#only to offer me a third and insist the 45 minute interview has to happen in person

[fiona-fififi]

...

[saintheartwing]

May the Force Be With You, Part Six

“6:45 express pulling into the station. You’re always on time!” 

Darth Raize smiled as she shook the poofy-but-grey-haired human’s hand. People on Nar Shadaa got their news primarily from fancy news stations that gave the major stories of the day via tele-vid stories. But those dealt with the major news of the day. When it came to more local stories, to the various boroughs of Nar Shadaa, there were smaller stations giving out newspads. You could get one for every single borough...along with a nice meal or snack or drink if you had the right station. 

And Darth Raize always came to the right fleet station. The high-powered hovertrains could get anywhere in the city within a matter of just a few minutes, faster than any hover vehicle. But you did have to put up with lots and lots of people crowded about, it could get ugly...it could SMELL ugly too. But Raize put up with it because at the end of her trip, after going out for an early morning run, she’d always return to the closest station to her and Furiosa’s home…

She’d return to Valentino. 

“Here.” He held up the datapad for her as the snow came down heavy and hard around her. “I made sure the datapads on the West Burough were EXTRA warm, right by the heater. And when I picked them up from the local distributor, I stuffed them under my coat to make them warm.” “You’re good to me, Valentino.” Raize said softly as she smiled back at him. Valentino had a rather big nose, but an even bigger smile, and a beefy, though somewhat tubby, body. 

“Hey, you and your girl cleaned up my neighborhood. Ain’t had a single mugging in three years since you came.” Valentino had insisted. “And you bring me cuisine!” 

“Salmon and capers quiche. You sure this is what you want?” She asked as she took out her little gift for the “newsstand man”. Valentino smiled as he took it.

“Absolutely. My wife Hali will raise hell cuz it raises my cholesterol, but, ah! I will die a happy and fat man.” He chortled. “Wish your daughter Nora luck on her finals for me. I can hardly believe she’s in her third year already.”

Valentino chuckled as he put the quiche away behind his countertop, the snow continuing to fall around him and his stand, and flopping onto Raize’s shoulders, even in her hooded robes. “Ah, the time flies so quickly when its not standing still. Oh, and uh, speaking of flying, I heard about that attempted attack on your tower from that ship. I can’t believe someone had the guts to try that!” He admitted. 

“Yeah, I know, it’s pretty shocking.” Raize admitted. “But we handled it alright.” 

Every day, she’d get a chance to talk to him. And she’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy it. 

“So this big monster, from what I heard, he smashed right through the building? How did you subdue it?” 

“Oh, we had to use both of our Jedi mind trick gifts. It wasn’t too difficult, the thing had a brain the size of a cannoli. I’m sorry I couldn’t be here yesterday. Furiosa had a touch of the flu, and I had to be there. She gave me the usual insistence. “My head hurts...my tummy hurts...my itty bitty widdle pinkies hurt”. And I just melted. I couldn’t go do patrols or go out on the town when she’s like that.” 

“Ahh, she needs more VITAMINS. You know, my wife could prescribe some, she IS a doctor…”

Valentino was a regular presence in her life. And a beloved one.

“They said the moon almost got blown up when the Mandalorians attacked! Can you believe we fought them off!?” “I know, I know, sometimes I don’t even believe we did it ourselves, it was touch and go. But you know, I want to do something nice for your news stand. You provide a great service to the neighborhood, and I thought you could use a hand rebuilding it, it’s gotten pretty beat up over the past couple of years.” 

Valentino was just always there. Always reliable. A constant. And people need constants in their life. 

“A child is a blessing, I tell you. Nora’s gonna be a mommy, can you believe it! I’M gonna be a grandpa! I hope one day you get blessed yourself. Maybe adopting?” 

“Oh, we’ve thought about it, honestly. It’s a great joy, I’ve heard.” “GREATEST joy, and greatest pain.” 

Then one day she’d noticed something.

“You sure you don’t want some? I can pick out the broccoli if you’d like.” “You’re a very good woman, Ms. Raize. No thank you. Gotta get to work. Don’t want a pink slip for the new year, y’know?” “Okay. But...are you alright? You look...troubled.” 

