October 28.
Birmingham was the heart of central England and the country’s second-largest city.
Located in the Midlands along the main railway line between London and Liverpool, it was connected in every direction.
As a result, Liverpool U16’s team bus took less than two hours to reach the gates of Bodymoor Heath.
Although it was only a friendly, no one took it lightly.
For these U16 players, every good performance could become the stepping stone to a professional contract.
Zayn stood near the center circle, stretching as he scanned the figures in red training kits on the opposite side of the pitch, looking for any faces he might recognize as a longtime football fan.
Liverpool U16 in 2017.
Liverpool’s academy was renowned throughout England.
In the past, it had produced Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, and Jamie Carragher.
More recently, there were Trent Alexander-Arnold, Raheem Sterling, Conor Bradley, and Jarell Quansah.
Among the players in this U16 squad, the one destined to make the biggest name for himself was Curtis Jones, who was three months younger than Zayn.
But even after scanning the group twice, Zayn could not find the curly-haired boy.
He paused, then understood.
Jones had already moved up an age group.
He was probably playing for the U18s by now, and might even have been included in the U19 UEFA Youth League squad.
A true prodigy’s competition was never limited to players his own age.
Villa U16 also had players who had moved up early.
Attacking midfielder Jacob Ramsey and forward Cameron Archer.
They were among the few players in Villa’s academy group to be promoted ahead of schedule, having signed Apprentice contracts at fifteen and joined the U16s early.
According to Austin’s memories from his previous life, they were also among the few players from this Villa group who would remain in the Premier League years later.
One would end up at Newcastle, while the other would join Southampton.
Realizing Jones was absent put Zayn much more at ease.
At least he would not have to face a midfielder who would later establish himself in the Premier League.
Still, Liverpool were Liverpool.
Even without Jones, their U16 squad was packed with some of the best fifteen- and sixteen-year-old footballers in England.
The selection process at the Kirkby Academy was ruthless and efficient.
Every year, Liverpool recruited the finest prospects from across the country, leaving only the very best in each age group.
Aston Villa’s academy was hardly poor, but investment had fallen considerably since the club’s relegation to the Championship the previous year.
Most of the money had gone toward helping the first team win promotion, so a gap between the academies was inevitable.
The match kicked off on time.
Villa U16 lined up in a 4-2-3-1, an academy variation of the 4-1-4-1 most commonly used by first-team manager Steve Bruce.
At English clubs, academy teams at every age level generally tried to follow the first team’s tactical style, formation, and training requirements.
That way, young players could step up without having to learn an entirely new system from scratch.
Both Villa U16 and the first team relied on two players in central midfield.
One focused on interceptions and winning the ball, while the other offered himself for passes and distributed possession.
Together, they protected the defense and freed the attacking players.
Zayn had always played the ball-winning role.
Liverpool U16, meanwhile, naturally followed the aggressive high-pressing style of Klopp’s first team.
Less than ten minutes into the match, Liverpool’s high press had completely disrupted Villa’s attempts to play out from the back.
Both full-backs were pinned deep and afraid to push forward.
The lone striker dropped back to offer an outlet but could not hold onto the ball, while Liverpool cut off Villa’s midfield passing options one by one.
Zayn ran himself ragged in defensive midfield.
His positioning was sound, and his timing when stepping in to intercept was above the required standard.
But before he could move the ball on after winning it, another red shirt was already closing him down.
In the eighteenth minute, Liverpool attacked down the left.
The winger cut inside and sent a low pass across the pitch to the attacking midfielder on the edge of the penalty area.
Zayn recovered in time, but the opponent shaped to shoot as soon as he received the ball, shifting Zayn’s balance.
He then nudged the ball past him with ease and guided a shot into the far corner.
0-1.
Zayn bent over, breathing heavily.
He simply had no real talent for defending, and the Torres template could not help him there.
After conceding, he began looking for opportunities to make forward runs.
In the twenty-seventh minute, Villa won the ball in their own half and launched a counterattack.
Instead of staying near the halfway line to provide cover as he usually did, Zayn charged forty meters straight through the middle.
Jacob Ramsey, the younger player promoted early to play as the attacking midfielder, spotted Zayn’s run.
Zayn drove straight into the gap between Liverpool’s center-back and full-back as their defense narrowed.
Ramsey immediately played the through ball, but he put slightly too much weight on it, allowing the Liverpool goalkeeper to come off his line and collect it.
Zayn did not throw up his hands or complain.
