Chapter 48
***
A few days after the Christmas event, the winter transfer window began.
This was the time when the board of directors got seriously busy.
To make the most of the tight schedule, the board kept debating through the night.
“Sell Yannick? Does that even make sense?”
“No. What I’m saying is, let’s at least review the transfer offer.”
Amid the heated debate, I stared blankly at the ceiling.
‘Who am I? And where am I again?’
My being in this meeting had nothing to do with my own will.
- Madman: Come out.
- Me: Come out where?
- Madman: I’m telling you to come out in front of your house right now.
Thomas Tuchel had dragged me here from home, where I’d been relaxing. He said he needed someone to soften his opinions and speak for him.
‘Why is President Dirk Zingler’s treasured vase broken?’
From the atmosphere in the meeting room, it seemed there had already been a few fights.
Even after breaking the president’s treasured vase and not getting fired, I seriously wondered whether what was amazing was Thomas Tuchel’s irreplaceable ability or President Dirk Zingler’s patience.
'Both are amazing.'
The conclusion was simple.
Anyway.
President Dirk Zingler’s face was as red as if a volcano had erupted.
After checking the transfer offers, I casually mentioned it to shift the mood.
“There are a lot of clubs courting Yannick Voigt.”
“Not just Yannick—I’d say virtually every player has received a transfer offer.”
President Dirk Zingler let out a light sigh to calm his anger, then replied.
'Well... that’s only natural.'
Union Berlin would be a real gold mine for higher-division clubs in many ways.
They were charging ahead in first place in the Regionalliga, so the squad’s quality was all but proven.
On top of that, it was already widely known that Union Berlin’s finances were poor. In fact, the weekly wages the players received barely matched the league average.
Offer anyone double what they’re earning now, and they’d have no choice but to waver. Even I, when I was coaching in the Korean league and a rival team once offered me double my salary, had nearly shouted “thank you” on the spot, hadn’t I?
Fan backlash and my club at the time raising my salary stopped the transfer, but it was no different from being halfway over to the rival team.
The best way to prevent players from transferring would be to raise their wages, just like the team from my previous life had done.
'We can’t raise wages yet; our finances just aren’t good enough.'
Unfortunately, Union Berlin’s finances were still in bad shape. They couldn’t even carry out renovation work on their home stadium, Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
Anyway, during the meeting there was even talk of seriously considering selling Yannick Voigt.
They probably figured that if they sold Yannick Voigt, they’d be able to keep the other players.
But that was the wrong call.
- Chanhyeok, take care of the other players more than me.
- What about you? Honestly, you’re getting paid far too little compared to how well you’re playing right now.
- I can get more later when we move up to the Bundesliga. Honestly, the wages I’m getting now are enough. I’m not even married yet. Take care of that guy a little more—the one who said he’s having a baby next year.
Considering the influence Yannick had on the squad, selling him could be called the worst option.
Of course, I strongly opposed it. I said selling Yannick was the worst possible move unless the player himself said he wanted to leave.
'Well. If the player himself says he wants to leave, I guess we should let him go.'
That was the best I could do for Yannick Voigt.
And if the club became known for stubbornly clinging to players even after they said they wanted to transfer, it would become hard to recruit new ones.
That kind of reputation was in many ways bad for a poor club like Union Berlin.
'We need to make it a club players want to come to, not one they want to avoid.'
Anyway.
Yannick Voigt said he was satisfied with his current wages, but he was still human—so he could be swayed. In fact, the offer for Yannick Voigt was enough to surprise even me.
“Wow. This is an offer from Mainz to Yannick.”
“Mainz? Isn’t that a Bundesliga club?”
As I remembered it, this was the season Jürgen Klopp was managing Mainz. Mainz would be relegated that season and fail to win promotion the next, after which Klopp stepped down as manager.
'If things go well, we might get to see Tuchel and Klopp face each other in the second division.'
Anyway, when Thomas Tuchel and I looked over, sporting director Jörg Heinrich nodded with a stiff expression.
