Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 37

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Yohan’s selection for the England national team became a hot topic.

-Current League Top Scorer Yohan Van Confirmed for England National Team!

-West Ham United’s Yohan Van, England’s Youngest National Team Debut Ever?

In the history of the England national team, the youngest debut record was held by Theo Walcott.

In 2006, during a friendly match against Hungary just before the World Cup, Theo Walcott replaced Michael Owen, who was a starter at the time, in the 21st minute of the second half, marking his first appearance on the field as a national team player.

At that time, Walcott was 17 years and 75 days old.

So,

If Yohan were to step onto the field during this call-up, he would break that record by a significant margin.

The majority of England football fans welcomed the call-up of this young player.

The emergence of a new star always excites football fans, but Yohan was even more special.

It was because Yohan’s team was West Ham.

After all,

Even though West Ham was showing a different side this season, they still couldn’t be considered as strong as the top teams.

West Ham’s results were good only because of Yohan’s incredible goal-scoring ability, and the game itself always felt like an underdog story.

Because of this,

Fans were looking forward to seeing what new aspects Yohan would show if he played for a ‘strong team.’

As such, the news of Yohan’s call-up drew a lot of attention from England football fans.

However,

The place that actually caught fire from the news was not England, but Korea.

-[Breaking] Van Yohan Chooses England National Team… Gives Up Korean National Team Eligibility

└Is this true?

└That’s too much;;

└His dad was a Korean national team player, but the son chooses the English national team?

└He would be a guaranteed starter if he came to Korea;; But it’s not like England can win the Euros or the World Cup

└That’s why he didn’t come. He’s guaranteed to be a slave if he comes to Korea. I wouldn’t come either.

└I heard he’s lazy and doesn’t train properly. I knew this would happen.

-Van Seok-ho’s Son Van Yohan, the Van Family’s Lineage of Korean National Team Representation Ends After Two Generations

└If they hadn’t used Van Seok-ho like a slave, they wouldn’t have had to worry about a national team striker for the next 10 years ㅋㅋ [Korean slang for ‘laughing out loud’]

└KFA [Korean Football Association], what did you guys do?

└Van Seok-ho retired three years early because he was going back and forth between England and Korea… If the KFA had been a little more considerate, he would have scored over 100 PL [Premier League] goals.

└Still, how can he abandon his country ㅋㅋ

└He wasn’t born in England, and he was born in Korea, so is it right for him to represent England?

└If you were him, would you give up the English national team and choose the Korean national team? I would go to England.

└I would choose Korea. Do you think he can play as a starter in England?

└What about this call-up then? Does being called up at 16 seem like nothing to you? It’s obvious they’re trying to give him experience from an early age and develop him.

-What is the Meaning of Appointing 16-Year-Old Van Yohan by Manager Ranieri? Competition with Maguire?

└They just called him up in advance because they were afraid of losing him to Korea. If they hadn’t called him up this time, he would have debuted in Korea. So they picked him just in case.

└Yeah, that’s right. They often call up players with complicated nationalities at a young age to tie them down.

└It’s going to be hard to push out Maguire from the national team. It’s a special case at West Ham.

└Maguire is only twenty-four, so he’s going to be in his prime for at least six more years. It doesn’t seem easy to be a starter.

└Ranieri values 9.5-style players like Maguire a lot, so will there be a place for him?

└Starter competition is going too far. He’s only sixteen years old ㅋㅋ

└Will he play for about 3 minutes in this game? It’s not a friendly, it’s the Nations League against Spain and Italy.

The reaction in Korea was, as expected, heated, with conflicting opinions.

First of all, it was inevitable that many fans felt betrayed by the fact that Yohan chose England over Korea.

Yohan wasn’t a mixed-race player, and even though he was a 1.5-generation immigrant [someone who immigrated in their youth], he was still purely Korean.

It felt quite unusual to Korean fans that such a player would play for the England national team.

On the other hand, there were also many who understood.

It would be different if the England national team hadn’t called him up.

