Maël walked out of the administration building and arrived at the entrance of the training base.
Gilbert walked in and first met with his agent. A few days ago, after the first half of the season ended, he signed with the famous English agent Barnett, and now he also had a certain professional demeanor.
Since there was still a league game approaching that month, the two planned to return after signing the contract and did not intend to stay here.
This made Hans quite regretful. His wife had come today, and he had originally wanted to drive Maël and Gilbert back home later to have his wife cook a meal for them, to improve their relationship.
"Next time,"
Maël patted him, comforting him, "Right now we are just EFL Championship players, maybe next time we come back, we will become Premier League promoted players, with a big difference in value, and it will be more worthwhile to celebrate at your place."
Hans smiled wryly, but also looked forward to it: "I wish time would pass faster."
"It will be soon."
Maël replied, his gaze fixed on the other U18 players who were still here. Some of them had done some mental preparation and were eager to come forward.
He took the initiative to walk up and chat with a few people he had spoken to before, "How was this year?"
"It's alright."
"The training intensity has increased a bit, Coach Hans has high hopes for us, he is much more confident now."
"The atmosphere of hard work and extra training is very strong in the club, everyone has improved."
Several people replied to him, which also gradually relaxed the others. They found that Maël had not become difficult to get along with after becoming famous.
"What's it like on the professional stage?"
Someone asked proactively, very curious: "I always think that the air there is different from ours, with a different magnetic field. Of course, that's just my personal romantic idea."
"It's hard to answer specifically."
Maël thought for a moment, answering vaguely: "In short, it's wonderful, you'll know once you play it out and feel it, you must work hard."
"Yeah!"
"Let's take a photo together, I brought my phone, I didn't dare to say it just now, I almost missed it."
"Hahaha, everyone is looking forward to you returning to the club, then we can watch your games live."
They finally became familiar again. Someone took out their phone and took a few 'clicks' next to Maël, and someone else took out paper and pen amidst laughter, wanting Maël to sign for him.
After finishing these, Gilbert came out with his agent. The two chatted for a few words and separated.
"Let's go."
Gilbert came over and called Maël, and the two walked towards the business car together.
Joelson wanted to be mischievous at this time, with one foot resting on the tire, pretending to have sunglasses tucked behind his head, adjusting them to his eyes, "Let's go, young men, don't dislike my broken pickup truck, you'll be comfortable at the high-speed rail station."
The two were stunned, then looked up and laughed uncontrollably, they remembered the scenery when they walked out of here.
The players behind also recalled Joelson, remembering that day, not knowing whether it was a mischievous blessing or a bad taste, they actually imitated him, waving their hands at the two.
"Go! Captain!"
"We're waiting for you to come back!"
"Maël, let those old foxes in the EFL Championship taste the power of your cannon!"
The sky was gradually darkening, the two smiled and got into the car, looking out, unable to see their faces clearly, only the constantly waving arms.
Maël took a deep breath and cooperated with them, compared to before, he changed his statement: "The professional stage is waiting for you!"
...
January 22nd, EFL Championship Round 27, the match against Norwich arrived.
Because they were miserably defeated by Norwich two to four last time, the players were all eager to take them down at home.
In addition, several new players in the team were familiar with the team, Bertrand and Kyle Walker replaced two defenders with hidden dangers in defense, which greatly enhanced the defense line.
In this game, they were full of fighting spirit, vowing to overturn Norwich, who ranked second!
"Hello everyone, this is the focus battle of EFL Championship Round 27! Sheffield United, who rose to third place in the standings after the last round, will face Norwich, who has been performing steadily and ranks second!
"The two teams have already played against each other once this season. In that game, Norwich took the advantage, their passing and control made Sheffield's defense line unable to resist.
"The match begins! This is Sky Sports bringing you the commentary!"
...
"Norwich still firmly holds possession, Sheffield United can only follow their passing and control, constantly moving their formation to ensure there are no large gaps in the defense! That's a shot from Hoolahan! Hits the crossbar!! A powerful shot, but unfortunately, it hit the defensive fortifications, just a little bit off! He's an old acquaintance of Sheffield United, Hoolahan scored the second hat-trick of his career against Sheffield United last round."
...
"Maël's long-range shot from outside the penalty area!! Dangerous! He returns the favor to Hoolahan! Ruddy! A brilliant save! The quality of this shot is almost guaranteed to be a goal, but Ruddy stretched his body and punched it out with one fist!!"
...
"The first half is over, zero to zero! No goals have been scored yet, but that doesn't detract from the fact that it's been a wonderful first half, both sides have played extremely well, both playing at their best.
"It is worth mentioning that Norwich has one player who joined in the winter transfer window, while Sheffield has two, these three new players are performing well, proving why they can start as soon as they arrive!"
...
"Maël cuts inside! He gets past Russell, and wants to go past another! Drury goes down!! A curved shot!!
"Oh! God, Ruddy's reaction is lightning fast, what's wrong with him today?! He saves another certain goal!
"Maël has met his match, he can't believe it with his head in his hands, we rarely see him show this expression in the game."
...
"Sheffield United's entire line is a bit passive, they haven't gotten many opportunities, even the ball delivered to their team's strongest explosive point, Maël, is a bit scarce, they seem a little depressed.
"The only thing worth praising is that their defense today is doing well, which not only comes from the excellent defense of their new aid on the wing.
"In the center, Maël and Ward's recovery will occasionally help the team, helping the team occupy the numerical advantage in the midfield.
"The last few minutes, this game ends in a draw, presumably both sides can accept it, at least they didn't lose points, and didn't narrow or widen the gap."
...
"Kyle Walker has great speed, he excelled at this when he was on loan at Queens Park Rangers, with 4 assists in the full-back position.