“They’re in a relegation battle, so they must be in a hurry. They offered more than expected.”
“Huh. A Bundesliga club...”
We couldn’t say anything for a while.
“…Let’s tell the player. If we don’t tell him, he might get upset for no reason.”
“All right.”
A club is not necessarily required to explain every transfer offer that comes in for its players.
But if you hide the offer and lose the player’s trust, causing him to go on strike and leave for next to nothing, that happens fairly often.
Yannick Voigt wasn’t the type to go on strike or anything like that, but the club needed to make the gesture that it respected his choice.
Because a relationship in which one side is generally the one making sacrifices is bound to deteriorate someday.
The next afternoon.
We called Yannick Voigt to the club and had a talk.
We had prepared all sorts of materials to persuade Yannick to stay, but they were basically useless.
“I’m not leaving. I’m staying. How could I go anywhere after telling Leon we’d lift the trophy together? That’d be embarrassing.”
Yannick Voigt declared firmly without even hearing Mainz’s terms or our persuasion.
Having solved what might have been the most important issue at Union Berlin, we quickly handled the other transfer matters afterward.
“Unless the club kicks me out, I’m staying.”
“Why would we kick you out?”
Fortunately, there were fewer players than expected who wanted to leave.
It wasn’t as if there were no players unhappy with their playing time.
But most of them were quite satisfied with being part of Union Berlin right now.
“Honestly, the low level of player dissatisfaction was largely thanks to Chanhyeok.”
At Heinrich’s praise, I flustered and glanced at Tuchel. Since it could sound as if the players listened to me more than their manager, Thomas Tuchel, I had to read Tuchel’s mood.
“I, too, trust and rely on Chanhyeok.”
But Thomas Tuchel didn’t seem to mind much.
“Wouldn’t you consider becoming sporting director for real?”
With a smile on his face, President Dirk Zingler offered me the sporting director position once again, and sporting director Jörg Heinrich also said with a laugh,
“If you decide to become sporting director, I’ll step aside right away.”
“Ah, no.”
With that, we parted on good terms, and I went home riding in Thomas Tuchel’s car.
After being abruptly dragged off by Tuchel, I’d been up for two straight nights.
When I got home in the early morning, everyone was asleep.
I quietly went into my younger sister’s room.
“Mmm... what is it? Who is it.”
“Water.”
And I woke my sleeping younger sister to have her fetch me some water.
“…Are you crazy?”
My younger sister grumbled and went to get the water, and I nodded as I watched her.
‘She actually went and got it.’
***
After the winter break ended, with the league opener drawing near.
Union Berlin called the players in ahead of the league opener.
To check their physical condition.
‘Everyone looks fine; nobody seems sluggish.’
Fortunately, there were no players who had put on weight from failing to manage their diets.
That was because, before this season started, Thomas Tuchel and I had strongly emphasized the importance of diet management.
We demanded a high level of professionalism this season as well, and through strict diet management we improved the players’ stamina.
Thanks to having mostly gotten rid of the players who had complaints about Thomas Tuchel before the season began, the backlash wasn’t as severe as expected.
The remaining players were all the type who kept pushing themselves to improve.
However, the newly joined players had a hard time adjusting. Since they’d lived lives far removed from professional ones, it couldn’t be helped.
But the newly joined Union Berlin players soon also acknowledged the effects of the diet.
Even during the winter break, the players voluntarily stuck to the diet.
With training carried out in peak condition, Thomas Tuchel expressed his satisfaction.
A few days later.
[Thomas Tuchel, when asked a question in German by a Korean reporter… “Sorry, but please speak in English. I can’t understand your German pronunciation.”]
The second half of the league began for Union Berlin in the Regionalliga.
[Assistant coach Park Chan-hyeok taunts Dortmund? “My childhood dream was to be a beekeeper.”]
Union Berlin’s first opponent of the second half was Borussia Dortmund II.