If Ethan Cross’s stunning display on the short-passing rig had already left his new teammates in awe, then what he did in the practice match took it to another level entirely.
Two gorgeous assists.
Two goals.
The reserves had a lead no one saw coming.
Montella and Daniele Pradè stood on the sideline, grinning.
A free loan signing, and they’d stumbled onto a gem.
“Well, Montella?
No more complaints from you?”
Montella nodded rapidly.
“Ethan’s passing is breathtaking.”
“Every ball he plays cuts through the defense.”
“A sixteen-year-old with this kind of passing is a genius among geniuses.”
“But still…”
He watched Ethan carry the ball forward and let out a low hiss, brow furrowing slightly.
“His dribbling and close control are honestly pretty ordinary.”
By normal logic, elite passing was the hallmark of a technical player.
And Ethan, with his jaw-dropping short passing, clearly qualified as a technical talent.
But a technical player usually paired that passing with silky control and dribbling.
In fact, the order went the other way.
A player had to master ball control first, then develop the passing.
Every kid in every academy hears the same thing: you have to hold the ball before you can deliver it.
That’s why every midfield maestro in football history was also a master of close control.
But Ethan was different.
Take his short passing alone, and the series of brilliant balls he’d just played would humble even Fiorentina’s established stars.
His control and dribbling, though?
Next to his passing, they looked painfully average.
That didn’t mean his control was bad.
For a sixteen-year-old with zero professional appearances, it was actually impressive.
A benchmark for his age group.
But if you watched his passing and then watched his control, the drop-off was jarring.
One second, the ball left his foot like Andrea Pirlo himself had struck it.
The next second, he received a simple pass and suddenly looked like a clumsy poacher.
It was hard to process.
As Montella kept watching, he also realized something else.
But they at least met the baseline for the first team.
Montella wasn’t too bothered by that.
The kid was sixteen.
Still young.
If everything else matched his passing, that would feel almost unreal.
What did impress Montella, beyond the passing, was Ethan’s football IQ and his reading of the game.
With a brain like that, Montella was confident Ethan wouldn’t take long to establish himself at Fiorentina.
Out on the pitch, Ethan was running on pure adrenaline.
The shock and exhilaration inside him matched anything his teammates were feeling.
He’d only had the Platini passing model for a few days.
His short passing had hit the ceiling of modern football practically overnight.
This practice match was his first real test of that ability.
And the result was staggering.
On his system panel, “Short Passing: 99” was just a clean, simple number.
But in a live match, Ethan was discovering just how vast the ability behind that number really was.
His passing precision and speed had reached the absolute limit.
Ideas he’d once had but could never execute now flowed effortlessly through his feet.
Those two stunning through-ball assists?
The timing, the weight, the anticipation?
He wouldn’t have dared dream of them before.
The feeling was overwhelming.
And completely liberating.
Only now did Ethan fully grasp the note on the system interface: “A rating of 99 represents the ceiling of modern football.”
In simple terms, whenever short passing was involved, he now stood at the pinnacle of the entire sport.
But after the excitement faded, Ethan cooled down and faced reality.
Outside of short passing, his other attributes still lagged behind.
Next to that one towering strength, everything else looked like a weakness.
His close control wasn’t sharp enough.
His speed and power weren’t standout.
He had to push himself harder.
Fast.
[Task: Make an appearance for any team in a top-five European league.]
[Reward: One random-quality treasure chest.]
Ethan stared at the pending task prompt.
He needed to get on the pitch as soon as possible and complete it.
Down two goals, the starters had pride to swallow.
They stopped holding back, threw their full weight forward, and managed to pull one back.
But the match was played on a small field, only sixty minutes total.
The reserves held their nerve at the back and saw it out.
2–1.
Victory.
It was the first time in months the reserves had beaten the starters in an intra-squad match.
And Ethan, with his two assists, was unquestionably the brightest light on the pitch.
The reserves were buzzing.
Beating the starters was rare.
They showered Ethan with praise for his stunning performance.
The starters had lost, but they were just as happy.
Because Ethan’s passing talent had shaken every single one of them.
A passing genius like this, on loan to Fiorentina, would absolutely lift the midfield.
The second half of the season would bring serious tests.
Borja Valero’s injury had cast a shadow over everything.
But Ethan’s arrival gave everyone new hope.
That goal Alberto Gilardino scored?
Eighty percent of the credit belonged to Ethan’s perfectly weighted through ball.
It left the team’s first-choice striker, Mario Gómez, practically salivating.
His power and finishing were both sharper than the aging Gilardino’s.
If Ethan could feed him passes like that in a real match, his goal tally this season would hit new heights.
And Juan Cuadrado, Fiorentina’s wide threat and one of the team’s most important attacking weapons in the first half of the season, was practically staring at Ethan with glowing eyes.
During the match, Salah had been electric.
Part of that was Salah’s own pace and technique.
No question.
But the passes Ethan kept delivering had clearly amplified the Egyptian winger’s impact.
Cuadrado currently led Serie A in successful dribbles.
He had total confidence in his ability to beat defenders.
And now the team had suddenly added a passing specialist like this?
His game on the flank was about to take off.
Ethan had no idea yet.
After putting his short-passing talent on full display, he’d already become the most popular man in Fiorentina’s squad.