Rise of a Football God

During the holiday period after the conclusion of the 2022/2023 football season, Sam finally made it official, making his father his official agent.

Every contract-related issue was to go through his father.

During the holiday after the first contact from Lille to his star midfielder, returning to his club, Coach Yemi Daniel spoke with the right executives and just 2 weeks later, the young midfielder's contract was upgraded again shortly after the previous upgrade.

Sam's monthly salary was upgraded again from 500,000 naira to 1,000,000 naira, and finally, they slapped him with an official release clause.

If any club wanted to snap the young midfielder away from Enyimba FC, they would have to trigger his release clause of 2 million Euros.

In the NPFL, it was incredibly rare to see players with such a significant release clause but Sam's case was special for Enyimba FC, Coach Yemi Daniel influenced the decision.

To Sam, 2 million Euros was a ridiculous sum of money.

The figures were too big for him to wrap his head around, so he left everything in his father's care while he slowly worked his way back to fitness.

Due to the delay in the start of the NPFL 2022/2023 season, the effects spilled into this new season a bit as the league delayed more than the big 5 European leagues before starting their season.

Before the NPFL season started, LOSC finally approached Mr. Moses with a professional contract for his client.

There was no physical representative, just a simple email was sent.

Mr. Moses broke down the hocus pocus down, and in simple terms, Lille Olympique Sporting Club were offering his client a 10,000 Euros a week salary after triggering his contract clause of 2 million Euros.

They were also offering a signing bonus of 500,000 Euros.

The delegation from Lille already approached Enyimba FC, trying to bring the release clause down but the Nigerian club were unwilling, staying firm with their decision.

Left with no choice, Lille offered their first contract offer after fulfilling the release clause requirements but a certain agent was not satisfied with the offer.

When converted to Nigerian naira, 10,000 Euros a week was approximately 7,000,000 Nigerian naira a week!

Accumulated for a month, that was 28,000,000 naira a month!

20 million was a sum of money that Sam had only ever heard of in numbers before. Compared to his current salary in Enyimba FC of 1,000,000 naira per month, it was a significant upgrade but a certain Mr. Moses was not satisfied yet.

Insistent that his client was worth more than that, Mr. Moses negotiated for the weekly salary to be increased to at least 30,000 Euros per week while the signing bonus was upgraded to 1,000,000 Euros.

These figures left Sam dizzy.

1,000,000 Euros in Nigerian naira was approximately 700 million naira!

"Dad, what if they withdraw their contract offer?"

"Then it was not meant for you". Mr. Moses did not seem to know what pressure was at all in the contract negotiations.

"Calm down Sam. This is my field, leave it to me. If LOSC really wants to sign you, they will agree to my contract terms and even if they can't, they'll negotiate".

"If they don't, then you're not fated to play for Lille".

"Have some faith son".

Well, for the next few weeks to a month, Lille never responded, leaving Sam incredibly disappointed but with his family there with him, he was able to pick himself up, focusing on the upcoming season of the NPFL.

By now, he already recovered from his injury and since the season would start soon, Coach Yemi Daniel already called his players back to Abia State.

Despite going to Abia State already, Sam could not train fully with his teammates yet as the coach took it cautiously with him, taking him through light training to ease him back into full fitness.

By then, Austin was already back to full fitness.

With his contract situation out of his mind, Sam was able to focus back on his football, working hard on getting back in shape.

While all these happened, time moved and soon enough, like the fleeting pages of a book, the D-day was here.

The NPFL 2023/2024 season finally started.

For matchday 1, Sam was unavailable to be selected as Coach Yemi Daniel was unwilling to risk him entering the game.

Austin started the first game of the season and like expected, Enyimba FC rode the momentum of last season, blowing their opponents apart with a convincing 4-0 score line away from home to kickstart the new season.

For the next game, in matchday 2, at home, Sam finally had his return to the pitch as he was introduced in the dying stages of the game.

He could not chip in with a goal contribution but he played tidy football, playing his part in another convincing 3-1 win at home.

And just like that, after 2 games, Enyimba FC were in a familiar position, sitting comfortably at the top of the NPFL table.

For the next game, Sam also started on the bench but finally, on matchday 4, he started his first game of the season for Enyimba FC in their home stadium, the Enyimba International Stadium.

For that game, the stadium was packed and the atmosphere was electric as the excited fans welcomed their star midfielder back into the starting XI.

"Zinedine Sam!"

"Zinedine Sam!"

"Zinedine Sam!"

Chants like this filled the stadium as he lined up alongside his teammates.

Paul still felt disappointed due to the silence from LOSC, but exposed to the familiar electric atmosphere created by the adoring Enyimba FC home fans again, he smiled, forgetting about the pending contract situation.

All his mind settled with Enyimba FC again.

In that game, he finally got his first goal contributions of the 2023/2024 season, scoring an incredible screamer and chipping in with 2 assists in a 4-1 victory at home to collect his first man of the match award of the season.

"Sam, how do you feel to be back among the goals?"

Sam smiled amid heavy breathing. "It's always a nice feeling to score a goal. After my injury last season, starting this season has been difficult but I'm adapting. I can feel it, I'm rediscovering my best form gradually".

"Yes," he nodded, still smiling. "It feels good to be back among the goals".

"What do you think of Enyimba FC this season? After your incredible exploits last season, there are many betting on your club to flop this season, still affected by the fatigue of playing so many high intensity games last season".

"They predict Enyimba FC to go trophy less, what do you think?"

Sam grinned. "Soon enough, we'll be competing for our first trophy of the season and personally, I won't bet against my club not winning it".

"Please, can you clarify on what trophy you're talking about?"

"The FIFA Club World Cup of course".

The reporter shifted a bit, signaling his cameraman to pay closer attention. "In case you've forgotten Sam, Manchester City on the back of their historic treble season are also competing in the Club World Cup".

"Even with that, do you think your club stand a chance?"

"You never know," he shrugged. "Don't count us out just yet".

"Ok Sam, I'll pay more attention to the club world cup after this".

"Anyways, thanks for having me, do have a nice day".

"You too".