Chapter 45
***
The match between Dongnam High School and Jaerim High School continued.
I sat in the stands and listened to the association staffer as I sized up the players.
“Next, the player we'd like to recommend is Hong Jae-seok. He's a striker, and his biggest strength is his finishing.”
The association staffer carefully began explaining the players to me and recommended one.
‘Hmm... not great.’
Unlike the report, which was plastered with positive evaluations, he looked underwhelming to me. His play was so unremarkable that I wouldn't have picked him even without a scout.
‘And we already have enough attackers.’
Union Berlin's strikers were already about half full.
Great finishing?
In front of Yannick Voit and Son Hong-min, it was a meaningless strength.
‘Honestly, our striker just needs to be a pass-launch pad.’
Or get us a target man.
I declined the association staffer's recommendation with an awkward smile, then turned my attention to the defenders instead.
Personally, I wanted to recruit a few full-backs who could play multiple positions, but for some reason the level of full-back play among Korean footballers was absurdly low.
‘No, that player's defensive stats are good too, so he'd be perfect as a full-back. Why is he a winger?’
Because most of the players whose potential suited full-back were playing as attackers.
‘Well, I guess I can understand it.’
Unlike the future, when the importance of full-backs would come to the fore, the position currently had a strong image as something that players who got pushed out of the winger spot ended up filling.
As a result, there were players who would refuse to drop back no matter what their coach ordered.
‘Come to think of it, that Welsh GOAT who took the opposite route is pretty impressive.’
Come to think of it, maybe Gareth Bale also happily agreed to switch from full-back to winger.
And that wasn't the only problem with Korea's football prospects.
Maybe because of the flawed training methods like making them do duck walks from a young age.
There were quite a few players walking around with bombs strapped to knees that could blow at any moment.
I added the note, ‘Looks uncomfortable running. Needs a thorough examination,’ to those players' evaluations and handed them to the association staffer. It would have been nice to pinpoint the exact injury, but then they'd definitely have looked at me strangely.
‘I wish youth coaches would study a little. It's been ages since research showed duck walking is bad for the knees, and they still make them do it.’
While I was grumbling to myself, a player who caught my eye came into view. He was Jaerim High School's center-back.
After all, once I saw him calmly shut down Son Hong-min's dribbling, I couldn't help but keep looking at him.
Well, Son Hong-min at this point in time was lacking in a lot of ways, though.
His defensive posture looked pretty decent.
That said...
‘Hmm. Who is he? I feel like I've seen him somewhere.’
His face looked vaguely familiar.
‘Ah. It's him.’
He was someone who would later appear on a famous football program.
If you heard his story, he was someone who had really been screwed over by every possible kind of bad luck.
When he went to Germany to study abroad, the person in charge was arrested for theft and he was left stranded—that was just the beginning.
After he transferred to the J.League, most of the club's facilities, including the home ground, were destroyed in a massive earthquake.
As a result, the club he transferred to even declared bankruptcy.
To top it off, he was injured while training after returning to Korea.
In a way, the crucial period when a football prospect could grow the fastest had been completely lost.
Each one of those would have been enough to make an ordinary player despair and give up on his dream.
But even in those circumstances, he didn't give up and kept working toward his dream.
Although he failed to achieve his dream of becoming a footballer, he was someone whose passion for football was beyond doubt.
[Name: Kim Min-hyuk]
[Current Ability: ★☆]
[Potential: ★★★★]
Seeing him defend with his teeth clenched reminded me of Yannick Voit, who used to train like a madman late into the night.
I decided to select him as an exchange student along with Son Hong-min.
‘Be careful not to overtrain.’
Of course, I also slapped on a 'handle with care' label for good measure.
***
Even after that day, I went with the association staffer to watch two or three more matches.
And as a result, I succeeded in unearthing one more four-star player.
[Name: Kim Hyeon-seong]
[Current Ability: ☆]
[Potential: ★★★★]
I'd never heard of this player in the future. In other words, that meant he had failed to even make his K League pro debut.
‘Strange. If his potential is four stars, he should've been able to dominate the K League and even go abroad.’
That didn't mean he lacked professionalism, either.
He didn't seem to have any mental issues, either.
‘So what's the problem?’
The only strange thing was that his current ability was so low that he was stuck on the bench.
‘Did he start football late?’
Maybe. There are players who do nothing but study until they suddenly discover their talent late.
Anyway, the first half ended, and the second half began.
