Rise of a Football God

Chapter 71 First European contact

Beep!

(NEW! Unread Message!)

(Good day Mr. Moses.)

(This is a congratulatory message to celebrate the achievements of your son and client throughout the 2022/2023 football season.)

(We here at Lille Olympique Sporting Club have a habit of appreciating talent and we could not help but notice your son's performances for Enyimba FC, mostly the iconic performances in the CAF champions league.)

(We believe that Sam is made for the top, we wish him a great career ahead and once again, congratulations. We hope he recovers from his injury soon enough.)

(Sender: LOSC)

After reading the contents of the message that he just received, Mr. Moses was flabbergasted as he threw a glance at his son's coach before focusing on Sam.

He was feeling an emotion at this moment, but for some reason, he suppressed it. It was definitely because of Coach Yemi Daniel who was present.

Coach Yemi coughed. "Umm, what did you say? You received a message from a delegation from Lille? By Lille, you mean the French Ligue 1 club?"

"Yes". Mr. Moses nodded.

Coach Yemi Daniel's eyes turned sharp immediately, Sam's eyes gleamed.

The 2 women in the hospital room, not understanding what the hell was going on could only stare, wild guesses flying through their heads.

"Sir, please, can I see it?" Coach Yemi requested politely.

Mr. Moses stared at the middle-aged coach, and then with a sigh, he handed his phone over for the coach to go through the message.

Reading through the message, Coach Yemi Daniel heaved a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he also sighed tiredly. "It's just his first professional season and the big hitters are already at alert, sigh…"

Coach Yemi looked at his player's father. "It's just first contact but the fact that they made contact in the first place means they've been scouting Sam for some time already, maybe their scout was even present in one of the CAF champions league knock-out games".

He sighed. "I signed a 2-year contract with your son, hoping that at the very least, he could spend 2 years with me before going to greener pastures".

"I guess I'll likely say goodbye earlier than I expected".

He sighed again. "Thanks for showing me the message again, Mr. Moses. I appreciate it. I'll inform the club so we'll be prepared for any European approach".

"Welcome coach, it's fine, you've treated my son well just like you promised, I at least owe you that much".

Coach Yemi smiled and with that, he stepped out of the room.

"Dad, give me, give me!" An impatient Sam demanded immediately after his coach left the room as he took his father's iPhone and read through the message.

Once he was done reading through it, a look of pride blossomed across his face. "Yes!" He whooped excitedly.

"What happened?" Mrs. Moses asked, still confused.

Mr. Moses looked at his wife. "Your son was just approached by one of the biggest clubs in France".

Her eyes widened. "An overseas club?"

"Yes".

"Does that not mean more money? Bigger career?"

Mr. Moses smiled. "Yes".

"Halleluiah!" She jumped, celebrating excitedly. "Sam, you're about to blow!"

"Football is not so bad after all," she laughed.

It was just first contact, nothing concrete yet, no talk about a contract yet but to Sam, it meant the whole world.

The only bumming fact was that it was not the perfect story that he scripted in his head. 'I wish it was FC Barcelona'. He thought.

'But there's still time'. He thought, motivated already at the thought of recovering from his injury and returning to the pitch.

After crashing out of the FA cup, the season for Enyimba FC finally came to an end which meant an extended break for the players to relax and recover from the grueling schedule of football.

European football would start in early August, and considering that it was still just late June, this meant that Sam still had about a month to hope for his beloved football club to contact him.

'I wonder if I did enough this season to attract their attention'.

'I hope'. He clenched his fists. 'I'll even seek the system's help if that's what I need for it to be FC Barcelona'.

"What are you thinking of?" At that point, Mr. Moses interrupted his son.

"Nothing," Sam smiled. "Just thinking of Barca".

Hearing that, Mr. Moses grinned. "That's my ultimate dream too, son".

A few minutes later, the nurse came back, stressing the need for the patient to rest properly so he would recover faster.

Sam slept about a dozen more minutes later.

…

Returning to the Enyimba International Stadium, to Coach Yemi Daniel's surprise, all his players were still at the stadium waiting for him, including his assistant coach as they got remote information about Sam's condition.

Entering the dressing room, Coach Yemi Daniel faced his players with a big smile on his face. "It was a hugely successful season". He said.

"We achieved all our goals, the league title, and more importantly, the CAF Champions League for the 3rd time in the history of the club. Without the FA cup, it's still a legendary season in Nigerian football history".

"Let's savor it boys and not linger on today's defeat".

"Tomorrow, we'll start our open-bus parade officially to celebrate a successful end to the season with our 2 trophies".

"Today, all I want from you is to go home, relax, do anything you want and tomorrow morning, meet me here in the stadium for the celebration".

"And lastly, Sam is fine". He smiled.

"Let's make tomorrow exciting for him and Austin!"

The players cheered, applauding excitedly as some of them brought out the wine that they hid since, bursting the champagne.

Through it all, they recorded themselves, later uploading it for their fans.

With that, the 2022/2023 season officially came to an end for Enyimba FC. It was a legendary and highly successful season in the history of not just the club, but the history of Nigerian football.

Every single player in the squad just got their CVs bumped, including Sam. Discover stories with empire

In his system status tab, he now had a tab for major career trophies, and it was updated with the NPFL trophy and the CAF champions league trophy.