[{"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-160":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},483996,734,"Chapter 160 - 53: Top Scorer! A Huge Reward! This Is a Miracle! Regarding Wang Shuo’s Underestimated Potential","the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-chapter-160",160,"\u003Cp>Selling Subotic was, to some extent, a clear signal from the Mainz board.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Wang Shuo, this was hardly a surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What he had to do now was build on his performance and carry his first-half form into the second half of the season.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It didn’t matter how Mainz performed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as he, Wang Shuo, kept putting in top-tier performances, that would be his leverage to attract the attention of bigger clubs!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would be the foundation for his negotiations when he eventually joined a new team!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don’t be upset. This is how top clubs operate. You’ll have to get used to it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thomas Essien, who was driving, thought Wang Shuo was sulking about the award for the best player of the first half of the season.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Specifically, about missing out on Best Player.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many in the media and many fans were crying foul on Wang Shuo’s behalf.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was Ribery’s performance in the first half of the season really better than Wang Shuo’s?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In what way?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo scoffed. He knew his agent had misunderstood him, but he didn’t bother to explain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m fine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Have you ever seen any other team like that?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Wang Shuo knew just how much influence Bayern had in Germany.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He just refused to accept it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What if I score more goals and perform better than him?\" Wang Shuo challenged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At Barça, Eto’o scores more goals than Ronaldinho, doesn’t he? But who’s their main man?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s all negotiated and written into their contracts from the start. There are specific clauses for it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s the same story with Podolski.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you were to go to Bayern, they would tell you exactly what your role is when you sign the contract.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Wang Shuo let out a cold, humorless laugh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then I’ll just go to a team that’s willing to make me their star player, and I’ll crush them!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the end, Wang Shuo’s tone was absolutely resolute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Mainz, he had already gotten a taste of the perks and the thrill of being the star player.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Having the entire team built around you... that feeling, that freedom to play your own game... it’s absolutely exhilarating!’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Go to Bayern just to play second fiddle to Ribery or some other star?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Not a chance!’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After flying from Frankfurt to Turin, Massimo Frankie was there to pick them up personally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Torino Sports Daily headquarters was located in downtown Turin, just north of Dora Park and adjacent to the Dora Riparia River.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, top players received tons of awards every year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was especially true for A-listers like Ronaldo, Kaka, Messi, and Ronaldinho; they were inundated with them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But not all awards were created equal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For instance, the Golden Ball Award and the World Footballer of the Year award had to be accepted in person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who could argue with their prestige?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, there were also awards from various national media outlets and magazines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Germany, outlets like Bild and Kicker Magazine all had their own awards and Team of the Year selections.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for the vast majority of these awards, top players didn’t attend the ceremonies in person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They simply didn’t have the time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they attended every single awards ceremony, they’d have no time left to actually play or train.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others would just mail the trophy over and unilaterally announce that so-and-so had won. End of story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, the more influential the award, the more likely the player would show up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From Van der Vaart to Rooney to Messi, and now Wang Shuo, nearly every winner had attended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, with a limited budget, Torino Sports Daily didn’t put on an overly grand ceremony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A live broadcast was out of the question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just a matter of posing for photos, accepting the award, and doing an exclusive interview.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the top 10 players, only two were from the Bundesliga.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides Wang Shuo, the other was Rakitic from Schalke 04.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shuo placed first with 237 points, holding a commanding lead over Anderson in second and Walcott in third.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The youngsters from Manchester United and Arsenal both had just over 100 points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Barça’s Boyan didn’t even break one hundred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Massimo Frankie mentioned that this score surpassed Messi’s from 2005, when Messi had only received 225 points.\u003C\u002Fp>",1028,"2026-05-30T11:12:32.829Z","2026-06-01T04:31:05.348Z",1,"novelbin.me","0c0deffafc35a4316042e54dfc916f9eeeed0c8b27f7643d6991d572404e2339","the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-chapter-161","the-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-chapter-159",400,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-god-of-football-starts-with-passive-skills-cover.jpg"]