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

When you think back to the name Bernd Schuster, a few 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 rather a 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 Thielen.

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Since this is, of course, not an @outofcontextkarlheinzthielen format, the situation should be briefly explained. As Thielen once explained to ‘11Freunde’, he was a guest at an international youth tournament during the winter break of 1977 to get an impression of young talents who could potentially be brought to Cologne. The then FC manager immediately noticed a young guy—Bernd Schuster. The 17-year-old put on such a performance that Thielen invited him straight 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 message from the DFB arrived shortly afterwards, Karl-Heinz Thielen was left puzzled. Schuster had not only signed a professional contract with FC, but also with Borussia Mönchengladbach and his youth club, FC Augsburg.

As Thielen explained to ‘11Freunde’, this was not done with any ill intent. “Bernd was not cunning or even sly, rather he was probably a little 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 enjoy the services of the youngster. Even the claim for damages of around 600,000 DM from the “Foals” came to nothing.

Schuster played for Cologne for two years, before moving on to top clubs like Barça and Real Madrid. In the end, the midfielder had an impressive club career, which, as Karl-Heinz Thielen would say, could have turned out very differently—if not for a bit of naivety.

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

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