Many fans sympathized with the idea that if they had a choice between the two, they would choose England.

These people instead raised their voices criticizing the Korean Football Association for not calling up Yohan sooner.

Of course, the Korean FA would feel wronged by this criticism.

They could argue that there was no way they could have called up a player who was a regular person until a few months ago.

Anyway,

Amidst those conflicting opinions, there was one thing that was a common opinion.

That was that since Yohan had chosen England, he would have to face much tougher competition than if he had chosen the Korean national team.

This was because if Yohan had chosen Korea, a starting position would have been guaranteed.

Currently, there was no Korean striker who could play as a starter in the PL and score 2 goals per game.

So,

If Yohan was a Korean national team player, he would have been greatly valued and would have been able to build his career from a young age.

He could have played in the World Cup qualifiers, the Asian Cup, and the World Cup finals in three years, all as a ‘starter.’

But what about England?

It wouldn’t be easy.

Of course, if he was consistently selected, he might be able to build a career that was incomparable.

But, there are quite a few young and talented players in England. It’s a competition that can’t be compared to Korea.

There are many players who would have been selected for the national team if they were Korean, but can’t even dream of it because they are English.

Of course, with Yohan’s talent, there were many opinions that he could be selected for the England national team and step onto a higher stage than Korea.

However, there were still doubts about whether he could build a career as a ‘starter.’

Well, even so.

Many people agreed that it would be better to go to the tournament as an England substitute than to play as a starter in Korea and be eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup.

That was something to watch.

Whether Yohan would end up as a substitute player in England, where the competition is fierce, or whether he would become a starter.

We’ll have to wait and see.

ㆍㆍㆍ

September 24, 2027.

St. George’s Park National Football Centre.

At this gathering place for the England national football team, the players called by manager Ranieri began to appear one by one.

“Maguire! Say hello!”

“Parker! Look over here!”

“Ziegler!”

Sleek sedans, tough SUVs, or flashy sports cars.

The players, dressed neatly in suits, waved leisurely at the reporters as they headed to the center from various luxury cars.

Everyone was so young and healthy that it was like watching a runway show.

“…Huh?”

“Who is that?”

In contrast, the reporters lowered their cameras and narrowed their eyes at the sight of a player who got out of the car afterward.

A large gray hoodie and shorts, even boasting messy hair under the pressed-down hood.

“Ah, Barney!”

“It’s Barney Junior!”

It was Yohan.

Yohan, who got out of the car with a drowsy face, frowned at the noisy reporters with half-closed eyes.

“Yohan, here. Do well. Listen to the coach.”

“Yes…”

Yohan, who didn’t have a driver’s license, came in Van Seok-ho’s car.

Yohan passed in front of the reporters with a backpack handed over by Van Seok-ho on one side.

“He’s just like a high school student.”

“Haha, you can tell it’s his first time here. It’s nice to see him so fresh.”

“Young players have that kind of charm.”

“I’ve never seen players who are full of pretense from a young age do well.”

A hearty laugh erupted among the reporters at Yohan’s extremely natural appearance.

He really looked like a student.

Of course, he was tall, with broad shoulders and long legs, so even in a hoodie and shorts, he had a masculine air.

However, he certainly didn’t have a sophisticated feel, so he didn’t feel like a player who had been selected for the national team at all.

He just looked like a student going to school.

But that’s why he was more likable.

What should I say?

On the surface, he looked like a fool who only knew about soccer.

The reality is the opposite, but anyway.

Yohan entered St. George’s Park for the first time, a place he might visit often in the future.

After formally entering St. George’s Park, Manager Ranieri gathered the players who had joined the national team after a long time in the media center and started by telling them various stories.

The purpose of this call-up, the importance of these games and the mindset that comes with it, and how he would run the national team.

Most of the players listened attentively to Manager Ranieri’s words, even though they had been called up many times.

Before taking over the national team, Manager Ranieri, who had coached Everton, was a young and talented manager who was expected to lead England not only in the next Euros but also in the next World Cup.

