The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Chapter 550: Chapter 109: Messi’s Strongest Mouthpiece! For the 2011 Golden Ball! Neuer: Wang Shuo, I’ll Fight You

"You have to buy those yourself?" Wang Shuo gasped.

"All of mine were gifts from my sponsors. How about I send a few your way later?"

Ronaldo and Messi both flipped him off in unison.

Neither of them had a formal wear sponsor yet.

Ronaldo’s situation was manageable, but Messi’s was more complicated. His team was only made up of four or five people, all of them family.

Messi’s situation was a result of his unique circumstances.

He had been screwed over by Barça!

Back when he first came to Barça from Argentina, the club had agreed to pay his medical fees.

But what happened?

Barça tried to get him for nothing. After signing him, they kept dragging their feet, refusing to pay the money.

The agent they had at the time didn’t want to get on Barça’s bad side. After all, who knew if Messi would ever make it big?

For an agent, sucking up to a powerhouse like Barça was obviously more important.

It was under these circumstances that Messi’s father wrote a letter to Barça’s president at the time, Gaspart, demanding that the club immediately pay for Messi’s medical expenses and arrange a job for him.

The letter was leaked to the Catalonian media, and it was only under public pressure that Barça finally paid up.

But the job they found for Messi’s father was terrible.

During those years, it was Messi’s father who worked tirelessly and lived frugally, paying for the majority of his son’s medical bills. That’s what helped Messi finally make his breakthrough.

But even so, what was the difference between the contract Messi signed with Barça in his early years and an indentured servitude agreement?

Back when Wenger from Arsenal went to La Masia to sign Fabregas, he had originally wanted to sign Messi and Pique as a package deal.

But Pique was well-connected; his sponsor was Nike, so with their help, he chose Manchester United.

Although Messi hadn’t signed a professional contract with Barça, the existence of a prior written agreement made it impossible for Arsenal to sign him away.

This cultivated a deep sense of insecurity in Messi, leading him to trust no one but his family.

In terms of commercialization, Messi was the slowest of the three, taking the most cautious steps.

...

「At noon on the 11th, Wang Shuo returned to Dortmund.」

The team happened to return to Dortmund from Spain on the very same day.

On the 15th, the Bundesliga was set to resume.

The weather forecast showed that the temperature would gradually warm up over the next few days, rising to around 10 degrees Celsius.

But around the 20th, it was expected to drop back down to around 0 degrees.

On top of that, it had been rainy in Germany for some time.

When Wang Shuo arrived at Klopp’s office, he found the head coach swamped with work.

There was just too much to prepare.

But upon seeing Wang Shuo, Klopp still managed to make some time for him.

As Dortmund’s biggest star, keeping Wang Shuo happy was Klopp’s top priority.

Wang Shuo briefly recapped his meeting with Ronaldo and Messi in Zurich.

He didn’t reveal the specifics of their conversation, of course, but he did mention one thing.

"2011 isn’t a major tournament year. Those two are going to go all out!"

Klopp was a sharp man.

He instantly understood what Wang Shuo was getting at.

He wanted to go for the 2011 Golden Ball Award, too!

"On this, both I and the club will support you with everything we’ve got. It’s good for us!"

If Wang Shuo was going to contend for the Golden Ball Award, he’d need strong team results to back him up.

And for Dortmund, that was the best news possible!

"I understand your concerns. The Bundesliga’s influence really can’t compare to La Liga or the Premier League. La Liga, in particular, has a massive advantage, which puts us at a significant disadvantage."

"Barça is in excellent form right now, too. They’re on a 12-game winning streak in La Liga and are undefeated in their last 16 matches."

Over their last 16 La Liga matches, Barça’s record was 15 wins and 1 draw.

So far this season, 18 rounds into La Liga, Barça’s record stood at 16 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss.

Incidentally, La Liga’s winter break had ended on January 2nd.

Two rounds of La Liga had already been played in 2011, with Ronaldo scoring five goals to Messi’s one.

In other words, Ronaldo’s goal tally was now at 24, with Messi at 23.

’These guys are just goal-scoring machines,’ Wang Shuo thought. ’They rack them up like they’re possessed.’

"If we lack influence, then we’ll just have to make up for it with sheer numbers!"

Klopp looked at Wang Shuo, unable to hide the eager smile in his eyes.

"Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this. Given Dortmund’s current position, we can afford to ease up a little in the league and invest more heavily in the two cup competitions, aiming for a breakthrough in our results."

Wang Shuo couldn’t agree more.

’That’s exactly what I was thinking.’

"For example, on the 15th, we have our 18th league match, an away game against Bayer Leverkusen. But midweek next week, we have the DFB-Pokal quarterfinals against Schalke 04, and it’s in Gelsenkirchen."

A Ruhr Derby in the quarterfinals of the DFB-Pokal was no small matter.

Dortmund would definitely have to take this match more seriously.

And so would Wang Shuo.

"My thinking is we’ll stick to the old method. For the Bayer Leverkusen match, we’ll have Lewandowski start and keep you on the bench. That way, you’ll have plenty of energy saved up for Schalke 04."

After a brief pause, a sharp glint appeared in Klopp’s eyes.

"Magat’s been in a terrible position lately. If we just push a little harder, we can try to send him packing!"

Wang Shuo couldn’t help but smile when he heard that.

Magat’s situation was indeed dire, plagued by problems both internal and external.

Their current league ranking was low, and the locker room was rife with issues.

Take the Croatian midfielder Rakitic, for example.

The 21-year-old midfield prodigy had been performing brilliantly at Schalke 04, but he’d clashed with Magat over his training methods.