Chapter 17: The Defiant Chosen One's Buff and the Exorbitant Signing Bonus! (Please Keep Reading)
Alvarez?
Lin Hao was a little stunned.
In Lin Hao’s original imagination, a template recognized by the system as SSS-level had to be someone like Maradona or Pelé at the very least.
Alvarez? What the hell?
This guy...
This guy just got lucky...
Summer of 2021, he won the Copa América with the Argentine national team.
June 2022, he won the South American-European Super Cup with Argentina.
December 2022, he lifted the Qatar World Cup trophy with Argentina.
In 2022, he joined Manchester City and won the Premier League title in the 2022-23 season.
In the 2022-23 season, he also won the FA Cup with Manchester City.
The same season, he clinched the UEFA Champions League with City.
In the 2023-24 season, he took home the UEFA Super Cup with Manchester City.
On December 23, 2023, he won the FIFA Club World Cup with Manchester City.
By July 15, 2024, he had again won the Copa América with Argentina...
...
Hmm... thinking about it, this guy really did complete the full set of football career grand slams in just 700 days...
But still, that alone shouldn’t warrant an SSS rating!
However, after carefully reading the detailed introduction of this new template, Lin Hao immediately understood why Alvarez was rated as SSS.
[Chosen One: Little Spider — Alvarez]
[Template Attribute: Secondary Card]
[Secondary Card Template Data Bonuses]
Attack: 80 (93)
Ball Control: 75 (85+3)
Dribbling: 80 (85+5)
Passing: 75 (82+5)
Shooting: 82 (95)
Heading: 77 (88)
Set Pieces: 70 (80)
Curve: 72 (80)
Speed: 80 (82+8)
Foot Power: 80 (82+8)
Jumping: 78 (85)
Physical Contact: 83 (88)
Stamina: 84 (88+10)
Defense: 51 (51+35)
Ball Winning: 55 (55+30)
Overall Rating: 78
Just the new upper limit bonus added to the original Harry Kane template alone left Lin Hao speechless!
Who would have thought that beyond such insane stat bonuses, the secondary card would also come with an absolutely god-tier talent buff...
[Chosen One: Championships are as easy to grasp as dandelions on a hillside!]
[PS: With the Chosen One buff, the host can increase the team’s chances of winning trophies based on the number of goals scored!]
[40 goals per year: host’s league championship chance increases by 30%]
[50 goals per year: host’s league championship chance increases by 40%, Champions League winning chance increases by 30%]
[60 goals per year: host’s league championship chance increases by 50%, Champions League winning chance increases by 40%]
[Above 70 goals per year: host’s chances of winning domestic league and cup competitions increase by 50%, Champions League by 50%, and continental national team tournaments by 30%!]
[Ding...]
[Ding...]
[Nationality detected as Chinese, national team match championship chances have been adjusted to nightmare difficulty]
[Annual goal count bonus for national team matches canceled...]
[Host’s career goals exceeding 1500 will unlock bonus for World Cup championship chances]
[Ding...]
[Detected main template Harry Kane's no-championship debuff!]
[SSS secondary card buff overrides Kane’s no-championship debuff!]
Awesome...
Especially when Lin Hao saw that the no-championship debuff, which had plagued him since his transmigration, was finally resolved.
He was thoroughly delighted!
Over two years...
Though Lin Hao kept telling himself that having no championships was acceptable as long as he made money, as a professional footballer, having no titles at all was like being dead.
Now, it was perfect!
According to the Chosen One buff, as long as he pushed himself harder and scored more goals, championships really would be as easy to grab as dandelions on a hillside!
However, the only regret Lin Hao had was that even the system couldn’t save his national team prospects.
Nightmare difficulty?
Damn, he still had to score 1500 goals himself...
Even if he scored 100 goals a year, that would take a full 15 years.
Would he have to wait until he was 33 years old...
Well, despite this small flaw, overall, this Super Cup final was truly the moment Lin Hao turned his fortunes around and sang out loud!
