LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 10: Promotion
Komi dropped Izan off at the academy a day after the Alboraya match. Izan stood at the entrance for a while. His thoughts were scrambled as he didn't understand what he had done to warrant a promotion as he had only played a scribble match and just one match for the team. Izan walked in before heading to Coach Oryazabal's office.
*Knock knock knock*
"Come in" a voice which seemed to belong to Coach Oryazabal answered from the inside. Izan opened the door and entered."Close the door behind you" Coach oryazabal ordered as he was sitting behind a desk with a lot of scrambled papers here and there. There was a man in the corner who Izan didn't seem to notice at first until he spoke, "hello Izan".
"Yo what the fu-" Izan said cutting short the swear word. "He should try being a ninja" Izan thought. Izan sat down and the man asked if he knew about the promotion to which he replied yes.
"We usually don't go through this process for a promotion but the club sees your as a very precious asset so we wanted to discuss a few things" the guy who seemed to be Ferran from the youth department said.
"Ok,so what do you want to talk about" Izan asked. "Well from your recent match and training performances, the assistant coach Patricio Moreno who also handles the youth side deemed you fit to be promoted to the under-19s but to ensure that you don't get snatched from us by another club we decided to offer you a contract until you're 18 years.
Of course the terms can be amended such as wages if the club deems your performance worthy" ferran elaborated.
" The club will set targets like goals and assists you should meet to have your wages improved but for now the club would like to offer a yearly remuneration of €20,000 euros ". Ferran added.
"Wow the club is pulling all the stomps for him. On average a kid under the age of 16 usually gets 10 to 12 thousand euros remuneration.
Well from the way he plays, if he carries it over to under-19s and eventually the senior team,I'd say it will be a steal for valencia". This was what Oryazabal thought as he listened to the negotiations.
Izan thought for a while before speaking. "I might not know a lot about football negotiations but I know there's something called a buyout clause and I want to know the amount put on me".
"For now the club decided to put your buyout clause at 5 million euros and any club that offers this amount or more has the opportunity to open negotiations"
"Isn't that a bit too much" oryazabal asked. "Well the club values Izan at least that much" ferran commented.
"Is there any leeway for that or is it fixed, I mean it is a negotiation after all" Coach Oryazabal spoke up.
"And how much leeway are you suggesting" ferran asked." Not more than 3.5 million euros for the buyout clause"Oryazabal said.
"Done" ferran said with haste which made Oryazabal think he should have lowered it a bit more." And as for the remuneration I think it should go up to 25 thousand euros" Oryazabal stated.
Ferran thought for a while before accepting it." We will sign an NDA and this contract will be kept under wraps for now" ferran said before picking up the contract and sliding it to Oryazabal. The club also wants at least 7 goals and 11 assist from Izan after settling in at the under-19s side."Hey isn't that a bit too much"Oryazabal asked."This is a goal set for him if he wants to renegotiate a wage increase or make any contract amendments" Ferran said.
Oryazabal looked at Izan who nooded for him to continue. He looked through it and saw that there was nothing harmful with the contract. After reading he looked at Izan and asked if he wanted to sign it.
"Well my mum told you to oversee it because she knows nothing about these things so if its good with you then its probably ok"Izan said. Coach Oryazabal nodded before passing the paper for Izan to sign. Izan signed and handed the contract to ferran who smiled.
"We wish you a bright future with us" ferran said as he opened the door to leave. After he left Coach Oryazabal spoke.
"Well congratulations. You have been promoted to the under-19s. From today onwards you will no longer be training with us" Coach Oryazabal said with a somewhat sad face.
"Uh Coach why are you pretending like you won't see me anymore. Aren't you the assistant coach for the youth team" Izan said while looking at Coach Oryazabal who laughed after hearing what Izan said.
"Well the under-19s will be training tomorrow so go home and have a bit of rest for tomorrow so you can join that session" Coach Oryazabal said .
"Ok Coach" Izan said. He stood up and exited the door before going to pick his stuff from the locker room. Fortunately no one was there as all the players were on the pitch.
Izan who had already called komi stood by entrance waiting for her and got inside the car when she arrived a few minutes after the call.
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After training the players went inside the locker room to bath. As they were talking Huévés spotted a piece of paper pinned to the notice board and walked to read what was on it. A few seconds later, "No F-ing way" he said in a loud voice bringing the attention of the players to himself.
"Izan got promoted to the under-19s ". "What rubbish are talking" "eyy how could that happen". "Let me see adeyemi pushed Huévés who was being assaulted by a barrage of words.
"Its really true". "Not you too adeyemi " the players said after adeyemi confirmed it. "See for yourself" adeyemi said as he took the paper from the board and showing it around.
"But how, he only played on match. Although I admit he's very good but isn't this rushed" a player said
Sosà smiled after hearing that the news was real. "I'll be there soon " he thought with conviction.
"Ahem, I see you've seen it but let me say, Izan has been promoted to the under-19s and from today he will no longer be with us. I hope you take this opportunity to train very hard and play well as it might be you the very next time".
Coach Oryazabal after saying this left the player to resolve themselves. Most of players couldn't believe but they they put it aside and determined ,some decided to head back to the pitch for extra training. Coach Oryazabal who saw this was very happy.
