Rise of a Football God

"Happy birthday!"

Sam was surprised. "Huh? It's my birthday?"

"Already?!"

Jumping up from his bed, he opened his phone, checking his date and then, his eyes widened.

{August 6th}

Sam was born in August 6th, 2005 and today, he was 18.

Last year, his birthday came and went in a flash, his family only remembering when it was evening and barely celebrating it, only wishing him happy birthday but this year, it was different.

After his son's exploits over the past few months, Mr. Moses was determined to make it a birthday to remember this time.

"Go get set son, wear beach clothes, we're going to McCarthy Beach".

"Really?" Sam was ecstatic.

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

Well, by the end of it all, if Sam was asked to describe his 18th birthday celebration in one word, the only word he could think of was memorable.

Going to the popular beach in Abraka, Delta State, Mr. Moses did not hold back, splurging money to make it memorable for his son.

They enjoyed themselves, treating themselves to the best food that was on offer at the beach, spending nice time swimming and sunbathing.

It was not a public celebration per say, just quality family time.

Personally, to Paul, none of these experiences compared to the excitement of watching his dad play football for the first time in his life.

In his beach attire, Mr. Moses joined a hastily formed mismatch beach football team that was created haphazardly as he played beach football alongside other people in the beach.

Paul was excited to see his dad play, but the score line was not friendly.

After 50 minutes of football, the team that his father played for ended up on the wrong side of an 8-0 hammering.

It was totally embarrassing as Mrs. Moses and Sophia laughed at Mr. Moses till they cried, leaving the man blushing in shame.

"You greenhorns!" He boasted at his opponents to save face. "None of you can match me in my peak. In my peak, I was called the Abraka Messi".

"Abraka Messi, pfft!" They laughed at him and his teammates even more.

"Just you wait, let my son recover from his injury first, he'll show you greenhorns what true football feels like".

In the end, the man who had his ego bruised could only rely on this, shamelessly boasting with his son who played professional football.

It was petty but with it, he managed to save some face for himself.

After an unforgettable day at the beach, they returned home only after it was getting dark and on getting home, they finally presented Sam with his birthday gift.

"Happy birthday!" They chorused again, unveiling the gift.

"…!" Sam was flabbergasted.

Sitting on the table before him was the familiar box of an iPhone. On top the box, the words iPhone 13 pro max were written.

Sam's eyes widened. "Dad! You finally got me an iPhone?"

"Hehe," this man smiled proudly. "I always told you that you were not big enough to use an iPhone yet. Well, you're big enough now".

"Thank you, dad!" Sam hugged his father excitedly.

Of course, after these past few months of playing football with Enyimba FC, Sam already had the money to get an iPhone 13 pro max for himself but due to his busy football schedule, he never really had the time to pay attention to it.

Right now, though, he didn't care about the money, it was the gesture that mattered to him and the event at which he got it.

The gift made his birthday even more memorable and to cap it off, his mom made his best traditional home-made soup, Banga soup and fufu.

Sam ate to his fill, finally retreating to bed for the night as a fulfilled man.

…

After his birthday, time moved fast to Sam as he spent most of his time at home, eating and being pampered by his parents.

The days moved fast as football news started circulating from Europe.

After winning an incredible treble, knocking the European Giants, Real Madrid from the champions league in tyrannical fashion with a convincing 4-1 second leg score line after an exciting first leg 1-1 draw, Manchester City were the reigning European champions.

Not just the reigning European champions, they were reigning European treble winners after snatching the premier league title from Arsenal late, and also winning the FA cup in Wembley stadium, stealing it from their cross-city rivals, Manchester United.

Manchester City as a club was currently in the best period of its life where it gained a rapid followership on social media and new fans all across the world.

They were the European club on top of the world.

During the break after the 2022/2023 season, most of all the news was on Manchester City's treble, Erling Haaland's incredible debut season, with less attention put on Messi and Argentina's world cup win in the summer of 2022.

All this news led to one thing, the balon d'or race for the 2022/2023 football season was heating up and 2 names led at the top, Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi.

More attention was also put on Rodri after his incredible displays during Manchester City's historic run, including his Champions league final winning goal.

He was also in the running for the balon d'or, the first time in more than a decade since a defensive midfielder was truly in the running for the balon d'or.

In the transfer market, European clubs were also active as the headlines were led by Real Madrid's capture of the English midfielder, Jude Bellingham after a summer of speculation.

Another club that stole the headlines in the summer was Chelsea FC.

After the change of ownership from Roman Abramovich, Todd Boehly, the new Chelsea owner and billionaire clearly came with big ambitions as he splurged money, acquiring the services of the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez amongst other big-name transfers.

Another transfer that caught the attention of the world was Manchester City's midfield hero, Ikay Gundogan making the switch from Manchester City to FC Barcelona in Spain.

While all this happened, Lille stayed in contact with Mr. Moses.

Despite waiting and hoping though, constantly keeping tab of any news FC Barcelona related, Sam's hopes were crushed ruthlessly, Lille remained the only European club that stayed in contact with him.

And after a few months of rest, a new football season, the 2023/2024 season finally started in the big 5 European leagues.

It was also at this time that Lille sent their first contract offer to the Nigerian midfielder who just played his first professional season last season.