Chapter 31: Winger
John and Michael, after completing the Lewandowski deal, left for their next destination, Germany. Germany, a 3 time world cup winner, was home to one of the top 5 leagues in the world: Bundesliga. Throughout its history, Germany has produced many of the world's great footballers like Lothar Matthaus, Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer, the inventor of the modern sweeper or libero.
After winning the world cup last time in 1990, John knew there was a new wave of talented players in Germany who lead Germany to win its 4th world cup in 2014. John was in Germany to benefit from that.
John's first stop in Germany was the small town of Ahlen, away from the big cities like Munich. Ahlen, a part of the Munster region, was the home to the third division club: Rot Weiss Ahlen. It was known as LR Ahlen until 2006 due to its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegated to Regionalliga(lll), the third division of the German league system.
In the summer of 2006, something other than relegation also happend for the club. They picked up a kid from the youth ranks of the German giants Borussia Dortmund. After playing for Rot Weiss Ahlen's U-19 team in 2006-07, the kid was getting ready to play for the first team of Rot Weiss Ahlen in the upcoming season.
But Rot Weiss Ahlen received a transfer offer from a second division club in England. Leicester City quoted a price of 100,000 pounds for a kid who hadn't even played for their first team yet. They knew he was talented but they got many talented kids and not all of them panned out. More importantly, after being relegated last year and the withdrawl of the sponsor, their finances took a hard hit. They needed the money. So they accepted Leicester's offer for the kid named Marco Reus.
John couldn't help but grin in anticipation. If he could convince Reus to join Leicester, this probably would be a masterstroke. John remembered Reus as a versatile player capable of playing as a winger on both flanks, though he favored playing on the left flank that allowed him to cut inside on his right foot. He was also capable of playing in central attacking midfield or further ahead on the pitch.
Reus was renowned for his speed, agility, technical skills, intelligence and shooting abitlity. Although he was injury prone throughout his career, when he did play, he was among the best wingers in the world. He was a fan favorite and known for his loyalty to his hometown club, Borussia Dortmund. Reus was a hard working player and a precise passer, who possessed good vision with a penchant for setting up his teammates. He was the kind of player that will make any team better and Leicester needed winger who could cut inside.
Although John was concerned about the physicality of Championship troubling him, he was willing to take a gamble. John was confident that as long as healthy, Reus will be an important part of the team.
John and Michael met up with Reus and his agent, Dirk Hebel, who himself had played in English lower divisions with Brentford and Norwich.
After meeting with each other, John started convincing Reus and his agent to come to Leicester to play. There were some complications though. Reus was reluctant to move away from Germany and his agent was concerned about the physicality of Championship.
"Mr. Baker, I'm concerned about the level of physicality Reus will have to face. I have played in Championship and I know that teams there play a highly physical brand of football. It can be brutal for a player if he doesn't adjust well." Dirk Hebel said as he raised the concern John was afraid about.
"Mr. Hebel, although it is true that Championship teams play a highly physical form of football, I think it can be beneficial for Reus. As he gets better, he will eventually be faced with those levels of physicality no matter where he plays. Getting accustomed to it early and shaping his style acc. to it will help him down the line." John knew that it won't be easy to convince him on this point but he was confident due to all the other advantages Leicester had over playing in third division in Germany.
"And we have a new fitness coach coming that will improve Reus' fitness and our medical team will also be working on making Reus ready for playing for us." John tried to convince them but it wasn't easy.
After some back and forth, they still weren't fully convinced that it would be a good move to move away from Germany. They were willing to come to Leicester and have a look at the club though. They also wanted to talk to the manager also to see what role he had in mind for Reus. They were planning to travel the day after tomorrow.
Normally, any player would've latched on the chance to play in a better league but it only went on to show that the player and his agent are cautious. It was a good thing for the development of the player. And John was sure they would be them to sign for Leicester once they went there. Simeone will also have a chance to observe Reus in person. Even though John wouldn't be there, he was sure that the chances of them signing were high.
Although John wasn't fully satisfied, he gave his best. Maybe a more seasoned negotiator could've convinced them to sign for the club outright, but John had no regrets about it.
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