Kim Hyeon-seong took the field, and what he showed on the pitch was quite impressive. Calling him a 'budget Park Ji-song' seemed about right.
I decided to pick him as an exchange student.
Of course, there were players with even greater potential, but due to professionalism and mentality issues, they had no choice but to be eliminated.
Even if someone had outstanding talent, only a tiny minority ever fully unlocked their potential.
Personally, I think even Lionel Messi, the 'god of football,' never fully unlocked his potential.
Rather, wasn't it Cristiano Ronaldo who unlocked his potential to the absolute limit?
‘As expected, the primate GOAT.’
There was a reason the Asia GOAT had acknowledged him.
***
Sure enough, perhaps because this was a golden generation, Korea had a lot of good players.
Even though I had already selected three exchange students, I asked the football association if I could pick one more.
Because it would have been a shame to leave my little treasure chest behind and go back to Germany.
The football association also said four was fine, so I filled out the paperwork for the final exchange student. He was Lee Seong-jae, Seonghak High School's midfielder, who would later play in the Bundesliga.
Well, there was also one famous striker from the '92 line, but...
‘...Let's not get involved for no reason.’
It was wise to stay a step away from people who had already caused controversy or were about to.
***
[(Shocking) Controversy over deliberate sabotage orders meant to disrupt the selection process for the elite-player overseas study program.]
└ Are they out of their minds?
└ The association invited them, and the coaches are flipping the table, lol.
└ There's nothing more traitorous than that. Those people are the real traitors. Tsk tsk.
└ But shouldn't we try to understand the coaches' side too?
└ Yeah. I heard that if they don't win the tournament, they lose out in college admissions and get the coach fired. So instead of developing prospects, they focus on getting results right now.
└ No, at that point they should fix the system....
[Union Berlin head coach Park Chan-hyuk selects four exchange students.... “I will do my best to develop the players, who are the future of the Republic of Korea, without injuries.”]
└ You must've had a rough time despite the interference ㅠㅠ Hope it all works out.
[Let's take a look at the four headed to Union Berlin.]
└ But why are all the players you're taking first-year high schoolers?
└ Since it's a one-year study-abroad stint, it looks like they're taking first-years.
└ Come to think of it, if you go abroad in your sophomore year, you'll be a senior when you come back.
└ Wow. You'd come back from studying in Germany and have to take the CSAT right away.
└ Well, it's not like the CSAT is that important for a footballer, but the risk is still way too high;;
***
It took longer than expected for the exchange students to get their passports issued.
I decided to wait a little and go to Germany with the Korean exchange students.
It wasn't because I was afraid of facing an enraged Thomas Tuchel.
It was the responsibility of an adult to lead the students.
While we were waiting for the exchange students' passports to be issued,
“Please take good care of them.”
“Likewise, I'm in your care.”
I exchanged a light greeting with the manager who would be handling the exchange students in Germany.
This time, unlike the previous managers, he would only be in charge of the kids' care.
As for the rest, the association and I could just communicate directly. I suppose that's one advantage of having a Korean coach.
‘At this rate, I think I picked them pretty well.’
I steeled myself as I looked at the exchange students.
Now that they were Union Berlin players too, I had to treat them as fairly as possible.
I couldn't let the existing Union Berlin youth players feel like they were being subjected to reverse discrimination.
And that evening.
Thanks to Union Berlin's matches being broadcast in Korea as well, I was able to watch Union Berlin play comfortably from the hotel.
Just imagining Yannick Voit and Son Hong-min ripping apart the space behind the defense made my frontal lobe tingle.
‘Wow. That must be absolutely miserable for the other team.’
With pass-master Leon Han also developing in the youth team,
On top of Leon Han, it would be perfect if we had one more midfielder who could spray passes into the space behind the defense.
‘Come to think of it, Kevin De Bruyne would be perfect.’
I thought I should look into where the famous players I knew were now.
***
A few days later.
I returned to Germany.
The Korean exchange students were unpacking at the lodging Union Berlin had arranged for them, and I headed to Union Berlin's clubhouse to report on the trip.
Outside the manager's office Thomas Tuchel used.
When I opened the door and went in, someone I'd never seen before was sitting in the manager's office.
‘What the hell, did Tuchel get fired?’
Just as I was getting flustered, the person in front of me opened his mouth.
“You're here now?”
Only then did I realize the person in front of me was Thomas Tuchel.
‘Is that a wig?’
For some reason, Tuchel's hair had gotten luxuriantly thick.
“This isn't our coach.”
I said to Tuchel with complete sincerity.