Chapter 33: Matchday
Izan walked inside his house and smelled an unfamiliar scent in the house.
"It seems like someone's visiting " Izan thought. Izan headed to the stairs and was interrupted by his mother before he could go up.
"Miura dear,come here" Komi said. Izan who had one foot on the stairs came back to the living room to find someone else alongside his mother.
His guess had been correct. Izan stood there looking at the woman in front of him.
"Miura,this is my friend Miranda" Komi said whiles guiding her hands towards Mira.
"Nice to meet you Miura, I've heard a lot about you" Mira said with a genuine smile on her face.
"Nice to meet you too Miss Miranda" Izan said whiles bowing. "Oh,just Mira will be fine " Miranda said not taking her eyes off of Izan.
Komi rolled her eyes before breaking the silence, "Miura,you see Miranda here is a football agent and she asked to see you after I told her about you and coincidentally she had planned to contact a player who had caught her eye and once again coincidentally it was you" Komi said with a smile.
Izan put the bag down and sat down whiles nodding his head.
"Now,since I'm no expert I will leave to continue with my cooking" Komi said as she stood up to go.
After Komi left,Miranda turned her attention towards Izan and both individuals had a staredown for a few minutes.
Miranda finally smiled before speaking
"Hello once again Izan. I'm Miranda Gonzalez and I'm an agent at Generational football agency and i'll be direct.I asked to see you in hopes that we could partner up. I'd like to be your agent and represent you in all future deals" Miranda said whiles taking out a stack of papers from her bag".
She took a few papers from the stack before passing it to Izan. She then continued.
"I have found a lot of players for my agency but anytime I find a player,the task gets given to someone else. I don't know why but its either my superiors don't like me or there's another reason I'm not aware of.
As I said,I would like to represent you as an agent and the papers I gave to you is my proposal.
It is mainly three things and I'd like to elaborate on how I'd be the best agent for you in footballing deals and in growing you as a brand".
Izan kept nodding at Miranda whiles she started explaining her proposal. Whiles listening to some of the terms,Izan was a bit surprised since the contract seemed to favour him.
For example,there was the clause stating that Miranda would negotiate the first contract for free and only from then on she would take commission as the agent.
"I know I'm your friends child but isn't your commission a bit little" Izan said. He had read a bit when he was returning home and he had some idea of how some of these contracts were.
"I know that it may seem small now,but in the near future it could be millions. If you play in the laliga like your matches in the u19s and the sneak peek you showed against Espanyol,it wouldn't be that long before teams line up for you.
You even had a few clubs interested in you but they were shut off by Valencia who made the decision to wait till you garnered enough hype for a big transfer fee" Miranda said whiles looking at Izan.
"Well I like everything I've heard so far but I'd like you to take some commission for your first negotiation if you become my agent, I feel a bit bad about that " Izan said.
Miranda didn't act pretentious and instantly accepted to take a commission for negotiating Izan's contract.
"So from your words I'm assuming you're okay with everything " Miranda asked.
"Well, the club offered me a contract today and I needed an agent to help me with it. Plus its better to have someone close like my mother's friend do it than a stranger " Izan said.
Miranda bumped her fist in the air before seeing Izan staring at her. She quickly regained her composure before sitting continuing.
"This was just a proposal,so the original contract is not here. It would be ready by tomorrow though since all I have to do is just change a few things and were good to go" Miranda said.
She stood up and gathered her materials before both she and Izan walked to the door.
"Won't you wait for dinner" ,Komi said when she saw Miranda and Izan at the door. She had been listening in on the conversation to see to it that her son hadn't been roped into something hazardous even though she knew that Miranda wouldn't do that.
"Nah Komi,I need to prep stuff. I'll be here tomorrow though so let's have dinner then" she said whiles giving Izan a nod before opening the door.
"Did you like her" Komi asked as she cleaned her hands. "Yeah,she's very good and the contract favoured more. She seems to really believe that I can be something great" Izan said with a grin.
Komi looked at her son before heading back to complete dinner for the evening.
The following day arrived and Izan signed the contract with Miranda. Miranda had decided to focus on Izan and work at her agency at the same time but she had ultimately decided to resign after Izan makes it big enough for her to start her own agency.
"Lets forge a great partnership together" Miranda said whiles she brought forth her hand for a shake.
Izan looked at her hand and took it in his. Miranda as she promised stayed for dinner afterwards before heading home.
The next day passed quickly and soon it was the time for the final match day. Izan had luckily been selected as part of the matchday squad again.
The match was against Sevilla and all the odds were against them. The had lost the first match against them in the first half of the season and they lost badly,Losing 4 goals to nil.
