Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 147

147. The April Crisis

Ah, right.

I remembered where I’d felt this before.

At the beginning of the year, amidst a sudden surge of injuries, I made that comment, and then Nicolas Seywald missed the Liverpool game due to the flu.

A crushing 5-0 defeat against Burnley, one of the worst since Hyungmin took over as manager.

Receiving pitying glances from the opposing players, I realized that we should never face a strong team without Nicolas Seywald…

Regardless, Hyungmin, who had decided to indulge in a bit of superstition regarding comments about injuries, saw team doctor Simon Morris with a pale face walking towards the sideline alongside the stretcher carrying Karim Adeyemi.

“How is he?”

Simon Morris, gesturing to take the player to the locker room, paused briefly next to the home team’s technical area and sighed deeply at the manager’s question.

“It doesn’t seem to be a bone issue, at least.”

“Whew… that’s a relief.”

A crack or fracture would mean the end of the season.

Simon Morris shook his head at Hyungmin, who was sighing in relief.

“But judging from Karim’s complaints of pain, it seems to be a severe muscle injury. I’ve taken immediate emergency measures, but we’ll need to transport him to the hospital for X-rays and a thorough examination after the game.”

“Hmm…”

A serious muscle injury could sideline him for about 4 to 5 weeks.

Considering it’s mid-April now, that could effectively mean the end of his season.

“Okay. Let me know the results later.”

At Hyungmin’s words, who needed to focus on the game unfolding before him, Simon Morris nodded and disappeared into the tunnel following the stretcher carrying Karim Adeyemi.

Carolina, who had returned after giving final instructions to Jo Gelhardt, who was urgently substituted for Karim Adeyemi, seemed to have overheard the end of the conversation and clicked her tongue.

“You know this is all because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut, right?”

“Come on, isn’t that too superstitious?”

“It is superstition. It is superstition, but…”

Carolina stood next to Hyungmin, watching the field.

“…the problem is that we’re at the perfect time for injury issues to erupt. It’s the end of the season, and we’ve been juggling four competitions simultaneously with a thin squad.”

“Hopefully, we’ll be okay somehow?”

Carolina got annoyed at Hyungmin’s words.

“Ugh, again…! Just shut up!”

“Ah…”

***

There’s a saying in England:

When it rains, it pours.

Or, if it doesn’t rain, it pours.

It’s generally used to mean that misfortunes come in clusters, and that’s exactly how things looked for Burnley today.

“What did you say? You son of a bitch!”

64 minutes into the second half.

Nico Gonzalez, usually one of the most mild-mannered and gentle players in the Burnley squad, grabbed the opposing player by the collar and swore.

The Burnley players around him were shocked and just stared blankly, while shouts were heard simultaneously from the front and back lines.

“Hey, stop him!!”

Captain James Tarkowski, vice-captain Nicolas Seywald, and even playing coach Jung Taejin rushed over in an instant to try to separate the two, but Nico Gonzalez’s grip—where did that strength come from?—wouldn’t loosen even against the three of them.

“Boo!”

The crowd was booing, and the referee was blowing his whistle like crazy, while West Ham players and Burnley players began to swarm.

Pablo Fornals, a Spanish veteran midfielder who had his collar grabbed by Nico Gonzalez, also grabbed his collar and started swearing in Spanish, but just from the tone and manner, it was fortunate that most people around couldn’t understand the content.

While the two Spanish players who switched to their native language were exchanging pleasantries about the well-being of each other’s parents, ancestors, descendants, and other family members, including female siblings who may or may not actually exist, Jung Taejin and Nicolas Seywald finally succeeded in separating Nico Gonzalez.

“Drag him away!”

James Tarkowski shouted over his shoulder, pushing back the West Ham players who were protesting fiercely in front.

Nicolas Seywald and Jung Taejin, grabbing Nico Gonzalez’s arms and half-lifting him so that his feet didn’t touch the ground, forcibly escorted the young midfielder towards the sideline and disappeared.

“Are you crazy?! Why is he suddenly acting like that?!”

Moussa Niakhaté, who took over as captain after the previous captain, Declan Rice, transferred, protested vehemently, while James Tarkowski sighed inwardly.

*I don’t know either.*

The red card already out of the referee’s pocket was pointing towards its target.

The red card shown on Nico Gonzalez’s back as he was dragged to the sideline was also shown to West Ham’s Pablo Fornals, who was protesting fiercely again.

West Ham’s captain, Moussa Niakhaté, who was trying to protest while grabbing James Tarkowski, saw the West Ham players surrounding the referee protesting more fiercely and hurriedly ran towards them.

With each team having one player sent off in a game already trailing 2-0, you might think it’s even.

“No, what’s going on? Nico doing that?!”

In order to prevent his teammates from collecting unnecessary additional cards here, Moussa Niakhaté disappeared quickly, and James Tarkowski, left alone with a bewildered expression, sighed deeply.

“I don’t know…”

***

“Do you have anything you want to say?”

The day after the game.

While the players were doing recovery training outside under the direction of Paulo Morais, Nico Gonzalez, who had been called into the manager’s office, shook his head while looking only at the floor.

The Premier League headquarters, which analyzed the situation overnight, imposed a 3-game suspension on Burnley’s Nico Gonzalez and a 2-game suspension on West Ham’s Pablo Fornals.