“...I’m fine, really, Ms. Raize. I’m fine.” 

And then, the next day...he wasn’t there. And the day after that. And the day after THAT. And then…

“Excuse me, where’s Mr. Valentino?” “Who?” 

She put her hands on her hips as she looked at the men who were packing up the news stand, breaking it down, moving it out of the way so that something else, most likely a dumpster, could be put there. The construction workers stared at her. 

“The man who works here. Poofy hair, also grey, big nose, he’s got slightly tanned skin and he’s usually wearing big, thick brown jackets?” “Dunno. He doesn’t work here anymore. His boss contacted our bosses and just told us that he wasn’t here anymore, and if he’s not here managing the thing, it can’t stay here. So they’re packing it up, and deciding if they want to put the thing elsewhere or not.” The lead construction worker said with a shrug, the wolf-esque alien shrugging as he adjusted the cap he wore. “Dunno where he went, Ms. Raize. Not a clue.” 

Furiosa was soon gently patting Raize on the back as the two sat in their penthouse on the couch, Raize slightly kneading over her hands.

“People leave, peanut. It happens. Especially in a big place like Nar Shadaa. There’s always bit players that zip in and out of your life. Some to poke you in the eye and wreck your week and others that are sweeth breaths of fresh air when the city seems to ugly to bear, and then...well, they go!” Furiosa reasoned. “Even endearing little Alderaanean refugees with cute wives and even cuter daughters.” “I don’t know his last name. I don’t even know where he lived. And I wouldn’t even say we were friends necessarily but...he always always there and now he’s NOT…” Raize muttered as she jiggled her leg nervously. “...I want to try and find him.” 

“You couldn’t get anything out of his mind when you tried to read him?” “Nothing, it was all super cloudy. I’m usually very good with being able to tell what’s on someone’s mind thanks to the Force. But there are people who are resistant to it and who don’t even know it. And then there’s people who are immune to it completely.” 

“We HAVE resources. Let’s get a bounty hunter to track him down.” Furiosa offered warmly. “I know just the guy. He comes highly recommended and he has a unique ability that could come in handy. And he has a lot of contacts in the criminal wing of Nar Shadaa that could prove helpful too.”

“Who?”

So it was that a very distinct figure was now interviewing MRS. Valentino. Or rather,  Hali T. Savarr, the wife of Valeninto Savarr, and mother of Nora Savarr. She had lovely locks of hair indeed, sweeping around her face as her daughter held her hand. Both had soft skin, and quiet voices, with cute freckles on their faces as the bounty hunter looked them over, his four-digited paws taking down notes on a notepad he’d brought.

The bounty hunter had a red bandanna that covered the top of his head, it rather resembled an old-fashioned “pirate’s cap” in how it looked. He had yellow eyes, with slightly darker yellow pupils, a diamond-shaped nose with a pink peace symbol necklace hanging down over his sleeveless white t-shirt. He wore red shorts that had white jagged ends at the bottom and a “Wave” of white flowing at the top, a belt of black with a green sonic pattern running through it, and his paws had gems embedded through them, green and glittering, encased in a black circular frame. It was as if someone had punched a hole right through and stuffed the gems in. He had sharp-looking fangs in his mouth, and his feet were balled, as if he could rollerblade around, and though he spoke in a faintly surfer-boy twang…

His eyes indicated he was taking all of this dead serious.

“So he missed your birthday.” He murmured. “And ain’t what your dad does. At all.” He offered quietly.

“No. It isn’t.” Valentino’s daughter admitted. “They were very appreciative, you know. The local police. We waited 24 hours before we called. They asked all the right questions. He had no enemies. Very few friends. No plans to travel. No drugs. No drinking. No vices of any sort. And there was no sign of a struggle and nothing stolen. Then they left, and that was three weeks ago.” 

“I’m certain he’s dead.” His wife murmured. “We just want to bury him. My darling Valentine would never miss our daughter’s birthday. Not ever.”

Frequency reached out, and softly held the women’s hands in his paw. “...I’m gonna do everything I can. You don’t gotta worry about paying me. A REAL good friend is looking into this, okay?”

