General pov
"Grayson the Giant: 16-Year-Old Brighton Star Sends Liverpool Crashing Out"
"Grayson Destroys the Reds: Teen Star Scores All 5 Goals in Semi-Final!"
"Flying Grayson Soars Over The Reds"
@Arema_Infinity: He's SIXTEEN. Against Liverpool. In a semi-final. 5 goals. Unreal.
@Matheusxkk: That header… Matip's 6'5 and Dick almost jumped OVER him. Craaazzzyyyy.
@Footydude: Matip looking up at Dick's thighs like he's watching Cirque du Soleil.
@Messistan: It's just an EFL Cup, why is everyone getting hyped?
@NothingSpecial: Grayson FC put 5 past Liverpool, what a fucking game.
It was the next day, and the entire football world had gone crazy. The story of Brighton beating Liverpool was big, but the fact that a 16-year-old (almost 17) had scored all five goals against them had the media grinning from ear to ear. Dick had just woken up to the news of him being compared to Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Maradona, Zidane, and every other great football player that had come before him. His dad was only comparing him to Italian footballers, calling him the next Paolo Rossi, Maldini (who was a defender), and even Inzaghi. Honestly, Dick was just happy Brighton won because his legs felt like shit. He was exhausted; he had run from box to box basically the entire game, and with the team depending on him to start the attacks, he had spent all his energy.
Thankfully, they had a 2-day rest day before training started again, and Dick would take as much advantage of that as he could. He had more than 300,000 GBP in his bank account, and he wanted to spend some of it. Dick finished putting on some clothes, which were just baggy black jeans, a white long-sleeve shirt and a light-green t-shirt. He put on his silver chain, his cap and put on his shoes before heading out of the house.
After taking an hour-long train, Dick had reached London, where he wanted to spend the day just walking around and maybe buy some new clothes, games, or even a new guitar. But before he did all that, Dick decided to grab some food, and he wanted his favourite lunch spot, Nando's. Dick walked into the Nandos, found a seat and pulled out his phone while waiting for the waiter to come take his order. After a bit, a waiter came up to him and was about to ask him for his order before he seized up, his eyes shot wide open as he looked at Dick with his mouth agape.
The server then said
"OH MY GOD! YOU'RE RICHARD GRAYSON! YOU'RE MY FAVOURITE FOOTBALL PLAYER"
Dick flinched at the sound, not because it was bad or loud but because it meant that people might know he was here and cause a commotion. Dick only smiled and said
"I appreciate that, bro, but could maybe not be so loud, I was hoping for a nice lunch without the paparazzi knowing I was here *chuckles*"
The server realised his mistake but was quick to shake it off as he said
"Yeah, sorry, man, it's just…I wasn't expecting you to be here! In London, of all places, I'm just going out to eat at a random Nando's. It's so crazy"
Dick laughed before saying.
"Yeah, fair, but I gotta eat as well, and considering my last performance, I thought I would reward myself by going out to eat some Nandos"
The server nodded for a bit, as if he completely related and understood what Dick was talking about, before he realised that it was his job to take Dicks order so that he could get his food. So he quickly snapped to it, took Dicks order (and also managed to get a quick photo with him) before running to his next table.
Dick went back to his phone but just couldn't shake the feeling of someone watching him, so he quickly looked up and saw at least 7 different people with their phones out recording/taking a photo of him, so he just smiled and waved, making the people recording him self-conscious and hurry to pretend as if they weren't just recording him.
After a bit, Dick got his food, which was just peri peri chicken, rice and peas. He also got a side of fries and a Coke Zero before leaving the restaurant. He tipped the waiter like 200 pounds on a 20-pound bill because he was feeling nice and then quickly headed to do some shopping.
—------------------------------------------
Dick looked exhausted when he came home; he hadn't even been in London that long before fans and paparazzi came by the dozen. Turns out, when people post photos of a famous person being spotted somewhere, people come out in hordes to try and meet them. So, Dick, not realising that he also counted as a "famous person" now, didn't think anything of it when a couple of people came up to him for some photos. When the 20th person came, that was when he thought something was a bit weird.
So, his shopping trip got cut short and he rushed home as he didn't want to get surrounded by fans, paparazzi and crazy people. Dick groaned as he took his shoes off. He then stumbled into his room and dove onto his bed. He lay there for a while before he fell asleep by accident, just tired after a mentally taxing day.
A couple of days later, Brighton faced Huddersfield, where they managed a 2-0 victory. Hughton had decided to rest Dick, as this wasn't an important game, and he also knew that they would be able to win without Dick. Murray came through with the Brace, scoring both goals through great team play.
Then on the 5th of February, Brighton faced Brentford, where they managed an impressive 3-0 victory. Dick played again in this game and managed a 1 goal 1 assist on his stat sheet before he was subbed off at halftime. Dick managed to score from another header, something that Hughton had been practising more in training. And then managed a perfect cross-pitch pass towards Murray, who scored right after getting the ball.
