From Arsenal to the Ball God

Chapter 70: Chapter 9: The Clément Family’s Surprise Plan! Ma’el’s Transformation! [4/5]

”Have you got the tickets?”

In Southern France, Aix, as Clément opened the door and entered the house, his wife Betty immediately came up, a little nervous: ”Are there a lot of people during Christmas?”

Today is the weekend, the three children are also home, and looked at their father with expectant eyes upon seeing him return.

Especially Eva, who jumped straight down from the sofa and threw herself into Clément’s arms, ”I don’t want to spend the holiday at home, I want to see brother play football!”

Feeling the concerned gazes on him, Clément initially wanted to keep it a secret, but his joyful expression betrayed him.

”Everything’s settled, we leave on the 23rd, arriving in Sheffield the same evening.”

He couldn’t help but share the good news with his family, ”We’re going to see Ma’el play football live.”

Finally, the holiday had arrived, and they finally had time to rekindle their plans to visit the United Kingdom!

This is no small matter for this ordinary family...

Moreover, as relatives of Ma’el, watching their nephew who they haven’t seen in a year enjoy star treatment on television every week, they still feel an unrealistic disconnection.

Without seeing him in person and experiencing it live, they can’t be at ease.

It’s a strange feeling, and perhaps until today, they haven’t fully accepted the enormous change in their nephew’s status.

”Yeah!”

Eva raised both hands and jumped joyfully, at her age, there was no concept of restraint, expressing freely was perfectly fine.

Clément’s wife Betty also showed a joyful expression. Having lived almost her entire life in Southern France, the farthest she had been was Lille, and she hadn’t been abroad.

Needless to say, the eldest sister and second brother in the family; they hadn’t even been to Paris.

”We haven’t told Ma’el.”

Betty is a meticulous woman, a trait developed through raising four children, which despite her happiness, always came with a hint of worry: ”Will we be causing trouble for him? Shouldn’t we let him know?”

”No.”

Clément rejected the suggestion, smiling with anticipation: ”We’re going to surprise him, appear right in front of him after the match!”

Betty thought about it, considering the loneliness of her nephew spending Christmas alone and the surprise he’d feel upon seeing family.

She smiled knowingly and accepted the idea, ”That’s good too.”

”Just, there should be a lot of people watching the game during Christmas.”

The oldest child spoke up from the side, sharing her concerns which were similar to Eva’s, though not as obvious, ”If we don’t tell him, what if we can’t even get tickets?”

At this time, the online ticketing system hadn’t launched yet, tickets were mostly sold at designated locations where you had to line up to buy.

Her worry was well-founded. The St. Stephen’s Day match around Christmas is surely the craziest match in the first half of the league season, a game where tickets are generally hard to come by.

”Leave it to me.”

Clément actually felt quite unsure deep down after thinking it over, but he didn’t dampen everyone’s spirits, ”I’ll go line up early, surely I can get the tickets.”

No one chatted further, seemingly overwhelmed with excitement, rushing back to their rooms to pack, some grabbing toys, some grabbing clothes.

But, what date is it even?

”Alright.”

Finally, Clément interrupted them, pulling out a bank card: ”This is the card with the over ten thousand Euros Ma’el has been sending us over time. I’ve kept it as emergency funds, rarely used.

”Today, I’ll take out 2000, and buy each of you some branded new clothes, so we can meet him looking our best.”

The family was stunned before displaying varied reactions.

”Long live brother!”

Eva raised an arm, and upon seeing her dad’s earnest gaze, added: ”Long live dad too!”

”Haha...”

Clément laughed, rubbing her head, glancing at the joyous yet bashful Betty beside him, ”I know you want to say we don’t need it, but this time, no discussions, let’s go now.”

”I’ll put on my shoes!” The eldest sister turned and dashed to the room, clearly enticed greatly by the idea of new clothes.

The second brother didn’t move, but couldn’t hide his anticipation on his face.

......

On December 15th, Ma’el boarded the bus from the hotel entrance in Norwich City, heading to Norwich’s home ground, Kanor Road Stadium.

The 21st round of the Championship was about to kick off, facing second in the league, the strong team Norwich!

Ma’el remained calm, opening his Facebook while on the bus, browsing fan comments.

For some reason, lately, he seemed to have suddenly been hit by a wave of traffic from the BBC, with many saying they watched the BBC programme and followed him, leaving enthusiastic comments under his posts.

His fan numbers are growing by ten to twenty thousand a day, quickly approaching 150,000.

This feeling is quite nice, now his backend activity invitations, pay range between 20,000 and 30,000 Pounds.

”When will I be able to post something and earn 500,000 Pounds?”

He remembered a news story he’d seen in a past life, had expectations for this, it seemed like easy money to him now.

With the intention of maintaining his fan community, he took several photos in his training gear, showing off the team badge and team-issued water bottle.

Of course, the most important thing was his handsome and charming face, filling almost 80% of the screen.

——”Set out for Norwich!”

He added the caption, clicked publish, and kept refreshing, waiting for the praise in comments.

As it was right before the match, many fans immediately took notice of his post, the number of comments quickly exceeded dozens.