The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 128 - 48: Swing Pass! Ronaldo’s Successor! The Entire Bundesliga Wants to Sign Him
"On the other hand, there’s Bayern. Even Beckenbauer has spoken up."
Wenger thought for a moment, then asked, "What about Stuttgart?"
"They should be interested too. The entire Bundesliga is interested in Wang Shuo right now. But Stuttgart’s problem is that Gomez wants to go to Bayern, and Bayern wants Gomez too. Stuttgart’s condition is a trade for Tony Kroos and Podolski."
’A two-for-one trade? The Bayern executives can’t be that stupid,’ Wenger sneered inwardly.
But that’s the transfer market for you—turbulent and unpredictable. You never know what might happen next.
"Boss, we still need to hurry," Leman urged him again.
This time, Wenger didn’t say anything more.
...
"They can dream on!" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
Inside Rummenigge’s office at Bayern’s headquarters on Sebena Avenue in Munich, Hennes was raging.
It was because Stuttgart had said that if they wanted to sign Gomez, they had to trade both Podolski and Tony Kroos for him.
"That deal is impossible!" Hennes said to Rummenigge, his tone firm and fierce.
Rummenigge nodded. "I didn’t say I’d agree to it."
"I’ll talk to Gomez. If the player wants to come, Stuttgart can’t stop him!"
"And what about Tony Kroos? That bastard did a media interview and blew the whole thing wide open. Now all of Germany knows he wants to leave." Rummenigge’s expression soured at the mention of the troublemaker from East Germany.
"We’ll just have to calm the situation for now. We can loan him out. We can’t just let him go for good, right?"
There were many teams that wanted to loan Tony Kroos.
Didn’t Stuttgart want him too?
Teams like Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen all wanted to loan him.
Previously, Mainz had also wanted to loan Tony Kroos, but Bayern hadn’t agreed.
"Should we talk to Mainz about Wang Shuo’s transfer?" Rummenigge asked.
Hennes shook his head. "I’ve already spoken with Thomas Essien."
"And what did he say?"
"He asked me how we could guarantee his playing time at Bayern."
After Hennes said this, he let out a snort of laughter.
There was a hint of resignation in his laugh, but it was mostly disdain.
’In the Bundesliga, and they still want to negotiate terms with Bayern? How could we possibly promise playing time to an 18-year-old kid? We promised it to Tony Kroos, and what happened? Now we’re in a whole mess of trouble! And even though Tony Kroos is from East Germany, at least he’s a native German player. But Wang Shuo?’
"Bayern doesn’t negotiate terms. Besides, I heard Mainz is paying him an annual salary of 800,000 euros. We can only offer the same, not a cent more," Rummenigge declared.
"No salary increase?" Hennes was a little surprised.
’That doesn’t seem reasonable, does it?’
"He’s only 18. If we give him too high a salary now, it’ll be hard to manage things later. Plus, we have a lot of young players on our team. What about them?" Rummenigge’s stance was firm.
"You just tell Thomas Essien that the one they’re talking to now is Bayern!"
Rummenigge emphatically stressed the word Bayern.
In truth, this was a somewhat helpless gesture.
Never mind Wang Shuo, or even the homegrown talent Tony Kroos.
Even a current Germany international like Podolski couldn’t get any game time.
If they really did sign Gomez from Stuttgart, the competition would only become more fierce.
"I’ll have another good talk with Thomas Essien. Or maybe we sign him first, then loan him out to get experience, just like with Hummels going to Dortmund. Lahm was also loaned out back in the day."
Rummenigge thought of something else. "In this round, Hoffenheim’s Ibisevic scored a brace again. That kid’s not bad. If we really can’t sign Gomez, he’s someone to consider."
Gomez’s biggest advantage was being German.
"It’s really strange when you think about it. It’s like this season’s Bundesliga is being dominated by last season’s 2nd Bundesliga," Hennes said with a laugh.
Rummenigge also shook his head and chuckled.
The mention of the 2nd Bundesliga made him think of Klopp.
Back then, between Klopp and Klinsmann, Bayern chose Klinsmann.
But now, Klopp’s team was at the top of the Bundesliga table.
Sometimes Rummenigge would wonder if things at Bayern would be different now, had they chosen Klopp back then. It certainly wouldn’t be the mess it was today.
"Do you think..."
Rummenigge started to speak, but then stopped.
He had wanted to ask if it was feasible to invite Klopp to coach Bayern if Klinsmann were to be fired.
But he immediately dismissed the possibility himself.
’Knowing Klopp’s personality, there’s no way he would ever accept! If Bayern went and asked him, wouldn’t that just be asking for humiliation? Besides, when you look at world football, there are famous managers, rising stars, and geniuses everywhere, aren’t there?’
As a top-tier powerhouse, Bayern was never about a single individual.
Even figures like Beckenbauer, Rummenigge, and Hennes had only led Bayern through a certain era.
...
「At almost the same time.」
At the BMW Home in Mainz, Klopp burst into Christian Heidel’s office.
This startled Heidel, who was sitting inside.
"Hey, Jurgen, you’ve gone too far!"
"Can’t you knock before coming into my office? What if I was in the middle of something? Barging in like this, you scared me! What if you scared me so bad I got sick?"
Christian Heidel, feeling a bit like a thief caught in the act, went on the offensive, trying to seize the upper hand by speaking first and loudest.
"Don’t play dumb with me, Christian."
Klopp roared, pointing at Heidel.
"I’m telling you right now, if you dare sell Wang Shuo during this winter break, I’ll resign on the spot!"
"And when that happens, you can be the one to explain it to the fans!"
With that, Klopp angrily stormed out and slammed the door.
He left Heidel completely stunned.
Although he had expected Klopp to fly off the handle, he hadn’t thought he would be this furious.
Klopp hadn’t wasted any words.
But Heidel understood that this was no mere threat from Klopp.
Knowing his personality, he would actually do it!
