Football: The strongest post-2000s Chapter 023

“Li, don’t train extra today, come with me to Mr. Alex’s office.”

Li Qing looked at head coach Neil Critchley in confusion.

Neil Critchley smiled and explained to Li Qing, “U 18 is different from the age groups you’ve been in before. Entering U 18 means you’ve passed the first stage of professional player selection, gained the recognition of the great Liverpool, and it’s time to sign a contract with the club.”

Li Qing then showed an expression of understanding. From U 6-U 9 to U 15-U 16, unless a player was exceptionally talented and received free or reduced tuition, they would have to pay a considerable tuition fee to the Kirkby Academy. However, it was different for U 18, which meant the player had met the most basic requirements for a professional player.

Because of this, the club affiliated with the youth academy would sign a preliminary professional contract with the player, which was an apprentice contract, signed between the youth academy and the player.

A true professional contract could only be signed at the earliest when the player reached seventeen years of age.

Of course, it didn’t mean that all players who signed apprentice contracts could sign professional contracts after reaching seventeen. As the saying goes, professional football requires strength. If the strength isn’t there, the apprentice contract won’t be renewed, or they’ll have to seek other opportunities.

According to what Li Qing understood, the weekly salary for apprentices generally wouldn’t be too high, usually in the range of a few hundred pounds. However, even so, converting it to RMB was quite a lot. Taking a weekly salary of 100 pounds as an example, it converted to nearly a thousand RMB, and multiplied by four weeks, it already exceeded most domestic working-class incomes.

Moreover, with the talent Li Qing displayed, he naturally wouldn’t be at the bottom with a weekly salary of 100 pounds.

So, based on the talent he currently showed, how much would his weekly salary be worth?

Five hundred? Eight hundred? A thousand? Or even higher?

While he was lost in thought, he had unknowingly followed Neil Critchley to the door of Youth Academy Director Inglethorpe’s office.

“Knock, knock, knock~”

As soon as Neil Critchley knocked on the door, Inglethorpe’s voice came from inside: “Come in.”

Li Qing and Neil Critchley entered the Youth Academy Director’s office together. Inside, besides Inglethorpe, there was an unfamiliar middle-aged man.

Inglethorpe saw that it was Li Qing and Neil Critchley who had entered. He put down what he was doing, shook hands with both of them, and then introduced the other person in the office to Li Qing: “This is the Director of Football Affairs, Nick Marshall. Your apprentice contract will be handled by him.”

“Li, hello.”

“Mr. Nick, hello.”

The two politely shook hands. Marshall got straight to the point, directly handing the prepared apprentice contract to Li Qing and saying solemnly, “Take a look first. If there are no problems, just sign it.”

Li Qing took the contract and thought to himself, “System, can you help me check if there are any problems with this contract?”

“Ten gold coins.”

The system prompt sounded.

Li Qing couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “System, are you a money grubber? You need gold coins just to look at a contract?”

“Of course.”

Li Qing was speechless at the system’s reply, but he didn’t use gold coins. After all, he didn’t have many gold coins left, and this apprentice contract was only two pages, simple and clear, nothing like a professional contract that could potentially be used by the club to scheme against him.

Besides, he might not have eaten pork, but he had seen pigs run, hadn’t he?

Li Qing, before transmigrating, was also a football fan, so he still understood the crucial parts.

The apprentice contract was very simple, without the complex goal bonuses, assist bonuses, honor bonuses, and appearance fees of a professional contract. It only had a basic weekly salary.

As a player, besides salary, the contract duration was also very important.

The weekly salary offered was completely beyond Li Qing’s expectations: a whopping 1200 pounds!

If converted to RMB, that would be over ten thousand…

This was a week’s salary!

Although Li Qing didn’t know what the maximum weekly salary for the U 18 youth team was, he knew that there definitely wouldn’t be many weekly salaries higher than 1200 pounds, and it might even be considered a mid-range income in the U 23.

The contract duration was also fine, it was just… he felt it was a little bit, only signing for two years.

This… did it mean he wasn’t valued?

Inglethorpe saw Li Qing frowning, thinking that Li Qing was not satisfied with this top-tier apprentice contract for the U 18 youth team, and said unhappily, “Li, are you not satisfied with this contract?”

Li Qing didn’t hear the displeasure in Inglethorpe’s words. He scratched the back of his head and said, “This… contract duration?”

Marshall thought Li Qing believed the contract duration was too long and smiled, “Li, two years is the maximum duration for an apprentice contract. It can’t be shorter. After two years, you’ll also be seventeen, and you can sign a professional contract with the club.”

Li Qing originally thought two years was too short and that he wasn’t valued. Now it seemed that signing for the maximum two years was a sign of valuing him. As for the lack of a buyout clause, that was easily understood.

The maximum duration for an apprentice contract was two years. In England, one could sign a professional contract at the age of seventeen. According to Li Qing’s understanding, if his strength didn’t meet the first-team requirements, the club wouldn’t sign a professional contract with him; at most, they would renew his apprentice contract.

What Li Qing didn’t know was that under the same terms, the original club had priority for renewal. Unless another club offered a higher salary after the contract expired, and according to UEFA regulations, the club that signed a player whose apprentice contract had expired needed to financially compensate the original club, which meant a buyout clause was optional.

Of course, any club would pay a high price to keep their homegrown rising stars before their contracts expired, unless the other party demanded too much.

A weekly salary of 1200 pounds, signed for two years, Li Qing was generally very satisfied, but after a brief thought, he decided to add something, and carefully said to Marshall, “Mr. Nick, can we add a clause to the contract: ‘If Party B continues to perform outstandingly, the contract terms may be revised within the contract period’?”

Inglethorpe, Marshall, and Neil Critchley exchanged glances, seeing surprise in each other’s eyes, but they were not at all annoyed, because Li Qing’s request was logical and reasonable.

What was the purpose of revising contract terms?

Wasn’t it for a raise?

Normally, asking for a raise might be excessive, but he said it was after continuously outstanding performance, which made the raise difficult to refuse.

Ultimately, this apprentice contract, with a weekly salary of 1200, had a clause added as suggested by Li Qing—if Party B continues to perform outstandingly, the contract terms may be revised within the contract period.

However, Marshall, as the club representative, naturally wouldn’t let his employer suffer too much and added a supplementary clause.

The review period would be at most once every six months.