Chapter 208 – 100 Million Euro Player (1)

208

The end of July, when August officially opens the transfer market.
Around the time Korea was ripening in the scorching heat, I was busy moving for the first time in a long time.

“Gangnam studio this morning. Where are you in the afternoon?”

After rising to stardom as the top scorer in the Olympics, I was always bombarded with advertising inquiries.

He has an appearance that appeals to everyone, regardless of age or gender, whether in the East or West, as well as a flashy play style that draws attention and even overwhelming skills.

Even when he failed in Barcelona and moved on loan to Frankfurt, which was the second division at the time, advertisement offers were pouring in, much less what should I say now that he has achieved the feat of winning the top scorer from the Bundesliga to Europa and the World Cup.

However, the advertising offers that piled up day by day were never reciprocated.
Since I debuted as a pro, I haven’t done commercials or even common sponsorships until now.

The fans say
Even though he emerged as a blue chip in the advertising world, the reason he did not appear in a single CF was to focus on soccer. He is a professional among pros who only knows about training and pours all his passion into soccer.

Wrong.
Of course, I have a longer training time than most players and I am passionate, but that doesn’t mean I just train all day.

It is not such a grandiose reason that advertisers have not shot a single advertisement so far, even though advertisers are clinging to it.
Just for a simple reason.
Because of privacy.

Whether advertising or sponsorship, the purpose is marketing using the image of the target after all.
The purpose is to transfer the model’s positive image to the product to viewers, but what if the model’s image is negative rather than positive?

If the image of the model hired for expensive money is ruined, can it really have a positive effect on the image of the product?
Of course you can’t.

Rather than having a positive marketing effect, which is the original purpose, it will only accumulate unfavorable stacks.
That’s why, whether it’s advertising or sponsorship, a clause such as the so-called ‘maintaining dignity’ is inevitably included in the contract.

I believe in my current image and give a large amount of money, but the point is that if the image is severely damaged for some reason, I will pay the penalty for that.

But what if my privacy is exposed?
If I blindly filmed an advertisement, what would happen if my private life was exposed?

You will have to pay a huge penalty that is several times the down payment.

In fact, I’m not afraid of revealing my private life.
I’m treated as a half soccer idol, but my identity is a sports star. After all, if you do well in soccer, you will become popular again as time goes by.

The problem is that you can’t stop the image from falling into the abyss in the beginning.
More and more people are clinging to filming commercials, but actually filming commercials is like holding a time bomb that may explode.

There was also this reason why Harin and Daye worked hard to get their parents to acknowledge their relationship.
It was a frustrating situation where I couldn’t even get a bunch of money flying right in front of my nose, so I thought it would be better for me to burst into a scandal first.

So, until now, I was cautious about advertisements or sponsorships, but meeting Daye’s father changed everything.

“How was the meeting? What are they saying?”
“… I’ll exclude the penalty clause, so please just shoot an advertisement.”
“… That’s great.”

When I asked about Harin’s bewildered expression after she had gone to the meeting, I was sure it was different this time too.

The other day, when Harin met her father, her father said that he was her dowry and that she would give Harin her soccer team.
While analyzing the marketing effect through the acquisition of a sports club, Harin and I decided to take over the soccer team.

They say that they will create an undisclosed subsidiary, take over the soccer team with that company, and hand over the stake to Harin through all sorts of detours and expedients… From a practical point of view, Harin was mine, so it was an opportunity to run a soccer team with my father’s money, but I didn’t like something.

I don’t have any stake, so I don’t feel like it’s mine.
So I suggested it to my father.

I’ll film an advertisement for the GT group, so ask for a stake in the soccer team.
Even so, I am very well-known and have a good image, and thanks to not appearing in a single advertisement so far, I am the one who does not consume my image.

Of course, the ransom price skyrocketed, so at my current unit price, I would be able to get a fairly large share of the 2nd division.

Moreover, since it is Harin’s parent GT group, Harin will take care of the maintenance of dignity clause or the penalty clause.

It was a good deal to get a soccer team without actually spending a single penny of my money. I was satisfied, but this went strangely.

