Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 55

< Everyone's Johan >

After the Chelsea game.

The third week of November was the international friendly match week.

England had friendly matches against Wales and Iceland at home.

Johan was called up by Coach Ranieri for this national team as well. Moreover, unlike the last time when he came on as a substitute in both games, this time he started in both.

Of course, he didn’t play the full time.

He played 63 minutes against Wales and exactly 45 minutes in the first half against Iceland.

However, even with such short appearances, Johan’s impact was, as expected, intense.

He showcased his talent by recording 2 goals and 1 assist against Wales, and he demolished Iceland’s defense by achieving a hat-trick in just 30 minutes against Iceland.

With 5 goals and 1 assist in those two games, Johan’s international match record rose to a total of 8 goals and 1 assist in 4 games. Johan was carrying his goal-scoring form from the league into the national team as well.

Thanks to this, the local Premier League (PL) fans couldn’t help but envy the West Ham fans even more as they watched Johan in the England national team uniform.

Because the West Ham fans get to experience the joy of having Johan on their team throughout the entire season.

It was naturally enviable to see how one striker could transform a team’s quality and instill the confidence that they could never lose.

Johan was truly the striker everyone coveted, the striker they wished was on their team.

Anyway, Johan’s performance in the national team made everyone look forward to the Euro 2028 tournament next year.

To some, it might be quite expected, and to others, it might not be surprising.

England had never won the Euros even once in its history.

They had finished 3rd and been runners-up, but never clinched the title.

A championship record that didn’t match the pride that English fans held as the home of football.

Because of that, England had always been the subject of ridicule from fans of other countries.

Especially since the English fans’ pride always led to excessive hype before every tournament.

Every time a tournament started, they would make a fuss, saying that this tournament was finally the time to shout ‘It’s coming home’ [a popular English football chant expressing hope that England will win a tournament], that this time was the real time to win, but they never actually lifted the trophy.

However, with the emergence of an unbelievable genius like Johan, it felt like this time could be different.

It was obvious that Johan would be selected for the Euro tournament next year.

The England national team with Johan was arguably boasting the best squad in history, and thanks to that, English fans started hyping it up earlier than ever.

Even though there were still more than six months left until the Euro opening, they were already making a fuss, saying that 2028 would be the year the Euro trophy would return home.

However, if it had only stopped there, England wouldn’t have become a country famous for its hype.

English fans were already talking about the next World Cup.

The 2030 World Cup, which would be in three years.

By that time, Johan would be twenty years old, so he would be at his peak, and naturally, they were already hyping up their claim to the World Cup title three years in advance.

Of course, fans from other European countries just scoffed and laughed at the English fans’ hype.

Anyway.

Johan’s popularity was soaring.

Everyone wanted Johan, and Johan, facing the winter, had become everyone’s Johan.

ㆍㆍㆍ

“Let’s have a drink.”

“Cheers.”

“Cheers!”

The VVIP lounge of the Great State Park, London’s finest hotel.

Three men who looked to be in good spirits were clinking glasses.

Rahim McManaman, Mark Andrew, and Adam Ginsberg.

West Ham’s three co-owners.

As befitting the top floor of the hotel, the city of London was visible at a glance through the glass windows, and the wine and food in front of them were all top-notch.

All of them were prominent figures who held positions in their respective industries, the so-called big shots.

As they were having a conversation with wine in such a place, it seemed like heavy topics such as the flow of the political and business world would be exchanged.

However,

the conversation they were having wasn’t much different from the conversation between Steve Jimmy (12 years old) and his friend Tammy Atkins (12 years old) living in Stratford, London.

“Can you believe we’re in first place?”

“I never dreamed that this ranking would last until November.”

“And to think we’d see the top scorer coming from our team… Of course, we have to see it through to the end, but who can really catch up to Johan?”

“Has there ever been a time when life was so good?”

“Never. Every day is enjoyable.”

“Our team is the best! Johan is the best!”

These three people had been meeting frequently recently.

When the team’s performance was not good, these meetings were only uncomfortable for each other, but these days it is not.

There’s no reason to be uncomfortable when the team is in first place.

Judging by the current momentum, they almost wanted to get ahead of themselves and say that they would really lift the championship trophy this season.

“Shouldn’t we spend a little more money?”

“When the opportunity comes, there’s no need to skimp on investment.”

“I can see the potential, so I’m willing to do that.”

The winter transfer market is approaching soon.

In addition, next summer is not far away.

A championship trophy requires good fortune, and that good fortune does not come easily.

Based on the results so far, this year can be seen as the year of good fortune.

When else would they spend money if not now?

The three owners readily agreed to invest a large sum of money. They said that they would provide as much support as possible to any player that Coach Schmidt wanted this winter, as well as next summer.

“Of course, before that, the most important thing is Johan.”

“Teams aiming for Johan are all over the place.”

“Not just next door, but also across the sea.”

“We have to protect him with our lives. How long has it been since we’ve had a homegrown franchise star on our team?”

“We won’t sell him no matter how much they offer. No matter how much they call, we have to add that much more.”

“Money isn’t important to Johan anyway.”

Of course, in those transfer markets, the most important thing is to keep Johan, rather than new signings.

The market value of Johan, as determined by the market, was soaring.

He scored 20 goals in 12 games. During that time, he recorded 11 assists, and the player’s position was striker and his age was sixteen.

If Johan were to come on the market right now, he would definitely break the club record no matter which club he went to.

Moreover, considering the future value, he might even break the all-time record.

That is to say, most of the big clubs would try to sign Johan at least once, and the amount they would offer was likely to be an unimaginable astronomical amount.

If so, that means West Ham needs to do something to keep Johan.

