Kuroko no Basket: Honored One

Chapter 519 221: I Recommend You Join the Army

Could Tendou become the next global superstar?

In terms of looks and playing style, Prince believed he could.

However, his nationality was a major drawback.

The Asian football market has always been very, very small.

Except for that world's second-largest economy, which has a group of particularly wealthy sponsor "daddies," the annual revenue that Japan and South Korea can bring to European teams is very limited.

So if Tendou's nationality were changed to the Dragon Country's, and he avoided any major injuries in the future, he would be the next global superstar, with astonishing commercial value.

The match was over.

Both teams returned to their respective locker rooms.

Although they had lost the match, Snuffy was in a reasonably good mood.

Most of the master strikers who came to Blue Lock had their own goals.

Noa's was to cultivate Kaiser into his rival. Loki's was to find his left and right-hand men in Charles.

And Snuffy, he was here to find a successor for Juventus.

The chaotic Barou was the one he had chosen.

"Perhaps I can consider delaying my retirement," he thought. A person like Snuffy was destined to dedicate his entire life to football.

Before coming to Japan, he had planned to announce his retirement at the end of this season.

And now?

He decided to spend the final years of his career mentoring these young players a bit more.

Lorenzo and Barou, one on defense and one on offense, were both being prepared by him for Juventus.

...

On the other side.

After Tendou took a shower, he was once again pulled away by Prince.

"I already told you, unless you give me a 50% cut, I'm not going to shoot your mineral water commercial," Tendou refused flatly.

But then again, why were there so many commercials to shoot for a stupid mineral water?

"It's not for a commercial this time. My agent is here, he came personally from England," Prince's expression was not as flippant as before; it was much more serious.

"Your performance was better than expected. He couldn't wait and came over ahead of schedule. He's in the reception room right now. Go have a good chat with him," Prince said, patting Tendou's shoulder and reminding him not to worry about saving face for him.

"I wasn't planning on it."

He said that, but he still had to give the necessary respect.

No more nonsense.

Tendou was brought to the reception room by Prince.

After entering the room, an old man with white hair was already sitting there, elegantly drinking coffee.

This was Jonathan Barnett, one of the most powerful agents in Europe.

Prince introduced them, said a few words, and then left the reception room, leaving the two of them alone.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Tendou. You're so young and very handsome. If I had half your looks when I was young, I would have saved myself a lot of trouble," Jonathan said with a chuckle, closing the distance with Tendou.

Dealing with young people was much easier than with mature players.

Although there was an age gap of almost 50 years between them, he still addressed Tendou as "Mr."

This meant that their negotiation was on equal footing.

"You should understand your current situation. You're more sought-after than those sexy new models."

"The offer you're getting from other European clubs right now is an annual salary of 9 million Euros, which means your weekly salary is at least 170,000 Euros."

"Honestly, I haven't seen this many times. Manchester United's Rashford, his current weekly salary is only about 240,000 pounds."

Jonathan was indeed a top-tier agent; his skills were first-class.

In just a few sentences, he had placed Tendou on the same level as Rashford. One had to know, the latter was Manchester United's current "Crown Prince."

And he was already 21 years old, several years older than Tendou, with less potential.

Although he would later become the much-maligned "Master Ra," that was a matter for the future.

The current Rashford had a bright future and was very much loved by the Red Devils' fans.

"Of course, this is just the beginning. By the time you sign, your weekly salary will definitely reach 200,000 Euros."

That's an annual salary of about 10 million Euros.

Tendou nodded, having a rough idea of his market value.

He asked, "Jonathan, is it alright if I call you that?"

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "Of course, no problem. It makes me feel much younger."

"Good. Then I'd like to understand the agent's role."

Tendou got straight to the point, and Jonathan, of course, did not object.

He quickly told Tendou his thoughts.

He spoke very fast, not at all like a 70-year-old man.

Before Tendou had even finished his coffee, he had already explained everything.

The gist was that he wanted to sign three agency contracts with Tendou.

If this contract was signed, then Jonathan could provide assistance to Tendou when he needed to transfer, or communicate with clubs or national teams.

In addition, under the right conditions, Jonathan would also seek endorsement contracts for Tendou and handle all his off-field matters.

What Tendou needed to pay was 10% of his weekly salary!

A 10% commission. That is to say, if Tendou's weekly salary reached 200,000 Euros, Jonathan would get 20,000 Euros.

The commission contract between an agent and a player is generally between 10% and 20%.

For big-name stars, it's 10%. For example, Prince's contract with Jonathan was 10%!

The fact that Tendou could get a 10% deal was enough to prove Jonathan's sincerity.

After all, everyone knew now that this Asian prodigy was a hot commodity.

With a starting annual salary of 9 million Euros, signing him meant an annual return of at least 900,000 Euros. Of course, Jonathan was willing to give Tendou the top-tier treatment.

This commission model was impeccable from Tendou's perspective.

Jonathan was one of the best agents; he was worth the 900,000 Euro annual fee.

"By the way, Tendou, which league are you planning to start your superstar journey in?"

"Where do you think I should go?"

"The Premier League!"

Jonathan said these two words without any hesitation.

