Chapter 852: Aiming the Top of the World?!

The official name was Kopa Trophy, and it was an award that was introduced in the early 2018, something new in the football world.

This was a trophy that was awarded to the best performer in a year whose age was under 21 before January, and Higo would only turn 20 next May, so he was definitely eligible to win that award at least for the next two years.

However, before this, Higo had never thought about getting this award at all, so hearing Morita explain it in an excited tone, the boy was completely dumbfounded, not knowing what to say in response to the enthusiasm.

"Come on, Ryusuke! What is wrong with giving it a try?!" Morita slapped Higo on the shoulder quite hard. "You have the capability, you know? It would be a pity if you didn’t give it a shot!"

Higo could only smile wryly, glancing at Kumiko for help.

"That is not an award that you can just register yourself, right?" The girl asked, helping Higo distract Morita away from him. "I mean, you have to be nominated by some media, and the process will also be quite long, right?"

"Well, yeah, but Higo had a great advantage in this regard." Morita grinned as if he had already expected this question.

"And that advantage is...?" Higo asked, dreading to hear the answer.

"Of course, that is the endorsement from Robert Lewandowski! I mean, how many goalkeepers would receive an approval from the best striker in the world on national television?!" Morita clapped excitedly as if it was his own achievement.

"With those words from him, everyone will be curious about you! Hell, you don’t even need to lift a finger, but all those people who have the power to nominate you will flock to this town sooner or later! Come on, Ryusuke! Get more excited!"

The goalkeeper just rolled his eyes in exasperation here. There was no way he would get excited over something like this, not when the boy knew that it was basically a mission impossible for him to get.

"Don’t you know how impossible it is for a goalkeeper to get one? I mean, I don’t have goals, assists, or dribbles as a statistic to support me, you know?" He asked dryly. "If anything, why don’t you try to get one yourself? I mean, with your ability, I swear, you could snatch it as long as you are healthy for the whole season."

That... Unfortunately, was something that both girls could agree on.

In history, besides the legendary Lev Yashin from the Soviet Union who won the Ballon d’Or in 1963, no goalkeeper had ever managed to get a major individual award. The closest one is Manuel Neuer in 2014, but he still only managed to get into third place.

As for the other goalkeepers, even the legendary figures like Gianluigi Buffon or Iker Casillas had never managed to get close to the top 10 of the list, let alone getting the recognition that they deserved.

The reason was simple here. The football world appreciated attacking players more than defensive ones, always using goals and assists as the most important parameter.

For a position that demanded the player to stay in the back all the time, of course, any award would be impossible to get except for one that was prepared especially for a goalkeeper.

At least, that was what Kumiko said in the past, and while Higo had already forgotten that conversation, once he needed it the most, his brain managed to dig deep enough to find this as his argument.

"Yeah, it is hard to admit, Morita-san, but Ryukkun is right. You are more likely to get nominated compared to him, you know?" A heavy breath escaped from Kumiko as she looked at her boyfriend with an unwilling gaze, not wanting to admit it out loud.

"Oh, yeah, that’s why I will also try hard to get nominated." Morita unexpectedly admitted with high confidence here.

"Still, don’t you think that it would be awesome to have two young Japanese players standing tall in that world-stage award? Also, don’t be too hasty to reject the idea! You know that once you are dominant enough, you will force them to notice you, right? You have the ability to do so, Higo, and you know about it as well! You just don’t want to admit it out loud!"

Well, wouldn’t that be a question that stripped Higo of all his thought?

Yeah, it would be a lie if Higo said that he didn’t have the confidence. Since Lewandowski made that statement in the media that day, he had been thinking about it, and the boy felt like, out of everyone else, at least in this country, no one should be better than him.

Hell, Higo even looked down on the big names like Manuel Neuer or Roman Burki, finding them only good because they had a good defensive line in front of them. If it was pure goalkeeping, Higo was confident that he could beat anyone else in this league.

Of course, he would never dare to say something so outrageous that loud. No, that would only invite so much hate that would be a headache to handle. The boy also had never thought about chasing an award like this, so it was easy to ignore that overconfident state inside his head.

However, now that Morita invited him to strive for this Kopa Trophy, that controllable thought suddenly went wild, as his heart was burning with the desire to prove that he was right in this regard, that he was indeed the best young goalkeeper that the world could offer right now.

He glanced around for a moment, snorting a little when he found Morita’s smile getting bigger than ever. It was as if the midfielder knew that his words would cause ripples in the goalkeeper’s heart and that he would have a partner in crime in this shenanigan.

"Kopa Trophy, huh?" A humorous snort escaped from the boy. "Fine, Morita-san, you win. Let’s try to get this in the next year, but don’t hope too much, okay? Don’t forget that we are just two players from Schalke, a team that almost got relegated last year. The odds are not in our favor, so we have to work harder than ever to get a shot here."