Too naive? World star signs for three clubs at once | OneFootball

When one thinks back to the name Bernd Schuster, several words come to mind to describe the man in his footballing role. Looking at Schuster’s style of play, he was certainly a brilliant technician and an absolute passing machine. At the same time, according to some accounts, he was a rather difficult character off the pitch, which made him a troublemaker to some and a rebel to others.

An adjective that is certainly rarely used to describe the former Barça star is naive. And to specify how rare, it should be said that it probably only ever came from a single mouth: that of former FC manager Karl-Heinz Thelen.

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Since this is, of course, not an @outofcontextkarlheinzthelen format, the situation should be briefly explained. As Thelen once explained to '11Freunde', he was a guest at an international youth tournament during the winter break of 1977 to get an idea of the young talents who might be brought to Cologne. The then FC manager immediately noticed a young guy – Bernd Schuster. The 17-year-old played so impressively that Thelen immediately invited him to Cologne to sign a professional contract.

No sooner said than done. Schuster traveled to Cologne and signed his contract for the 1978/79 season. But when a short time later a message from the DFB arrived, Karl-Heinz Thelen was quite puzzled. Schuster had not only signed a professional contract with FC, but also with Borussia Mönchengladbach and his youth club, FC Augsburg.

As Thelen explained to '11Freunde', this was not done out of any malicious intent. "Bernd was not cunning or even sly, rather he was probably just a bit naive," the then FC manager assessed the situation. The offers from Gladbach and Augsburg kept getting better for the young player, so he always signed the better contract each time.

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The case went to court. Since Schuster had signed with FC first, the “Billy Goats” won the case and were able to secure the services of the youngster. Even the damages claim by the “Foals” for around 600,000 DM came to nothing.

Schuster played for Cologne for at least two years before moving on to top clubs like Barça or Real Madrid. In the end, the midfielder had an impressive club career, which, as Karl-Heinz Thelen would say, could have turned out very differently due to his naivety.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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