Unbeknownst to Frequency OR to the Dyad, Kendall was also going to find himself involved in the case, because he happened to end up in the same bar that Frequency would end up in the very next night. Kendall was currently tending to the VERY beaten up bar patrons after a particularly horrible bar fight that had broken out only half an hour ago. The red-haired Logosian sighed, shaking his head back and forth as he leaned down and used a pair of tweezers, caaaaarefully extracting some splinters from a...very personal area.

“My, oh my, you’re lucky there was literally a doctor in the house. Or rather, a trained nurse.” Kendall confessed as he got to work on removing the splinters from the unfortunate Rodian, who whimpered pitifully as the woman who’d struck him “harrumphed”, looking away. Other bar patrons were nursing their own wounds, Kendall having helped to patch them up as he kept plucking the splinters out. “Just hold still, alright?” “Thanks…” The Rodian muttered. He had various cheek studs in his cheek and he cringed, one eye puffy and swollen as Kendall sighed. He recognized the Rodian, it was the same one who’d come in on the day he’d met Darth Raize. “I appreciate this again, you’re a real swell guy. Especially for a Logosian, they ain’t nice at all to folks like me. You ever in the neighborhood and want a favor, ask me.” 

Kendall nodded, then looked up at the Twi’lek woman.  “Did you happen to see who started the bar fight?” He asked her, the woman having a bad split lip as she pressed an ice pack to it, and a nasty, awful cut across her right arm that he’d applied gauze to. 

“No...I just remember getting a chair to my arm and the wood flying so I lashed out with a chunk of wood I grabbed off the floor.” She muttered. 

“Listen-EEEEGH. T-thanks for...for patching me...patching me up. Seriously. I’m REAL grateful. And again, here’s my card. You ever wanna favor…” The Rodian handed his card to Kendall as Kendall took it, smiling. Frequency took notice of the Rodian walking off towards his very heavily-armored hovercar that had just parked outside the bar...and which had several tough-looking guards inside. 

SNIVVIANS. Mammalian species, protruding jaws, short fangs, thick skin, large snout, big black eyes. And Snivvians were immune to Force influence. You couldn’t influence their minds at ALL, and these looked to be heavily armored types at that. And Frequency wanted to try and avoid making enemies, so an outright assault would be a bad idea. “Crap. How am I gonna chat that Rodian up now?” He wondered aloud. “Major uncool!” 

WHY did he want to talk to that Rodian? Well, Frequency had checked around Valentino’s apartment, and he’d noticed a very faint crack in the ceiling tiles where he lived, right above his bed. Sure enough, inspecting it had revealed...a betting book. Valentino had begun placing bets on races for about three months, EXACTLY when his daughter had been having trouble with paying for medical school. He hadn’t wanted her to drop out, especially not when she was in the middle of finals week!

The question now became “where did he place those bets and with who”? Well, Frequency had made some calls. As a bounty hunter, he did have contacts, but alas, none of them were involved in the racing game. But they knew someone who was, and that was that Rodian, named Karry. 

But Frequency couldn’t approach Karry directly, clearly. Not just because he wouldn’t be able to convince Karry to talk with a bit of...psychic persuasion from one of Frequency’s special tools, but because Frequency had promised to avoid killing or fighting people on a job whenever he could help it. And the Rodian’s guards were NOT going to let some rando speak to their boss. That much was clear. Frequency did TRY to just outright approach Karry at his workshop just in case, going to a place in the seedier districts of the capital, but the guards had turned him away, told him to get lost if he wasn’t interested in making a bet, and at the mere NOTION that they could be BRIBED to let him speak to their boss, they’d gotten out their guns and told him to scram.

Well, if HE couldn’t speak to him…

Perhaps that Logosian could. So Frequency was soon tailing Kendall, and followed him to the hotel room. He knocked on the door, Kendall calling out…

“It’s open. Come in.”

Frequency was surprised, but he walked inside, surprised at how Kendall was currently using his legs to kick the shit out of a training dummy in the middle of the room. The same sort of swift, sweeping strikes, all while murmuring something under his breath...it was a chant, a chant about the Force.

“What’re you doing?” Frequency inquired.

