After a meal, Zhou Yi and Schultze had already decided that they would not transfer this summer, but would renew their contracts with the club. In fact, Zhou Yi could also choose not to renew, since his contract would not expire until July 2016, a full three years from now.

If he really wanted to leave, he could wait until his contract expired and then transfer for free. The new club wouldn't have to pay Borussia Dortmund a transfer fee, so they could offer him a higher annual salary and various bonuses.

But Zhou Yi didn't plan to do that. In a way, Borussia Dortmund had nurtured him and given him opportunities. Even if he were to leave Borussia Dortmund in the future, he hoped to give something back to the club.

In addition to championships, money was also important.

If he could earn a large transfer fee for Borussia Dortmund when he left one day, that would be the best outcome.

With the current release clause of 30 million in his contract with Borussia Dortmund, the restriction on Zhou Yi was simply too low.

If it were announced in the transfer market now that Zhou Yi could be taken away for only 30 million euros, the threshold of Borussia Dortmund's club would probably be broken through.

At only twenty-two years old, he had already won three league titles, been the Bundesliga's assist king for three consecutive seasons, and led Borussia Dortmund to the Champions League quarterfinals, semifinals, and final. Was such performance only worth 30 million?

If Zhou Yi didn't renew his contract, Borussia Dortmund would face constant harassment from other teams starting this summer, which would be very annoying for them. And before the start of the last season, the buyout clause would officially take effect. Zhou Yi would almost instantly be snapped up by European powerhouses. At that time, Zhou Yi could completely act like an emperor choosing his concubines, leisurely having those clubs offer the most generous contracts for him to choose from. As for Borussia Dortmund… they could only watch from the sidelines, waiting to finally get 30 million—when they renewed the contract with Zhou Yi, they thought it was a lot, but now they felt that 30 million was like giving alms to a beggar...

Zhou Yi still had feelings for Borussia Dortmund. All along, Borussia Dortmund had treated him well, and there was no need for him to leave and be scolded for being ungrateful.

First of all, he wouldn't do what Götze did and decide to transfer to a bitter rival before the season was even over.

Secondly, he also hoped to minimize Borussia Dortmund's losses when he left.

However, there were also considerations for renewing the contract. Although Zhou Yi had feelings for Borussia Dortmund, it didn't mean that Borussia Dortmund could do whatever they wanted with the contract terms, even force Zhou Yi to eat shit.

Zhou Yi's bottom line for Schultze was that the buyout clause must be there. The price could be slightly higher, no problem. Zhou Yi believed that with his strength, even if the termination fee was sky-high, there would be wealthy clubs willing to pay it in the future. But without this clause, Zhou Yi could only be slaughtered, allowing Borussia Dortmund to arbitrarily decide whether or not to sell him.

Although his relationship with Borussia Dortmund was still good now, who knew what the result would be in a few years.

When Shinji Kagawa came to Borussia Dortmund, wasn't his relationship with the club also very good? Later, they fell out over contract renewal issues, and Kagawa transferred to Manchester United.

In the end, everyone flocked for profit. Everything was about利益 *lìyì* (profit, benefit).

When interests coincided, everyone's relationship was good. Once there was a conflict of interest, even the best relationship couldn't continue.

Zhou Yi couldn't guarantee that he and Borussia Dortmund would never have a conflict of interest in the future, so some preventive measures were necessary. One should not have the heart to harm others, but one must have the heart to guard against others.

Based on these considerations, the termination fee clause must be there.

As long as there was this clause, a lower annual salary was fine. Zhou Yi wasn't very concerned about money now. His various commercial endorsements could earn him several million euros a year, plus his annual salary and various bonuses, it was actually ten million euros.

And he wasn't the kind of person who particularly liked to pursue material things. He still rented a house in Germany, hadn't bought a house, and hadn't gotten a driver's license, so he hadn't bought a car either. He didn't have a girlfriend at the moment, so naturally he didn't have to spend too much money on women. In essence, he was a homebody. Playing games at home and chatting with friends online was considered a colorful and varied life for him. He didn't have much of a nightlife, and he didn't like going out and socializing with all kinds of people.

So in fact, he earned so much money that he and his family could never spend it all in several lifetimes.

His pursuit of money wasn't as urgent as it was when he first debuted.

