "I don't mean to suspect anyone deliberately, I'm just saying what I saw... At the time when Wang and Dean conflicted and didn't actually fight, I saw Gunduz looking somewhat regretful. He was the very first person who told me Wang and Dean had fought, making me think they were actually throwing punches..."

Katić hurriedly spoke up to defend his central defensive partner: "The mole couldn't possibly be him. I know Hugo; he purely likes watching the spectacle. That doesn't mean he would leak our team news to outsiders. After all, once this kind of matter is exposed, it will definitely make the atmosphere in the team more tense, so how would he still be able to watch the spectacle?"

Katić's words actually made quite a bit of sense, prompting the others to nod repeatedly.

"Then who could it be? Could it be Dean?" Charlie Cohen brought up another candidate.

This time, it was Goetz's turn to defend Dean: "I've known Dean the longest; he is a timid person. Asking him to act as a mole—just thinking about the consequences of being a mole would scare him out of doing it. Besides, how could someone so timid use his own conflict with Wang to leak a story? If Wang gets cursed at, he will get cursed at too, and perhaps even worse."

Everyone looked at Wang Lie.

Wang Lie nodded: "I also feel it probably isn't Dean. He was involved in both conflicts; if he's the mole, isn't he just digging his own grave?"

"Then who on earth is it?" Charlie Cohen frowned. "Without rooting out the mole, peace of mind is impossible. Whatever happens in the locker room, the media knows about it in a flash. Who can take this?"

Guessing all the way, they arrived outside the locker room.

They heard Sonny Dean's screeching from inside:

"I said it already! It wasn't me! It wasn't me! It fucking wasn't me!"

***

Although head coach MacNeil told his assistant coach that he wouldn't hunt for the mole, his intention hadn't been communicated to the team. Therefore, early this morning, a fervent "mole-hunting" campaign broke out in the locker room.

Most people shared a unanimous opinion, and the very first target of suspicion was Sonny Dean.

With no other choice, who else never concealed their conflict with Wang Lie?

Who in the entire locker room didn't know he deeply resented Wang Lie?

And this leak directly targeted Wang Lie, pointing out that since joining Tyne, Wang Lie had become a trouble-maker in the locker room, arousing public anger.

Wang Lie had performed well in his last two matches, leaving haters unable to criticize him based on his pitch performance, forcing them to take another route and smear him through his personality and interpersonal relationships.

Besides, Wang Lie didn't have a particularly stellar reputation in that regard; smearing him in this way genuinely made people believe it.

In just one night, the public opinion trend that had previously favored Wang Lie shifted. More and more people began to talk down Wang Lie's prospects at Tyne, citing the reason that he had triggered two internal conflicts right after arriving, and if he were allowed to keep stirring things up, Tyne's already notorious "mercenary army" would sooner or later split apart and utterly collapse.

So who was the biggest victim of this mole incident?

Wang Lie.

And who was the biggest beneficiary of this mole incident?

Sonny Dean, who despised Wang Lie.

With this analysis, Dean being the mole made complete logical sense!

Therefore, when Dean entered the locker room, Vitini immediately stepped forward to accuse Dean of acting as a mole and spilling locker room secrets to the media—an accusation that received support from quite a few teammates.

And Dean could produce no evidence to convince others...

Of course, it was impossible to have any evidence to prove his innocence either—how could he disprove something he never did in the first place?

Thus, it turned into a vicious cycle:

Dean couldn't prove himself, failing to counter the doubts cast upon him, yet he knew he hadn't done it... The feeling of knowing you did nothing wrong while everyone else thought you were guilty was simply terrible, driving him to a mental breakdown.

"I said it already! I have no reason to do this! I'm a victim too! So many people cursed me last night, am I out of my mind to dig a grave and bury myself?! Vitini, use your small brain and think carefully, if it were you, would you do something like this?!"

"Whose brain are you calling small?!" Vitini flew into a rage.

"Is that the point?! The point is would you do this!"