"If it were in the past, I might have recommended you go to La Liga. But the current environment is that the Premier League is the leader of the top five leagues. Whether in terms of competitiveness or commercial value, it is world-class."

"Then which club do you think I should go to?"

Hearing this, Jonathan chuckled. This was a test of his professional ability.

He was well-prepared and took out some information to show Tendou.

"I would recommend you join Liverpool."

There were many reasons.

First, they had a world-class manager in Klopp, who excelled at the high press, defensive counter-attacks, and orchestrated attacks—a true tactical master.

His "rock and roll football" was deeply loved by the fans, and he had a great handle on managing the locker room.

The whole world knew that Liverpool's current lineup seemed complete, but was missing a key midfielder.

In the 17-18 season, they finished fourth in the league and fell short in the Champions League, finishing as runners-up to Real Madrid.

This year, Liverpool had invested 150 million pounds in the summer transfer window, aiming for the championship, possibly even a league and Champions League double, or even a treble.

The three major signings were Alisson for 65 million, Fabinho for 43.7 million, Keïta for 52.75 million, all in pounds, plus Shaqiri for 13.5 million.

The total spending was 174 million. Not counting add-ons, Liverpool had spent 160 million pounds this summer.

However, the initial payments for Alisson and Fabinho were 39.3 million and 56 million, so the actual investment was around 150 million.

"Liverpool, or rather, Klopp, has been looking for a young midfielder, an all-around midfielder, a midfielder like you."

The fact that Klopp was desperate for a midfielder was known throughout Europe.

They had even signed Keïta a year in advance just to get him, only being able to use him this year.

"They signed Keïta a year ago."

"I'm not optimistic about Keïta..."

Jonathan said, "Not every midfielder can meet Klopp's tactical requirements. What he actually wants is a midfield free man, preferably with the attributes of a shadow striker. Keïta can't satisfy him."

"Then who can?"

"You can!"

"I've studied your matches. Your defensive awareness is excellent. You can fully meet the high-press requirements of Klopp's tactics and act as Liverpool's hub, supplying ammunition to their luxurious front line, and even directly participating in the attack."

Jonathan had clearly come prepared, having seriously analyzed Tendou's playing style before choosing Liverpool.

Liverpool's front line was luxurious. On the wings, they had the Egyptian Pharaoh, Salah, and Mané, both world-class wingers.

In the back, they also had Van Dijk. What they needed was an all-around midfielder like Tendou, who could defend with Van Dijk, launch a counter-attack with a single precise pass, and was good at both offense and defense.

"Of course, besides what Liverpool wants, you have many more advantages."

This was the long-lost full-field free man. Jonathan himself didn't know what kind of chemical reaction Tendou and Liverpool would produce.

Tendou nodded silently. "What else?"

"The second is Manchester City. Guardiola is deeply trusted by Man City, and he has a lot of say in the team. The locker room at Man City is very stable, and they have Prince. You will be very comfortable on the team."

"But there is one downside. They have De Bruyne in the midfield and Prince in the attack."

This was the reason Jonathan ranked Man City second.

From these two choices, it was not difficult for Tendou to see that Jonathan's first choices were teams with stable locker rooms and head coaches who could command respect.

"What about Manchester United?" Tendou asked.

"I don't recommend you go to Manchester United. Mourinho is an excellent coach, but the rest of the club..."

"Well, you can't say they're stupid, because they know how to make money."

The problems between Mourinho and Pogba were already well-known.

Jonathan felt that Mourinho's third-season curse would strike again.

The French midfielder had just won the World Cup with his team. Manchester United would not give him up, no matter what.

And Mourinho, he was not the type of head coach to compromise. If either the team's core or the head coach had to go, then that person would most likely be Mourinho.

The Manchester United fans also preferred the world champion Pogba over the Magic Bird; they didn't like his pragmatic style of football.

Tendou talked a lot with Jonathan and learned a lot about the Premier League from him.

This big shot knew a lot of inside information that fans weren't aware of. This was the power of a big-name agent.

Jonathan highly recommended Tendou to play for Liverpool or Manchester City.

These two teams had money and strength, and their managers were both world-class. In such teams, you don't have to worry about results.

Then there was Chelsea.

They also had money and strength, although this summer, because of Courtois's "childhood Real Madrid dream," Chelsea was forced to sell him to Real Madrid for just over 30 million.

Then they lost out to Liverpool in the competition for Alisson, and finally had to activate the release clause, spending over 70 million to bring the Spanish national team goalkeeper back from Athletic Bilbao.

From this incident, one can see that Chelsea's management is not as good as Liverpool's and Man City's.

But you can't argue with the fact that their owner has money and is very willing to spend it.

So Chelsea was also a good destination. The only disadvantage was that Chelsea was not playing in the Champions League this season.

After an unknown amount of time, Tendou left the reception room and returned to the team dormitory.

"How did it go?" Prince asked him. Tendou nodded in response.

"Jonathan is a professional. You definitely won't regret your choice."

Prince came over and hugged Tendou excitedly. "So? Do you have a target?"

"He recommended I go play for Liverpool."

"FAK!"

Prince's smile instantly vanished.

...

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