(Matt's pov)
"Dad" I said sitting beside him.
It was 8Pm, and as usual he rested on the sofa watching news.
I had already told mom before she left for the hospital, she had cried and hugged me, after 5 minutes, she called aunty to tell her the news.
"Hmmn" he said not taking his eyes from the television.
"I got this letter from the academy, it's from FA", I said to the disinterested man, he was too busy looking at the news.
He turned suddenly, "From the FA, you said?"
I nodded and handed him the letter.
He lowered the volume, carefully took the letter.
It didn't take long for his eyes to widen as he rubbed his hair, finally putting down the page, he looked at the me.
"I, what can I say champ, I didn't expected to come this soon, congrats son" he said finally closing the gap and hugging me.
"Thanks Dad" I mumbled.
"You should have told me when at work! I would have got something to celebrate!" He said breaking the hug and leaning on the sofa.
"I wanted to tell you in person" I said sheepishly.
'If I had told you earlier, I'm sure half of your mates would be here'
"So we have to visit the academy?"
"Yes , they need you to sign some documents, and FA stuff"
"We'll take your mum too, she never been inside the gates"
"Yes!"
"It's good that the dates didn't collide, you know, the premier for the movie, May 31" he said making me surprise.
"The date has been finalized?"
"Today, Steve called me" he said making me silent.
"Now go to your room, it's your sleeping time" he said looking at the clock.
---
On Saturday, Dad took us all to the academy, there they had to sign multiple documents and consent forms as I would have to travel to France.
"You are in luck that it's happening in Europe, you won't be able to play out of Europe at your age" had said the Academy director Liam brady.
"The instructions and address is in the letter, and Matt, now you represent the Arsenal academy, So make sure to behave in that way" said the coach Roy massey.
After reassuring the old man, we went back home, I was allowed to skip training for the day to spend some time with the family.
----
Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, Berkshire
(4 April 2004)
The weather was nice, a sunny day, I felt a little hot in my windcheater.
"Here for the U-17 training camp?" Asked a man wearing navy blue shirt and dark blue pants, he was wearing same pattern hat.
Dad nodded and handed him the invitation letter, to which he skimmed through in a second.
"Matt Delevigne?" He asked looking at me.
"Yes!" I said making him nod.
"Sir, from here no parents are allowed inside, this here is parental guidlines, it has the contact information of the coach and FA Training manager" said the security guard handing dad a paper.
"Thankyou" said dad as he carefully folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
He bent down and hugged me, "Take care son, I'll see you on 9, show them hell" he said playfully ruffling my hair.
"Hmmn, I'll do my best".
"Leave the luggage here, take that stamp and write your name on it, it will be directly sent to you dorms." Said the guard looking at my carry bags.
I had bought some studs, gym wears, a deodrant, water bottles, some home made protein bars, socks..
"Yes Sir", I put my name on the sticker and slap it on to the bag.
"Sign in front of your name" he said handing me a check-in register, there was name of 20 kids, mine was on 6th, there was sign on almost every name, only 3 remained unsigned.
"Where do I have to go now?" I asked.
"Hahah now, you report to the assistant coach, Mr Adam Stan, just head straight and on the right side is the gathering hall. Best of luck kid" he said pointing towards the room.
"Thankyou" I said waving at them as I walked inside, this was the moment, and I will never let it go, I got one shot, an opportunity of a life time.
As I walked, I saw a building, large glass panels spanning across, a wide set of steps leads up to the main entrance, which made it look a little too professional for my taste.
"Let's do this" I said to myself as I walk up and step inside the main entrance.
I see multiple kids wearing training sets resting on the chair, I guess I'm at the right place.
Almost instinctively, everyone in the room looked the the new arrival, me, which made me a little a little uncomfortable, but I promptly ignored the feeling.
I looked around and saw some familiar faces, I've played against quite a few of them in Academy friendlies.
Why are they avoiding my gaze?
Is that guy shaking!
I walk up to the woman sitting, wearing a blazer with white lions on her breast pocket.
"Excuse, Matt Delevigne. Just arrived" I said.
"Ohh, sit down on these chairs. Assistant coaches and physiotherapist would record your data in a minute, we're just waiting for them to arrive" she said it slowly and loudly for all the kids to hear.
"Thankyou" I said to her and walked towards an empty chair.
(Pov end)
(Third person pov)
"What is that monster doing here" whispered a Man United academy player to himself.
The boy was taller than matt, he tried to calm himself but his feet tapped the ground constantly.
"Who is he? So you know that kid?" Asked a boy who was relaxed, completely opposite to the boy in red.
The United player didn't answer, his hands were on his hair, as he stalled for silence.
"And how old is he? 11? Why is he allowed here" continued the player.
Seeing the United player still not looking up, he put a hand on the boys back.
"Man, our country's talent has been dropped if we had to call up a 10 year old"
Before he could spout anything else, the boy looked up, his eyes were a little red, but there was amusement, the kind which you give to a 5 year old before handing him a carolina reaper to taste.
"Ben, you mate is Sunderland's goalkeeper, right?"
"Didn't I just introduced myself? What has gotten into you Fraizer" said Ben, the Sunderland goalkeeper.
