The next day, Tyler was up by seven in the morning and was going for a jog around the academy’s facilities. The system had adjusted his daily routine because of the environment he was in, but it hasn’t canceled it entirely. He still had to run every morning, but the distance was reduced to 3 kilometers.
After that, he did a bit of yoga and stretching exercises and did some pushups and crunches. A few minutes later, he was done with his morning workout and went back to his room.
Today was recovery day so everyone was expected inside the training facilities by nine. They did a few recovery drills, like hydrotherapy and had a few light sessions like passing drills.
After that, they did a team bonding exercise. It was mainly just watching a movie with the rest of the squad, but small activities like that did a lot more for team interactions than people thought.
If not for exercises like that, Tyler wouldn’t have spoken to some of his teammates at all.
"Did you hear?" Moses came over to Tyler when they were done with the movie. It was well into the afternoon, and Tyler just wanted to run away to his room and have a long shower.
"What?" Tyler raised an eyebrow.
"Scouts have started approaching people," Moses said. "That Damson guy we played yesterday has agreed a contract with Monaco, and according to what I’ve heard Ajax and Feyenoord are sniffing around here."
Tyler turned to face him. "And how do you know all this?"
Moses shrugged. "I’m the captain, I know things. It’s my job to know things."
"Fair enough. But why are you telling me about this?"
"Just wanted you to be prepared is all," Moses said. "With the way you’ve been playing all tournament, you’re likely to get scouted. So be prepared."
"Do you know s-" Before Tyler could finish his sentence, Moses had already walked away.
Tyler sighed lightly then walked over to his room. While he was in the hallway, about to turn to his room door, Moses ran towards him while panting.
"Coach says he wants to see you," Moses said with a knowing smile.
After hearing those words, Tyler’s heart started pounding. This is it. This could be it.
A smile found its way to his face, followed by a light chuckle.
"Thanks man," Tyler said to Moses, while already walking towards James’s office.
’It could be today grandma,’ he thought to himself.
A couple of minutes later, Tyler found himself at the entrance to James’s office. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down before pushing the door open and stepping inside.
"You wanted to see me?" Tyler asked, staring at James who sat on a chair behind his office table.
"Yes, have a seat," James said, pointing to the couple of seats in front of Tyler.
"Now, you see, I’m sure that you’re well aware of the goal of the tournament that we’ve been playing is, yes?" James began.
"Well, I’m sure that you know that you’ve been one of the standout players of the tournament so far, and after your goals in the semi-finals, it’d be abnormal if you don’t have any suitors," James said. "So we’ve received a couple of inquiries about your situation here."
"Now when you came, you signed the mandatory five year contract here, so we know the clubs can’t wait you out, the only question is whether or not they’d be able to pay the price that we’ve set."
"Can I know the price?" Tyler asked, a bit concerned. Most of the times, small clubs usually priced their important players out of a move to a bigger club. He really hoped that that’s not what was happening.
"Yes. You see, you’re valued at five hundred thousand pounds," James said. "And we’ve had two clubs come in for you. Arsenal and Monaco."
Tyler sucked in some air when he heard James’s words. Arsenal was one of the biggest clubs in the country and in the world. And they were in to sign him. This was a dream come true to so many young players.
And Monaco. They had quite the reputation for developing young players. Anthony Martial and Kylian Mbappé being the two standout products of their academy. The fact that he had the luxury of choosing between these two clubs sent him to cloud nine. It was like he was playing FIFA career mode.
James’s next words, however, burst the bubble that had formed in his head.
"There’s just one very slight hiccup. Monaco are willing to meet up with our valuation and want to get the deal done as soon as possible. They think you’re good enough and want to wrap things up before a bigger club swoops in and poaches you," James said. "Arsenal on the other hand, don’t want to pay that much and have made a three hundred thousand pound take it or leave it bid. I’m sure you see where the problem lies."
"But you see, if you do decide that you want to go to Arsenal, the academy could compromise and accept the bid if you put enough pressure on them. So it’s your choice, but it’s not really your choice. That’s the sticky situation."
"In the next few days, expect scouts from the two clubs to come and talk to you and try to persuade you to join their respective clubs. It’s your choice in the end but you need to take note of everything that I’ve told you," James said. "Alright that’s it, you can leave now."
Tyler stood up from the seat and walked out of the door, his mind spinning from the information he just got. While he got very exciting news, it was still going to be hard to make a choice.
He could choose the bigger club and sour his relationship with the academy in the process or choose Monaco and go to France, an unfamiliar country.
By the time he got to his room, he was already having a headache.
"Looks like things won’t be so simple," Tyler muttered.