Weird Defender Joo Ji-Tae

123 – Declaration

123

For the past 10 years, Barcelona has been notorious for its failed signings, but even among the worst, there are degrees of failure. If I had to pick the most disastrous position, I couldn’t leave out the center-back.

Just mentioning the representative failures, there are Samuel Umtiti, Thomas Vermaelen, Jeremy Mathieu, and Eric Mina.

Barcelona, which has been struggling to find a good center-back, spent a whopping 1.25 billion euros to sign one. The expectations are unimaginable.

The board is so extreme that they even came to the scene to take official photos, demanding a ridiculous concept shot.

It’s like they’re saying, “We need a coronation ceremony for the new emperor, so we need an impactful shot.” They wanted a majestic shot of me sitting on the throne.

“Do you know? You have to put this on the star’s social media. I’m not doing it because I’m a middle school student or a show-off, but because the board demanded it. It’s not because of the comments saying I’m a show-off, but because I’m really unhappy about it.”

Joo Ji-tae explained to Jo Ye-rin.

“I didn’t really want to take the photo. I’m not a middle school student or a show-off,” he emphasized.

“Really? I thought the photo looked cool,” she said.

The only thing that comes back is a pure astonishment.

With that natural astonishment, Joo Jitae let out a sly smile.

“Hmm, is that so? Of course, the concept was quite cool.”

The photo of him sitting arrogantly on the throne, looking down, was enough to make any man’s heart race. So, this wasn’t just some mediocre or pretentious behavior.

As Joo Jitae laughed awkwardly while making excuses, Jo Yeosin just nodded her head.

“Sigh, men are like that. They never grow up, no matter how old they get.”

* * *

Joo Jitae’s recruitment had created quite a positive public opinion.

“Barcelona’s official homepage has uploaded a unique official photo! What does it mean?”

Additionally, there were photos filled with pretentiousness.

“Barcelona acknowledges the new emperor, Joo Jitae.”

“Germany has been conquered, and the next destination is Spain, Barcelona!”

—Finally, we got a decent center-back! This is a great recruitment!

—I thought Mateu Alemany was following Bartomeu’s footsteps when I saw the recruitment four years ago.

—Hey, friends, don’t worry. I think it’s okay to spend 1.25 billion euros on this young Asian friend. After all, he’s a World Cup Golden Ball winner!

—Do you even watch football these days? He’s a Golden Ball winner in both the U-20 and adult World Cups!

—Personally, I think it’s an overpayment, but anyway, welcome to Barcelona, Asia’s best!

However, despite the reaction to Joo Jitae’s recruitment, Barcelona was surrounded by dark prospects at the time.

“The squad has finally been confirmed! The average age of Barcelona’s players is only 25.3 years old!”

“Veterans have all been let go, and the team is trying to refresh its atmosphere, but what do the experts predict?”

“Barcelona, which has been struggling since winning the Champions League, has no solution.”

The 30/31 season. 16 years after dramatically winning the Champions League, Barcelona had finally regained its pride as a top club. But why did the phrase “dramatic win” come about?

At the time, Barcelona was evaluated as a team far from being a championship contender.

The outcome of the tournament was unpredictable, but Barcelona’s win was dramatic, and the Barcelona board, who knew this well, dreamed of rebuilding the team through reckless squad expansion. However, reality was harsh.

After the dramatic Champions League win in the 30/31 season, Barcelona failed to win any trophies.

Not just the Champions League, but any official match.

The board’s reckless big signing policy, aimed at rebuilding the team, had backfired, and the team had become inefficient and wasteful.

The pride of being the world’s first cooperative club had been tarnished by the inefficient and wasteful management of the operating team.

Of course, Joo Jitae was aware of all this.

“If I’m going to make a comeback, I should do it like a comeback king.”

After all, a comeback king should show off his exceptional vision.

Things that others didn’t notice, like undervalued gems. For example, the current Barcelona?

“Oh my… the name value is terrifying.”

The first training session after joining Barcelona.