He gave Ramsey a thumbs-up, turned, and quickly sprinted back into his defensive area.
Cowans had seen the entire move clearly from the touchline.
Zayn had identified the opening with remarkable precision.
Had Ramsey put slightly less weight on the pass, Zayn would have been through one-on-one.
In the thirty-fifth minute, Zayn once again burst forward from defensive midfield and charged all the way into the penalty area.
A teammate crossed from the wing.
Zayn leapt high in front of the defender and met the ball with his head, sending it narrowly over the crossbar.
Cowans frowned again.
In the year he had coached Zayn, he had never seen the boy make forward runs this frequently.
Zayn had previously been known only for doing the dirty work, yet both of his runs had been timed well and targeted weak points in Liverpool’s defensive line.
But football was not only about attacking.
In the forty-first minute, Zayn failed to track his opponent in midfield.
Liverpool’s attacking midfielder sent a lofted pass over Villa’s defensive line, and the winger ran through alone before finishing.
0-2.
The whistle sounded for halftime.
The Villa players walked toward the changing room with their heads lowered, while the Liverpool players chatted and laughed among themselves.
In the stands, Ben Ashby sat alone in a corner with his notebook open across his knees.
He had not written a single word.
He had come today as one final favor to Gordon Cowans.
The No.
6 had performed much better in defensive midfield than he had during the midweek training sessions, but he was still painfully ordinary.
Ashby had already crossed Zayn Ryder’s name off the contract list in his mind.
In the changing room, Cowans did not lose his temper.
He knew how strong this Liverpool U16 side was.
Anger would achieve nothing.
He went over the tactical adjustments in clear, concise terms.
The full-backs needed to push forward more decisively.
The attacking midfielder needed to drop deeper to offer support.
The two defensive midfielders needed to protect the space in front of the center-backs.
When he reached the midfield pair, he was about to praise Zayn’s work rate and the quality of his forward runs.
He also intended to tell him to make fewer of them in the second half, since fatigue would leave him unable to recover defensively in time.
But Zayn spoke first.
“Coach, let me play forward.”
Cameron Archer, sitting beside him, nearly spat out his water.
He was the lone striker in Villa’s 4-2-3-1.
Why would Zayn try to take the position of a player who had already moved up an age group?
Even an idiot knew to choose an easier target.
The other players exchanged bewildered looks.
They thought Zayn had lost his mind.
Ever since the friendly against Wigan Athletic the previous week, he had been acting like an entirely different person.
Cowans looked at Zayn.
There was no surprise on the old man’s face.
The boy had already surprised him enough over the past few days.
“Give me a reason.”
Zayn stood.
The eyes of more than a dozen teenagers in the changing room immediately fixed on him.
“In the first half, I did the things I was supposed to do as a defensive midfielder, and I also did things I wasn’t supposed to do.
I didn’t do my actual job well.
That’s a fact.
“But those attacking runs I wasn’t supposed to make…
I’m certain those are things I can do well.”
Beside him, Cameron Archer scratched his head.
Zayn’s words sounded like a tongue twister, and Cameron nearly got lost trying to follow them.
Cowans remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“All right.
Zayn will play up front in the second half.
Archer, you’re coming off to rest.”
Cowans knew that Zayn’s first-half performance in defensive midfield had been nowhere near the level he had shown against Wigan Athletic the previous week.
Ashby was unlikely to offer him a contract.
Since Zayn wanted to play forward so badly, Cowans would let him spend the final forty-five minutes there.
At the very least, the boy would not leave with regrets.
Cameron Archer’s eyes widened.
He had expected the coach to call Zayn crazy.
Instead, the coach seemed to have lost his mind first.
Cameron opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but could not bring himself to speak.
Unlike Zayn, he did not have the courage to question a club legend.
He could only hang his water bottle over the back of his chair, drop heavily into his seat, and fold his arms across his chest.
“I’d like to see how you’re going to play forward,” he muttered.
A teammate passing by patted him on the shoulder, looking both sympathetic and barely able to suppress his laughter.
Jacob Ramsey winked at Zayn and gave him a thumbs-up.
Halftime ended, and the whistle sounded for the start of the second half.
Zayn stood over the ball at the center spot.
It was the first time since crossing over that he had occupied this position.
He no longer needed to chase opponents back to the edge of his own penalty area.
He no longer needed to track every opposing run.
There was only one thing he had to do.
Put the ball in the opponent’s net.