"Have you played a game against Arsenal, this year or last year?" Asked Fraizer Campbell, United forward.
Ben thought for a moment, " Nah, we played Leicester, villa and westham"
"That's expected, Arsenal would never play at your level. We played Arsenal, that boy, he's from Arsenal" said Fraizer pointing towards Matt.
"Heh, maybe I should try for arsenal, there's like no competition" said Ben with a chuckle.
'its like deja wu, I remember Stuart and binny saying the same thing, I've never seen them on field since that day' thought Fraizer, there was something in his gaze that made Ben a little uncomfortable.
"You're acting weird since that boy has arrived" Ben said pointing out Fraizer's odd behaviour.
"Matthew Delevigne. That's his name. He played 20 minutes against us, and scored 16 goals"
Ben didn't believe what he just heard, he fully turned his attention towards Fraizer now.
"What! That's impossible. He's so small, you didn't push or body him"
"Have someone ever scored a 40 yards freekick in your training?"
"Fucking hell, it's Sunderland mate, we don't have Roberto Carlos playing U-17" said Ben
"We'll he scored, 3 of them that day" again pointing at Matt.
"Now you just making shit up" said Ben with a frown.
"Best of luck bro, and trust me you need it, you're a goalkeeper after all. I'm glad I'm not" said Fraizer and stopped talking, his face had a small smile as he glanced at Matt, who looked like a kid sitting between two sixteen year olds.
'God's if you are real! Please let me be in his team' prayed Fraizer silently.
Ben looked at Fraizer with contempt, he may be from a bottom tier club, in England, his name was quite famous.
Ben Alnwick was one of the best goalkeeping talents in all across Europe, atleast that's how Ben thought of himself.
'I won't let him score a single goal' thought Ben as he wished to play opposite to Matt.
If Fraizer had heard him, he would have laughed his heart out, they cry tears of pity for Ben.
Matt didn't know he had unknowingly put a target on his back, he just looked at the two of the tallest boys flanking him and signed.
'They sit there in purpose! It has to be!' he thought as imaginary tears dropped from his face.
"Get ready boys, I'll call your names one by one, move forward, tell me the academy name and position you play, if there are multiple, say all of them. After that you move to the gym where physio is waiting. First, "
"Billy Jones — Crewe Alexandra (DF)"
"Nathan Ashton — Charlton Athletic (DF)"
As their names got called they stood up said the Academy name and moved.
"Mark Noble — West Ham United (MF)",
'Woah, I'll play with noble, Mr WestHam himself, I remember him being an absolute beast of a player. Thought Matt, as he saw Mark moved towards the corridor.
Ben Parker — Leeds United (DF)
Gary Roberts — Crewe Alexandra (MF)
Shane Paul — Aston Villa (FW)
Chris James — Fulham (MF)
Fraizer Campbell — Manchester United (FW)
'Ah, that's whee I saw him, I knew he looked familiar' thought Matt Fraizer stood up. Matt remered the match vividly.
"Matt Delevigne —Arsenal (AM/Striker)" said Matt as his name was called.
Getting inside the gym, he saw players were given England's training kit. White jersey with red lions embroidery.
It didn't take long for everyone to receive the kit, after that a man wearing a whistle, and a stopwatch in hand walked out. He had a big belly, his polo tshirt streched to it's maximum capacity.
"Get changed and be on the ground, I'm the head coach John peacock, we'll be testing Your ball control, especially with your weak foot. Pace, physicality and accuracy.
After that you'll have an hour for lunch in cafeteria at 12:30, after that we will begin tactical training based on your performance. We won't be wasting your time and annouce the main squad in evening. There won't be second chance, so give it your all. All the best."
'Why is that man looking at me like that.. should I call the police' thought Matt as he tried to look away from suspicious looking Adam.
Adam, was beyond excited today, he looked at the prodigy that would take English team to its peak and couldn't help but shed a tear.
'HISTORY.. I'm going to make him sign few autographs on his U-17 jersey.' thought Adam as he called few trainers and instructed them.
"I want you to follow that kid, get me data about his every action. His dribbles, shots, recovery, everything" said Adam.
"Yes coach" replied his assistant.
As we were sent to the changing rooms, boys began talking, groups were forming.
There were multiple boys from Leicester, westham, and leeds. Mainly Leicester, they began dapping up eachother, hyping the players.
Matt though was alone, nobody talked to him, mostly everyone ignored him and he wasn't bothered with that.
"Levi, there's a baby, in the changing room" said one boy, tall. He had a scar on his left brow, which you get from falling over.
"Shut up Ritchy, we don't want to make him cry" said the other boy, he was shorter, but still considerably taller than matt.
At this point everyone was paying attention to the scene, they tried to not look obvious but there was very little movement going on in the room.
"Heh, maybe he should go then.. suckle on his mamas tit" said the boy wearing goalkeeper gloves.
Everyone laughed at his comment. Well mostly everyone, Fraizer and other kids from big clubs looked paler.
Fraizer gulped, he felt his throat dry up, he pick up a bottle and gulped down water, he wanted to disappear from that room.
"See you on the field" said Matt with a haughty face, it would have sounded cool, if his voice hadn't broken.
Matt walked out as boys laughed louder, mimicking Matt's 'See you on the field'.