Rise of a Football God

In football, there is a term referred to as transfer windows.

A transfer window is a specific time during a football season when clubs can buy and sell players. The transfer window was introduced in 2002 as a compromise between FIFA and the European Commission to stabilize club squads and preserve contractual stability for players and clubs.

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Most European leagues have two transfer windows, one from the end of the season to August 31st, and then another in January.

To complete a transfer, a player is registered with the new club through FIFA during the period of the transfer window.

If transfers are done outside the transfer window, new signings must wait until the next registration period to play for the club.

This was the reason why Sam's new club registration was scheduled to be completed in January when the transfer window finally opens.

Immediately after Fulham FC released the news about their new signing, the internet exploded, taken by storm by excited Nigerian fans.

Support flooded across all social media platforms for Sam, with the fans showing high hopes and expectations of him performing well in the premier league.

Not all the storm was support though. Of course, there were always the dissidents who would discredit his achievements and doubt his credibility.

They labeled him a 1-season wonder of an unknown league, predicting him to flop in the premier league.

Sam did not care about all of that though, he didn't pay attention to it.

The past few days after signing the contract with Fulham FC were one of the most relaxing periods of his life as he enjoyed family time.

He also spent a lot of time alongside his best friend, both of them placing bets on how long it would take him to make his stamp in the premier league.

Enyimba FC also dominated the news as after Fulham FC met their new release clause of 8 million Euros for their young attacking midfielder, the Nigerian club became rich with money overnight.

And not just that, Enyimba FC dominated the news for another reason as Sam was not the only player who left Enyimba FC after the FIFA Club World Cup.

Austin also stole the headlines after completing his move to Germany to play for Wolfsburg, and the most surprising case was that of Emeka.

After an impressive season last season, Emeka also caught the eye of clubs in Europe as he was snapped by Ajax in the Eredivisie in Netherlands.

There were also rumors of European clubs approaching Farouk Mohamed.

All in all, it was a great period of transition for the Nigerian club but the club was not in a crisis as with all the money being injected into their coffers, they had more than enough money to build a brand-new squad from ground up.

The most significant news came on December 30th. After a few days of speculations and rumor, Coach Yemi Daniel became the next name in the departure list from Enyimba FC.

After serving the Nigerian club faithfully for a few years, the coach finally proved his credentials, earning himself a big money move to France to ply his trade in the French league.

On the 29th of December, a day before the news of his departure became public, Coach Yemi Daniel organized a get together with all his players in Abia State.

There, Sam regrouped with his teammates one last time as they ate, drank, danced, and played a friendly game to commemorate the past 1 and a half seasons together, performing miracles and creating iconic memories.

After the get together, returning to Delta State, Sam finally got ready to leave the country for good.

He spent a lot of time with his family before going to his best friend's place and spending significant time with him.

He and Ian went way back, all the way from JSS 1 in Abraka Grammar School which was about 8 years ago.

Ian also told him of his own life. After writing the last JAMB examination, Ian finally made the cut-off mark. If things went well for him, he was expecting to get an admission letter to study medicine in the prestigious UNIBEN (University of Benin) in Edo State.

Sam drank a toast with his best friend before finally biding him farewell. That night he slept early so he could wake early on Saturday morning.

That morning, Sam woke up, completed his daily system quest, ate his mom's food, before going to the airport with his family.

He was going to England with his father who also doubled as his agent.

Right there at the airport, his mom made him kneel as she prayed on him for almost 20 minutes, banishing almost a thousand demons in the process.

When Sam's patience wore thin, she finally stopped, hugged him and kissed him on the forehead. "My son, go and show the prime league".

Sam facepalmed. "Mom, it's the premier league".

"Whatever".

Mr. Moses laughed before kissing his wife and daughter farewell. Watching them enter the plane, Sophia broke down in tears.

Watching her cry, instead of consoling her, Sam laughed. "I'll be back before you know it!" He yelled in her direction.

And finally, the hatch closed, separating the family of 4.

A few minutes later, the plane finally moved and in no time, it levitated before gradually disappearing in the sky as Sophia wiped her tears.

Her mom stared at her. "It's ok".

She sobbed still.

"I said it's ok".

She sobbed still.

Then, she glared at her. "That's enough! When your brother was with you, you didn't show him this much love, stop being dramatic".

Sophia wiped her tears and glared at her mom before storming off.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Spoilt brat," Mrs. Moses muttered, cursing.

…

To Sam and his father, the journey was a smooth one.

After more than 8 hours in the air since they departed from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos Nigeria, they finally arrived at the London Gatwick Airport in London.

And from there, they met with the delegates from Fulham FC who took them through the rest of the journey to Fulham in West London, England.

This was Sam's first trip to England.