“I could say the same about you, I noticed you were tailing me.” Kendall said. “Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge…”

“What’s with the...kicking and the chanting?” 

“You don’t know about “repeating actions”?” Kendall asked as he finished kicking the training dummy, taking in some long, deep breaths before turning to Frequency. “It’s a set of pre-determined movements in order to maximize concentration. As the saying goes, repetition is the mother of learning and the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.” Kendall confessed. “It helps me focus, it builds up my lower body strength, and I’m able to really clear my mind. Mr. Solo actually taught me it, its something he picked up when he was young, it helped him with becoming a good shot...also, WOW, he kicks like a horse. Found that out the hard way when we did a training fight with no weapons.” Kendall confessed. “So...what can I help you with? Do you need a doctor on the sly, because I’m a head nurse,  not a doctor.”

“I can’t believe you SAW me. I’m getting sloppy here on Nar Shadaa. Bummer.” Frequency sighed. “Look, I...need a favor, but not a medical one. I know you know that Karry guy, that Rodian who’s a bookie boss for the illegal racing circuit. I wanna ask him some stuff about this guy I was hired to find.” Frequency admitted. “They won’t let ME talk to him, but they may let you, dude. So could ya do me a solid? I’ll owe ya.” 

“Okay.” Kendall remarked, as he held out his hand, shaking Frequency’s paw. It rather felt like he was shaking hands with a big blue teddy bear. “I’ll be happy to help. Tell me what you’d like me to ask Mr. Karry.”

“It’s some stuff about this newsstand owner, Valentino, who went missing. I KNOW he was making bets with Karry. I want to find out on what, how much, that sort of thing. If Karry knows where he went, all the better…” “You’re a bounty hunter, so you know this could end real badly, right?” Kendall asked quietly. “I’ve learned a lot about people working in the free clinic. You may find out something about your lost newsstand owner you really wish you hadn’t. He may not be who you think he is.” “Don’t matter. Dude’s lost, and I got asked to find him.” Kendall was surprised at the earnestness in Frequency’s voice. Despite the rather ridiculous “Surfer Boy” accent, he was so...sincere. “Okay. Write down what you want me to ask.” Kendall said as he went over to the nearby desk, getting out a notepad. “And then you’d better leave before Han and Leia get back. We can talk about what you can do for me later. Sound fair?”

…

…

…

… “He went home.” “What?” 

Kendall stared in confusion at Karry, sitting across from him in his office. 

“He took me for a bundle too. Lucky duck. Hit the big one and took it all the way back to his home planet.” Karry explained with a shrug. “I’m not too surprised. Said he wanted to buy back his old family home after the bank there repossessed it.” 

“Wait, that’s it? Just leaving his wife and pregnant daughter when she’s about to give him a grandchild?” Kendall was confused. He scratched his head, looking at Karry.

“He said it was embarrassing that they didn’t have a proper home and had to squeeze together into a tight apartment. Told me he was going to cash his winnings immediately and head off. That’s the last I saw of him.” Karry insisted. “When they get big winnings, they ALWAYS wanna go buy the biggest stuff they can think of.” 

It sounded reasonable enough, but Kendall, having worked in a doctor’s office for years, had noticed that certain patients had...tells. Ways you could “tell” if they were nervous or lying or afraid. Jiggling legs, bumps popping up on certain parts of the skin, sometimes their faces would turn a different color, or their eyes would flicker off to the left hand side over and over. And for Rodians, it was the glistening of their eyes, as if their very eyeballs were submerged in water and ready to begin dripping onto the floor below. When they were nervous or afraid, you could see their big dark eyes looked glistening, as if wet, and Karry’s was super glistening indeed. 

Kendall SO badly wished he could use the Force to make Karry speak, but...he couldn’t. So he thanked the Rodian and left, heading to an alleyway not far away as Frequency rested on the wall.

“How do you bounty hunters do it?” He asked quietly. “Deal with the...the lies, the inhumanity, the open cruelty? The worst parts of people?”

“Depends on the type of guy ya are. Me…” Frequency held up a pistol, spinning it around before he slunk it right back into its holster in a single smooth motion. “I have my ways. What about you?” Kendall bit his lip. He paced back and forth, thinking long and hard. Then he got an idea. 

