Zayn felt that Monday and Tuesday’s training sessions had gone rather well.
At the very least, he no longer knocked the ball three meters away with his first touch.
Nor did he completely miss a teammate’s pass and then pretend he had been attempting a feint.
For someone who had been questioning his entire existence while playing defensive midfield only a few days earlier, that was already a huge improvement.
Of course, “rather well” was only Zayn’s personal assessment.
If David Hughes had been asked to rate him, he probably would have used one word.
Passable.
After two days, Hughes had already formed a general picture of Zayn’s abilities.
The boy’s greatest strengths were his speed and the explosive first step he produced when turning.
The way he went from a standstill to full speed was clearly a natural gift.
His ability to receive the ball with his back to goal near the edge of the box, turn, and accelerate was also among the best in his age group.
His weaknesses were equally obvious.
His control lacked finesse.
Whenever he entered a situation that required several quick touches in succession, that roughness became much more noticeable.
Hughes was not surprised.
Zayn Ryder had spent seven years in Villa’s academy playing exclusively in defensive positions.
From a young age, he had been pushed toward defensive roles.
His training had focused on interceptions, covering ground, and clearing the ball long.
It would be unreasonable to expect a boy who had spent years doing the dirty work to possess the same delicate technique as players developed at La Masia or Clairefontaine.
Besides, what was wrong with being technically rough?
In English football, rough technique was practically a tradition.
Twenty years earlier, the standard English midfielder was expected to run forever and either play a long pass or throw himself into tackles.
Getting tangled up with the ball at his feet was hardly unusual.
But England’s academy system had undergone five years of major reform.
Small-sided training, an emphasis on possession, and greater freedom for players to express themselves technically had all been imported from continental Europe.
Those ideas were fundamentally changing the way English footballers developed.
A new generation of technically gifted players was beginning to emerge.
That was also why Zayn Ryder had remained in defensive positions for so many years.
A traditional, technically limited English player simply did not offer enough in attack anymore.
As for moving Zayn up front now, Hughes could understand the decision.
Changing positions was perfectly normal at academy level.
At sixteen or seventeen, players were still developing physically, their technique had not yet settled, and even their understanding of the game could change rapidly.
As long as they showed the right qualities, a winger could become a full-back the next day, while a center-back might soon be pushed into defensive midfield. The source of this chapter is novelping dot com.
Someone like Zayn, who had spent seven years in defense before suddenly becoming a forward, was certainly unusual.
But it was not unheard of.
Take the famously outspoken Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher.
Carragher had played as a forward in Liverpool’s academy.
He had even scored for England U16 against Italy, beating Gianluigi Buffon, who was born on the exact same day as him.
Carragher had spent nearly half his life boasting about it.
…
Wednesday, November 1.
Zayn was about to play the first official match of his career.
It was the eighth round of the U18 Premier League, away to Brighton U18.
After three hours on Aston Villa’s swaying team bus, they finally reached their destination.
The American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.
The moment Zayn stepped off the bus, he could not help staring.
“This place really is expensive.”
Even the training ground’s name seemed to reek of money.
American Express, the global financial giant, had its European headquarters and main British operations based in the seaside city.
The company had genuinely invested in the area, unlike some naming sponsors who handed over their money without even knowing where the stadium entrance was.
Brighton chairman Tony Bloom was hardly short of money either.
Born into a wealthy family and having made his fortune through gambling, he had never hesitated to invest in the club.
When he took control in 2009, he put £93 million toward the construction of a new stadium.
That investment had produced results.
At the end of the previous season, Brighton returned to the top flight after a thirty-four-year absence.
Zayn mentally calculated how long Villa had been using Bodymoor Heath, which had opened in 1970.
Then he looked at the gleaming training complex in front of him and quietly abandoned the comparison.
Villa U18 had recorded four wins, one draw, and two defeats that season.
Brighton U18 had four wins, two draws, and one defeat.
The two sides were close in the table and evenly matched.
Either result would be believable.
Zayn was on the bench.
That was perfectly normal.
He had trained with the U18s for only three days, one of which had been a recovery session.
He had not even fully learned the team’s tactics yet.
Villa’s starting center-forward was Dimitri Sea, a young Black player recruited from a Boulogne-Billancourt academy in France.
Jacob Ramsey, who had moved up alongside Zayn, had gone straight into the starting lineup.
That was no surprise either.
Ramsey had already been playing above his age group.
He was the midfield playmaker, the U16 coach’s prized prospect, and now the U18 coach’s newest project.
Zayn spent the first half on the bench, carefully studying the match.
Less than fifteen minutes after kickoff, Brighton forward Aaron Connolly opened the scoring.
He struck from outside the penalty area, sending the ball toward the corner at a difficult angle.
The Villa goalkeeper got a hand to it but could not keep it out.
The Villa substitutes groaned together.
In the twenty-seventh minute, Connolly struck again.
He received a low cross inside the penalty area, held off Villa’s center-back with his back to goal, then turned halfway and drove the ball into the near corner.
2-0.
In the thirty-ninth minute, Ramsey stepped up.
He received a layoff at the top of the penalty arc, took one touch to settle himself, and calmly guided the ball into the far corner.
2-1.
Both teams created chances after that, but neither managed to change the score before halftime.
When the second half began, Brighton dropped deeper, hoping to protect their 2-1 lead until the final whistle.
Villa pushed forward aggressively, but Dimitri Sea was trapped between the two center-backs and could not even turn.
Ramsey’s influence in midfield was restricted.
Villa could only move the ball around outside the defense without finding a way through.
The minutes continued to disappear.
Hughes looked toward the bench, and his gaze eventually settled on Zayn.
Truthfully, he did not believe a boy who had been playing forward for only three days could change much.
Brighton had dropped deep, leaving little space behind their defense for Zayn to exploit with his speed.
But the young French striker on the pitch was already being crushed between two defenders.
Sending someone else on to make a few runs was still better than doing nothing.
In the seventieth minute, Zayn stood on the touchline and exchanged a high five with Dimitri Sea.
The young Frenchman clearly hated being substituted, but he still patted Zayn on the back.
“Allez.”
Zayn stepped onto the pitch.
An indescribable lightness spread through his body.
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Zayn took a deep breath and ran into position.