“This is how the contract leak came back….”

As Daye said, it was absurd. The content of the advertisement contract with GT Group was leaked.
At first I thought it was bad news, but—

“Hmm. You can get a contract like this because you’re at this weight level.”

Rather, it came back with great good news.

When I heard the news that I accepted the GT Group’s advertisement, which had not been accepted under any conditions, questions spread about how enormous the conditions were for me to accept it.

And after persistent media tracking, the contents of the contract were leaked, and it became known that there was no penalty clause, and advertisers began to suggest drastically lowering the penalty clause or even removing it altogether.

Since it is a penalty clause that can be considered a safety device for advertisers, I thought that it was impossible to shoot advertisements under these conditions… It was an illusion.

I was a hot potato than I thought.
Even though it was a GT group called Korea’s 10th chaebol, it was at the level of a corner store compared to the world-class conglomerates who wanted me… As a sign of ‘If we accepted the company’s conditions to this extent, might we be able to do it too!?’, Even companies competing for the top position in Korea as well as the world flocked to it, and a fierce competition broke out.

After an excessive bloody competition, the advertisers came to push me into an absurdly advantageous contract, saying that it was a safety device and that I would only film advertisements for now.

“Oh wow, it’s really pouring like crazy.”

Thanks to that, agents Harin and Daye got busy.
Endless meetings and reviews follow,

“Where is the best soccer shoe sponsorship? Puma? Reebok? The conditions are similar, about $2.8 million to $3 million.”
“It doesn’t matter where. Do whatever the conditions are good for.”
“Then Pew—”
“Wait a minute. We got offers from Adidas and Nike.”
“… Even global conglomerates can’t help it.”

* * *

While he was busy with advertisements and sponsorships, the actual transfer took a back seat.

However, this was not because he was preoccupied with extra income or not interested in transferring, but the situation was like the night before the storm.

『Frankfurt made a decision about Hong Min-jun!』
“After a marathon meeting that lasted until 9:00 pm local time, the Frankfurt board of directors officially approved the transfer of Hong Min-joon.

Director Amherst, technical director, officially announced the transfer fee of 100 million euros, saying, “Hong Min-joon is an important key player in the club’s long-term plan, but the financial aspect could not be ignored.” A huge amount of money, over 130 billion won in Korean currency.

Although it is a transfer market where big signings often occur, 100 million euros is a huge amount that even the most big clubs can’t help but hesitate.

However, officials in the soccer world agreed that “100 million euros for Hong Min-joon is by no means excessive.”
Agent A, who is well versed in European football, said, “It is only because of the fact that Frankfurt is a club that is financially close to a selling club, that there are only two years left in the contract period, and conflicts with the board in the middle of the season. It’s not strange even if it’s much higher,” He said.

In fact, despite the huge amount of 100 million euros, clubs are already actively participating in the recruitment of Hong Min-jun.

Currently, the most advanced are known as the Manchester brothers of the EPL, Man Utd and Man City, and in addition, multiple EPL clubs and La Liga, Serie A, and Bundesliga clubs are expected to actively jump into the recruitment of Hong Min-jun.

Meanwhile, Hong Min-jun is known to be taking a break in Korea after the World Cup—”

He looks at sports articles while getting makeup for a commercial shoot, and it is indeed covered with my articles.
And the content is surprisingly accurate.

Is it because Harin notified the club early on that he had no intention of renewing the contract?
I thought about the case that I would not let go easily because it was a club that had been participating in the Champions League for a long time, but surprisingly, he agreed to the transfer coolly.

A courtesy or something for the merits of the past.
I think the main reasons are my disposition to stick with the board, the two-year contract period remaining, and the soaring ransom due to the World Cup special… Well, there is nothing to be sorry for coming with a transfer fee of less than 5 billion and leaving with a transfer fee of over 130 billion.

Doesn’t it leave almost 30 times the transfer fee in just a year and a half?
I also took care of my grades, but the club should thank me.

‘I’ll have to finish the advertisement properly by early August and focus on the transfer.’

I’m worried
Where should we go.