With out him, Werder Bremen’s biggest triumph in latest membership historical past would hardly have been conceivable. Within the 2003/04 season, Ailton tore via the Bundesliga, scoring 28 objectives and sensationally main the Inexperienced-Whites to a double victory of the championship and the DFB-Pokal.
As a well-deserved reward, he obtained, amongst different issues, the extremely coveted high scorer cannon. But, sarcastically, this image of his profession was not in his possession for nearly twenty years.
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Since 2006, the trophy had been lacking from the lifetime of the Brazilian fan favourite. The background was a fierce dispute along with his then-agent Werner Helleckes. Helleckes had taken the cannon as a result of Ailton allegedly owed him cash.
Within the following years, the prized merchandise even appeared a number of instances on ‘eBay’, with the very best bid reaching as much as 600,000 euros. Ailton himself repeatedly prevented the gross sales, but the cannon remained lacking.
📸 Martin Rose – Bongarts
Now, 19 years later, the large turnaround lastly got here. On ‘Instagram’, the now 52-year-old instantly appeared once more with the highest scorer cannon in his palms. The reduction is seen on his face—and audible in his voice.
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“I’m very completely happy that it’s again with me after 19 years,” Ailton advised ‘Bild’. “It means every little thing to me, and I cannot give it up once more.”
As the previous striker explains, the trophy modified palms within the meantime. It went from Helleckes to a different agent, main to a different authorized dispute.
In court docket, he was ultimately supplied the prospect to reclaim the cannon for a cost. “I took benefit of this chance,” mentioned Ailton. “Such a trophy exists solely as soon as.” He intentionally retains the quantity he paid a secret: “How a lot I paid, I’ll preserve to myself.”
This text was translated into English by Synthetic Intelligence.
📸 Andreas Rentz – Bongarts