Izan told his mother about the match but she couldn't attend this time since her mother had an Important outing and she therefore couldn't take Hori.
Izan was a bit down as always whenever his mum couldn't be there for his match.
Izan didn't sulk for long and continued with the preparations towards the match. He had drunk a recovery potion and had made his best efforts to sleep but couldn't because of the excitement for the match the following day.
Izan finally conceded as his eyes were getting heavier and he slept.
The match was being played in the Ramon sanchez-pizjuan and it was a 6 hour drive but the club had taken the Team plane so as to prevent players getting injuries from cramps or sitting too long.
Izan sat on the plane besides a very uncommon seat mate. It was Valencia Captain Jose gaya.
"Hello Izan, I assume this is the first time we are talking but I'm Gaya"
"Yeah, sorry I mean who doesn't know you" Izan said a bit nervous. Gaya who saw this laughed a bit.
"Yeah yeah. You know I watched your matches and you're a really good player.
With you,at the very least we won't have trouble creating dangerous chances from what I've seen" Gaya said.
"All you have to do is translate your play onto a laliga match and do your very best. Also don't slack off on training and you will become and integral part of our side". Gaya added to which Izan nodded.
The two talked for the a while before Izan closed his eyes to take a nap.
The plane landed and the team took their bus to the Ramon sanchez-pizjuan. The entrance was full of Sevilla fans who had come to support their team.
The fans were simply amazing as they stood on the sides with flags amongst others whiles donning the team's jersey.
The Valencia players headed onto the pitch for a warmup session before the match. Izan was again amazed by the atmosphere in the atmosphere.
The shouts of the Sevilla fans drowned everything,even the noise of the Valencia away fans.
Izan had a good warmup session before the team headed to the dressing room to change. Izan after taking his water bottle and energy juice headed to the bench.
The match soon started and it was in favour of the Sevilla team as they attacked rampantly. The Valencia team however were also relentless with their defending and snuffed out all attacks.
A few chances came for both team with neither capitalising on the chance.
Valencia came close to scoring in the 33rd minute when a cross which was sent into the box by Jose Gaya was headed towards the goal by Hugo duro.
The chance was however denied by Sevilla goal keeper Bonou. The back and forth continued until sevilla finally found the back of the net.
A wonderful run by their winger Pedrosa into the box was met with a mistimed tackle from Mark. The Valencia players tried to argue with the decision of the referee since the angle of the tackle seemed tight.
The referee therefore decided to seek confirmation from the Video Assistant Referee and the result came back as a penalty.
The Valencia players knowing they couldn't argue anymore left the referee alone.
Ivan Rakitić,the former Barcelona player who had been causing trouble for the Valencia side all match stepped up to take the penalty.
Cillessen tried his best but the shot from Rakitić was cooly placed in the bottom left corner.
The home fans erupted into shouts and cheers as their club had just pulled ahead. Izan sat on the bench feeling sad for Mark who had caused the penalty.
The referee restarted the match and the pace of the game continued like how it was before the match.
3 minutes was added to the normal 45 minutes and Valencia still couldn't make it count. The referee blew the whistle to end the first half.
The Valencia players headed into half-time a bit down cast. Cocah Ruben Baraja made his pep talk and the players returned to the pitch for the second half after a few tactical amendments.
Izan was itching to go on and his eagerness could be seen by both the Coach and his assistants.
Valencia made two changes after the second half started and Izan was still on the bench. Izan was feeling a bit restless but his chance came when Coach Moreno told him to warm up in the 57th minute.
Izan quickly wore a bib and headed to the touchline to warmup alongside pietro who was also warming up.
The Valencia players got a chance to pull one back but it was only wasted as Illiax Moriba,the young Valencia player would squander the chance with a poor effort.
The ball went out as Izan and pietro were being called for their kits. After Izan and pietro wore their kits,they stood on the touchline and were finally subbed in.
[COMMENTATOR POV]
'Okay folks,Valencia are making a change and they are bringing on two young players in Pietro and Izan with the latter having broken a number of records on his first match against Espanyol.
He would look to prove himself to the Coach and the fans that the last time wasn't a fluke' .
Izan quickly settled into the game after coming on,helping in both attack and defense. Izan making use of his vison and anticipation snuffed out the opposition passes.
Coach Baraja had given Izan a free role on the pitch and Izan with his great stamina was seen everywhere on the pitch.
A few minutes later,Izan got a pass on the the left flank of the the pitch and looking ahead,he took off towards the Sevilla goal.
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A/N : Okay guys so I released an auxiliary chapter for a simple explanation of the Novel so check it out if you don't understand anything and ask anything you want about the Novel.