“Karry doesn’t know I’ve got a lightsaber.” He remarked. “That I’m training as a Jedi. And the people in Nar Shadaa tend to be...well...they’re kind fo scared of Jedi AND Sith because of what the Dyad have done. Maybe…”

Frequency grinned. “Want me to get you a nice outfit to look the part, bro?” 

Indeed, that was the plan. The next day, Karry was speaking to a few clients in an alleyway, hand reaching out to collect their money as he grinned. “Always a pleasure doing business with-”

Then they heard a familiar PSSSSHHH, and the sound of a lightsaber igniting. They looked behind Karry, gasping in horror. There stood someone with incredibly pale skin, veins slightly popping up on his face, red, unnatural-looking eyes, eyes with faintly sunken-in, blackened sockets that looked as though soot had collected around them. His lips were cracked and pale too, with veins seeping over them, and his head was covered in a dark helm that covered up his hair, the same helm covering most of his face, save for his eyes and mouth. 

“Hello, gentlemen. The Dyad hopes you’re all being...good, law-abiding citizens?” Kendall inquired. 

They all screamed, racing off, Karry gaping at the obvious Sith with the red lightsaber before HE took off running too.

This would not be the first time. Karry was becoming a persona-non-grata over the next few weeks. EVERY time he tried to arrange a business deal, that Sith would appear, casually strolling by, stopping to say hi JUST in the middle of the business deal. Karry couldn’t get a single person to place a bet on any race whatsoever. Again and again and again the Sith kept popping up, always evilly and so CHEERILY smiling at Karry. 

Finally, at the top of a roof, after yet another day of losing business...Karry fell to his knees, slamming his fist into the ground again and again and again. “DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT! You got something to say to me, SAY it!” 

“How does it feel?”

Karry suddenly realized the man was right behind him. And...and it was KENDALL. Kendall was taking off the helm, a holographic guise falling away...but that lightsaber remained. He twirled it a bit as he and Frequency stood together. “You’re a Sith magnet now. Nobody from your world will speak to you. Nobody will look at you. You’re invisible to them. Do you GET what I’m trying to say to you?” “This is about that...that guy who made that bet, isn’t it? Valentino?” Karry asked nervously as Kendall nodded.

“I’ll stop appearing and interfering in your business...if you tell me what really happened.” Kendall said. “Right now.” 

Karry bit his lip, his body shaking, quivering in fear as he gulped. “I...the thing is...he won. He won and I couldn’t cover the bet.” “You couldn’t cover the bet?” “It was a long shot. The LONGEST. He...he BROKE me. But you...you can’t do business broke. I had to pay him. I had to pay out, I tried to get him to ROLL it over, I mean...most guys do! But he gave me a line about how his daughter, the doctor, needed the money, she was going to be giving birth, he needed it badly and he wasn’t going to leave the money with me. I had to pay, and...and the only thing worse than losing your bank is not paying. It ruins your reputation. I had to pay, and...so I...I lied to you. I said he went back to his home, I figured...I figured nobody would miss him. He was just a guy who worked a news stand. Nobody would care…” Karry trailed off. 

Frequency slowly got the pistol he’d shown off to Kendall a little while back out of its holster, but Kendall held his arm out. “You’re going to leave this planet. Tonight.” He said quietly. “You are NOT going to return. But first...you’re going to tell me where he is.”

And so, the next morning, Darth Raize and Furiosa were gently holding the shoulders of Valentino’s wife and daughter, as his wife quietly cried, all of them looking down into the depths of a large lake on the outskirts of the capital. “...it looks so cold down there. He...he doesn’t like the cold.” Hali murmured as Nora covered her face.

“I’m gonna be right back.” Frequency said as he flexed his shoulder muscles a bit, doing a pinwheel-esque motion before he dove into the water with a loud splash. Raize quietly watched, seeing Frequency’s blue form sinking down, down, out of sight, further into the depths of the lake. He’d trained as lifeguard for years, he was very good at swimming, and holding his breath. It was a good thing too, the lake was indeed cold and dark, a murky abyss that you could barely see anything in, but Frequency could see HIM.

