After a brief greeting, Raiola bid farewell to Wolfsburg's management and drove back to the apartment with Mark.
Click, the door opened.
Mark entered the house first, followed by his agent, Raiola.
"Make yourself at home, don't be shy."
Walking directly to the refrigerator, Mark casually asked, "Mino, what would you like to drink?"
"Get me a can of Coke."
"No Coke, only juice."
"Then pour me a glass of juice!"
After pouring two glasses of juice, Mark returned to the living room and handed one of them to Raiola.
At this moment, Raiola, sitting on the sofa, casually asked, "Do you live alone?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Not at the moment."
"Then before you get a girlfriend in the future, you'd better give me a call first."
Hearing this, Mark looked at Raiola with interest and smiled, "You're going to manage my girlfriends too?"
Facing Mark's question, Raiola merely shrugged: "Of course not! However, once I know her name, I can then check her background."
"Otherwise, who knows if she's deliberately approaching you just to extort money from you."
After a pause, Raiola casually picked up the juice, took a big gulp, and continued, "You're still young, you have no idea how troublesome women can be. Many players have given the money they worked so hard to earn to those shameless harlots because they couldn't control their lower half..."
Raiola's words made Mark feel there was some truth to them.
Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Adriano, Neymar... many superstar players had gotten into legal trouble because of women, resulting in huge compensation payments.
"Don't worry, if I get a girlfriend, I'll let you know."
"That's enough."
Draining the juice in his glass, Raiola then said, "Alright, enough small talk, let's discuss business..."
"For every player, we develop a short-term and long-term career plan."
"The long-term career plan is, of course, for you to join a top club, then compete for championship trophies, and lift the Ballon d'Or."
"As for the short-term plan, let's start with your salary!"
"120,000 euros? That's too low! Ridiculously low!"
After complaining, Raiola changed the subject: "However, that's not the most important thing right now."
"What is it then?"
"The most important thing is your performance on the field!"
"You need to prove to the club with your excellent performance that such a salary is simply not worthy of you!"
"In the upcoming matches, you must showcase your value."
"Then, after the League ends, based on your performance, I will discuss your new contract with the club."
It is worth mentioning that due to Germany's individual tax rate of up to 45%, players are reluctant to pay half of their salaries in taxes.
Therefore, almost all players in the top five Leagues use various methods to avoid taxes.
Mark not only signed an agency contract with Raiola's agency but also assigned his image rights to a third-party investment company cooperating with Raiola's agency.
The advantage of doing this is that it can generate more income!
Take Mark as an example: Mark assigned his image rights to a company registered in a free tax zone in New Jersey.
Then, this company sold these image rights to Wolfsburg and its sponsors.
The reason for this extra step is very clear:
If the club directly paid a player one hundred euros, then due to the extremely high tax rate, both parties would lose forty euros.
However, through a third-party company, they only lost nineteen euros.
Moreover, the player does not have to pay additional taxes for this!
"Or, if you want to transfer to another team, I can also arrange that for you."
Hearing this, Mark merely raised an eyebrow and then responded, "I'm very happy at this club, and I don't want to leave for now. At least not until the end of next season..."
In Mark's opinion, staying at Wolfsburg was his best option right now.
Firstly, as the head coach, Hecking trusted him and was willing to invest time in developing him.
The fact that Hecking specifically called him to his office to explain why he wasn't being started yet was enough to prove Hecking's regard for him.
Secondly, the development environment of the Wolfsburg team was relatively mild.
Although they were only competing on one front, there weren't many matches.
However, the depth of personnel in the midfield and attack wasn't thick, so he could serve as a substitute for both the left winger and the right winger.
And with his continued stable and excellent performances, coupled with improvements in his physical fitness, it was only a matter of time before he replaced Caligiuri as the starting right winger.
If he were to transfer to another club after only half a season spent establishing himself at Wolfsburg, he would have to re-adapt to a new environment, new team tactics, and also compete with other wingers.
Everything would have to start over!
What's more, next year, Wolfsburg would stir up a green and white storm in the entire Bundesliga, almost pulling the Bundesliga hegemon, the The Southern Star, from its throne.
He wondered if, with his help, Wolfsburg could once again break Bayern's monopoly on the Bundesliga title?!
This was a very tempting challenge!
Upon hearing Mark's firm answer, Raiola also smiled.
As an eighteen-year-old boy, Mark's rationality and calmness earned him great admiration.
"A wise choice!"
"In my plan for you, next season is the most important season of your career."
"Firstly, that will be your first full season. You must demonstrate an entire season of stability and excellent performance to attract the attention of top clubs."
"Secondly, you also need to play most of the matches throughout an entire season as a key player, to experience and adapt to the various pressures of a long League..."
Raiola was indeed one of the best agents in football today, with a clear understanding and vision for players' career planning and development.
Over the next hour, Raiola told Mark many things, including how players should take care of their bodies and which clubs had the most idiots.
Of course, there were also many small secrets and anecdotes about players.
Mark listened quietly, as if drawing nourishment from this football agent giant.
After finishing his fifth glass of juice, Raiola checked his watch and then stood up: "It's about time, I have other matters to attend to..."
"Oh, and by the way, once you perform well, sponsors will naturally come knocking with plenty of cash."
"However, I'm telling you in advance, I will not accept anything other than major brands from Germany or well-known foreign brands!"
"Why not?"
"Your image has a significant advantage in football; you can't just accept any old endorsement, it makes you seem cheap."
"Once other clubs are influenced by this cheap impression, your transfer fee, salary, and endorsement fees will be much lower during negotiations."
Pausing, Raiola raised his hand and patted Mark's shoulder, revealing a mysterious smile: "Young man, get ready... I will make you the super idol of Germany!"