The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 120 - 47: European Golden Boy Award! Is He Really Wang Shuo? The Bundesliga’s Biggest Shake-up in a Decade
Besides, Mainz had just had two consecutive draws, and Wang Shuo himself wasn’t happy about it.
But to his utter surprise, the drama he was watching suddenly became about him.
The evening after the match against Dortmund, the Italian newspaper Torino Sports Daily announced a 40-man shortlist for the 2008 European Golden Boy Award (for players under 21).
The list included 10 nominees from the Premier League, such as Walcott, Bentner, Ramsey, Gareth Bale, and Anderson—all of whom were already well-known young players.
La Liga had eight nominees, such as Boyan, Busquets, Aguero, and Marcelo.
Serie A had seven nominees, including Pato, Balotelli, Okaka, and Sanchez.
The Bundesliga also had six nominees.
Bayern accounted for two of them: the Brazilian center-back Bruno and Tony Kroos.
There was also Werder Bremen’s Mesut, Schalke 04’s talented midfielder Rakitic, and Bayer Leverkusen’s right-sided player, Augusto.
And finally, there was Wang Shuo from Mainz.
The list itself wasn’t really controversial.
Especially Wang Shuo.
An 18-year-old starting forward for the team at the top of the Bundesliga table, with 9 goals and 5 assists.
Setting everything else aside, weren’t those stats alone enough to qualify him?
But the German media was just something else.
Bayern was the real ratings magnet.
Besides, bashing Klinsmann was the popular thing to do right now.
There was nothing to be done about it. After all, with his poor results, bad temper, and his habit of offending people left and right, what could you expect?
So, the media managed to cook up a novel angle.
Among the six young players nominated from the Bundesliga, Wang Shuo, Mesut, and Augusto were already starters for their respective teams. Even Rakitic was getting a lot of playing time.
He had started seven of the first ten matches.
The only exceptions were Bayern’s two young players, Bruno and Tony Kroos.
So far this season, Bruno had made one appearance, playing the full 90 minutes.
And get this: he hadn’t played in either of the two DFB-Pokal rounds.
And what about Tony Kroos?
Despite being widely recognized throughout Germany as a midfield prodigy, he had only started two matches so far this season: the first league match and the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
He had also come on as a substitute twice—once for 26 minutes, and once for a humiliating single minute.
In the second round of the DFB-Pokal, he didn’t play at all.
In October, after Tony Kroos complained about his lack of playing time, Klinsmann sent him straight down to play for the second team.
Hennes also punished Tony Kroos, forbidding him from giving unauthorized media interviews.
Klinsmann had previously said that Tony Kroos wasn’t getting playing time because he was young.
But now?
Wang Shuo, who was even younger, was already second on the top scorers list.
And Tony Kroos?
This comparison wasn’t really a problem in itself.
Wang Shuo was an innocent party.
The fatal blow came when, at a local event in Munich, Kahn—who held a grudge against Klinsmann from their national team days—publicly accused Klinsmann, claiming that his overly radical reforms were destroying the future of Bayern Munich.
"As far as I know, the main reason Wang Shuo rejected Bayern this summer was that he saw no chance of getting playing time under Klinsmann!"
And just who was Kahn?
That one sentence from him was enough to set the German media ablaze.
The most outrageous part was, half of his statement was true.
Wang Shuo had indeed turned down Bayern because he wouldn’t get playing time.
But what did that have to do with Klinsmann?
Wang Shuo wouldn’t have gone regardless of who the head coach was.
But now?
With Kahn having said it, everyone thought it made perfect sense.
Need proof?
Just look at the dismal playing time for Tony Kroos and Bruno, and then look at Podolski, who was desperate to leave.
As long as Klinsmann remained, there was no light for Bayern!
...
"This is the kind of pressure a powerhouse club has to endure."
"When you’re at a powerhouse club, you never know when, by whom, or for what ridiculous reason you’ll suddenly be dragged into a media vortex and find yourself in a world of trouble."
In a Western restaurant near the Market Square in Mainz’s Old Town District, Thomas Essien, who had made a special trip over, was breaking down the situation’s many convolutions for Wang Shuo.
Wang Shuo could now deeply relate.
Take this whole affair with Klinsmann and Bayern, for example.
Wang Shuo respected Kahn, but was there really no personal grudge involved on Kahn’s part?
And then there was Klinsmann; his conflicts with the Bayern management had been on full display since the start of the season.
Weren’t Tony Kroos and Podolski just innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire?
"This whole incident has taught me something."
"And what’s that?" Thomas Essien asked, looking at the young man opposite him with interest.
"Until you have enough strength and influence of your own, you should never set foot in a powerhouse club!"
’Especially as a Chinese player.’
Wang Shuo didn’t say that last part out loud, but he made a mental note of it.
’The politics here are way too deep!’
Thomas Essien nodded in approval. "Exactly. That’s the right way to think about it."
But his tone quickly shifted, and he sighed. "However, small clubs have their own tragedies, too."
"I’ve heard some things recently." The agent deliberately lowered his voice.
Wang Shuo looked over at him, his eyes asking the question.
"Mainz might sell some players during the winter break."
"Why?" Wang Shuo asked, startled.
’The team is doing so well right now.’
"They’re out of money!" Thomas Essien said, spreading his hands.
Wang Shuo recalled the delayed salary payments. Although they were eventually settled after the league distributed its funds, the payments still hadn’t been on time.
A situation like Mainz’s was nothing new in the Bundesliga; many of the smaller clubs were in the same boat.
The main reason was still low revenue.
