Chapter 42: Standby Reserve
After hearing Gao Jun's words, Kolne's parents finally realized that even if Kolne continued to study, it was not entirely risk-free. However, the couple still did not want their son to play football because studying, even if it didn't reach the expected height, had some use, whereas professional football was a path that if walked halfway and couldn't continue, might turn him into a useless person. Especially since Kolne was only 16 years old and hadn't even finished high school, dropping out to play professional football at this time was really too risky. The couple, like their son Kolne, had no idea how strong his abilities had become...
"Ultimately, it's all about the money. As long as the income is high enough, everything will be fine, but the problem is that the team can't afford to pay them the salary they want right now!" Gao Jun said with a headache. In the end, he had no choice but to come up with a special solution, which was to have Dongfang sign a "0.5+X" linked contract with Korneev. This meant that Korneev would first sign a short-term contract with a lower weekly salary for half a year. If Dongfang successfully promoted to the Chinese Super League after half a year, the long-term contract would be activated, and the annual salary and bonuses would increase significantly. However, if Dongfang failed to promote, everything would be cancelled.
In the eyes of Korneev's parents, if he only took a half-year break from school, his studies wouldn't fall behind too much and it was still possible to catch up. The salary plus bonuses added up to tens of thousands of euros, which wasn't a bad price to pay. And if he successfully made it into the top league, with high enough earnings, being a professional soccer player wasn't out of the question either. As for the two long-term contract options presented by Gao Jun, Korneev's parents unsurprisingly chose the five-year super-long contract with a relatively lower annual salary but more stability, which was 100,000 euros in the first year and increased by 25% each subsequent year. Even if Korneev got injured or encountered other mishaps that prevented him from playing, the club would still have to pay the full amount.
Such a contract is naturally risky. Once Kornei is seriously injured or cannot play due to other reasons, the Oriental Club still has to pay him a large sum of money. However, Gao Jun believes that with Kornei's potential and ability, he will not stay in the Oriental team for too long, as long as there are no major problems before his transfer, the risk is actually not that great. Moreover, just Kornei's enhancement to the Oriental team's strength is completely worth his salary......
Regarding Gao Jun's unauthorized decision to directly negotiate a contract with the foreign aid, Xu Genbao was initially angry, and such a large contract would only be valid after he personally signed it. So Xu Genbao immediately flew to France (Ribery's contract was also signed at this time), and after watching Kone's amateur game, his mood had completely changed.
After Xu Genbao, the boss, made a decision, Colne's signing was finally completed. Since he belonged to the lowest amateur team, no transfer fee was required. Although his salary was not high by Dongfang Club standards, compared to his super ability, it was absolutely worth it!
After signing two foreign aids in a row, although Dongfang team lost its main right winger Rao Jiamin, the overall strength has not decreased but increased. Moreover, after having super-strong foreign aids, there is another advantage that even if domestic main players like Gao Jun are recruited by national teams in large numbers in the future, Dongfang team will not struggle to play in China League One as before...
Due to the negotiations between Bayern and Eastern Club and individual players taking time, Hou Junmin helped the team win two more games before officially joining, helping the team gain two big wins and regain the top spot in the China League One standings.
After completing the formalities of his transfer, Hao Haidong did not go to Germany for Bayern's pre-season training camp because the 2004 Asian Cup was about to start next month and both were selected into the national team's final 25-man squad before the tournament, so they had to rush to Chongqing on June 30...
Unlike the two, Gao Jun, who was also selected for the national team's training list last time and performed well in the warm-up match, did not make it into the 25-man roster. He was only asked to prepare himself well and be ready to replace other players when the national team needs him to fight in the Asian Cup.
For such a result, Gao Jun said it's not disappointing, but since he has experienced similar things too many times before, he didn't have an overly intense reaction. As for bribing his way into the national team, Gao Jun hadn't even considered it. Firstly, he had never been that kind of person; secondly, Arihan is still a man of principle (note 1), if the Football Association leaders accepted money to help someone get national team qualifications, he wouldn't dare oppose it openly, but this kind of player generally can only make it into the training camp list, wanting to participate in matches would be very difficult, unless it's those low-value warm-up matches or garbage time; compared to the historical situation where national team qualifications were once openly sold, the situation is still much better; thirdly, the anti-gambling storm has already started ahead of schedule, even if Gao Jun was willing to bribe his way in, the leaders might not dare to go against the wind...
Moreover, from another perspective, Gao Lin's failure to make the national team may not be all bad news. At least Eastern Team won't lose him as their attacking core in upcoming matches.
On July 3, the Dongfang team played at home against the weak team Hunan Xiang Army. Gao Jun scored twice with Mei Kai's assistance to help the team win completely, once again proving his own value. Kornei's appearance greatly enhanced the Dongfang team's midfield interception ability, making up for the weakness of the defense line to a large extent.
On July 7, the FA Cup quarterfinals began, and Dongfang will play against Shenzhen Jianlibao, the strongest team in the Super League, in a two-legged knockout match to determine one of the four semifinal spots. Originally, with Dongfang's current strength, this round would be very difficult, but now that Shenzhen Jianlibao's core players Li Yi, Zheng Zhi, and Li Dapeng are all participating in national team training, the gap between the two teams has narrowed significantly. However, even so, not many people were optimistic about Dongfang, a promoted horse from the China League One, even for the first leg at home...
Note 1: The practice of leaders taking money has been around for a long time, while coaches taking money started with Milu. Afterwards, Arihan was still relatively clean (at the time, there were many rumors, but it wasn't until after the anti-gambling storm that everyone found out that it was actually the leaders who took the money). However, by the time of the last few coaches, they had completely become corrupt. If not for Gao Jun taking over as national team coach when the "national foot" had already lost all value, he might not have been able to withstand the pressure from the leaders to promote youth players. After all, even Gao Jun himself had to admit that local coaches were indeed less effective than foreign coaches in resisting interference from the Football Association and higher authorities...
