DBasia.news – Former Borneo FC striker, Julien Faubert, remembers the moment he received an offer from Real Madrid. Julien Faubert was recruited by Real Madrid on the last day of the January 2009 exchange.
At that time Faubert was still playing for West Ham United – a club he had defended from 2007 – and he got a call from a man from France who claimed to be a representative of Madrid.
At first Faubert did not believe he was a representative from Madrid and turned off his cellphone. But when he saw the number of telephone calls and messages, Faubert who had played for the Indonesian club Borneo FC in 2018 believed that Madrid was serious about wanting him.
“We are on the team bus heading to Upton Park to play against Fulham,” Faubert told The Athletic.
“I received a call from this French man at Real Madrid and he said to me, ‘Hi, I work for Real Madrid and we have to talk to you.’ I told him I had an important match to prepare for and I didn’t have time for this silly thing. “
“I turned off my phone, we played a match and after the match I turned on my phone and saw about 30 text messages and 50 voice messages. That’s when I knew it was serious,” he explained.
Everything happened quickly after. In the end, Julien Faubert, the French right-back, moved to Madrid on loan for six months.
“So I called my agent and he told me that we had to talk to Real Madrid as they were in a hotel in Heathrow (Airport in London),” Faubert added.
“That was the last day of the transfer window and we went there and started negotiating. When the deal was over, I returned to pick up some of my stuff at West Ham, people and I started laughing.”
“They were like saying, ‘Julien, do you realize where you are? This is really Real Madrid!’
“I remember Mark Noble (captain of West Ham) kept ignoring me and I was like, ‘Mark, what’s the problem?’ He said, “Julien, I cannot talk to you, you are a Real Madrid player. You are higher than me.” So, there were many jokes, “concluded Faubert.
Julien Faubert is still actively playing at the age of 36. He played in France with Frejus Saint-Raphael.