Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 48

48: Ready to Leap Again

December 30, 2022.

After a flight of just under two hours from Barcelona, Nico Gonzalez looked down at the rainy city in the northwest of England from the plane circling Manchester Airport.

Oscar Mingueza, asleep next to him, was likely tired from his girlfriend’s tearful farewell at Barcelona Airport, but Nico was quietly excited about his first loan experience.

His thoughts drifted back to the moment he’d been called into the Barcelona B coach’s office a few days earlier.

“Oh, were you called in by the coach too?”

Arriving at the hallway in front of the coach’s office, decorated with colorful lights and a Christmas tree for the holiday season, Oscar Mingueza, sprawled on a chair in front of the door, greeted him cheerfully.

Although there was a slight age difference, they had spent a long time together in La Masia [Barcelona’s youth academy], and Nico Gonzalez was happy to see his friend, who had debuted in the first team around the same time and had gone back and forth between the first team and the reserve team.

“Did you hear why he called us?”

“No, but I have a hunch.”

Nico, sitting next to Oscar Mingueza, who was leisurely stroking his ridiculously bushy beard, nudged his older friend with his elbow.

“Spill it.”

“Why else would he call us right before the winter transfer market? It’s probably about a loan.”

“Loan?”

Barcelona, which belongs to the Spanish Primera Liga [First Division], where reserve teams can participate in professional leagues below the first division, didn’t often send players from their youth or reserve teams out on loan.

In fact, Nico and Oscar had grown up in Barcelona, but if they didn’t have the opportunity to play in the first team, they would come down to Barcelona B, which currently belongs to the third division, to maintain their game fitness, rather than going out on loan to another team altogether.

“Did you hear where we might be going?”

“Not exactly, but rumor has it…”

Before Oscar Mingueza, looking around, could reveal the rumor he had picked up from somewhere, the door to the coach’s office opened and Barcelona B coach Sergi Barjuan appeared.

“Oh, you’re already here! Come in, both of you.”

Coach Sergi Barjuan, gesturing for the players to sit on the old, comfortable sofa that La Masia alumni nicknamed the ‘player sofa’, sat on the opposite sofa and smiled as he looked at the two young players who would carry the future of Barcelona.

He was also from Barcelona’s youth system, grew up in La Masia, and was promoted to the first team by coach Johan Cruyff, immediately becoming a starter and achieving three consecutive league titles with Pep Guardiola.

Therefore, he couldn’t help but have a special affection for La Masia alumni, both as a reserve team coach and as a senior.

“As you may have expected, I called you two because we received loan offers.”

Nico glanced at Oscar Mingueza, who shrugged as if he knew it was coming, and then looked back at the coach.

“Where did the loan offers come from?”

“Burnley. Burnley of the English Premier League.”

Nico and Oscar Mingueza both tilted their heads in unison.

It’s not that Barcelona never sends reserve or youth team players out on loan at all.

However, it was common to go to the Spanish Primera Liga or the second division, one step below, so that they could observe the players up close.

If it was the Premier League, the level of the league was even higher than the Primera Liga, but a smaller club like Burnley wasn’t ideal for Barcelona to monitor in the long term.

“As you may or may not know, Burnley’s new manager has been playing very aggressive and technical football recently. They must have decided that your profiles were suitable for what they wanted, and that’s why they made a loan offer this time. The loan period is six months, and after the loan, you will of course return to Barcelona.”

“Uh…”

Seeing the two young players confused by the sudden news, coach Sergi Barjuan smiled and added a detailed explanation.

“It’s such a small club that they have a thin squad, and they’ve been transferring out veteran players, so I think there will be a lot of opportunities. I talked to Xavi [Barcelona’s first team coach], and he thought it would be very helpful for you to experience English football this time. Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia, and even Gerard Pique, going back a long way, were able to broaden their experience by experiencing English football.”

“Ah, I see. So, coach Xavi too?”

Nico Gonzalez, who quickly understood the situation, asked.

“Of course, the club accepted the offer because Xavi approved it. As you both know, the first team will be fighting for every point in the second half of the season. Considering the overall team balance, it will be difficult to give Nico a lot of opportunities, and since Oscar is a defender, it may not be easy to substitute him from a physical point of view.”

Big clubs like Barcelona have good players stacked in every position.

Of course, if you’re lucky, you can get a chance right away, but Barcelona is a club with at least the financial resources and reputation to bring in good players from outside, even if they are struggling financially.

That’s what made youth players like Ansu Fati, a forward, and Pedri and Gavi, midfielders, who quickly passed through these tremendous obstacles and solidified their positions as starters, so impressive.