As he had imagined, a match like the Super Cup awarded double the points of a third-division game.
A full eight points!
That meant he could increase four attribute points every five games.
At this pace, in three or four seasons, he could max out all his attribute caps.
The combined max of Kane and Alvarez templates...
Tsk, tsk!
Lin Hao couldn’t even imagine how formidable he would become!
...
“Lin! Time to get up!”
That night, Lin Hao unusually slept until nine the next morning.
It wasn’t until Old Gaisen knocked on his door that Lin Hao blinked awake.
Not only did he sleep soundly, but Gaisen also brought good news.
Yes!
Just as Lin Hao thought, after that dazzling Super Cup performance, Schalke 04 couldn’t just sit still anymore.
According to the previous contract, any other club could pay a 15 million euro buyout clause to take Lin Hao away immediately.
Before the Super Cup, no foolhardy club would spend over ten million on a young, third-division player like Lin Hao.
But now it was different!
Lin Hao had scored a brace against a top powerhouse like Bayern Munich.
Plus, the very nationality that had once been a curse was now a coveted market asset, making all clubs drool.
With such massive market appeal and Lin Hao’s jaw-dropping talent, Schalke 04 naturally couldn’t hold back.
“Lin, you were amazing yesterday! Haha, you know Hughes called me last night, your annual salary was immediately raised to 3 million euros! And Hughes said if you sign, you’ll get a 3 million euro signing bonus, tax-free!”
As soon as Gaisen came downstairs, he grinned and leaned close to Lin Hao.
Hearing that Schalke 04 had doubled his salary and was throwing in a 3 million signing bonus, Lin Hao was genuinely shocked.
He had only expected a modest raise, never such generosity.
What Lin Hao didn’t know was that Hughes, the Schalke 04 manager sitting in the office, was even more excited.
No wonder—Hughes had just received a flood of sponsorship offers from China!
The year 2010 was the dawn of the financially robust eastern superpower flaunting its immense spending capacity to the world!
After one Super Cup match, Lin Hao’s name had become the absolute top-tier Chinese sports star.
In this situation, those corporate bosses eager to take a slice of the football market naturally wasted no time and headed straight to Germany.
“Gaisen, do you think we should sign now or wait...”
3 million was tempting, but after careful thought, Lin Hao felt maybe he should hold out a little longer.
Not because he was greedy, but because he believed Schalke 04’s bottom line wasn’t really 3 million. Who wouldn’t want to earn more?
“Yeah! We should wait. You know what? My friend at Schalke told me a Chinese company already visited the club this morning. God! Thank heavens you were born in China. After just one game, companies are knocking on the door. Who knows what will happen next! We have to stall a few days. I’m even thinking Schalke might be willing to pay 5 million. No, I’ll leak that you’re considering leaving Schalke. That’ll force Hughes to make a quick decision!”
Tsk, tsk, Lin Hao felt a bit guilty.
But unexpectedly, Old Gaisen was even craftier!
Wanting to leave?
How could that be? He had just won Magath’s trust and still had a way to go before becoming a regular starter!
...
Gaisen was a typical German.
Though not very skilled, his efficiency was top-notch!
He said he’d leak some false info in the morning, and by the afternoon, Lin Hao received a call from Magath.
Old Magath was somewhat worried, asking if Lin Hao was facing any difficulties.
Though a bit underhanded, the tactic worked!
At 4 pm that day, Hughes’s final offer arrived.
Annual salary raised to 3.5 million euros, signing bonus 4.5 million euros before tax!
No choice. Hughes wasn’t reckless; he was simply overwhelmed by the lucrative sponsorship deals from China.
One major real estate tycoon even wanted to rename the Schalke stadium after his brand, offering a price so high it nearly gave Hughes a heart attack!
...
The day after the Super Cup, at 5 pm!
Lin Hao, dressed in a suit, walked into Hughes’s office again.
