Contract Issues

Back home, he happened to see Guardiola kicking a ball around in the yard.

Guardiola was a coach who transitioned from being a professional player after retiring, and he occasionally played football to unwind.

So in the yard behind their house, there was a large patch of lawn with a goal, their personal pitch for father-son games.

"Why are you back so early today?"

Seeing Lin Quan home at this hour, Guardiola was a bit surprised.

He had coached Barca's youth team and knew their training schedule well.

And if he remembered correctly, the youth team had a crucial match in a few days—they should be ramping up training right now.

From what he knew of Lin Quan, he wasn't the type to skip practice without reason.

So there had to be something else going on.

"Out of sight, out of mind!"

Lin Quan took off his jacket, jogged onto the grass, and started sparring with Guardiola.

Guardiola kept the ball under control as he asked:

"What's the club's plan?"

Though he tried to keep his tone calm, Lin Quan could still hear the anger in his voice.

"They want to loan me out."

"Where to?"

"Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga."

Guardiola fell silent for a moment. Earlier, when Lin Quan had expressed his desire to leave Barca, he had already started leveraging his connections to find a suitable team for him to gain experience.

But he hadn't expected the club to move so fast—before he could even line up a destination, Barca was already eager to ship him off.

"The Bundesliga..."

Guardiola mused. He had never played in the Bundesliga, but he had faced Bundesliga teams many times and had a decent understanding of it.

Compared to other leagues, the Bundesliga was a solid option.

It had a lot of young players—not just talented youngsters from across Europe, but also many from other continents.

That was because, relative to other leagues, the Bundesliga had looser restrictions on non-EU players.

They didn't cap the number of non-EU registrations, making it a popular stepping stone for young players from outside the EU when entering the Top Five Leagues.

For instance, many young Japanese and Korean players started their overseas careers in the Bundesliga.

In the past, quite a few Chinese players had also played in the Bundesliga, but as the national team's level declined and the Chinese Super League's financial bubble inflated, the number of players capable of going abroad had dropped sharply.

Even the occasional player who met the standard preferred to stay home for a big contract.

After all, why start from scratch in a unfamiliar place when you could earn top wages playing on your own doorstep? Naturally, most chose the latter.

But for players from other non-EU countries, they didn't have such luxuries, so playing in the Bundesliga let them accumulate experience in the Top Five Leagues.

They could improve their skills, wait for the right moment, and once they made a name for themselves, consider transferring to another league for a big payday.

As a result, the Bundesliga was packed with young players, making it the league with the lowest average age among the Top Five Leagues—under 25.

Thanks to this influx of young talent, some Bundesliga clubs ran a "selling club" model.

They bought low-potential young prospects cheaply, developed them through domestic league and cup matches, and then sold them at a high price to Giant Clubs in leagues like the Premier League or La Liga, raking in profits.

Among them, the most famous was Dortmund.

Even though Lin Quan wasn't going to Dortmund, every Giant Club loved buying from the Bundesliga.

As long as he performed well at Werder Bremen, scouts from the Top Five Leagues would take notice.

Then transferring away from Werder Bremen wouldn't be hard. With that in mind, Guardiola asked:

"How much time is left on your contract with the club?"

The issue wasn't just the loan—it was also his contract with Barca.

He could tell that Lin Quan was deeply unhappy with the club's "kill the donkey after it's done the work" attitude.

Though he hadn't said a single bad word about the club, his cold demeanor made it clear he had no emotional attachment to Barca anymore.

That meant even if he succeeded at Werder Bremen, he probably wouldn't want to return to Barca.

But that wasn't entirely up to him.

As long as he was still under contract, Barca could recall him after the loan ended.

"One year left. Since you said you were planning to take a break, I didn't renew with the club."

Lin Quan was currently on a youth contract, signed when he was 13 with Barca, lasting four years with an annual salary of €22,000.

He had turned 15 last year and could have signed a professional contract with Barca.

But for players who weren't particularly outstanding, Barca didn't rush to offer professional contracts. Instead, they kept observing, waiting to see if the player met their standards or could be sold for profit before signing them.

Originally, if Lin Quan hadn't left this year, Barca would have renewed his contract. Otherwise, waiting until next year could let him become a free agent and get poached by another team.

But now, after Guardiola's resignation, Barca has made it clear they don't want to renew his contract, and Lin Quan himself has no intention of extending it either.

So, his contract only has one year left.

"What's the buyout clause?"

Guardiola knew this contract was the crux of the issue. If the buyout amount wasn't too high, he could just pay it out of his own pocket.

That way, they wouldn't be restricted by Barca anymore.

"Same as Messi—five million euros!"

Lin Quan looked at Guardiola with an innocent expression. The latter slapped his own bald head, suddenly remembering that he was the one who set that buyout clause.

"Ha, I had high hopes for you back then, so I set it the same as Messi's!"

When Messi was in the youth team, his contract buyout was also five million euros. Even so, Barca was terrified someone might poach him. As soon as he turned sixteen, they immediately offered him a nine-year professional contract, then used Boss Messi for seven or eight years at rock-bottom wages!

Barca really knew how to get a free ride!