Joo Jitae looked at the player list and swallowed a laugh.

“Haha… that… Joo Jitae player. The current team is a bit… struggling overall. This isn’t just about reducing salary burdens, but really calling up talented players. It’s true.”

The interpreter, who was taken aback by the reaction, kept murmuring something, but Joo Jitae didn’t care.

He was truly moved by the player list.

“Ah, this is the loneliness of a prophet. Looking at this player list and feeling despair, saying it’s a mess… I really want to die from embarrassment.”

The 34/35 season, when Joo Jitae joined, was a time when the team, which had become wasteful after the dramatic Champions League win four years ago, was almost cleaned up.

The board of directors didn’t regain their sanity, but simply got rid of several high-salary players during the process of recruiting David Martinez from AT Madrid last year.

Despite offering 1.1 billion euros, AT Madrid rejected the proposal for David Martinez, and the money was eventually used to recruit Juzitai a year later.

It was an unexpected phone call for the Barcelona board of directors.

Of course, the investment in Juzitai was enormous, leaving no financial leeway, which also put an end to Barcelona’s bad habit of hoarding mediocre players.

In any case, many players were sent away, but there was no money to recruit new ones, so a call-up was necessary to complete the first team. The board of directors had to dig deep into La Masia to find talented players and promote them to the first team.

The result is the current roster.

Now, there are many criticisms, but for Juzitai, it was exactly what he wanted.

“Wow, it’s Juzitai! He’s really here today.”

“He’s a 100 million euro player, so he should be worth it. He looked great on TV.”

“Unbelievable! It’s really Juzitai! That guy is completely crazy!”

As Juzitai observed the Barcelona players, the Barcelona players also observed Juzitai.

Of course, their meanings were slightly different.

The Barcelona players had high expectations and were curious about Juzitai, the owner of the World Cup Golden Ball, who had transferred with a record-breaking transfer fee.

Juzitai, on the other hand, was smiling complacently at the familiar faces, proud of his own choice.

“It’s obvious that I’m the best, with my knowledge of the future.”

These were the players who would lead Barcelona’s resurgence.

Although it hasn’t been proven yet, everyone will know once the season starts.

It’s just a matter of time before it’s proven.

Remember the Monaco team in the 16/17 season.

At that time, every team that participated in the Champions League prayed to avoid Monaco. Why? Because they thought Monaco was weak.

But looking back at Monaco’s squad at that time, what evaluation would you give?

Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy, Fabinho, Thomas Lemar, Bakayoko, Falcao, Sidibe… it’s a lineup with incredible name value.

Four out of Monaco’s starting 11 players in the 16/17 season went on to play in the Champions League final with different teams.

Mbappe played in the 19/20 Champions League final with PSG, Fabinho won the Champions League with Liverpool in 18/19, and Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy reached the 20/21 Champions League final with Manchester City. Bernardo Silva also made a significant contribution to Manchester City’s 22/23 Champions League title.

The other players also transferred to top teams, despite being underestimated at the time.

In the end, Monaco proved themselves by reaching the Champions League semifinals that year.

And now, the Barcelona squad is in a similar situation.

“Okay, okay, calm down and gather around. As you all know, we have a new player from Korea, Juzitai, who has joined us. He’s a center-back and enjoys playing forward, so he’ll be a great asset to our team.”

Barcelona’s young coach, Jose Luis Molowny, introduced Juzitai, who responded in fluent Spanish.

“I saw the reaction on SNS today, and it was crazy. They’re saying Barcelona is finished this year.”

“…….”

The lively atmosphere suddenly turned cold.

Young Jose, the interpreter standing next to him, the club president Jung Seon-woo, and some board members, as well as the players, all lost their words and stared at Juzitai.

And in that moment, Juzitai made a declaration that would go down in Barcelona history.

“But I’m here to win. I don’t care what they say outside. I think the players here are sufficient to achieve my goal. My goal for this season is the Treble.”

It was a bold and arrogant declaration of the Treble.