The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 236 - 64: High-Stakes Gamble and Sponsorship! Record-Breaking Price! Me and My Classmate Reus! Bayern Shuts the Door
That was a pretty good contract.
"Stuttgart has been in contact with me recently, too."
"Stuttgart?"
"Yes. Mario Gomez went to Bayern, so Stuttgart just got a 30 million euro transfer fee. Plus, both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche are based in Stuttgart."
It dawned on Wang Shuo.
One very special thing about Bundesliga teams is their close collaboration with local businesses.
It wasn’t just major partnerships like Volkswagen with VfL Wolfsburg or Audi with Bayern. Countless other companies also had intricate ties with the football clubs.
These even included sectors like real estate and technological research and development.
As a global manufacturing powerhouse, Germany was truly at the forefront in Europe when it came to the collaboration between industry and football.
Stuttgart was an interesting case as well.
The economy of this Motor City was thriving.
After winning the Bundesliga title, their performance had slipped.
Starting in November of last season, they had surprisingly adopted a dual-head-coach model.
That’s right, you read that correctly. They had two head coaches.
This was mainly because both the 36-year-old Marcus Babel and the 41-year-old Reina Widmayer were quite young and lacked the experience to manage alone, so the two teamed up.
It was still unclear whether they would continue with this dual-coach system in the new season.
Despite this, the team ultimately managed to qualify for the UEFA Europa League.
However, previous reports had also suggested that Stuttgart was considering inviting Klopp to be their manager.
Everyone knew that Klopp was born in Stuttgart.
His hometown, Glattingen, was just to the southwest of Stuttgart.
...
Whenever Wang Shuo got a call from Thomas Essien, his parents would deliberately give him a wide berth.
It wasn’t because they were worried Wang Shuo would think they were eavesdropping.
It was because they knew that after each call, Wang Shuo could be heading back to Europe at any moment.
And when he left, it would be for another year.
Or even longer.
They were simple, honest country folk. In their entire lives, they had never even ridden a train, let alone flown in a plane.
The farthest they had ever traveled was to Hu City, and that was only thanks to the recent house purchase.
When she saw Wang Shuo come out after finishing his call, his mother forced a smile.
"Ah Shuo, what do you want to eat tomorrow? Your dad and I are going into the county town to buy groceries in the morning."
There were small markets in the countryside, but they preferred the one in the county town, where you could find anything.
During the few days Wang Shuo had been back, they had been going out of their way to cook all his favorite foods.
"Dad, Mom, I have to go back in a couple of days."
Upon hearing this, both Wang Wenjun and Xu Xiuying stopped what they were doing.
They had been mentally prepared for this, but when the moment actually arrived, it still hurt.
"Okay, that’s good. Go back and focus on your football. Don’t worry about things at home; your mom and I are doing just fine."
His father didn’t dare to look at Wang Shuo as he spoke.
His mother just hummed in agreement, unable to get a word out.
"My agent negotiated a sponsorship deal for me. It’s with a car brand."
"What kind of car?"
"Porsche."
"Por-what?" His mother was completely lost.
"Don’t ask if you don’t understand. Honestly," his father grumbled, afraid she might annoy Wang Shuo.
In truth, he didn’t understand either.
He was more familiar with small trucks and vans.
For example, Wuling minivans and Jianghuai light-duty trucks.
As for what kind of car a Porsche was, he truly had no idea.
"Are those cars very expensive?"
Wang Shuo shook his head and smiled. "I’m not entirely sure, but back home in China, they probably sell for one or two million yuan."
"One or two million?" His parents were startled. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
"Good heavens, you could buy a whole apartment in the provincial capital for that."
Wang Shuo nodded.
"Then how much are they paying you for the endorsement?" his mother asked, concerned.
"Up to 1.5 million euros. In yuan, that’s about 15 million."
His father and mother looked at each other, utterly dumbfounded.
"Plus, they’re giving me a free car to drive."
"There’s a perk like that, too?" His father was a little excited.
A car worth one or two million... What kind of car must that be?
The best cars he’d ever seen in the county town were Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, but even they weren’t this expensive.
And they were giving it to him for free.
"Then you should hurry back! There’s nothing to worry about at home." His mother, who had been so reluctant to see him leave just moments ago, was now urging him to return quickly.
It was as if she were afraid that if he returned too late, this amazing opportunity would be snatched up by someone else.
Wouldn’t that be holding back her son’s bright future?
Wang Shuo didn’t explain any further.
"Dad, Mom, I’ll send money home every month. Don’t you worry. Buy whatever you want, spend it however you want. In short, I’ll take care of everything!"
Wang Shuo’s words brought a lump to his parents’ throats again.
This was the first time they had ever heard their son speak like this.
He had really grown up, able to stand on his own two feet and bring honor to the family!
...
The night before he was due to return to Hu City from his hometown, Wang Shuo received a call from his agent, Thomas Essien.
The main purpose of the call was to urge him to return to Europe quickly.
He also reported the latest developments.
Dortmund wanted to sign Wang Shuo, too.
And they had already come to an agreement with Mainz.
The transfer fee was 20 million euros.
Was this transfer fee expensive?
It broke the German transfer record for a player under 23, previously set by Rosicky.
The Czech midfielder had joined Dortmund for a transfer fee of 14.5 million euros.
Wang Shuo hadn’t expected Dortmund to be a team that loved signing young players so much!
He was also very curious about how Dortmund planned to utilize him in their lineup.
In the car on the way back to Hu City, Wang Shuo received a call from Subotic.
The moment he heard that Dortmund wanted to sign Wang Shuo, he had called him immediately.
