The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 144 - 51: A High-Quality New Idol! A Transformative Upgrade! I Want to Become the World’s Strongest Player

Chapter 144: Chapter 51: A High-Quality New Idol! A Transformative Upgrade! I Want to Become the World’s Strongest Player

In 2005, before Messi won the European Golden Boy Award, he had signed a global sponsorship deal with McDonald’s. The contract was worth 560,000 British Pounds, which was about 850,000 euros at the exchange rate back then.

But this time, Wang Shuo’s sponsorship deal was for a staggering 1 million euros.

Besides, back then, Messi hadn’t even signed with Pepsi.

Now, Wang Shuo had signed two contracts at once.

To everyone’s surprise, the media soon revealed that after Adidas signed Wang Shuo as a global ambassador, the annual sponsorship fee was 1.5 million euros.

With these three contracts, Wang Shuo was bringing in 3.5 million euros a year.

Was that a lot?

Compared to Europe’s first-tier superstars, it really wasn’t that much.

But the key was that Wang Shuo was just an 18-year-old rookie.

Bild posited that as the only Chinese player currently playing abroad in Europe—and performing so outstandingly with a chance to win the European Golden Boy Award—Wang Shuo was becoming a new, exemplary idol for China!

It was inevitable.

It was the same for players like Nakata Hideyuki in Japan and Park Jisung in South Korea.

But those were just small countries.

Now, nearly everyone was certain that in 2008, China’s GDP would surpass Germany’s to become the third largest in the world.

The value inherent in a population of 1.4 billion was staggering.

In China, KFC had about 2,500 locations, which was only about a tenth of its global total.

But China had the fastest growth rate and was set for aggressive expansion in the coming years.

"Whether it’s KFC, McDonald’s, Pepsi, or Coca-Cola, using sports marketing to enter a target country has always been part of their standard playbook."

"Signing Wang Shuo for such a hefty sum is, without a doubt, a huge bet on the Chinese market!"

Bild believed that as long as Wang Shuo could maintain his current form, more and more multinational brands would come knocking on his door.

Wang Shuo found some time to read the article and strongly agreed with its analysis.

To him, it felt like a reward from his homeland!

At the same time, it only strengthened his resolve.

He had to work even harder; he absolutely could not let down everyone’s expectations.

...

News of Wang Shuo’s sponsorship deals spread quickly through the Mainz squad.

Everyone was incredibly envious.

But what could they do?

He had the mighty nation of China behind him, an advantage the others could only dream of.

Take Subotic, the second-most valuable player on the team. Forget about him choosing to represent Serbia; even if he had chosen Germany, a player with his background wouldn’t receive much attention there.

A rookie like Schürrle barely got any attention, so what chance did he have?

Hainauer was in an even worse position. He was from Hungary; how much commercial value could he possibly have?

And as it turned out, the tradition of making the big earner treat everyone was quite common in Germany, too.

Led by Subotic and Foyelner, the players all started clamoring for Wang Shuo to treat them.

Wang Shuo was easygoing about it and agreed on the spot.

He promised to treat everyone to a nice meal after they returned from Berlin.

Only Amri piped up.

"Why wait until we get back? Let’s just do it in Berlin. I know some good spots."

Seeing Amri’s suggestive winks and glances, well, they were all men. Who didn’t know what he was getting at?

Berlin was, after all, a world-famous paradise for nightlife.

The word was there were plenty of women from Eastern Europe and Ukraine, and they were especially "talented."

Captain Nowitzki walked over and gave him a solid thwack on the top of his head.

"Wang Shuo and Andrei are only eighteen! Don’t you dare infect them with your bad habits!"

Amri didn’t dare say another word, quickly apologizing and begging for mercy.

Everyone roared with laughter.

But this time, Mainz’s away game in Berlin was anything but smooth.

The daytime temperature in Berlin was hovering around zero degrees Celsius, but the match was scheduled for 7:30 PM.

The temperature plummeted to below freezing.

Berlin’s Olympic Stadium had under-soil heating, so the pitch itself wouldn’t freeze. The problem was that the air inside the stadium was incredibly humid and stuffy.

Just how bad was it?

The match hadn’t even started yet. By the time Wang Shuo and the others came off the field from just the pre-match warm-up, they were already drenched in sweat.

When they took off their jerseys, they could wring streams of water out of them.

By November, injuries had begun to pile up within the Mainz squad.

While none were serious, they were still a major nuisance.

For example, Gunkel had just returned to training and hadn’t even had time to regain his form before Kalhan got injured.

For this match, Klopp chose to field the young Kirschhoff.

But in the 24th minute, it was Kirschhoff who failed to cover the top of the arc in time. Hertha Berlin’s forward, Volosin, laid the ball off for Chal, a midfielder making a run from deep, who unleashed a furious strike that broke through the Mainz goal.

Mainz continued to employ their high-press tactics.

However, their form was a far cry from what it had been at the start of the season, and as a result, the tactic was less effective.

Just before the first half ended, during stoppage time, Wang Shuo received a brilliant pass from Foyelner. He first dropped back before making a sudden forward run, collected the ball, and used his individual skill for a Breakthrough past Hertha Berlin’s center-back, Arne Friedrich, before scoring against Hertha Berlin.

Equalizing the score just before the end of the first half was undoubtedly a huge boost for Mainz.

Things looked even bleaker in the second half.

Especially after the 70-minute mark.

Klopp made three substitutions in quick succession in the 70th, 74th, and 78th minutes.

But it was to no avail.

In the 86th minute, Mainz’s defense made another mistake.