The Times: "Asian prodigy's shocking performance, a second Premier League hat-trick helps Liverpool lift the English top-flight title for the first time in 30 years!"
Football News: "The biggest regret in European football this season: Manchester City finish second in the Premier League with 99 points!"
The Guardian: "29 goals and 20 assists in 21 rounds, TJ wins both the Premier League Golden Boot and Young Player of the Year!"
Marca: "Guardiola: Liverpool's success this season isn't the work of one man, but TJ certainly played a decisive role, and we were very close to getting him."
The Sun: "Real Madrid makes another move. Florentino once again praises TJ's performance, calling him a once-in-a-century genius who will be the next King of the Champions League."
The first league title in 30 years. That night, even the Liverpool players, who had just finished a match, celebrated wildly until the early hours of the morning. Tendou, who hadn't had a drink since coming to England, also raised a glass in this atmosphere.
Liverpool had booked the top floor of the city's largest nightclub for the celebration. Arnold directly called his supermodel girlfriend and invited her model friends to start the party.
Watching his teammates shamelessly embracing the models, Tendou truly felt a sense of regret. He regretted bringing Riko over so soon.
Of course, that was a joke.
It was too wild. The supermodels, who appeared so glamorous in front of the camera, revealed their truest selves here and now. After observing them, Tendou gave up any plans for "friendly exchanges." After all, while there might not be opportunities while playing in Liverpool, with so many European away games each year, if Tendou wanted to cheat, there would be plenty of chances.
For now, he'd pass.
...
When he woke up the next day, Tendou had no idea how he had gotten home last night. Klopp had announced a three-day holiday for the team.
Just three days. Because Liverpool still had an incredibly important match to play this year. They would face Tottenham at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Spain to compete for this year's Champions League title.
Jonathan's call came in around noon.
"I hope you're awake, TJ."
"I'm wide awake. If you have something to say, just say it. A holiday is a rare thing for me."
Hearing it was Jonathan, Tendou knew that it was highly likely another big-money offer had come knocking.
As expected, Jonathan brought him two endorsement deals. Not from some second-rate brands, but from the two sports giants, Adidas and Nike. They both hoped to sign this new heartthrob.
Adidas offered a 5-year contract worth €50 million, while Nike offered a contract of the same duration but valued at €55 million.
That was over €10 million per year to start. This was Tendou's current value.
With the Premier League Golden Boot, Young Player of the Year, and the upcoming Golden Boy award in hand, he was undoubtedly one of the hottest rising stars in world football at the moment.
The reason he was "one of" was because that guy Loki had a World Cup. The Hercules Cup added too much value! So much so that in the original world, it was the one thing Messi and Ronaldo lacked to be definitively crowned as kings. And in the end, it was Messi who was crowned.
Even with Tendou's incredible stats and performances, he could only be mentioned alongside Loki as the "new twin stars."
This contract wasn't the absolute top tier; Messi and Ronaldo's deals were each worth over €20 million a year. But considering he had played for less than a year, such an offer was simply astonishing. A large part of this was likely due to the "heartthrob" image Jonathan had cultivated for him.
"What do you think?" Tendou asked for his agent's opinion. In this area, Jonathan was the professional.
"No need to rush. Liverpool is in excellent form right now, and you have a very high chance of winning the Champions League and becoming double champions."
"It's just a pity your coach was too cautious and gave up on the FA Cup early. Otherwise, Liverpool might have had a real shot at the treble!"
Without international tournaments like the World Cup or the European Championship, the Champions League is the best stage to increase a player's value. And the Champions League title...
"As long as you win the Champions League, you can earn at least an extra €1 million a year. If you can win the Champions League Golden Boot, I'm confident I can get them to add at least €2 million!"
Tendou was currently 2 goals behind Messi in the Champions League scoring charts. If he could score two goals in the final, he could tie with Messi and be crowned the Champions League top scorer. If he scored three...
Jonathan didn't let his thoughts go there. A hat-trick in a Champions League final was too difficult. It had only happened 3 times in history!
Ferenc Puskás. Yes, the man the Puskás Award is named after. He scored a hat-trick in the 1962 Champions League final, helping Real Madrid lead Benfica 3-2 at halftime. Unfortunately, in the second half, Benfica scored three unanswered goals, and Real Madrid lost 5-3.
The second one... well, it was also Puskás. Besides his 1962 hat-trick, this legend also scored four goals in the 1960 Champions League final. Two of the three hat-tricks in Champions League final history were scored by this man.
The third was AC Milan legend Pierino Prati, who also scored a hat-trick in the 1969 Champions League final, helping AC Milan beat Ajax 4-1.
In the long history of world football, only 2 people have accomplished this feat, which shows just how difficult a Champions League hat-trick is.
Never mind a hat-trick; in modern football, since the tournament was rebranded, only 7 players have managed to score a brace in the final. The most recent was in the 16-17 season when Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice for Real Madrid against Juventus, helping his team win the title and surpassing Messi to win the European Golden Shoe.
...
So, as bold as Jonathan was, he only dared to imagine Tendou scoring a brace in the final to tie Messi's goal tally. Because in a final, both teams would play very cautiously. Unless there was a huge disparity in strength, it was unlikely to be a high-scoring game.
"I understand. Let's talk to them after the Champions League final is over."
Tendou hung up the phone, got up, found Riko, and went out for the day.
Since Liverpool still had the Champions League to play, they didn't hold a title parade immediately after the league ended. They hoped to celebrate the league and Champions League titles at the same time.
...
The 3-day holiday passed quickly. The Liverpool players returned to training to prepare for the match against Tottenham. Time flew by during their training.
On this day, May 24, 2019, the U20 World Cup kicked off in Poland. The group stage would only last for 3 days. On the first matchday, the games for Group A and Group B were held simultaneously.
Tendou left Liverpool on this day and went to Poland to watch Japan's opening match against Nigeria in person.
As soon as Tendou got off the plane, a private car was there to pick him up. Looking out the car window, he could see fans from various countries everywhere. Although it was a U20-level tournament, far from the sensation of a senior World Cup, it was still connected to national pride and naturally captured the hearts of fans from all over the world.
Tendou didn't pay much attention to the match itself; he was just there to farm popularity points. To him, what was there to see in a match of chickens pecking at each other? He'd rather be at home playing cards with Riko!