The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

A 3–1 win at home and a 2–1 win away. Dortmund eliminated Chelsea with an aggregate score of 5–2, storming into the Champions League semi-finals!

After the match at Stanford Bridge, the news quickly dominated the headlines of major media outlets across Europe.

Dortmund’s star player, Wang Shuo, in particular, was met with a flood of praise.

Nearly every media outlet was scrambling to explore the secret to Wang Shuo and Dortmund’s success from every possible angle.

They were all looking for new ways to hype up Wang Shuo and Dortmund.

Meanwhile, the results of the other quarterfinal matches also came in.

Real Madrid won 4–0 at home and 1–0 away, dominantly eliminating Tottenham Hotspur to set up a clash with Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals.

In the other half of the bracket, Manchester United and Barça also safely dispatched their opponents to face each other in the semi-finals.

And so, this season’s Champions League semi-finals became a showdown between La Liga, the Bundesliga, and the Premier League.

La Liga was in a particularly strong position, with two of its teams making it through.

However, Dortmund’s advance to the semi-finals delighted the German media.

The fans gave the team an especially enthusiastic welcome upon their return to Dortmund from London.

It was as if they were welcoming conquering heroes returning in triumph from the United Kingdom!

However, on the day after their victory, a news report from Spain’s Marca Newspaper threw a bucket of cold water on Dortmund.

It also reminded Wang Shuo of something his agent, Thomas Essien, had told him when he first arrived in Germany.

"Sometimes, doing well can be even more dangerous!"

...

Real Madrid wants to sign Shahin!

After this headline appeared in Marca Newspaper, the news spread like wildfire across the globe.

That, of course, included Dortmund.

But while everyone knew what was going on, no one dared to mention the matter at Strobelaler.

It was just a rumor, after all, but rumors are pervasive.

That very afternoon, Shahin’s agent, Feizeri, showed up at Westfalen Stadium.

Strobelaler is just across the street and a parking lot from the Westfalen Stadium. How could his presence be kept a secret?

No one said a word, but the implication was obvious.

The rumor was true!

After leaving Strobelaler, when Wang Shuo got together privately with a few of his close friends—Subotic, Götze, Reus, and Foyelner—the subject naturally came up.

"Damn Real Madrid! They love pulling this kind of crap!" Subotic sounded indignant.

"It’s not just Real Madrid. All the big clubs love to pull this kind of disgusting stunt," Foyelner said, remaining quite calm.

He had come up through the Bayern youth academy, after all, so he’d seen this sort of thing plenty of times.

"Heard anything?" Wang Shuo asked, looking at Foyelner.

’Besides being a player with the ladies, this guy’s intelligence network was also pretty impressive.’

After joining Dortmund, Foyelner hadn’t made much of an impact on the pitch, but off the pitch, he got along well with everyone. His personality and people skills were the key.

"It’s mainly Feizeri. That agent is a capable guy. He got a line to Real Madrid through Mesut."

Officially, Mesut’s agent is his father.

It’s the same for a lot of players.

The problem is that players’ relatives don’t have the licenses, skills, or professional network of a real agent. Their only advantage is that they’re trustworthy.

So, they have to outsource all the various duties.

It’s a well-established business model by now.

Take Wang Shuo, for example. Doesn’t he outsource his career management to Thomas Essien?

The only difference is that others outsource smaller, more specific tasks.

Publicly, both Mesut’s father and Feizeri could be considered Mesut’s agents.

"Real Madrid is a mega-club. They’re loaded and spend a fortune on transfers every year. What agent wouldn’t want to have a connection with them?"

As he spoke, Foyelner suddenly reached out and gave Wang Shuo a firm pat on the shoulder.

"Wang, you know what? I heard Real Madrid put the word out to agents all over Europe a while back. Whoever could orchestrate your move to the Bernabéu would become their go-to agent for the next few years."

At this, everyone turned to look at Wang Shuo in astonishment.

Although they already knew Wang Shuo was on Real Madrid’s radar, they never realized the interest was this intense.

Wang Shuo, however, wasn’t surprised. He just smiled faintly. "Those are just exaggerated rumors."

’In truth, he’d heard about this a long time ago. Many agents had contacted Thomas Essien and Shen Qinghe, but all of them had been turned away.’

’They knew the proper channels, so they wouldn’t bother Wang Shuo directly, and they were always discreet.’

"Our team’s biggest problem right now isn’t our results," Foyelner said, his gaze sweeping over the others with a hint of grandiosity.

He wasn’t much of a player, so it was only in moments like this that he got the chance to hold court.

"The better our results, the bigger the risk becomes for the team: contract renewals!"

Foyelner had barely finished speaking when the expressions on the faces of Subotic, Götze, and Reus all changed.

Because they were all in the process of negotiating their own contract renewals.

When it came to renewals, some players were anxious, while others were not.

Shahin was in the anxious camp, as his contract was set to expire in June 2012.

In other words, after this season, he would only have one year left on his contract.

According to Transfermarkt’s valuation, Shahin’s current market value was around 25 million euros.

At only 22 years old, his potential was limitless!

But here was the real kicker...