[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills":3,"chapter-the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-chapter-120":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},483871,734,"Chapter 120 - 47: European Golden Boy Award! Is He Really Wang Shuo? The Bundesliga’s Biggest Shake-up in a Decade","the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-chapter-120",120,"\u003Cp>Besides, Mainz had just had two consecutive draws, and Wang Shuo himself wasn’t happy about it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to his utter surprise, the drama he was watching suddenly became about him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The evening after the match against Dortmund, the Italian newspaper Torino Sports Daily announced a 40-man shortlist for the 2008 European Golden Boy Award (for players under 21).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The list included 10 nominees from the Premier League, such as Walcott, Bentner, Ramsey, Gareth Bale, and Anderson—all of whom were already well-known young players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>La Liga had eight nominees, such as Boyan, Busquets, Aguero, and Marcelo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Serie A had seven nominees, including Pato, Balotelli, Okaka, and Sanchez.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Bundesliga also had six nominees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bayern accounted for two of them: the Brazilian center-back Bruno and Tony Kroos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was also Werder Bremen’s Mesut, Schalke 04’s talented midfielder Rakitic, and Bayer Leverkusen’s right-sided player, Augusto.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And finally, there was Wang Shuo from Mainz.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The list itself wasn’t really controversial.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially Wang Shuo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An 18-year-old starting forward for the team at the top of the Bundesliga table, with 9 goals and 5 assists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Setting everything else aside, weren’t those stats alone enough to qualify him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the German media was just something else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bayern was the real ratings magnet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, bashing Klinsmann was the popular thing to do right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was nothing to be done about it. After all, with his poor results, bad temper, and his habit of offending people left and right, what could you expect?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, the media managed to cook up a novel angle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the six young players nominated from the Bundesliga, Wang Shuo, Mesut, and Augusto were already starters for their respective teams. Even Rakitic was getting a lot of playing time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had started seven of the first ten matches.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only exceptions were Bayern’s two young players, Bruno and Tony Kroos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So far this season, Bruno had made one appearance, playing the full 90 minutes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And get this: he hadn’t played in either of the two DFB-Pokal rounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And what about Tony Kroos?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite being widely recognized throughout Germany as a midfield prodigy, he had only started two matches so far this season: the first league match and the first round of the DFB-Pokal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had also come on as a substitute twice—once for 26 minutes, and once for a humiliating single minute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the second round of the DFB-Pokal, he didn’t play at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In October, after Tony Kroos complained about his lack of playing time, Klinsmann sent him straight down to play for the second team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hennes also punished Tony Kroos, forbidding him from giving unauthorized media interviews.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Klinsmann had previously said that Tony Kroos wasn’t getting playing time because he was young.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo, who was even younger, was already second on the top scorers list.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Tony Kroos?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This comparison wasn’t really a problem in itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo was an innocent party.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fatal blow came when, at a local event in Munich, Kahn—who held a grudge against Klinsmann from their national team days—publicly accused Klinsmann, claiming that his overly radical reforms were destroying the future of Bayern Munich.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As far as I know, the main reason Wang Shuo rejected Bayern this summer was that he saw no chance of getting playing time under Klinsmann!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And just who was Kahn?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That one sentence from him was enough to set the German media ablaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The most outrageous part was, half of his statement was true.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo had indeed turned down Bayern because he wouldn’t get playing time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what did that have to do with Klinsmann?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo wouldn’t have gone regardless of who the head coach was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With Kahn having said it, everyone thought it made perfect sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Need proof?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just look at the dismal playing time for Tony Kroos and Bruno, and then look at Podolski, who was desperate to leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as Klinsmann remained, there was no light for Bayern!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is the kind of pressure a powerhouse club has to endure.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When you’re at a powerhouse club, you never know when, by whom, or for what ridiculous reason you’ll suddenly be dragged into a media vortex and find yourself in a world of trouble.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a Western restaurant near the Market Square in Mainz’s Old Town District, Thomas Essien, who had made a special trip over, was breaking down the situation’s many convolutions for Wang Shuo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo could now deeply relate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take this whole affair with Klinsmann and Bayern, for example.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo respected Kahn, but was there really no personal grudge involved on Kahn’s part?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then there was Klinsmann; his conflicts with the Bayern management had been on full display since the start of the season.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Weren’t Tony Kroos and Podolski just innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This whole incident has taught me something.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And what’s that?\" Thomas Essien asked, looking at the young man opposite him with interest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Until you have enough strength and influence of your own, you should never set foot in a powerhouse club!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Especially as a Chinese player.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo didn’t say that last part out loud, but he made a mental note of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’The politics here are way too deep!’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thomas Essien nodded in approval. \"Exactly. That’s the right way to think about it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his tone quickly shifted, and he sighed. \"However, small clubs have their own tragedies, too.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’ve heard some things recently.\" The agent deliberately lowered his voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo looked over at him, his eyes asking the question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mainz might sell some players during the winter break.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why?\" Wang Shuo asked, startled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’The team is doing so well right now.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They’re out of money!\" Thomas Essien said, spreading his hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo recalled the delayed salary payments. Although they were eventually settled after the league distributed its funds, the payments still hadn’t been on time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A situation like Mainz’s was nothing new in the Bundesliga; many of the smaller clubs were in the same boat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The main reason was still low revenue.\u003C\u002Fp>",1006,"2026-05-30T11:12:32.829Z","2026-06-01T04:31:05.348Z",1,"novelbin.me","27fbad44517fef18d5abe87eee3db889b42de7d9d36b4988054a2e4a51e9e255","the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-chapter-16","the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-chapter-15",400,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-cover.jpg"]