Eric began to laugh all by himself as he remembered the time difference between the two countries.
“Seems like the person you were talking to means a lot to you Eric.” Lucas exclaimed as he noticed Eric laughing all by himself. “Also was it Japanese that you were speaking Eric?”
“Hahaha…, Yeah!! He’s indeed someone special.” Eric chuckled while putting the phone back in his pocket.
“He’s a talent which I’ve scouted recently on my trip to Japan. The way he sees the field and exploits the spaces. His otherworldly first touch and ball control. His dribbling accompanied by his explosive pace. Everything about him is top notch.” Eric kept on singing the praises of Hiro infront of Lucas without stopping.
While Eric was singing the praises of Hiro, Lucas kept on staring at him with a smile on his face.
The words of Eric had piqued his interest on the player which he was mentioning about.
“You might think that I’m overexaggerating. But trust me Lucas, he has the capability to be one of the best in the world.” Finally he finished his sentence as he paused to take a moment to breathe.
“Woah!! That’s a lot of praises. If you’re complimenting him that much then he must be quite an extraordinary player.” Lucas murmured while staring at Eric in awe.
“So when are you planning to present that talent to Europe?” Lucas questioned.
“May be in about 8 years.”
As he heard Eric’s reply, Lucas abruptly rose from his seat.
“Huh 8 years!! That long? Don’t tell me that he’s a thirteen year old boy now.” Lucas blurted out in disbelief.
“No, no…, he’s not a thirteen year old.” Eric replied casually.
“Then why so long Eric?” Lucas questioned while lowering himself to take his seat, once again.
“Well he’s only ten years old right now. So it’ll take him about 8 years to reach Europe.” Once again Eric replied casually as if it wasn’t a big deal.
The casual tone of Eric had caught him off-guard. And thus after hearing his reply, he murmured without thinking;
“Hmmm….., So he’s only ten years old huh?”
While placing his left hand on his chin and with his eyes closed, he slightly nodded his head.
Suddenly his eyes widened as he realised something.
“Huhhhhhh!!!Ten year’s old??”
The frequency of his tone increased as he abruptly rose from his seat in disbelief, once again.
“He’s still a kid Eric.” Lucas intoned while staring at Eric with his eyes wide open.
Upon witnessing the expression on Lucas’s face, Eric rose from his chair and began to walk towards Lucas.
“Indeed!! He’s still a kid Lucas. But just because he’s still a kid doesn’t mean his talent isn’t real. Remember, Barcelona had discovered about Messi’s potential while he was still a kid as well.” Eric mumbled while walking towards him.
“I’m not doubting your claims Eric. But how amazing can a kid who’s only ten year’s old be for you to compliment him that much?” Lucas inquired.
Upon hearing his questions, Eric took his phone out from his pocket and clicked on the newtube. He then began to search for Hiro’s newtube channel’s name on the search bar.
“You’ll know once you look at this video.” Eric exclaimed while handing over his phone to Lucas.
“Except some moment of entertainment, what’s even there to learn from a kid’s newtube video?” Lucas mumbled while turning his attention towards the video.
He wasn’t the type of person who liked to waste his time by spending time on social media. Most of the times, he preferred to spend his time in gym and train himself.
He simply was the type of person who’d rather spend time improving himself than waste his time on something meaningless.
In simple words, he was a hardworking person who was very serious about his career.
And as soon as he had heard about the age of the player which Eric was mentioning about, his interest in him had already died down. But despite that he had reluctantly agreed to watch the video for Eric’s sake.
And by no means was he interested in watching a kid’s newtube video. And if it weren’t for Eric’s pestering, he wouldn’t have even glanced at the video when there was a much serious issue left to be discussed. 𝑜𝘷𝑙.𝘰𝑟𝑔
They still had to discuss about Lucas’s transfer to Crystal Palace.
“So he’s performing a crossbar challenge huh?” Lucas mumbled while gazing at the phone in his hand.
