Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Transfer Purge List

A faint sheen of sweat had broken out on Effenberg’s forehead.

Munich 1860’s back line was an utter shambles. Yes—utterly shambolic. Responsibilities were muddled, positions were muddled, and it was no different from their previous defending; the only difference was that there were simply more men back there.

But in football, does having more bodies on the pitch guarantee victory?

In a later Champions League clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, even after Ibrahimovic had been sent off, PSG still clawed their way to an equalizer and, on the strength of the away goal from the first leg, knocked Chelsea out with a 2-2 aggregate. Was that because of numbers?

What on earth was Munich 1860’s coach doing on Beckham’s free kick? Didn’t he know his side couldn’t defend?

Invincible Bayern, Momo, go to Bayern Munich! Momo, go to Bayern Munich!

Yellow-and-Blacks, why go to Bayern Munich? Come to Dortmund!

Kaka’s Redemption, go to AC Milan and form a strike partnership with Kaka! Kaka will be at AC Milan next season anyway.

Effenberg, you hothead—are you people even watching the match properly?!

Little Momo, who never stops fighting after defeat, do we even need to keep watching? Momo will win? I’ll livestream chopping my hand off.

Nuclear-warhead Momo will lose? If he does, I’ll cut it off myself.

You, the conscience of the forum up there—if you mean a draw, just say draw, all right? Why be so roundabout?

Anyone want to buy football bets together? Hundred-yuan plan: if I win, I take out the stake and keep going with the winnings; if I lose, I’m done buying for this month.

Can we consider the Battleship? Add me on QQ?

The 2002 Golden Generation would be better off following me. The 2-2 and 3-3 bets I’ve placed feel pretty safe.

This was a golden chance, one that could even be said to have been gifted to Wolfsburg by Munich 1860’s back line.

Number 4, Marco Kurz, and number 7, Rodrigo Costa, had Maric sandwiched between them.

Number 13, Harald Czerny, under Effenberg’s pressure, had no choice but to pass it back.

Everything seemed normal up to that point, but perhaps Czerny put a little too much power into the back pass.

Under those circumstances, Rodrigo Costa clearly had not expected it. He failed to control the ball, and it slipped clean through under his foot.

Behind him, Maric did not hesitate. He struck at once from distance, a skimming shot along the ground that bored straight into the net.

Goalkeeper Simon Jentzsch made no reaction at all. He and his little band were completely stunned, all right!?

Even Chen Nu had forgotten what to say, just stammering and gasping over and over. Wasn’t that goal just a little too absurd?

The Munich 1860 players were left frozen in place, but the Wolfsburg players were not. Maric let out a fierce roar, then broke into a full sprint.

It was certainly a beautiful goal. No matter how one looked at it, Munich 1860, who had led by two goals at halftime, were pulled level in barely twenty minutes of the second half. Just how dreadful was that defending? By this point, Pakult had probably given up all hope.

Munich 1860 had no gift for defense. It would have been better if they had simply played a normal match as before; perhaps then things would have been a little better.

At that moment, in the Allianz Arena, there happened to be a veteran Bayern Munich scout. Bayern always paid special attention to their city rivals.

In this winter transfer window, Bayern Munich would be carrying out a major clear-out, largely because of their Champions League disappointment, which had dealt a heavy blow to the club’s finances.

With Ballack and Deisler arriving, Bayern Munich had been infused with fresh energy. In truth, Effenberg was among those slated for the purge, but coach Hitzfeld’s insistence had kept him in that awkward in-between state.

Now that Effenberg was gone, and with the December transfer window drawing near, Jancker, Sforza, and Niko Kovač were the primary candidates for removal.

Jancker and Sforza had, for the most part, failed to score a single goal all season, and so they were at the top of the list. Jancker was in a better position, with AC Milan and Udinese both expressing interest, while Sforza seemed rather unwanted; still, there were rumors that Inter might try to bring him in.

Jancker was the quintessential old-school powerhouse center forward: tall and broad-shouldered, heavily muscled, as strong as an ox, with tremendous impact, absolute aerial dominance, and the ability to win every header. His drawbacks were his lack of pace and relatively rough technique, but he possessed excellent back-to-goal play and a powerful right foot that could finish chances.

His abundant stamina and outstanding physique often caused opposing defenders no end of trouble, while also drawing defenders and creating scoring chances for his teammates.

German legend Miroslav Klose described the striker, his former partner in attack in the early days of his career, like this: “I’m a natural scorer. What I want most is goals, so it’s very important to me who can provide me with chances. I prefer to have a powerful center forward beside me who can clear the way for my goals, like Jancker in the national team. Jancker can create scoring chances for me, and with his cover, scoring becomes much easier.”

As for why I’m bringing up this striker? Because in 2006, he’ll be transferring to Shanghai Shenhua.

At present, Bayern Munich could basically be said to be standing at the center of the storm, especially Lizarazu. His performances this season have been riddled with holes, and Elber’s situation is hardly any better.

Elber has recently seemed to be wandering in a dream, while Santa Cruz has begun to get more and more minutes on the pitch. The Santa Cruz who used to be taken off after seventy-five minutes will now have more time to take part in matches.

After the game, the Munich Evening News specifically noted that “in the second half of the season, the Paraguayan could become Bayern’s top scorer!”

But Bayern’s hierarchy also had concerns, and those concerns centered on Santa Cruz’s injuries.

After all, even if Santa Cruz was in good form now, what about later? For a club of Bayern’s stature, what it needed was a forward who could perform steadily, a striker who could produce goals without interruption.

In that situation, bringing in Momo as a backup was an important decision for Bayern Munich.

No matter how one looked at it, Momo scored in practically every game; his scoring average had already reached about 1.8 goals per match, an astonishing number. Just this season alone, in three appearances, Momo had already scored six goals.

Most importantly, Momo was still very young. Even if he could not yet be used as a starter, he could serve as a substitute for now, and once the main man grew old, he could step into the spotlight. Even if he were sold later, he would still command a substantial transfer fee.

Bayern Munich’s ceiling price was currently around eight million euros, which at the exchange rate of the time came to roughly sixty-four million yuan. For the then seventeen-year-old Momo, that was already a rather high figure.

But would that figure really be enough? If Momo kept performing like this, would Munich 1860 let him go so easily for a mere eight million euros?

At that moment, cheers erupted from the stands. Everyone turned to look, and there was Momo, dribbling forward in a surging burst.