Episode 192: Perspective -1
“That was seriously delicious! Wow! I’m not just saying this—this is better than most restaurants?”
“Truth is, Jian was the one who bulked me up with this stuff. Mwahaha.”
“Ooh! As expected!”
Mornings were for school classes.
Afternoons were for team training.
And evenings were for returning home to greet the night.
It was an ordinary day no different from any other, but today the house was especially noisy, as if it were about to lift off and fly away.
“I eat a lot of delicious food for work, but wow, should I try my hand at the restaurant business too? Shall I bring over a contract template?”
That was because my agent—who had a voice like a train horn—had paid our house a visit. ...Booming.
Truly an enviable voice.
If I had a voice like that, I could play goalkeeper and still relay messages all the way to the attackers.
“Now then, since we’ve eaten! Shall we slowly have a talk!”
By the way.
He had said he came because there was something he needed to tell me in person.
I moved the empty bowls to the sink and relocated to the living room to sit down.
I was feeling rather nervous about what he would say, but seeing me like that, my agent smiled slightly.
Ah, of course, I mean slightly by his standards.
“Hahaha! Well, I didn’t come to say anything grand! It’s just that the season is heading into its final stretch now, isn’t it! It’s about time talk of contract renewal came up!”
I nodded.
I had been aware of talk about the contract for quite some time, as he had mentioned it before.
There was still time remaining on my previous contract, but he had told me there would be an occasion to discuss a new contract this summer.
It might be a bit difficult to explain, but contracts usually have set expiration dates—whether two years or five years.
But apparently, you don’t necessarily have to fill that entire period before signing a new one.
Even in the middle of that period, a transfer to another team was entirely possible depending on negotiations, and re-signing with the current team was also possible.
And of course, seeing out the expiration period without a new contract was also entirely possible.
According to my agent... since my performance since the last contract far exceeded the salary stipulated in it, he had said it would be impossible to let this summer pass without discussing a new contract.
Thanks to that, he had once told me that this summer would definitely—two hundred percent—get noisy with the new contract issue, so I should be thinking about it.
That summer was already approaching, just over two months away.
“Well anyway, I didn’t come today to have a heavy conversation! However! Since a contract is not a light matter, I came to impress a few precautions upon you!”
“Precautions?”
My agent nodded vigorously.
“After all, all of Europe has its eyes on you, doesn’t it? Thanks to that, even a single word from you now will inevitably cause a stir everywhere. Not just matters regarding your future—even completely unrelated talk will be strangely interpreted and churned into articles!”
“Hmm...”
“They’ll be buzzing around non-stop. Those shit-flies desperate for a scoop! Throwing questions without regard for time or place! Even when that wasn’t your intention at all, they’ll post wild speculations as if you said exactly that! It’ll definitely happen!” ...Just hearing about it already gave me a headache.
“That’s why you must be careful with your words! Well, you’re in a position where you always have to be, but the timing around this summer is especially one where you need to watch yourself!”
“Watch my words...”
“Yes. Every little thing can affect your contract, and above all, you’ll be dealing with a lot of annoying things! So it’s best to be as careful as possible!”
If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s annoying things.
I nodded.
“First, you only need to keep one thing in mind! Just remember this! Keep all possibilities open! Shall you repeat after me?”
“Ke... Keep all possibilities open...”
“Yes! Regarding the contract, of course! Unconditionally! It’s right to go with your own opinion! But even if you’ve already made up your mind, there’s no need to say it in advance! I’m saying there’s no need to deliberately close off other possibilities!”
No need to close off other possibilities.
As I nodded, chewing over the meaning of those words, my agent spoke.
“For example! If Juventus were to come in with a transfer offer at a reasonable amount, would you be willing to accept?”
“Juventus...?”
I shook my head quickly.
Why would I go there?
For my own sake, and for the fans’ sake.
There was no way I would go to Juventus.
“Yes! You probably wouldn’t! But there’s no need to declare that publicly! Not until your contract ends!”
“...So I shouldn’t say things like, ‘I’d never go to Juventus even if I died’?”
“Exactly!” ...Hmm.
I was frowning because I didn’t like the sound of that, so my agent spoke.
“That doesn’t mean you should say, ‘Juventus is an excellent team! If they call, I might go!’ Not at all! Just say, ‘That’s something to think about when the time comes. I want to focus on the match right now!’ That answer is more than enough!”
Only then did I nod.
If that was all, I was confident I could do it.
After all, being indecisive and ambiguously kicking decisions down the road was my specialty.
“And also, before the contract, conversely, there are parts where you must be cold-hearted toward your current team!”
“Cold-hearted...?”
But I wasn’t very confident about that.
If he meant my current team, wasn’t that Fiorentina?
My agent nodded.
“I know! You love the team more than anyone, so it must be hard! But there’s no need to show excessive loyalty! Because your current team is also a negotiation counterpart!”
“...Yes.”
“Likewise, you don’t need to say, ‘I don’t know if I’ll stay! If they don’t pay me a lot, I’ll leave!’ You understand, right? Just give off the nuance that all possibilities are open! That’s enough!”
Nod, nod.
I didn’t like it, but I nodded.
“In the end, just don’t completely close off or completely open up! Of course, since you’ll do as you please anyway and I can’t stop you, I’m just saying it would be nice if you were careful—so no need to feel pressured!”
“Yes...”
Even though he said that, it would be rude to say I felt pressured because of his voice.
Well, that was a joke.
