Chapter 891: Skepticism & Conspiracy

The next day, news of Higo’s craziness finally exploded across the football community. Yeah, not just in Germany, but his name started to truly resound throughout the whole world, and all of it was for good reason.

Stopping Three Penalties in a Game, Who is Ryusuke Higo?!

The Best Young Player in the World is a Japanese?!

Oliver Kahn: He is the Best Goalkeeper I Have Ever Seen at his Age!

So many platforms shared anything they could find about Higo, even inviting so many experts to give their opinions to make the news sellable. Still, the experts who came out of their hiding place were indeed quite formidable, enough to give Higo enough face and make the whole world truly understand how impressive the achievement was.

One of them here was, of course, Oliver Kahn, the most legendary goalkeeper from this country, who seemed to always follow Higo’s journey since the beginning of his time in Schalke.

"He might be young, but he can definitely be considered one of the best in the game right now." The man said firmly, showing his authority as one of the best goalkeepers in history.

"What he has shown so far is not like any other young goalkeeper I have ever seen. Hell, I myself wasn’t that capable when I was at his age. The scariest thing is that he is just 19, far from his peak. His game will be more mature in the future, and when that happens, he will be a tougher wall to break even for the best player in the world."

The man didn’t hold back the praise here, showering Higo with all the flowers and butterflies. It was clear that Oliver Kahn was a big fan of Higo’s game.

Of course, so many pundits disagreed with the man. No, if anything, they just sneered at what Higo achieved so far.

"While I might say that it is impressive, how many times does a goalkeeper have a chance to face three poor penalties like that? Replace him with any other top goalkeeper, and they would still be able to do the same."

"This is just his second professional year as a footballer, and he only plays in the Bundesliga, where we know that the level is far lower than the EPL or LaLiga. Other than Bayern Munich and probably Borussia Dortmund, I don’t think there is anything worth seeing there."

"We always like to label a young player as a wonderkid, and this time will not be so much different. Compared to him, Pedri from Barcelona or even Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund is still a better young player on the pitch."

Yeah, somehow, so many negative opinions attacked Higo’s achievement, as if they all wanted to discredit him in this regard. Of course, as a normal young man, the boy would be seething with anger, finding himself wanting to curse everyone on social media right now.

"What the fuck do they mean that it is just a fluke?! And I am worse than Jude Bellingham?! He couldn’t even score one against me, for Fuck’s sake!" He ranted non-stop, yanking his hair in a mix of anger and frustration.

Honestly, he thought that after saving three penalties, he would receive immense praise from the world. Who would’ve thought that instead, the boy would receive such great skepticism here?

"Well, that only means you are starting to get on their radar," Kumiko explained during one of their calls later. "Before, when they only praised you, that meant they thought you were not a threat. But now that you show a great performance, they feel like their chance to get to the top would be hindered by you, so their best bet is to drag you down into the mud."

If anything, Higo frowned deeply when he heard that. "Who are they? The players that those bastards mentioned?" His face darkened when he heard that.

"What? Of course, no! You footballers are not that cunning in playing with the media, you know?" Kumiko snorted amusedly. "No, the one who wants to watch you stumble are definitely those big apparel companies like Nike or Adidas. They have spent so much money to sign the best youngsters in the world, so of course, they want to get an accolade here, and they wouldn’t want anything else to stop them."

Higo’s face darkened instantly, remembering full well how Fujita-san warned the boy of the consequences of not signing with Nike at that time.

"They are one of the biggest players in this game, Ryusuke. They will fight tooth and nail to support their people, and it also includes doing the dirty job to make sure their men are elevated in the media. Hell, the last time a player won a major trophy without Nike or Adidas’s help was Andriy Shevchenko in 2004, and that was 17 years ago!"

At that time, Higo didn’t take this seriously. In his mind, that world was still way too far from him, and this wouldn’t affect him at all. Who would’ve thought that the slap would be too fast here?

He also didn’t believe that this was a coincidence, especially when the two names that were thrown in comparison to him, Jude Bellingham and Pedri, were Adidas people. Even though Nike still hadn’t gotten involved in this matter, that was because they didn’t have any youngster worth being put on that list, not due to their lack of effort.

Realizing this, Higo couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh here. "Man, I sure am so naïve, right?"

"Well, anyway, forget about that for now. It is not something you can change just because you want, right?" Kumiko’s voice echoed once again, reminding the boy that she was still there.

"Now, let’s change the topic. Can you tell me why you revealed my existence without consulting with me first? You even revealed where I studied; you know that it will bring a lot of gossip, right?"

Higo could feel a shiver down his spine, especially at the artificially sweet tone that Kumiko made in that question. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but say, ’Oh, fuck! I am so screwed!’