※※※

The last round of the league had ended, and the battle for the league title had been settled.

Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich competed for a season, and Dortmund had the last laugh.

In addition to the most watched championship, the end of the league also ended other suspense, such as the European competition qualification.

The Bundesliga has a total of four Champions League spots, of which the top three directly participate in the main competition, while the fourth place has to start from the Champions League qualifiers.

The champion, Borussia Dortmund, naturally obtained the qualification to directly participate in the main competition, as did Bayern Munich, who finished second in the league.

The third place in the league belonged to Bayer Leverkusen with sixty-two points.

After Yang Mu Ge's Schalke 04 was eliminated from the Champions League, they sprinted with all their might in the league and finally caught the last train. They ranked fourth with fifty-two points, and qualified for the Champions League qualifiers. And this score was only one point higher than Freiburg and Frankfurt, who ranked fifth and sixth in the league...

The latter two could only participate in the Europa League.

The relegated teams were also determined to be two: Hoffenheim and Greuther Fürth were relegated. Fortuna Düsseldorf, ranked third from the bottom, obtained the qualification to participate in the relegation play-offs. If they could defeat their opponents in the relegation play-offs, they could continue to stay in the Bundesliga.

At the end of the season, various statistics rankings were also released.

The team with the most offensive firepower in the league was Bayern Munich, who scored ninety-four goals in thirty-four league games, and their opponents also sent them four own goals.

Borussia Dortmund was the second most offensive team, with ninety-one goals.

In the entire Bundesliga, this was the top-tier performance.

Other teams were far behind them.

For example, Bayer Leverkusen, the team with the third most goals, only had sixty-five goals.

On the scorer list, the person who ultimately became the league's top scorer was Borussia Dortmund's Lewandowski, who ranked first on the league scorer list with twenty-six goals, surpassing Bayer Leverkusen's Kießling with twenty-five goals.

The first place on the assist list was Zhou Yi, who became the Bundesliga's assist king for three consecutive seasons with twenty-three assists.

His leading advantage was very large - Ribéry, who had the second most assists, only had fourteen assists, nine fewer than Zhou Yi.

※※※

With the league title already in hand, Borussia Dortmund had one last game left this season, the Champions League final.

For the first time in sixteen years, Borussia Dortmund's performance this season had set off a youth storm throughout Europe. Many people hoped that they could use the championship to put a perfect end to this season.

But Bayern Munich was also not easy to deal with.

Before the game, Götze's injury finally attracted people's attention again.

Everyone was very concerned about whether Götze would be able to participate in the Champions League final.

Since straining his thigh muscle in the crucial title-winning battle against Bayern Munich, Götze had been absent from Borussia Dortmund's training and games.

After the last round of the league, Götze had not been able to resume joint training with the team, but was training alone.

This made his prospects for participating in the Champions League final much dimmer.

Although Zhou Yi's performance was outstanding, he was able to reduce the adverse effects of Götze's injury a lot. But if Götze could play, wouldn't it increase Borussia Dortmund's hopes of winning the championship?

In such a strong dialogue, even increasing the advantage by only one percent could determine the outcome.

As the Champions League final day approached, everyone was concerned about this issue.

However, just three days before the final, Borussia Dortmund officially announced that Mario Götze would not be able to participate in the Champions League final because he could not recover from his injury in time.

As soon as the news came out, people were filled with regret.

Before being exposed to go to Bayern Munich, Götze was the team's absolute main force, and he made great contributions to the team's ability to maintain its pursuit of Bayern Munich in the league and to reach the Champions League final.

His importance to the team was self-evident.

However, the injury in the game against Bayern Munich made him absent at the most critical moment. First, he missed the moment of the league title contention, and now he will miss the Champions League final. It should be known that Borussia Dortmund's ability to enter the Champions League final was inseparable from his goal in the second leg of the semi-final.

As a professional player, Götze had never participated in a Champions League final. He sent the team to the final, but he was absent from the final due to injury.

Even though he had confirmed that he was leaving, this matter was really sad enough.

In any case, Götze was still a Borussia Dortmund player, and he really did everything for Borussia Dortmund's championship - he was injured in the process.

In the end, he couldn't appear on the final stage. Whether Borussia Dortmund won the championship in the end, this was definitely Götze's biggest personal tragedy.