A few fish slowly passed by him as Frequency touched down on the bottom of the lake, and gently knelt down. Valentino Savarr had been wrapped up in an enormous tarp from head to toe, and tied down in chains that were icy to the touch, serving to keep his frame at the bottom of the lake. Some fish had nibbled away at the tarp, thinking it was food, and as a few faint glimmers of sun cast light down from the water’s surface high above, one just barely caught the top of Valentino’s head, and the clear, obvious injury that had caused his death. 

Frequency picked him up, grunting a bit, and then began to undo the chains, swimming up with the form of the newsstand man. He had no intention of telling either of the Dyad how exactly he’d found the man. Not because he owed Kendall anything...him sparing Karry was the favor Kendall had asked for. He wasn’t going to tell the Dyad because he knew they were looking for him, and would kill him the minute they found out where he was hiding out. And somebody that decent...Frequency couldn’t bring himself to sell the Logosian out. 

“...we should say something about Mr. Valentino.” Furiosa offered to Raize as Raize wiped her eyes. “...when we do our weekly address to Nar Shadaa. About...about the ordinary people who can...slip through the cracks.”

“I would like that very much.” Mrs. Hali Savarr murmured as Raize nodded, Frequently gently putting Valentino’s body down, covering his face for the family before he quietly shook all of their hands, and then walked off, his paws in his pockets, just...thinking...about all he’d seen. 

And thinking about speaking to Kendall again.

“Today we mark the unfortunate demise of one Valentino Savarr. We had a reliable bounty hunter associate, Mr. Frequency, track him down after he was murdered and his body hidden in Lake Everclear, to the eastern outskirts of the capital. Some of you may ask why we’re...speaking about a random person who never did anything very “important” in their life. But the thing is, everyone in this city is...they’re not background noise. When one of us vanishes, someone else should notice. Every person is a star. A life. A heart. A voice. And when a voice is silenced by darkness, another must rise to see justice gets done. Valentino is survived by his wife, and his pregnant daughter, who expects to give birth in a few weeks. The funeral service will be attended by my wife and I. We would...very much like if you could come. It’ll be tomorrow at 1:00, in the eldest chapel on Main Street…” 

[torentialtribute]

Mike Ashley insists it was ‘impossible’ to keep hold of Rafa Benitez at Newcastle

Mike Ashley insisted Friday night that it was & # 39; impossible & # 39; was for Newcastle to hold Rafa Benitez – and that the former manager was determined to close a lucrative deal for China from the start.

Ashley revealed that at a meeting on May 16, he even drove the idea of ​​an eight-year contract with Benitez. The manager's refusal to commit may cost the club record that Joelinton has signed

The Newcastle owner spoke out after criticizing the failure in conversations with Benitez – which he admitted he & # 39; excellent & # 39; had done work – and criticized the former boss after his appointment in Dalian Yifang in a deal worth £ 12 million a year.

Mike Ashley claimed manager Rafa Benitez from the beginning was determined to move to China

Ashley (photo) has revealed everything in an exclusive interview about his property of the Magpies

And he said: & # 39; If you come out and say the things he did, you would And it was football club first, Rafa second, money third. I'd say it was money first, Rafa, then the club. He took the completely soft option, took the money and went to China. That disappoints me. If you went back to Real Madrid, or a top six club in the Premier League, I get it. But it was about money and all he had to do was say that from the start.

& # 39; My opinion was always that we should keep Rafa. For my own personal safety we had to keep Rafa. I thought he had put us offside, he had cornered us, it was not fair, it was not good, I was completely out of the maneuver, I probably should not own a football club, it is ridiculous, but I am The big boy.

& # 39; But every time with Rafa it was impossible – there was always something different, and the next and the next. He asked for a 50 percent pay rise and I think he did because he knew he couldn't work. And if we had agreed, I think it would have been something else. And everyone thinks we lost it because we wouldn't pay a few more pounds. He had the microphone and we didn't.

I am not disappointed in him as a manager – he has done an excellent job. I'm surprised why a fan thinks I don't want him. I am not the fattest person on earth. Why wouldn't I want excellence? Why would I not want this manager? Blame me for many things, but not that. We could not have done anything more.