In that video, Hiro had performed two challenges and crossbar challenge was the first one.
He had tried to hit the crossbar continuously from five different spots in that video. Three from outside the box and one each from either side of the corner.
“Not bad!!” Lucas mumbled after witnessing his first kick from the middle spot of outside the box. “But is it all that he’s capable of?”
The next two kicks were from the right and left edge of the D-box. And he hit the crossbar from both the spots as well.
“Three on three.” Lucas mumbled as he witnessed him accurately hitting the crossbar from three different spots consecutively.
“Oh!! He’s heading for corner now. That’s a bit challenging.” Lucas mumbled while watching Hiro walk towards the left corner of the pitch for his fourth kick.
“And he makes it four on four. But it must be a fluke. Or he might have even took several kicks before posting the video on newtube.” Still unwilling to accept Hiro’s talent, he wasn’t impressed by his challenges.
Hiro had precisely hit the crossbar from five different spot in that video without missing a single one.
And for the next challenge, he had performed freekick challenge in which he had taken three freekicks from three different spots on the field. The last one being from the kickoff spot.
“If it isn’t staged or edited then I must say that boy is indeed talented. But if it’s staged then all I can say is that you’ve been fooled Eric.” Lucas exclaimed while returning him his phone back.
“What do you take me for Lucas? I’m not someone stupid who can’t differentiate between an influencer and an athlete. I’ve seen him play live with my own eyes. And in this video you haven’t even seen a tenth of what he’s capable of.” Eric exasperated while returning back to his chair.
**** ****
At around 9 PM while being seated at his study table, Hiro kept on looking at his phone, time and again, awaiting for Eric’s call. Continuously tapping his foot against the floor, he couldn’t stop himself from checking his phone.
“Eric said that he would call me in two hours. But it’s already been two hours so why is he not calling me?” Hiro murmured while staring at his phone.
“Should I call him instead?” Hiro mumbled while stretching his fingers towards Eric’s phone number.
“No it’ll make me look impatient. Let’s just wait for a little more. And if he doesn’t call me in an hour, I’ll call him myself.”
Saying such, he pulled his hand back and rose from his chair to divert his attention from his phone. And somehow he managed to refrain himself from calling Eric.
“Now what should I do to keep myself occupied for an hour?” He wondered.
“May be I can juggle the ball for about an hour.” Saying such, he walked towards the ball which was kept beside his closet.
And just as he was about to lift the ball up, he remembered that it was still night time. “Thank god!! I didn’t hit the ball or else I would have woken up my parents.”
“So now what should I do to pass time?” He wondered after barely stopping himself from juggling the ball so late in the night at his room.
“May be I should watch the highlight of the previous year’s world cup final.” He mumbled as he sat down and grabbed his phone.
“Man I want to represent my country too!!” He whispered as he witnessed Mbappe winning the world cup at the only age of nineteen. “I should probably aim for the 2023’s U-17 world cup. At that time I would be fourteen by then.”
He began to imagine himself already in the pitch wearing his country’s jersey.
Ring!! Ring!! Ring!!
Just then while he was dreaming about making his debut for his national team, his phone started to ring.
Coming back to his senses, he looked at his phone and noticed Eric’s number. Eric was finally calling him after 2 and half hours.
“Hello Eric!!” He spoke as he brought his phone closer to his ear after picking Eric’s call.
“Hiro!! I’ve talked with the coaches of the five teams you’ve mentioned about. And although each and every one of their project seems promising. I have narrowed the list on to two from the original list of five teams.” Eric replied
“You should go with either Kawasaki Frontale or Yokohama F Marinos.” Eric gave his decision. “Although both of the teams wants to test you out before signing you. But you should go with either of the two teams. Based on the performance you show them during the test they are willing to provide you with full scholarship that would cover your expenses for dorm fee, school fees, travel expenses and everything you’d require during your stay at the club.”