Haphazardly | leon goretzka

Thirty-Nine: 'Judas'

Leon arrived at Veltins-Arena at his normal time on the twenty-first of January, 2018. The day might not seem significant to most, but to him, it was an important one; it was the first day he would play in a match since announcing that he was moving to Bayern in the summer. He was nervous as constant anxiety had overtaken him ever since word had gotten out about his future plans.

Leon knew the fans probably wouldn't be too happy about him switching to Bayern, as they thought he was doing it for the money. What they didn't know however was that it was more about his future goals rather than the money. In fact, Schalke had offered him two million Euros more per year to stay than his new team did, but he rejected the offer.

The media also said that he left to win championships, but didn't everyone? His decision didn't focus on that either though— it was more so that he was worried that he would end up somewhere he didn't want to be.

This past year one of Max and Leon's closest friends, Benedikt Höwedes, had been sent out on loan to Juventus from Schalke. This may not appear to be a big deal to most, but to the Schalke players, especially the ones who had been at the club for a while, this was a punch to the gut. Benni was their captain, their leader, and the club just loaned him out like he was just an average player— but Benni wasn't. It probably sounded foolish that Leon was so worried about this, but he didn't want to be like his friend— he wanted to be in charge of his future. And to be honest, Leon thought that leaving Schalke, as hard as it was for him, was the only way to accomplish this.

These thoughts clouded his mind while he walked towards the Veltins-Arena entrance with a few of his teammates. Leon tried to drown out the jeers and boos, but it was so hard. Some people had called him a 'Bayern-pig' or even 'Judas' when he entered the arena that morning. His training yesterday didn't go well either, as there was a very persistent fan who told Leon that 'he was lucky there were kids there, otherwise he'd pull him off the pitch himself.'

Leon knew that his decision would cause some backlash, but he didn't think it would be this bad. Honestly, he didn't know how he would make it through the next five months if tensions stayed this high.

∞

"Leon, just try to ignore it, alright? They're just hurt, they don't understand your situation, okay? Just go out there and give it your all—give them a reason to cheer for you and not against you."

The sad Schalke boy nodded his head before his best friend ruffled up his hair a bit. "It's you and me, Leon. It always has been, and it always will be even if we play on different teams. You'll always be right here for me," Max pounded on his chest where his heart was located before pulling Leon off the wooden bench he was sitting on in Schalke's locker room.

"Yeah, we got you Leon, don't worry," Amine Harit patted him on the back as they lined up for warm ups.

Leon shot his teammates a small smile, but as he ran out with the rest of the Schalke team, the boos were deafening. It was even worse when he saw a banner in the front section that said, 'Neither money nor trophies are worth more than our club! Anyone who doesn't understand that can piss off!' He averted his eyes higher, but that didn't help as there was another banner which accused him of 'letting down a 1,000 friends in favor of emotionless titles and shallow twits.'