7 The war of clubs

As soon as the referee blew the whistle for the last time Harry stood up and went towards the locker room, he was still feeling indignant, in the end his team had won the game but that wasn't enough for him.

'I wonder if I showed enough to impress the important scouts…'

He was focused on his thoughts as he bumped into someone in the narrow hallway that led to the locker rooms.

"I'm sorry I wasn't looking in front of me."

Harry said as he looked ahead, he had bumped into a woman dressed in a grey suit. She looked to be around 35 years old or so but still managed to look fresh and beautiful.

She was smiling at him and extended her hand.

"Harry Alder right ?"

"Uhm yes and you are ?"

He said as he politely shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you, you can call me Lisa. Would you be interested in joining Manchester City's youth development program?"

'Oh so it's Man City, it's not a bad choice to be honest. They are the Premier League reigning champions and should rank second this season, even going for a fourth place in the Champion's League.'

"Can I take some time to think about it ?"

"Of course, here is my phone number. You can call me when you took your decision."

She smiled as she handed him a business card and left.

'If there is no offer from other clubs in the next day I'll call her and join Man City.'

///

Finally Harry could rest, he sat down on the bench in the locker room and a system pop up appeared.

『Congratulations on completing the quest : make an assist, 0.5 points have been added to mental.』

'Took you long enough, I could have used these points during the game.'

Harry thought but he didn't care much, he doubted that 0.5 points in mental would have allowed him to score one more goal before being subbed. He was still happy about it however, he was creating a very solid foundation for his future, in a few years' time he should be playing at the top level with the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, Modrić, Arjen Robben and a lot of other legendary figures.

When his teammates came in the locker room he stood up and congratulated everyone, he was still the captain after all and he should be happy that they had won.

The mood was very festive and Thomas came and sat next to Harry with a wide grin on his face.

"What's going on ? You're scaring me."

Harry said as he slid further away from his friend.

Thomas got closer and whispered in his ear.

"I got an offer from the FC Barcelona to join their youth academy !"

Harry tried to act surprised but actor wasn't his profession in his past life, of course he knew already about Thomas joining the FCB after this game.

///

Finally a few hours later Harry walked back home with his heavy sports bag, he looked around the house but his parents weren't there.

"Great, I can take a nap."

As he slumped on his bed the landline phone rang suddenly.

"Sigh…"

He stood up and picked up the call.

"Hello, Adler's house here."

"Hello there, are you Harry ?"

"Yes I am, who is this ?"

"Nice to meet you kid, I've seen you play this morning and you're a great dribbler, I'll go straight to the point : do you want to join the FC Barcelona youth academy?"

Harry smiled lightly, this was the reason he didn't give the woman from Manchester City an answer on the spot. Although he couldn't show off until the end of the game he still had done the craziest performance amongst all players.

"Thank you for your offer sir, I would like to discuss such a thing with my parents before I give an answer, can I call you back later ?"

"Of course take your time, actually don't take your time, we might make you play a few friendly games during this summer if you decide to join us so call me back as quickly as you can."

///

As soon as Harry hung up there was another call, this time it was a scout for a French Ligue 2 team, AJ Auxerre, Harry politely refused by explaining that he had an offer from bigger clubs, there was no need to think about it at all, there was no comparison, the pay would be better, the training environment, the chances to realize his dreams, everything was better in a bigger club.

Calls kept coming one after the other, in the end including FCB and AJA he got 5 calls, the only big team in there was Arsenal and the rest were all politely refused once again.

'It seems Tottenham won't be making an offer, that's too bad but I can't wait for them indefinitely. Should I pick Manchester City or FC Barcelona ?'

At that point in time, both teams were at the top of their league. FCB finished second in the previous season and would finish first in this incoming one, on the other hand Manchester city was first in the previous season and should be second on the next one.

'Barcelona will completely falter after Neymar's transfer, that's when they will start completely losing it and in just a few years time they will be a hollow organization. Although it would be cool to change the future I would rather pick the safe path, in the future I can play with Haaland, Grealish, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez. The Manchester city of the 2020 season was an unstoppable beast and reached the finals of the Champions league.'

"I've made my decision !"

Clic

"What decision ?"

Harry who was sitting on the floor in front of the phone looked at the entrance door where his father and mother were carrying groceries, he hastily stood up and helped them carry everything in as he explained.

"We won the game today and I had a good performance, I was scouted by both FC Barcelona and Manchester city to join their youth development program, I decided to join Man city."

His mother wasn't really a fan of football so she had heard the names of the teams but didn't know where they stood compared to each other, his father on the other hand was a fanatic of football and was even the one who introduced Harry to it, he frowned and asked.

"Are you sure ? You could play with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta…."

"I'm sure dad, first of all I don't want to leave England. And second of all I trust that Manchester city will win the Champions league one day."

Seeing the détermination in his son's eyes Louis just smiled and nodded.

"I'm making the call right now, I'm joining Manchester City !"