Then, on the 11th of February, Brighton faced Burton for their 29th matchday. The game went 3-2 for Brighton. It was a very shocking game where, after Brighton were up 3-0 in the first half, they went easy in the second and got 2 goals scored on them before they locked in again and managed to hold their lead for the last 15 minutes. Dick, who had been subbed off again at half-time, had been hanging off the edge of his seat during the second half, his legs twitching to be put back on. Dick got two assists but no goal, which he was fine with.
Then, on the 15th, they faced Barnsley, where they managed another 2-0 victory. Dick scored 1 goal before being subbed off at the 60th minute after a win was basically guaranteed. He had scored from a solo run, which had resulted in a Reading defender doing the splits, which went viral all over social media.
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February 19th, Amex Stadium, FA cup round 5 Brighton vs Burnley
*Tweeeeeeeeet*
Dick passed the ball back to Sidwell, who passed the ball even further down, dragging the Burnley players towards the ball, trying to break the 2-4-4 formation that they played with. Dick looked around and spotted that some Burnley players were playing close by him, trying to block all of the passing/running lanes that he had.
So he did what he knew how to do, he just dropped deep, and started playing from a more attacking midfielder position, making the Brighton formation more of a 4-4-1-1. After a couple of minutes of gameplay, Brighton finally had a chance. Dick had received the ball from Duffy and quickly crossed the ball to Knockaert as the Burnley players were closing in. Knockeart ran with the ball up and did a fantastic pass to Murphy, who dribbled past Arfield and shot the ball from outside the box. The ball flew, and just as it looked like it was about to go in, Heaton managed to just block the shot, pushing it out right into the penalty area. Keane, the Burnley defender, ran for the ball, hoping to get to it first and just as he was about to reach the ball, a blue and white kit, with venom green adidas shoes on, surged past him and managed to hit the ball into the net, and all he saw was the number 20 with Grayson written over it.
Dick, who had just sprinted from his half all the way to the 6-yard box on the other side, ran towards the corner and did his classic celebration. The Brighton fans all screamed in joy, making the entire stadium shake. Dick just stood there a bit before tapping his chest, kissing his finger and pointing up. That was when Murray had jumped on his back and screamed into the crowd while pumping his fist up into the air.
They then walked back, where Dicks teammates all gave him a high five or clapped him on the back. The first half then finished, with Brighton being 1-0 above Burnley. Throughout the first half, Brighton had just been the better team; they had more attacking chances, they were better defensively and all around they had just come together as a team.
After 15 minutes, the players all came out again. Brighton had made no changes, but it looked like Burnley had made a few subs and decided to change their shape into more of a 5-4-1. They seemed to be more focused on defence in the second half as they didn't want Brighton scoring another goal. Dick saw this and sighed. He absolutely hated the parking the bus method, and he also just didn't get why Burnley would do it when they were down a goal, but he didn't think about it too much.
The game continued for a while with both teams having a big fight in the midfield. Dick had stayed in his CM position, so he acted as the pivot point for Brighton while also playing some defence to block the Burnley attacks. Dick had found himself dropping deeper in his recent games, and it was mostly because he was being covered from every side, and also because he knew how to help in that position. His dad had also made him watch a lot of Maldini tapes after the Italian coach had told him to brush up on his defensive skills.
Then at the 70th minute, Dick managed to hook the ball from the Burnley striker, Grey, the ball stopped immediately with the striker falling to the ground and asking for a free kick. Dick had ignored him and started his run, looking forward. He saw Murray sprinting ahead, running into the free space. Dick then dropped his shoulder against Boyd, selling it perfectly and drifted into the right side of the pitch. Dick then lofted the ball across the pitch, the ball spun in the air, before slowly descending right in the patch of Murray, who took the ball in stride and was now one against the goalkeeper. And with a clinical finish, Murray slotted the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Dick, who had continued his run down the pitch, ran into Murray and they shared a hug before facing the fans who were all roaring in joy. The rest of the team joined quickly, with everyone cheering loudly and hyping up the crowd to try and get them to be even louder.
The game then finished with nothing more exciting happening; Burnley had just given up. They were 2-0 down at the 70th minute, and just thinking about how much better Brighton were playing made the players demoralised. They played like normal, but without any oomph in their movements. They still tried on defence, which had become even more compact after Murray scored.
And with that, Dick had made Brighton history with this being the furthest they had been since their final against Manchester United in 1983. Dick was just a happy guy; he was tired as all hell, but winning his 4th consecutive man of the match award was pretty nice.
But honestly, this game hadn't been that important for Dick; he wasn't worried about anything about the FA tournament. His mind was laser-focused on Brighton's next big game.
The EFL cup final against Manchester United.