After they reached home, Izan sat his mom and sister down and told them about the offer. "Really miura you're gonna get paid " Komi said with a bit of surprise as she at least new that players under 16 didn't get that much remuneration but her dear son was getting a salary of 25 thousand euros yearly.
Izan talked a bit more with his mom and sister about his career because izan was going to be a freshman at senior high the coming semester. "It'll be hard but I'll have to juggle school with matches" Izan said with a smile. "Wow i feel so sorry for you "Hori said sarcastically.
She obviously knew that Izan was happy about it as he was finally on the road to becoming a professional footballer.
They talked a bit more before eating dinner.After dinner,Izan went to his room. He went on his phone for a while before finally deciding to go to bed.
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After school, Komi picked Izan up and drove him to the academy grounds. "Have fun Miura " komi said whiles driving away. "Lets make a good impression today" Izan said.
As he was walking to the under-19s, he met a brown haired boy of about the same height as him." Hey , the under-17s and below is over there" he said whiles pointing to the place that the under-17s were training with a smug expression.
After the comment he left towards the area where the under-19s train. "Why,d he assume that I'm in the under-17s" Izan said whiles shaking his head.
When he got there he saw that most of the players were on the pitch. On his way to the locker room to change,he met Coach Bano who he had met before in training who told him to hurry as training was about to begin soon. Izan quickly sped into the locker room before changing into the new training kit they had given him.
After changing he followed Coach bano to the training pitch. As the players saw Bano coming,they stopped chatting and seemed to focus and the person behind him. They were surprised to see another player albeit tall with a fair muscular build, his faced seemed young.
"Ok people,gather round " Bano said as the players followed and grouped together. "His name is Izan miura Hernandez and he will be with you guys from today onwards".
Murmurs started as the players kept talking among themselves." Izan here plays as an attacking midfielder and will be replacing pietro who's out injured". "He's the youngest of you all so show him around and help him get used to how things are done here" Bano said.
Pedro the player who told Izan to go to the under-17s was surprised that the kid he told to go to under-17s was actually joining them.
"Okay enough with the pleasantries, let's get the drills started" Bano said as the players slowly dispersed.
Two players approached Izan after the coach told them to disperse. The shortest of them spoke, "hi, I'm Juan and this is Gaia" he said pointing to the dark haired youth beside him. "Hi" Izan replied. "Say are you korean or chinese" Gaia asked.
"Neither I'm Spanish although my mom's Japanese so I guess you could say I'm Japanese" replied Izan. "Are those eyes natural" Juan was the next to ask after seeing Izan unusually blue eyes which was almost non-existent for Asian people.
"Yeah,was born with it" Izan replied. "Ah coach said you're young, how old are you by the way" Juan asked again. Izan felt that they were asking too many questions but decided to answer it. "I'm 14 years old"
"Wait 14"Juan shouted drawing the attention the attention of a few players around. "Wait did he just say that guy's 14". "How is here".
"Is he that good to be here at that age".
The players started talking a bit after hearing Izan's age."Anyways I and gaia were promoted from the under-17s a few weeks ago" Juan said earning a nod from Izan.Bano signalled the players to warm up. After a few stretches here and there ,the speed drill was the first to be started.
The players got in pairs and Izan was paired with a winger. "Damn getting paired with Wissam on your first day isn't exactly welcoming".
Some of the players started laughing at the match up and some starting betting on it. "10 euros that the kid loses by at least 2 seconds in the 50 metre dash" one player said. "Make it 3 seconds for me" another said. The players started betting on it and it seemed they all bet in favour of Wissam.
" I bet 20 pounds that Izan actually wins" Juan said earning a decent amount of stares from the other players." Well easy money" the players said.
When it got to Izan and Wissam's turn, they both got on the starting line and Izan was actually smiling. This was because he had used the snooping tool and found out that wissam only possessed anl 62 overall rating and a pace rating of 65. Compared to Izan's pace rating of 70, Izan was indeed faster.
Bano stood nearby watching this encounter.The drills coach blew the whistle. Izan after hearing the whistle just zoomed ahead of wissam finishing the fifty meter dash in 6.47 seconds while wissam managed to finish in 7.52 seconds.
The other players were shocked. How the heck did wissam lose,were the words that were coming out of the mouths of the players. "Well I guess some of you owe me money "Juan said.
Izan didn't halt and carried his performance over to the other drills. Placing first or second in most of the drills involving Dribbling, set pieces, passing and shooting.
"How is he so good in the drills" some of the players started saying. "Being good in drills doesn't necessarily mean he's good in a match" Pedro,the guy who didn't seem to like Izan spoke out."Well that's also true". "Yeah ". The players started talking amongst themselves.
"Okay boys,time for a training match" ferran spoke out after the finished cooling down.
Some of the players were happy that they got a chance to see what the new kid could do
"Ding"[host has been given a challenge by the system ].
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[Show your worth.]
{Description:some of your teammates are doubtful about your abilities. Play like a true god of football and prove them wrong.}
[+5000 lps]
[+1 growth potion.]
Izan who was seemingly waiting for a challenge to be issued by the system grinned at the sight of the possible rewards he could gain. "Well lets get this show started" Izan said whiles walking towards the coach