Because of this, the players had great trust in Manager Ranieri, and everyone had enthusiastic faces full of fighting spirit.

Of course,

Except for Yohan.

“Snore…”

“…?”

While Manager Ranieri’s passionate speech was continuing, the players turned their heads one by one at the sound of snoring coming from somewhere.

And the expressions of the players who realized that the source of the sound was the youngster who was called up for the first time today became a sight to behold.

Yohan, sitting in the back row, was nodding off, very comfortably.

‘What is this guy?’

That was exactly what their expressions said.

The players looked at Yohan with expressions that said, ‘What is this guy doing?’

Those players soon looked at Manager Ranieri’s reaction.

The snoring was echoing through the media center, so Manager Ranieri couldn’t help but hear it.

However, Manager Ranieri smiled and continued his speech, holding back.

‘Coach Schmidt asked me to do something.’

Was it yesterday?

Manager Ranieri had received a long text message from West Ham’s coach Schmidt.

It was about Yohan.

Perhaps he thought of Yohan as a grandson, he said he was worried and wrote a few words, but it wasn’t just a few words, it was so long that it had a table of contents.

What kind of guy Yohan was, what he hated, and how to deal with him.

Manager Ranieri had read and memorized every single one of them, feeling the affection in the message.

One of them was not to touch him as much as possible outside of the stadium.

Even if he looked a bit insincere on the outside, he was a nice guy and didn’t harm others, so leave him alone if possible.

Coach Schmidt said that as long as he didn’t harm others, it didn’t matter as long as he did well in the stadium.

Manager Ranieri agreed.

Of course, players who were insincere, had a bad attitude, and had a negative impact on their teammates, so-called troublemakers, could not be tolerated no matter how good they were at soccer.

However, just dozing off like that… I can let it slide. He’s still young.

Manager Ranieri was quite open-minded, as befitting his young age.

However,

What was clear was that not touching him outside the stadium was only the case when he did well inside the stadium.

If he couldn’t play soccer well, then of course, he would have to look for the reasons outside the stadium.

So, if he wanted to continue to let him doze off like this, he would have to show it – that he had the ability on the pitch to be able to overlook this.

Well, of course, he brought him in because he had already seen that ability on the field.

But this place has a different weight.

“Okay, let’s stop here. Let’s gather at training ground A. That’s all!”

“Yes!”

Yohan was a little worried.

What should I say?

It felt like he was transferring schools for a while.

Leaving West Ham, which he was now used to, and having to train and play games with new players and new coaches.

He couldn’t help but be worried.

Coach Schmidt was still a flexible person, but it could be different here.

To be honest, he felt a little, just a little, like he missed Coach Schmidt and his teammates.

But, when he actually came, he was relieved.

For some reason, the training method assigned to him was not much different from West Ham’s.

As he did there, here too, Manager Ranieri and the coaches gave him task-oriented training, and they said they would send him back to the dorm alone if he finished all of this.

So it wasn’t too bad.

However, it was true that he wasn’t very motivated.

At West Ham, he had a goal.

He had to win the championship and fulfill the options he saw when he signed the contract.

Because he had that goal, he trained and played the game well.

But here, well, there is no goal.

He didn’t choose the England national team for any particular reason; he just chose it because he didn’t have to go far, so he didn’t have any sense of duty.

So, when Yohan was sighing and half-heartedly participating in the training, it was a national team teammate who unintentionally touched Yohan.

“Hey, kid. You’re on fire these days, aren’t you?”

“…?”

A handsome player speaks to him – a midfielder from Manchester City, Jack Price.

Price put his arm around Yohan’s shoulder in a friendly manner, even though it was their first meeting.

“You should come to City, right?”

“Yes?”

“You said your goal is to win the league championship.”

“Yes.”

“Then you should come to our team. You can’t win there. I know it well as your senior.”

Yohan didn’t know, but Jack Price was from the West Ham Academy. Of course, he debuted in the first team and played as a key player right away.

But Price, who had ambition, transferred to Man City after only 3 years, and in his first season after the transfer, he won two trophies.