The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 121 - 47: European Golden Boy Award! Is He Really Wang Shuo? The Bundesliga’s Biggest Change in a Decade

Chapter 121: Chapter 47: European Golden Boy Award! Is He Really Wang Shuo? The Bundesliga’s Biggest Change in a Decade

Just look at the ticket prices in the Bundesliga. They still have cheap standing-room tickets.

The broadcasting fees are low, too.

Of the three main revenue streams, commercial income is negligible for Mainz.

Ticket revenue isn’t high, and broadcasting fees aren’t high either. You can imagine their predicament.

On top of that, the German Professional Football League has very strict financial regulations with regular audits. If a club goes into debt, it’s a huge problem.

So, what’s the solution?

Sell players, of course!

"They’re not thinking of selling me, are they?" Wang Shuo said with a wry smile.

’I should be worth a few million euros by now,’ he thought.

Didn’t Bayern offer 5 million euros for me before, only for Mainz to refuse?

"I don’t know. It depends on the buyer, and on whether Klopp can fight to keep you."

Klinsmann complains about not having transfer authority at Bayern.

In reality, that’s the norm.

In the Bundesliga, transfer authority is usually held by the general manager or sporting director. The head coach can only make suggestions.

Wang Shuo reflected, scanning the current Mainz roster. The only players who could command a high price were himself and Subotic.

Foyelner?

The guy hadn’t even finalized his contract renewal with the club. He might even leave on a free transfer next summer when his contract expires.

With that situation?

How much could they possibly get for him?

"To be honest, besides Bayern, no other team in the Bundesliga is competitive right now."

"The only commendable thing is their financial stability."

"But look at Transfermarkt, a website created by us Germans. Not a single Bundesliga player makes the top 10 most valuable players. In the top 20, you’ll probably only find Ribery."

"Then look at the overall business side. Did you know? The Bundesliga’s television broadcasting rights only go for 20 million euros a season, sold to Arena Television, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom."

"Then, the Bundesliga’s naming rights and internet multimedia broadcasting rights were bundled together and sold for a mere 40 million euros."

All of that adds up to just 60 million euros.

And a portion of that has to be shared with the Football Association, the 2nd Bundesliga, and youth development programs.

How much money does each Bundesliga team end up with?

And while there are other sources of income, you also have to consider investments and expenditures.

Take youth development, for example.

German youth development has been praised all over the world in recent years, right?

But since 2002, German clubs have had to invest a huge amount of money each year to build up their youth academies.

The youth development investment for the 18 Bundesliga teams has grown from 48 million euros in 2002 to nearly 80 million euros today.

The television broadcasting fees aren’t even enough to cover that cost.

Of course, the German government, the Football Association, and local governments all subsidize youth development.

But the clubs still bear the brunt of the cost.

Clearly, television rights have been undervalued, resulting in lower revenue.

But what could they do?

After the Kirch Group went bankrupt, Deutsche Telekom was left as the sole dominant player.

Premiere, a channel under News Group and a sister company to Sky Sports, is Germany’s largest pay-TV channel, but it stands no chance of competing. It can only get a subcontract from Deutsche Telekom.

Oh, right, Deutsche Telekom is that giant "T" on the front of Bayern’s jerseys.

Wang Shuo was only just beginning to make a name for himself, but he could already see the ceiling.

Mainz was destined to be a stepping stone.

And Wang Shuo believed the Bundesliga was, too!

But before making that leap, Wang Shuo had to give it his all, using every resource at his disposal to constantly improve himself.

Both his skills and his influence.

"Thomas, do you think I have a chance to compete for the Golden Boy Award?" Wang Shuo asked, concerned.

The award’s influence was in a strange spot—not massive, but not insignificant either.

But right now, the internal conflicts at Bayern were the main focus of the German media.

The 40-man shortlist?

Who cared?

But Wang Shuo had been thinking about it constantly.

"That’s really hard to say."

Thomas Essien was a bit surprised.

This was the first time he had seen Wang Shuo so clearly reveal his ambition.

Still, he considered it a good thing.

As Napoleon said, a soldier who doesn’t want to be a general is not a good soldier.

The same held true in the world of football.

"But any award is ultimately decided by people."

"In Germany, three media outlets are involved in the voting: Bild, Kicker Magazine, and Süddeutsche Zeitung."

"And whenever the media is doing the voting, there’s always room for influence. The powerhouse clubs definitely have an advantage."

"Look at the last five winners: Van der Vaart from Ajax, Rooney from Manchester United, Messi from Barça, Fabregas from Arsenal, and Aguero from Atletico Madrid."

"Which one of them wasn’t heavily backed by a top team?"

Even Ajax, the least imposing of the group, is a famous European powerhouse.

Besides, from the moment he debuted, Van der Vaart was hyped as the next Cruyff, hailed as the Dutch golden boy and a future leader of the national team.

It’s similar to how the Germans view Bayern’s Thomas Müller.

"Players from powerhouse clubs have a clear advantage. If you want to contend for it, you have to deliver a performance that’s impossible for anyone to ignore."

Wang Shuo understood.

Simply put, he had to make everyone feel that the award would lose its authority if it wasn’t given to him.

So what if Mainz wasn’t famous enough to give him a boost?

It didn’t matter. The club could become famous because of him!

After hearing what Thomas Essien had to say, Wang Shuo knew what he had to do.

He had already accumulated 61 Passive Value points.

He could exchange them for another Passive Skill Card.

During their meeting today, besides discussing all this, Thomas Essien had another piece of news for Wang Shuo.

He had successfully brokered a second collaboration between Huairun Football School and Adidas.

The first stop for the trials would be Mainz.

And the player coming was Wang Shuo’s best partner from his time in China, the midfielder Zhao Yifan.

Wang Shuo talked Thomas Essien out of his plan to go speak with Tuchel about it.

"That guy has a bit of a weird temper. If you’re the one to bring it up, it might backfire. It’s better if I find a chance to mention it to him."

Thomas Essien thought it over and agreed.

Wang Shuo was on pretty good terms with Tuchel.

It was strange. Tuchel, with his foul temper, didn’t seem to care for anyone, yet he had a particular fondness for Wang Shuo.