This time, to deter other clubs from poaching, Hughes called in the press and live-streamed the entire contract renewal process.
Of course, while Schalke splurged heavily, Lin Hao was now tied down by a 60 million euro buyout clause!
That was 60 million euros in 2010!
To put it into perspective, David Villa, Europe’s most expensive transfer that year, cost only 40 million.
With the 60 million clause in place, Hughes finally felt at ease.
In his eyes, no eighteen-year-old, no matter how talented, could surpass Villa.
...
The Schalke 04 finance department was efficient.
Less than ten minutes after Lin Hao signed, a text message from the bank appeared on his phone.
[Your Deutsche Bank account has been credited with €4,500,000!]
Four and a half million euros!
To be honest, whether in his previous life or now, this was the first time Lin Hao had seen so much money.
Four and a half million euros converted to RMB was over forty million!
Of course, upon receiving the money, Lin Hao didn’t forget Old Gaisen, who had worked hard for him all these years.
Lin Hao was a grateful person.
In these two years, Gaisen had gone above and beyond, even sometimes washing Lin Hao’s clothes for free.
So, as soon as Lin Hao’s signing bonus arrived, he transferred 300,000 euros to Gaisen!
According to their contract, Gaisen was only entitled to 3%, roughly 130,000 euros as commission.
Lin Hao’s 300,000 was more than double that.
Sure enough, upon seeing the message, Gaisen was so moved he almost cried.
Three hundred thousand euros! As a low-level football agent, he usually earned only 30,000 to 50,000 a year. This was like ten years’ worth of earnings at once.
But despite his gratitude, as a typical German, Gaisen shook his head, intending to refuse Lin Hao’s kindness.
“Lin! Our contract states 3%. I cannot take more than your due. That would be a breach of contract. I don’t want our relationship to be damaged over this!”
Gaisen was wise. He knew Lin Hao wanted to thank him for his dedicated work, but if he took the extra money, their bond might be compromised.
“Come on, Gaisen, this is what you deserve. I remember Mrs. Aisa wanted to move to a house that doesn’t get moldy in the rain, and I really don’t want to ride in your old beat-up car anymore!”
“Lin... thank you...”
“Fuck! Gaisen, remember to give the money to Mrs. Aisa. I know you have a black... on Queen’s Road.”
“Shh! Lin, rest assured! I’ve already broken up with that guy!”
...
Sudden wealth!
Back home, Lin Hao began pondering how to invest this four and a half million.
He recalled that Bitcoin had just started that year.
In July, a programmer bought two pizzas with 10,000 bitcoins, each worth $0.003.
That seemingly worthless currency would skyrocket to $100,000 per bitcoin over the next decade.
If that held true, Lin Hao’s millions could grow astronomically in years.
But he worried that entering the market so early might cause a butterfly effect, wiping out his money.
Bitcoin wasn’t an option, so Lin Hao turned his attention to stocks.
In his previous life, he never played stocks but knew Apple and Google would soar eventually.
Stable, yes, but he didn’t know how to operate.
...
That night was the toughest for Lin Hao.
When he had no money, he thought about earning.
Now that he had money, he didn’t know how to spend it.
After a call with his parents back home in the capital, Lin Hao made a decision every traditional Chinese would make.
No more hesitation!
He planned to buy two apartments in the capital.
Even if he didn’t live there, at least he’d have a home in his country.
In 2010, prices were about 20,000 RMB per square meter, so buying now would bring profit later.
With his financial plans settled, Lin Hao finally slept soundly.
That night, he even had a delightful dream.
In the dream, he held the Champions League trophy in his hands, riding a top-class European thoroughbred...
Fuck!
Lin Hao sighed helplessly.
He was only eighteen...
Of course, after this sigh, he swiftly washed up, hurried downstairs, and got into the new Mercedes Gaisen had bought, heading towards Schalke 04.
Only five days until his Bundesliga debut.
Lin Hao wondered if his precious system might throw him a main storyline mission for his Bundesliga debut!
...
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