"Unfortunately, due to the intensification of the conflict with the team's star Taarabt, the loan period ended hastily!
"Now, he has come to Sheffield United! Breaks through all the way! Cross! Norwich center-back Drury heads the ball out! Gilbert controls the ball, a horizontal pass!!
"Maël, he now shoulders the team's hopes! Cuts inside horizontally, past one... two!! Is he going to curve a shot?? "No! He chooses a powerful shot!! Ruddy! Ruddy flies out, doesn't reach it!! The ball goes in!!! "Unbelievable!! I can't believe my eyes, he stood up at the critical moment, sending the ball into the Norwich net with his amazing long-range shooting ability!! One to zero!! "Ruddy can save the team once, he can save the team twice, but he can't stop Maël's third shot on target!!"
Under the commentator's roar, Maël on the field slapped his chest all the way, roaring and rushing to the fan area to celebrate, venting all the depression of this game.
By the way, complete the revenge! This time it was the Norwich players' turn to hold their heads, they looked at Maël in shock, unable to accept being scored by their opponent at the last moment.
"Come on!!"
Maël enjoyed the crazy shouts of the fans in the audience, clenched his fists and charged a few steps, and finally slammed a punch into the sky.
It seemed that one celebration could not dissipate all his emotions, he turned around, looked at his teammates running towards him, spread his hands to the sky and closed his eyes, waiting for them to embrace him.
"Ah!" Gilbert made a flying shoulder tackle from WWE, shouting and pouncing on Maël, this ball was his assist.
"Click, click!" The cameras on the sidelines recorded this scene, with the Norwich soldiers in defeat as the background, this photo deservedly became the post-match cover of this game.
"One to zero!! Sheffield United avenges Norwich at home! Maël's heavy artillery wins Sheffield United a crucial 3 points! The third time this season to score the winning goal!" - "442" Evening News
January ended like this, and in the next ten days or so, Sheffield United had no other games, and they ushered in a long break.
Maël's life became regular, gradually increasing the intensity of training, and with Harry's massage help, his body's endurance improved a lot.
Safina also made preparations on this day, coming to his home many times a day to prepare meals for him, with a higher frequency than Harry.
The first meal was at 7:30 in the morning, and the diet list included cheese, ham, yogurt, etc., and also included a nutritionally balanced fruit salad.
The second meal was after the morning training, with many eggs, chicken and steak, which was considered the largest meal of the day.
Secondly, it was at 3:30 in the afternoon, this meal was mainly fruit, and some carefully made toast.
At 6:30 in the evening, the last meal was mainly whole-grain carbohydrate foods, high-protein meats, and some vegetables.
Of course, this is not absolute, and sometimes some changes will be made according to the physical condition of the day, adjusting the nutritional proportion.
"You can't drink soda anymore."
On this day, Safina looked at a refrigerator full of drinks and advised, "If you are determined to make a change, you can't take chances. Nutritional meals and junk food can't be offset."
"You can't think that just because you're 10 points healthier today, you can afford to be 1 point unhealthy.
"You won't get the remaining 9 points; you'll only get 6-7 points, maybe even less."
Maël stood beside her, pinching his chin, thinking about how all those sugary drinks were about to leave him, and his mouth secreted a craving saliva.
That was stimulating his brain, making him want to say to Safina—no, I can't give these up.
Long-term grueling training had already equipped him with a way to handle such situations. He strained the muscles in his brow, pushing the flesh of his forehead towards his brain, forcibly helping his brain enter a blank mode through external force.
He waved his hand at Safina, very directly: "Throw them away for me when you leave."
"Okay." Safina was like an emotionless machine, picking up the bag from the side and packing all the drinks away.
Gilbert laughed gleefully beside him, gloating.
"And you."
Safina noticed him, still talking about the same thing: "You can't buy any more drinks either. You two live together, so if you drink them, he'll drink them too."
"Oh, okay." Gilbert was suddenly called out. After spending a few days together, he was conquered by the food Safina made, feeling a bit henpecked and obedient.
It wasn't just that it was too delicious to be conquered, but more about her nutritional combinations and professional knowledge.
He hadn't let Maël pay the 500 euros either. Now that he had a raise, he wasn't short of that little bit of money. It always felt weird to have someone else keep paying for his meals.
He also became depressed at this moment, standing with Maël, and said with a bitter face: "With such a big sacrifice, what kind of achievement do we have to get to have a sense of balance?"
"Champions League, I guess."
Maël wasn't in a good mood either. He felt that his life was too miserable, and he directly said two: "And the Ballon d'Or."
"Huh?"
Gilbert himself was scatterbrained and easily distracted. At this moment, he forgot his depression and said in surprise: "Are you joking or do you really think that? Those two things shouldn't have anything to do with us."
Maël looked at him and sighed, feeling like he was trying to make something out of nothing, but he didn't forget his humor: "You'll understand when you get to my age."
"Maël."
Gilbert pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, and said: "You're actually not funny at all."
"...Okay." Maël was speechless, and gave a dry laugh.
"Haha."
Safina covered her mouth and rarely laughed beside him. She struck a blow: "I watched two of your games and found that you do play well, and you have the potential to have a place in a top club, but no one can be good at everything.
"However..."
As if feeling that these words would hit her employer, she restrained her smile, and her tone took a turn: "It's good for young people to have goals. I admire your courage. Compared to Gilbert, I believe you can win the Ballon d'Or and the Champions League."
"Pfft." This time it was Gilbert's turn to laugh. They both seemed to be using Maël as a straight man in a comedy duo.
-----------
This high quality machine translation is powered by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
To read the full translation, as well as more than 130+ full translations or to request new translations, check out: https:// randomtranslator.com/
You can also join the Random Translator Community on Discord to connect with other readers: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------