The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 202 - 59: Mr. Clutch! A Historic Final! Mainz’s Big Trouble! What a Bountiful Season

Chapter 202: Chapter 59: Mr. Clutch! A Historic Final! Mainz’s Big Trouble! What a Bountiful Season

"Wang Shuo handled that very cleverly. He intentionally hung back a bit, then suddenly surged forward to get in front and take the shot."

...

In the end, thanks to Wang Shuo’s goal in the 61st minute, Mainz defeated Werder Bremen 1-0.

After a four-game losing streak, this was the team’s first time securing three points again, halting their decline.

Although the team’s overall performance was still not outstanding, and they paid the price of Pekovic leaving the field injured, all in all, getting three points was still something to be happy about.

In contrast, the other dark horse, Hoffenheim, suffered a crushing 0-4 defeat away at VfL Wolfsburg in this round.

Wolfsburg’s Bosnian and Herzegovinian center-forward, Dzeko, scored a hat-trick in the second half in a short span of 13 minutes, from the 65th to the 78th minute.

Then Griffith scored a penalty kick just before the end of the match.

Hoffenheim’s performance in this match was actually a carbon copy of the collapses that often happened to Klopp’s Mainz.

After their stamina was completely depleted, they couldn’t keep up with the pace and were swept away by their opponents in a single wave.

And it all happened in a short period of time.

With Hertha Berlin drawing 1-1 away at Hamburg and Stuttgart also drawing 2-2 away at Bielefeld this round, Mainz used their three points to return to the top three.

Currently, VfL Wolfsburg was at the top of the rankings, with Bayern close behind.

This got the Mainz management’s imagination running wild.

In the locker room after the Werder Bremen match, club president Strutz gave the players’ performance very high praise.

He also encouraged everyone to keep up the good work.

"If we can maintain our current league ranking, we’ll once again set a new record for Mainz!"

"Then this season will be the greatest season in Mainz’s history!"

"It will even become one of the most legendary seasons in the history of the Bundesliga!"

But as Strutz said this, Christian Heidel, who was standing to the side, had a clearly awkward expression on his face.

...

"Wang, did you notice?"

"Just now, when President Strutz was talking, Heidel’s expression was really weird."

Schürrle was baffled.

’President Strutz was right.’

’For so many historic records to be set all in one season—that was truly legendary.’

’But why did Heidel look so strange?’

"It felt like... it felt like..."

Schürrle racked his brain, and finally came up with a rather fitting description.

"Like he was constipated!"

Wang Shuo burst out laughing on the spot.

Foyelner, Hainauer, and the others roared with laughter.

But one had to admit, the description was spot on.

Heidel’s expression was exactly like that.

"Why are you asking me? How would I know? I’m not the one who’s constipated."

Wang Shuo casually brushed him off.

But he actually knew the reason why.

He just couldn’t say it.

...

「At almost the same time」 In the Mainz president’s office, Strutz finally shook Heidel’s hand off him.

"Christian, why do you keep pulling at me?"

"What’s going on?"

Heidel, having just closed the door, walked over with a look of utter misery.

’This president of Mainz has been in charge of the team for many years, but ever since I took over as general manager, he’s just become a hands-off boss who doesn’t do any real work.’

’As the mayor’s—uh, no, the former mayor’s son, I really have to worry about everything!’

But he wanted to say something, yet didn’t know how.

"What is it, really?"

Heidel looked deeply at Strutz and decided he might as well be blunt.

"Now that the team’s doing well, we have a huge problem."

"How is that possible?"

"How many goals has Wang Shuo scored now?"

"Twenty-six," Strutz blurted out.

He had been keeping track, after all.

"In the contract we signed with him, there are clauses for goal and assist bonuses." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Strutz paused for a moment, only then realizing that for every single goal and assist from Wang Shuo, the club had to pay up.

’Looking at those 26 goals now...’

’Are those still goals?’

’They’re all money!’

"And that’s just a minor issue."

"Then..."

’What’s the major issue?’

"In the contract we originally made with Wang Shuo, the championship bonus was set very high, and the bonuses for qualifying for the Champions League and the UEFA Europa League are also quite high."

Strutz stared at Heidel in disbelief. Now he finally understood why he had that constipated look on his face.

"No, wait. When you designed the contract, why didn’t you think it through?"

Heidel was speechless. ’President, you have to speak with a clear conscience.’

"What do you mean I didn’t think it through? The lawyer and I went over it back and forth several times."

"Think about it! We’re a newly promoted team! Isn’t a championship bonus just for show? Aren’t the qualification spots for the Champions League and UEFA Europa League also just for show? For a striker, giving goal and assist bonuses is perfectly normal. And appearance fees. These are clauses that are in every professional player’s contract."

"You know how much momentum Wang Shuo had at the time. To keep him, we didn’t dare to delay and signed him before the season even ended."

"To convince him to accept an €800,000 annual salary, didn’t we have to offer him better terms in other areas?"

Heidel felt extremely wronged and unfairly blamed.

’Good heavens, who could have possibly thought that Mainz would do this well this season?’

’If I had known, I would have given Wang Shuo a €1.5 million annual salary rather than sign these kinds of clauses.’

’But is it too late for regrets now?’

"How much did you set for the championship bonus?"

Strutz picked up the water glass on his desk, wanting to take a sip to calm his nerves.