From Arsenal to the Ball God

Ma’el could only agree to this, then stroked Saliba’s curly hair and said, ”Grow up quickly, I look forward to you playing for Arsenal.”

”When I grow up, will you still be playing football?” Saliba said innocently, ”I want to defend against you, then everyone will definitely call me the best defender.”

”Haha.....!”

Ma’el and the few people next to him laughed together, raising his eyebrows, ”When you grow up, I’ll be at my peak, don’t worry. I also hope you can achieve that goal then.”

After saying this, he left Saliba’s room and went to the field again to prepare for a simple match against the senior players.

Maybe he didn’t have much interaction with the kids here, nor did he talk much about the European Cup.

But he understood that, carrying the European Cup champion title and four major awards, just showing up here and wandering around can bring some positive influence to their spirits.

While preparing, he saw a player dressed in a vest with his hands clasped behind his back, looking dejected and talking to the coach.

The coach then patted his shoulder and called another player to join the warm-up, the player could only lower his head and purse his lips, returning to the sideline and clenching his fists.

Compelled by an unknown force, Ma’el suddenly wanted to step forward and ask him what was wrong, why he gave up when he originally could play.

He approached the 14-15-year-old player, smiled and said, ”Is your body not feeling well? This match won’t be too intense, maybe you can give it a try.”

The player stood up, surprised and overwhelmed, obviously not having thought it through, ”Oh, no, it’s not like that, I.....”

He finally hesitated, took a step back, and his left foot stood up, hiding it behind the heel of his right foot.

Ma’el felt a stir in his heart, instinctively glanced at his left foot, noticing the hard material on the front of the soccer shoe had flipped outward, exposing his gray socks.

The shoes had come unglued.....he looked at the young player’s face again, noticing that he was forcing a smile as if he knew what Ma’el had seen, clearly embarrassed but pretending to be at ease.

”I have a few pairs of shoes in the dormitory, but it’s too far and I don’t want to go back to get them.”

The player pointed in the direction of the dormitory, but the regret on his face was hard to conceal..... it was obvious this was just an excuse, as the dormitory could not possibly outweigh his desire to play football with Ma’el.

Afraid that Ma’el wouldn’t believe him, he stammered on, ”My dad just bought me a new pair, your limited edition shoes, 673 pounds, they’ll be mailed over in a day or two.”

As he spoke, his hands clenched tighter behind his back, his nails even digging into his palm, that piercing pain, the self-esteem of a teenager.

Ma’el’s eyes showed a hint of absent-mindedness, it was impossible not to recall himself back then.

Patting the boy’s head, he chose not to expose him, turned around and continued preparing, while dialing a number on his phone.

Once the call connected, Alto’s enthusiastic voice came through, with a hint of joy, ”Is the champion calling to claim the European Cup bonuses? I’d better do some serious calculations.”

”No.”

Ma’el glanced at the teenager, seeing him still clenching his fists, sighed lightly and asked, ”Are there any collaborative shoes in Paris? Is there a large stock?”

”Yes.” Alto continued with joy in his voice, ”All major cities in Europe have them; you wouldn’t believe how popular your shoes have been these days.

The Paris storefront just received a batch, a total of 1500 pairs, what’s up?”

”I’m at Clairefontaine.” Ma’el explained the reason for his call, ”I want to donate a batch of shoes to the academy, to the children here. Can you help send a batch? I’ll pay for them.”

”Now?” Alto’s tone changed, ”Or gradually?”

”Right now, as fast as possible.”

”Okay..... the warehouse is just in southwest Paris, it should be quick to send them over, how many pairs?”

”Check the main sizes for players aged 8-17, send some of each, and then they can choose a pair according to their shoe size, the rest can be sent back to the warehouse.”

”Alright..... you don’t need to pay, Clairefontaine has no more than 200 people, we can send over this number of shoes no problem.”

”I’d rather pay.”

”Ah, alright then.”

After hanging up, Ma’el finished warming up and entered the field, smiling as he played the match with the players here, occasionally eliciting laughter from the surrounding spectators.

More than half an hour later, while resting, he saw two small trucks drive into Clairefontaine and arrive by the field.

He explained their purpose to the staff, who quickly conveyed the message to all the players.

”Yeah.....!”

Amid a burst of cheers, Ma’el saw the young player fearfully but eagerly following the crowd, craning his neck to peer towards the trucks.

A unique sense of fulfillment rose in his heart, as he personally stood in front of the truck, asking everyone’s shoe size, handing out high-quality ’lm7’ collaborative shoes.

After handing out many pairs, he saw the boy wearing open-toed shoes come up beside him, blushing and said, ”I wear size 7.5.”

”Alright.”

Ma’el smiled and picked out a pair of size 7.5 shoes, handing them to him, ”I’m only one size larger than you, quite the coincidence, here you go.”

”Thank you.” The young player accepted the shoes anxiously and gratefully, feeling the textured upper, quickly developing fondness, he took off his own shoes and put on the new ones.

He walked a couple of steps, a bit awkwardly, perhaps also sensing a special warmth.