The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 160 - 53: Top Scorer! A Huge Reward! This Is a Miracle! Regarding Wang Shuo’s Underestimated Potential

Chapter 160: Chapter 53: Top Scorer! A Huge Reward! This Is a Miracle! Regarding Wang Shuo’s Underestimated Potential

Selling Subotic was, to some extent, a clear signal from the Mainz board.

For Wang Shuo, this was hardly a surprise.

What he had to do now was build on his performance and carry his first-half form into the second half of the season.

It didn’t matter how Mainz performed.

As long as he, Wang Shuo, kept putting in top-tier performances, that would be his leverage to attract the attention of bigger clubs!

It would be the foundation for his negotiations when he eventually joined a new team!

"Don’t be upset. This is how top clubs operate. You’ll have to get used to it."

Thomas Essien, who was driving, thought Wang Shuo was sulking about the award for the best player of the first half of the season.

Specifically, about missing out on Best Player.

Many in the media and many fans were crying foul on Wang Shuo’s behalf.

Was Ribery’s performance in the first half of the season really better than Wang Shuo’s?

In what way?

Wang Shuo scoffed. He knew his agent had misunderstood him, but he didn’t bother to explain.

"I’m fine."

"You have to understand, in the entire German Football Scene, Bayern has a status far beyond anyone else. Just look at their sponsors and board members: Deutsche Telekom, Adidas, Audi..."

"Have you ever seen any other team like that?"

Of course, Wang Shuo knew just how much influence Bayern had in Germany.

He just refused to accept it.

"Truthfully, even if you went to Bayern right now, you’d just be playing second fiddle to Ribery. He’s the superstar they’re building the team around, understand?"

"What if I score more goals and perform better than him?" Wang Shuo challenged.

Thomas Essien chuckled. "The coach’s tactics are already designed to favor the team’s core star. So what if you score more goals than him?"

"At Barça, Eto’o scores more goals than Ronaldinho, doesn’t he? But who’s their main man?"

"That’s all negotiated and written into their contracts from the start. There are specific clauses for it."

"Even if you helped Bayern win every single trophy, the player they’d put forward for the Golden Ball Award and World Footballer of the Year would still be Ribery!"

"Why do you think Tony Kroos is kicking up a fuss? Because Bayern promised him playing time in his contract and didn’t deliver. Bayern was in the wrong, which is why they agreed to loan him out."

"It’s the same story with Podolski."

"If you were to go to Bayern, they would tell you exactly what your role is when you sign the contract."

"Gattuso, at AC Milan, was destined to be a midfield enforcer. Mascherano clearly has impressive playmaking abilities, but once he came to Europe, he was pigeonholed as a defensive midfielder."

Hearing this, Wang Shuo let out a cold, humorless laugh.

"Then I’ll just go to a team that’s willing to make me their star player, and I’ll crush them!"

By the end, Wang Shuo’s tone was absolutely resolute.

At Mainz, he had already gotten a taste of the perks and the thrill of being the star player.

’Having the entire team built around you... that feeling, that freedom to play your own game... it’s absolutely exhilarating!’

’Go to Bayern just to play second fiddle to Ribery or some other star?’

’Not a chance!’

...

After flying from Frankfurt to Turin, Massimo Frankie was there to pick them up personally.

The Torino Sports Daily headquarters was located in downtown Turin, just north of Dora Park and adjacent to the Dora Riparia River.

During the drive, Thomas Essien had explained many of the unwritten rules of the European Football Scene to Wang Shuo, including how the various awards worked.

In truth, top players received tons of awards every year.

This was especially true for A-listers like Ronaldo, Kaka, Messi, and Ronaldinho; they were inundated with them.

But not all awards were created equal.

For instance, the Golden Ball Award and the World Footballer of the Year award had to be accepted in person.

Who could argue with their prestige?

Other awards from prestigious media outlets also required players to attend the ceremony, and the Torino Sports Daily’s Golden Boy Award fell into this category.

Of course, there were also awards from various national media outlets and magazines.

In Germany, outlets like Bild and Kicker Magazine all had their own awards and Team of the Year selections.

But for the vast majority of these awards, top players didn’t attend the ceremonies in person.

They simply didn’t have the time.

If they attended every single awards ceremony, they’d have no time left to actually play or train.

Generally, for a reasonably influential award, the organizers might send a representative to the club for the presentation, and the player and club would cooperate for photos and promotion.

Others would just mail the trophy over and unilaterally announce that so-and-so had won. End of story.

In short, the more influential the award, the more likely the player would show up.

The Torino Sports Daily’s Golden Boy Award was undoubtedly the Golden Ball Award for young players. Though it hadn’t been around for long, its influence was significant.

From Van der Vaart to Rooney to Messi, and now Wang Shuo, nearly every winner had attended.

Of course, with a limited budget, Torino Sports Daily didn’t put on an overly grand ceremony.

A live broadcast was out of the question.

It was just a matter of posing for photos, accepting the award, and doing an exclusive interview.

Interestingly, on the day of Wang Shuo’s arrival, Torino Sports Daily publicly announced the top ten finishers for the 2008 European Golden Boy Award, along with the final point tallies.

Among the top 10 players, only two were from the Bundesliga.

Besides Wang Shuo, the other was Rakitic from Schalke 04.

Wang Shuo placed first with 237 points, holding a commanding lead over Anderson in second and Walcott in third.

The youngsters from Manchester United and Arsenal both had just over 100 points.

Barça’s Boyan didn’t even break one hundred.

Massimo Frankie mentioned that this score surpassed Messi’s from 2005, when Messi had only received 225 points.