Chapter 800: Contract Renewal!

Two days later, Higo found himself back at Berger Feld again, and seeing the lush green pitch in front of him, the boy couldn’t help but let out a long sigh, somehow feeling melancholic.

"Man... When was the last time I was here? It should be a month ago, right? How time passes by..."

The difference between his last time being here and right now, though, was the fact that the training ground was empty. No training, no players or coach shouting on the sideline. It was just a pure silence, one that was enough to put discomfort in his stomach.

Fortunately, his destination was not there.

"Come on, Ryusuke! The sporting director has been waiting for you!" Fujita-san dragged him into one of the offices in the building where people had been waiting for him.

However, before they entered the building, the agent stopped, turning around to Higo with a serious gaze. "Listen, this is going to be the final negotiation for the renewal contract. They will try their best to reduce the number, most likely trying to blackmail you emotionally. What I need you to do is to keep silent and let me do my job properly, okay?"

Higo blinked for a moment before finally shrugging. Not that he wanted to do that, of course, since he didn’t know shit about it. Still, the boy had already read the research that Fujita-san and Kumiko made about the current market for a goalkeeper in the league right now, so at least he had an idea of what to expect here.

The moment they entered the office, they were greeted by the sight of Frohling and another man, probably the team’s sporting director if Higo was not wrong, sitting inside. The head coach’s face lit up when he saw Higo, getting up and coming to the boy immediately.

"Higo! It has been a long time since I saw you! How is your shoulder? Any good news?" He scanned the boy’s whole body, afraid that he would miss something.

"It is good, Sensei. If nothing goes wrong, I would be able to come back to the normal training in two weeks." Higo answered with a warm smile. It was longer than the expected four weeks, but at least the team could afford to wait, what with this period being a break after the league was over.

"Good, good..." The coach nodded in relief. "Anyway, I will be waiting for you in this place again once the season starts! I have high expectations for you, so don’t disappoint me, okay?" He asked in a faux-stern tone.

"Sure, Sensei!"

Cough!

Someone suddenly coughed, snapping them from their conversation. When they turned around, Frohling found the person behind him smiling wryly, while Fujita-san just smiled stiffly at Higo.

"Ah! Sorry for that! Higo, let me introduce you to Jochen Schneider, the team’s sporting director."

The man got up immediately, offering a handshake. "Jochen Schneider, I have heard a lot about you, Higo, and I am pleased that we have a talented goalkeeper after Alex’s departure."

"Thank you." Higo accepted the handshake politely.

"Anyway, we both are busy people here, so let’s get into the main topic." Fujita-san jumped in a little bit rudely, enough to make Higo frown a little bit.

"We hope that we can get an agreement for the renewal contract today, but we have to see the sincerity here. You guys have watched his potential, and don’t forget that some teams have already contacted us for Higo’s services. My client wants to stay, but if the offer cannot match his worth, we can just go with the old contract, going for another week before he can go to the other team next year."

Well, it was an aggressive opening, one that Higo didn’t expect at all. He wanted to say something here, but a little glance for Fujita-san was enough for him to swallow all the words back into his throat.

"We know that, Fujita-san, and Higo also deserves the best here, but you have to know that our financial situation is not good right now. Coronavirus hurts us all, you know?" Schneider sighed helplessly.

However, Fujita didn’t budge here. He just had his arms crossed in front of his chest, waiting for the man to say more.

"1.2 million Euros of annual salary! At least, that is the best that I can offer right now! But I want it to be a 4-year contract!" The sporting director gritted his teeth as he spouted that number.

Higo could feel his jaw drop instantly when he heard that. Before this, his youth contract only gave the boy around 2500 Euros, which meant probably around 30,000 in a year. If he agreed to the contract, that meant he would get 100,000 Euros monthly, way higher than his salary in a year before!

Even though Higo was not poor, this was the first time he heard such a big number being spouted like that, and when the boy realized that it could be his in the next year, his heart couldn’t help but skip a beat.

However, Frohling didn’t budge here.

He frowned a little before finally saying, "We can accept the annual salary, but the bonus has to be kept as well. Appearance, clean sheet, Bundesliga survival bonus, season appearance threshold, and any award that he will get in the future will be rewarded as well. This is our bottom line."

"This..." Even Frohling himself frowned, looking at the sporting director in a complicated mood.

"It is a very acceptable request." Fujita-san jumped in once again, putting one last fact that would be the final nail in the coffin.

"That amount of salary that you offer right now will only make Higo the eleventh on the list of the goalkeepers with the highest annual salary in the league, and I can assure you that Higo is way better than that. Also, don’t forget that Higo’s backup goalkeeper, Ralf Fahrman, has a salary of 2.8 million Euros per year, and the only time he played this year was when Higo got injured."

Silence followed, but based on the wry smile on Frohling and Schneider’s faces, as if they had just swallowed the sourest orange in the world, Higo knew that Fujita-san won this negotiation.

Thinking about that astronomical number he would get, the boy could only blink in disbelief right now.

’Holy crap... I am going to be fucking rich!’