"Why would I do this? I don't hate Wang! And you! Everyone knows you've always hated Wang! So you're the most likely one to have done this!"

Facing the completely uncommunicative Vitini, Dean was driven nearly crazy. He roared, "I said it already! It wasn't me! It wasn't me! It fucking wasn't me!"

Having roared that, he decided to give up trying to reason with these people. In a few months, he wouldn't even be a player for this club anyway, so how they viewed him didn't matter... Let whoever think whatever! As long as he endured for a few more months, it would be fine!

Just as he put on his headphones, intending to isolate himself from the world, the locker room door was pushed open.

The four captains who had just been summoned by the head coach appeared at the door.

"Though I don't have evidence, I believe it's truly not Dean," Elliott Goetz spoke up.

He was the first person in the locker room to express support for Dean.

"Without evidence, it's still better not to casually speculate about your teammate standing right beside you," Charlie Cohen also said.

Hearing the argument inside the locker room from outside, they also realized how deeply the mole-hunt was impacting the team internally.

"Then are we just not going to catch the mole?" Vitini asked.

Just as Goetz was about to answer his question, Wang Lie tapped him on the shoulder.

Goetz looked back at Wang Lie.

Wang Lie walked forward and said to Vitini, as well as the others in the locker room: "The most important thing right now is our match against the Scousers in two days."

"But... if we don't root out the mole, who knows what will happen next? Who will dare to speak in the locker room anymore?" Even though their idol had spoken, Vitini remained unsatisfied.

Other teammates nodded successively. Though they remained silent, they all supported Vitini's view.

Wang Lie shook his head: "There's no need to care about any mole or no mole; put all your energy into the match and training."

Seeing that the expressions of quite a few people still looked unconvinced, Wang Lie asked them: "Have you guys ever thought about why something from so many days ago had to be exposed at this exact moment?"

"Yeah, why?" Hugo Gunduz asked, genuinely feeling puzzled by it. "If the media hadn't suddenly leaked it, I almost would have forgotten about it."

"Because they are afraid," Wang Lie replied. "Our opponents are afraid."

A wave of commotion stirred through the locker room as everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, many letting out reflexive gasps of astonishment: "How is that possible? Would the Scousers be afraid of us? They're third in the league!"

Let alone them, even the three captains behind Wang Lie didn't understand why he would say that.

"So what if they're third in the league? Fear has nothing to do with league standings. We've been building good momentum lately, and it's completely normal for them to feel afraid of us. Don't you guys realize that you are actually very strong?"

Wang Lie's words left everyone in the locker room silent...

Should they say they were strong, or not strong?

Facing his silent teammates, Wang Lie continued: "If you aren't strong enough, why would I say relegation isn't our goal and that we should aim for a bigger stage? If you aren't strong enough and can't achieve it, wouldn't I just be slapping myself in the face? Maybe some people thought I was just acting arrogant back then, but I can tell those people with absolute certainty: I wasn't. I simply believe in you—believing in you even more than you believe in yourselves."

When a top-tier superstar who had scored two goals and provided one assist in two appearances, bringing two consecutive victories to the team and proving his enduring class, stared right into their eyes and told them he believed they were strong, it was hard for anyone not to be moved.

Tyne's players were indeed a "mercenary army," but they were also flesh-and-blood human beings.

Who didn't yearn for praise and recognition from others?

Especially when the person praising and acknowledging them was an incomparably successful top-tier player.

Even Sonny Dean, wearing his headphones, hadn't actually turned on any music; instead, he quietly listened to Wang Lie's words just then.

Silence still hung in the locker room, but this silence was different from the previous one.

Facing his quiet teammates, Wang Lie spread his hands:

"I don't care who the mole is, and I have no intention of sniffing him out... doing that is completely meaningless. We only need to do one thing, and that is to play our upcoming match well and win the victory. As long as we can win, moles and the like will naturally vanish. Because in a winning team, there is no soil for pessimists to survive!"