The Newcastle owner under attack said that Benitez took care of & # 39; money first … then the club last & # 39

& # 39; At one stage they were talking about a one-year extension and I said that I preferred an eight-year contract, which is what I have to do in business when I invest, I have to watch in the medium to long term, I don't worry about my Saturday recording, and we're talking about planning and strategy right now, so if you really want me involved, time of you and that was the idea I did it before with Alan Pardew.

& # 39; Looking back, however, it doesn't really matter what Rafa asked for because I think the Chinese thing was done. He had previously spoken about what he could earn in China. We were not even somewhat surprised by that movement. & # 39;

Ashley claims the club suspected there would be problems with the Benitez negotiations when he refused to close the £ 40 million deal for the new striker Joelinton in February. As a manager, Benitez had the final say on all transfers, but did not give Joelinton permission, although Newcastle had agreed the fee and personal terms and the player had passed a medical.

Ashley revealed: & We have reached Rafa & # 39; s main target in January, Miguel Almiron, but Hoffenheim would not sell Joelinton. Then in February they said we could get it early, but it would cost £ 40 million. He was a name we had discussed with Rafa and our recruitment staff had him at the top of their list. I thought it was one of those who would float away, but no, we did it.

Benitez had the final say on all transfers but would not have the green shedding light on Joelinton (center)

& # 39; I was so excited to tell Rafa that we would get another one, but when Lee Charnley, our executive director, had the conversation, he was of the opinion that he did not want to commit to the transfer until he knew his position at the club next season. And I didn't understand that. Is this the guy who gave it to me in the last 12 months?

& # 39; Correct gave me buckets – which I may or may not deserve, but I do not deserve it here because I did it. I have his first choice, Almiron, and this other player who was so exciting that we thought he would be out of reach. When we first sat down with Rafa, we didn't think we would pay that much for a player. We had never done that before.

& # 39; From there, the relationship deteriorated very quickly. I was personally very disappointed, and that is what it is politely expressing. I was panicking. I think, "I clearly don't understand football," because I'm all for four and crazy, and suddenly it's, "No, you gotta get my deal first." So we had a few weeks of correspondence and then it wasn't just his deal, it was that he thought the £ 40m for Joelinton wasn't worth it. It's too much and the club shouldn't spend it.

& # 39; And very occasionally I become in this world. So here's the deal. I personally pay £ 20 million of it. Nothing to do with the club. Above and beyond the budget. Rafa valued him at £ 20m. So that would come from the club budget. The rest, £ 23 million – I will pay. And he still didn't sign it. Looking back, I think he knew he was going to China for a long time because he thought we couldn't do anything. Joelinton was the test.

& # 39; Why the hell would you not want that? As a football manager, why would you not want Joelinton with all the things you said? It wasn't even if he or Salomon was Rondon. And we told him. We just wanted Joelinton secured. & # 39;

Benitez was recently appointed as Dalian Yifang manager in a £ 12 million deal per year

Newcastle has a report of their correspondence with Benitez that includes openness to an eight-year agreement, and a £ 20m pledge to improve training facilities. There is a revised financial offer in June and a three-year contract. It is only on June 23 at 12.45 that Benitez announces that he will not sign a new deal.

& # 39; He did a great job & # 39 ;, Ashley emphasizes. & # 39; PhD, first tenth year, 44 points – next year 45 points. Now we have a solid foundation to build on and the firepower to try. "Right Rafa, it's up to you – wait a minute, he's gone. Where did he disappear? What happened there?"

& # 39; Rafa talked about things he knew we couldn't do and when we were inside a position to finally do them and launch the big surprise – no. It is not the money he asked for that upset me. What if we don't have Joelinton? People don't realize that Rafa had the floor and we couldn't close the deal while he was still our manager. When he left, he knew that we signed Joelinton. So he cannot say that we lacked ambition.

& # 39; I'm saying this now because you have to draw a line. Otherwise people have the right to keep asking – August, September, October, November, why did Rafa leave? I am not here to defend myself. I am here to defend Newcastle United; because Newcastle United could not have done anything more to keep Rafa Benitez. I can look anyone in the eye and say that. It was impossible to do more. & # 39;

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