Both players nodded at the coach’s pointed, cold assessment.

No matter how well it’s run, Barcelona B is a reserve team.

Playing in the world’s best league, the Premier League, even for a smaller club, is on a different level in every way from playing in Barcelona B, which is currently competing in the Spanish third division.

It’s good to compete for a place in the first team and impress the newly appointed coach, but it’s also a torment for a player to watch the game from the bench or the stands without actually playing.

Seeing his two players look at each other and nod at the same time, coach Sergi Barjuan smiled again.

“I’ll book your plane tickets, so go back and pack your bags and say goodbye to your family. The club has informed me that they will prepare your accommodation and other necessary things, so just pack the essentials.”

“Okay. But coach…”

Oscar Mingueza stood up and spoke to the coach, who was wrapping up the meeting.

“Yes?”

“Where exactly is Burnley in England?”

“…?”

The two players, who searched Google Maps with coach Sergi Barjuan, sought advice from Eric Garcia, who was the most familiar with the players in the current Barcelona squad who had played in England and who was also from La Masia.

“Definitely! Definitely! Warm clothes! Take as many warm clothes as you can! It rains every day!”

The two men, heeding the words of the young defender, who joked that he had experienced all the rain and cold he wanted to see in his life during his four seasons in Manchester City.

The two young Spanish players, carrying bags full of winter clothes in both hands, came out of the Manchester Airport gate and were surprised to see the face of the person who came to greet them with a welcome sign with their names written on it.

It was the very face that appeared in every Burnley game video that they had asked Barcelona’s video analyst to borrow over the past few days.

“Are you… Coach Kim?”

At the question of Oscar Mingueza, the older of the two, who recognized the face that was starting to appear more and more on sports channels and news outlets, Hyungmin smiled brightly and replied.

“Welcome to England!”

The two players from the warm south were shivering in the harsh rain and wind of the northwest of England, where it rains more than half the month, just as Eric Garcia had warned, and boarded the car sent by the club with Hyungmin.

Hyungmin smiled kindly at the two players, who were embarrassed that the manager had come to pick up the loaned players himself.

“Most of the club staff are on Christmas vacation right now. I thought it would be easier for me to come out and say hello than to call someone out.”

No, isn’t the first team manager usually busy?

More than that, the first team manager came to pick up the loaned players himself?

The two players, who came from one of the world’s largest clubs, where you had to go through two or three people, including the secretary and coach, just to get an interview with the first team manager, were even more surprised when they saw the accommodation they had arrived at.

Since it was the countryside in the northwest of England, they didn’t expect state-of-the-art apartments or anything like that, but this was an old country house that you could only see in the most rural parts of Spain.

Even though Barcelona’s youth training ground is called ‘La Masia’, which means ‘farmhouse’ in Catalan, the actual La Masia consists of state-of-the-art buildings, training facilities, and dormitories.

Hyungmin, who arrived at Burnley’s (temporary) loan accommodation, which was clearly a remodeled general house, took the bags out of the trunk himself with a bright smile.

“Let’s go in! The kids are waiting!”

The kids?

Nico Gonzalez and Oscar Mingueza looked at each other and tilted their heads, following the manager into the house.

“Coach!”

As they shook off the rain and entered the brightly lit (but still cold) interior, which had the appearance of people living there, Karim Adeyemi, with his shaggy perm and, let’s face it, ridiculous mustache, came out to greet them.

“Oh, Karim. Say hello to the new friends here.”

“Hello! I’m Karim Adeyemi.”

Karim Adeyemi, who shook hands with Nico Gonzalez and Oscar Mingueza in a friendly manner, suddenly picked up one of the bags placed in the hallway and headed inside.

“There are a few rooms left, but to be honest, we’ve only cleaned the two in the best condition. You’ll have to decide for yourselves which one to use.”

Just before they each took a bag and walked down the long hallway in front of them.

One of the doors next to them burst open, and at the same time, something hot flowed out and a head wearing a pure white chef’s hat popped out.

“Hello, Coach! Welcome to the rest of the friends!”

Hyungmin, who found Nicolas Seiwald, asked with an absurd expression.

“What are you doing there?”

“I’m cooking! I’m going to have a celebration party!”

“You’re cooking? You even know how to cook?”

“Of course! I was the main chef in the Salzburg dormitory!”

Hyungmin tilted his head and asked.

“Didn’t the club hire someone to clean and cook?”

“Ah, Mrs. Rushburn? We gave her a Christmas vacation! She works hard usually, so she needs to rest for a few days.”

“Ah, I see. That’s nice.”