First of all, a renegotiation of his weekly wage is a must, and they need to offer something more innovative.

They would have to think about what that could be.

As the three owners were discussing this.

“Excuse me. I’ll put the food down.”

“Oh, yes. It’s here. This is the new menu I was talking about.”

“Ah, is this it?”

“It looks great.”

When the waiter appeared with a large plate, Rahim McManaman and Mark Andrew’s eyes widened.

It was a menu that Great State Park had newly started serving this time, under Ginsberg’s instructions.

The name of the menu was ‘Bani Special’.

It was a top-class menu named after Johan.

“Is this a representation of Johan’s face?”

“That’s right. It looks plausible, right?”

“Hey, Johan is much better looking than this. Still, it’s pretty.”

“I have to take a picture, I have to take a picture.”

The Bani Special, which shaped a face with various ingredients on a wide plate.

The sight of them clapping their hands together and even taking pictures was like watching high school girls obsessing over their favorite celebrity.

“Damn it, I need to launch something too. What would be good? Bani Nutella?”

“Ugh, I need to finish my work quickly. I want to see Johan wearing my clothes soon.”

“You’re all one step behind? Haha! I’m thinking of creating a new suite named after Johan if we win the championship.”

“You’re fast, you’re fast.”

However, since they are all owners of a company, the level of their obsession is different.

Some put out a menu named after Johan, while others are collaborating with a sports brand to create a line named after Johan.

In fact, besides those things, there were already many Johan-themed goods.

In addition to things like uniforms and mufflers, the club itself released VAN9 hats, socks, keychains, and phone cases, and all of them were selling like hotcakes.

It’s only natural since every West Ham fan would have at least one Johan’s goods.

Of course, the owners here are the same.

The phones placed on the table all had VAN9 cases on them, and the muffler around their necks was also Johan’s.

These days, their joy was Johan’s obsession.

“Ah, but it’s a bit disappointing.”

“What is it?”

“There’s too little to obsess over. He’s too mysterious.”

“That’s right. The only time we can see Johan’s news is during the game.”

“I want to see at least pictures taken during training, but he doesn’t even come to training, so there are no pictures.”

As they said, there is little to obsess over Johan.

The player’s charm is undeniable, but there isn’t much media coverage.

That’s because you can’t see his face except on game days. He’s always at home even on his days off.

Last time, reporters tried to cover what Johan does during the week, but he didn’t come out of his house for 6 days. He only came out of the house on the day of the game.

He doesn’t do anything other than soccer, so there’s little to obsess over.

I wish he had something like Instagram.

Why, aren’t there any soccer players these days who don’t have Instagram?

“I’d follow Johan right away if he made an account.”

“If he makes one, he’ll get 500,000 followers in one day, right?”

“500,000!? He’ll have more than me in one day?”

“How about the club makes one for him as a fan service?”

“He’ll be annoyed.”

“Hey, even so. No matter what, if you’re a professional player, you can do that much for the fans.”

“Then, shall we contact a representative once?”

“Let’s do it!”

The three owners were excited.

ㆍㆍㆍ

“Mom. Do you happen to have any pictures of Johan when he was young?”

“Pictures of Johan when he was young? I have a lot.”

“You have a lot? That’s great.”

“Why?”

“No, the club contacted me. They want Johan to make something like Instagram.”

“Instagram?”

“Yes. The fans are making a fuss about creating a communication channel.”

“Really? Then shall I try it once?”

“You?”

Lohan tilted his head.

Lohan follows almost all club and player accounts.

Because of this, Lohan knew all about the fan community culture, and he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with his mother’s words that she would try it.

There are so many extreme fans and extreme anti-fans online, so not only kind comments are posted.

But well, since Mom is enthusiastically trying to do it, should I leave it to her for now?

“They say they’ll put an authentication mark on it right away if you create it with this ID.”

“Okay. Mom will decorate it beautifully.”

“There’s no need to be pretty… You just need to steadily update Johan’s pictures.”

There was an ID that the club had received in advance.

If you create an account with this, they say they will attach an official verification badge right away. It’s a mark that proves it’s not a fake account.

“Famous players get tens of millions of won in advertising fees for posting one post.”

“Is there such a thing in soccer? Mom has done that kind of thing on Instagram before. I got paid tens of thousands of won for doing reviews and bought beef with it.”

“Really? How many followers does Mom have?”

“Mom? 5,000 people.”

“Heok? That’s a lot?”

“How many will Johan have? About 100,000?”

“100,000? Hey.”

Lohan shook his head, bursting into laughter.

100,000 is a lot, but an average popular player should have at least 1 million.

Hmm. With Johan’s current popularity, he could get 2 million.

“The profile picture… let’s do this. Okay, creating it?”

“Yes.”

“…I feel nervous for some reason.”

“What are you nervous about?”

“Aren’t the followers going to increase as soon as I create it?”

“Then that’s a good thing.”

“Hoo. Shall we go?”

“Let’s go.”

What is this.

Kim Ra-hee took a deep breath and pressed the account creation button.

Then, she posted a picture of Johan when he was young as the first post.

“…Shall we press refresh?”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s been even a minute since you posted it.”

“Still. Wouldn’t the number of followers have increased a little?”

“How can the number of followers increase in less than a minute?”

“Aish.”

About a minute after posting the post, Kim Ra-hee pressed refresh with a hopeful heart.

Still, since her son is a bit popular, wouldn’t about 10 followers have been created in the meantime?

However,

“Heok…”

“Why?”

Kim Ra-hee’s mouth dropped open at the refreshed number of followers.

“O-Over a hundred people?”

“…”

Lohan was dumbfounded.

Over a hundred people in less than a minute? Is this the life of a popular star…?

Kim Ra-hee shouted with joy.