I had never had things turn out badly when I followed my agent’s advice, so I decided to take it to heart.
Besides this, my agent explained various other precautions in detail, and I listened while nodding.
“Very good! I don’t think I should take more of your time, so shall we wrap this up here? But before that, may I ask you one thing?”
“Yes. What is it?”
“What are your current thoughts? Whether it’s a transfer or a re-signing, do you have any thoughts or a side you’re leaning toward?”
Hmm.
My current thoughts.
A transfer meant leaving the team, and a re-signing meant staying with the team.
Well.
If it were up to my heart... of course there was a side I was leaning toward.
However, “I’m still thinking... and I want to focus only on matches right now. I think I’ll know better when the time comes...”
I shouldn’t take the bait and bite on this kind of fishing.
When I answered, my agent clapped and gave me a thumbs-up.
“Excellent answer! For most questions, that kind of answer will be more than enough! Just think of it as turning on a voice recorder!”
“Yes...”
“But, well!”
“Yes?”
“I’m your agent! You have to tell me...”
“...Ah.”
I scratched my head.
My current thoughts on what the future held.
It was a difficult problem.
As I said, there was a side my heart leaned toward.
Of course, it was staying with the team.
I had never felt the need to leave our home, our neighborhood, and Fiorentina.
Only now did this place feel like home, and I had come to know quite a few people whom I would be sad and sorry not to see tomorrow.
Moreover, I didn’t have much confidence in heading to a new place and readapting to unfamiliar surroundings again.
Whether when I was first in Torino, or even shortly after coming to Florence.
Hadn’t adapting to an unfamiliar environment always been a difficult thing?
But, as I had answered just now.
It wasn’t a lie that I would need to think more.
If I could simply follow my heart, the answer might already be set.
However, there were far too many things in this matter that I hadn’t considered.
Listening to the various things my agent said, I had realized there could be problems like that—not just one or two.
How should I put it?
Would “adult problems” be appropriate?
This wasn’t a simple matter—if I had understood my agent’s explanation correctly.
Because I liked our team and our teammates so much, there might even arise a situation where leaving the team could actually help the team.
This was my matter, but it wasn’t my problem alone.
Since we were ultimately intertwined like gears, if I moved, it would inevitably affect those around me.
It was a problem I needed to think deeply about in many ways.
“...Really, I think I’ll need to think about it more.”
“I see. Understood. Don’t feel pressured and take it easy for now. Focus only on the match. I’ll handle all the complicated matters! And I’ll always produce the best results!”
My agent was always overflowing with energy to the point of being slightly burdensome.
Perhaps that was why just hearing him speak gave the illusion that I was energized.
“Yes.”
Nodding, I thought that I should worry over this difficult problem a bit more.
...
The last day of April 2023.
The Ligurian Sea
The city where its sea breeze blows—Genoa.
We arrived here—far if called far, close if called close—for the league’s 32nd round match.
“Ugh, this fatigue won’t go away.”
“You didn’t sleep on the plane?”
“I did. And quite deeply at that. But the fatigue still won’t go away. Aah, I’m dying.”
After arriving at the airport by plane and transferring to a bus, we were on our way to the lodgings.
The bus was filled with languid voices.
“Uwooorgh—”
Especially today, Romero was groaning as if he were ill.
He had been complaining since earlier.
“Still, man, it’s comfortable compared to the old days. Now we come by plane. We used to have to come rattling along in a bus for hours.”
“Huh? When was that?”
“It hasn’t even been two years? Well, you haven’t been here long, so you wouldn’t know. How our great club owner is so stingy...”
“Hey, shh! Watch your mouth. The season’s almost over.”
“...Hmm, should I? Anyway. It hasn’t been long since things got better. You should be grateful we can travel this comfortably for away games.”
“I don’t know. I’m just tired to death.”
Even at the captain’s words, Romero didn’t stop grumbling.
However, today I couldn’t tell him to shut his mouth either, because my eyelids felt equally heavy with fatigue.
Still, I was trying to be grateful that we could come by plane, just like the captain said.
Just last season, when I had first come up to the first team, we had traveled by bus unless it was truly far.
I hadn’t expected such words to come out of my own mouth, but the world definitely had gotten better.
“...”
Come to think of it, while it was partly because we had succeeded in qualifying for the Champions League that we could enjoy these things, I couldn’t deny that the person who had left our side last winter had also contributed greatly.
I was talking about Vlahovic, who had left after bequeathing the team an enormous transfer fee.
Back then I had known nothing, so I had only felt betrayal at his departure.
But after some time, since we were the ones actually benefiting, my thoughts had changed.
For example, the training ground had been upgraded thanks to the transfer fee he left behind.
And some of the senior players had been able to stay with the team.
“...”
I had heard that at the time, the club had promised Vlahovic unprecedented top-class treatment.
In simple terms, they had said they would pay an enormous salary by our team’s standards, but that money didn’t come from digging in the ground.
If Vlahovic had accepted that offer, there were seniors who would have had to leave the team.
Saponara was one of them.
He said this himself.
Honestly, he hadn’t known he would get a re-signing either, but thanks to Vlahovic leaving, he had been able to re-sign for a higher salary instead.
Thinking about it again, the world really did seem complicated.
Nothing was unconditionally bad, and nothing was unconditionally good.
So there really was a lot to think about.
“...”
I silently watched the scenery rushing past the window.
To organize my mind before it grew too complicated, I began recalling information on Genoa, the opponent we would face tomorrow.