Regardless of how the situation started, they judged that Nico Gonzalez, who grabbed the collar first, was more at fault.

Mike Garlic, John Vanaskiewicz, and Jonathan Landres, who had contacted the Premier League headquarters in various ways overnight, also shook their heads, saying that it was a smooth resolution.

“Well… well, it could happen.”

Nico Gonzalez raised his head and glanced at Hyungmin for a moment, then looked back at the floor at the manager’s unexpectedly mild words.

“Anyway, the rules are the rules. The club will impose a fine of 2 weeks’ wages.”

“Yes.”

“Then go join the recovery training.”

“Uh…”

Nico Gonzalez looked slightly embarrassed.

“…Am I allowed to continue training?”

“Of course. Don’t even think about skipping training just because you’re suspended.”

Nico Gonzalez shook his head, swallowing the words that were circling in his mouth, ‘Wasn’t I supposed to be excluded from training during the suspension period?’

“I wasn’t thinking about that.”

“Then go quickly. Training has already been going on for a while.”

Hyungmin gently called out to Nico Gonzalez, who was about to leave the office with a light bow.

“Nico?”

“Yes, Manager?”

Hyungmin said to Nico Gonzalez, who turned to look at Hyungmin while holding the doorknob.

“You can bump into an opposing player during a game if necessary. You don’t need to be looked down upon by the opponent.”

“Ah, yes.”

Hyungmin put on a stern expression at Nico Gonzalez’s slightly flushed face.

“But if you do that again next time, you’ll have to pay a fine of 4 weeks’ wages.”

“Yes!”

As the door closed behind Nico Gonzalez, who opened the door and left with a slightly lighter step, a sigh was heard next to Hyungmin, who was chuckling.

“Well, that went smoother than I thought.”

“He’s still young. And we don’t know exactly what happened during the game.”

If Nico Gonzalez, who is usually mild-mannered and polite, reacted like that, it’s clear that the other person said something incredibly infuriating, whatever it was.

Of course, both Nico Gonzalez and Pablo Fornals are tight-lipped about what happened, so there’s no way to know the exact situation.

“Well, now we all know, including us and the opponents, that Nico has a temper if you mess with him.”

“If we’re not careful, that temper could be exploited.”

Hyungmin shrugged at Carolina’s point, who had even spoken with West Ham’s manager David Moyes, who was frustrated by the situation.

“There’s even a legend who was sent off directly for bumping into an opposing player in his last game of his career, the World Cup final.”

Carolina chuckled at Hyungmin’s words.

“You’re just soft on the kids.”

“Am I?”

Hyungmin sighed and looked at Carolina.

“By the way, how’s Karim?”

Carolina, who had watched Karim Adeyemi’s examination with team doctor Simon Morris instead of Hyungmin, who had been running around to resolve the Nico Gonzalez situation last night, sighed.

“His right ankle is severely swollen. We need to let the swelling go down further before we can do a deeper examination, but the X-rays and MRI results don’t seem to show any problems with the bones.”

“Whew. That’s a relief.”

“Instead, just looking at the swelling, it’s clear that there’s a problem with the muscles. Simon is estimating 4 to 5 weeks.”

“Ugh.”

Hyungmin groaned quietly at Carolina’s calm tone.

Today is April 20th, so a 5-week injury would mean a return around May 20th.

The two looked together at the large calendar hanging on one side of the office, as if they had promised.

The Premier League 37th round game is on May 20th, so he will effectively miss all 5 Premier League games and 2 Europa League semi-final games.

Losing the young striker who has emerged as the best ace during the key period that will determine Burnley’s results this season was heartbreaking.

“What are you going to do?”

A player who has already left is a player who has left [meaning, they are unavailable].

Of course, the medical staff and Karim Adeyemi himself will also try to return as soon as possible, but now the part that the manager and coaching staff have to worry about is how to fill that void.

“Hmm…”

Excluding Karim Adeyemi, Burnley now has only 3 wingers.

Excluding Dwight McNeil, who is a fixed starter, either Jo Gelhardt or Max Cornet must fill Karim Adeyemi’s vacancy.

Jo Gelhardt has been used much more in cup competitions than in the Premier League, but he has still recorded a decent 5 goals and 9 assists in 23 games.

Considering that he only joined the first team in earnest last season, it is an excellent record for a 21-year-old prospect.

Of course, Burnley has several players of a similar age who have reached the highest level in the Premier League, so he is relatively less in the spotlight.

On the other hand, Max Cornet is also showing decent performance, but his personal record is relatively lower than Jo Gelhardt’s with 5 goals and 4 assists in 19 games.

However, his advantage is that he is more stable than Jo Gelhardt, whose performance fluctuates wildly, sometimes flying around the field and sometimes disappearing completely.

It is also positive that he is the best defender among the wingers.

“For now, it depends on the opponent, but we’ll use Max and substitute Jo while managing Dwight and Max’s stamina.”

Carolina nodded as if she had reached a similar conclusion to Hyungmin’s answer, who had been thinking in his head.

“If there are no more injuries…”

“Be quiet!”

Hyungmin, who added an unnecessary remark, quickly closed his mouth with a ‘oops’ expression after being scolded by Carolina.

*Isn’t it too late [to avoid bad luck by being quiet]?*