“Loan him out?”
When Edwards laid out the idea, Gerrard had to admit it might be the only path left.
On the flight to Liverpool, he and Ethan had talked it through.
Ethan’s priority was clear: a first-team squad place, and minutes in official league matches.
With Rodgers blocking the way, Ethan getting on the pitch for Liverpool right now was nearly impossible.
So if he wanted real game time, a loan was the answer.
For a sixteen-year-old, shipping out to develop at another club was standard practice at a big team anyway.
Still, Gerrard felt the weight of it.
He’d made a promise.
He hadn’t delivered.
Ethan spoke before the silence could settle.
“Captain, you’ve already done more than enough.
I’m a Liverpool player now.
That’s what matters, isn’t it?”
“Gold shines wherever you put it.
I can’t wear the shirt yet, but if I perform, I’ll be back.
You know that.”
The words hit Gerrard harder than he expected.
The kid was sixteen.
He’d just watched his big chance get blocked, and he was the one steadying the room.
“Mr.
Edwards, I’m in.
What are the options?”
Edwards nodded, clearly impressed by the directness.
“Winter window’s open.
Plenty of clubs need bodies.
I’ve got several loan requests on my desk.”
He pulled out a stack of files and handed one to Ethan.
“Option A.
Heerenveen.
Mid-table Eredivisie.
This is the one I’d recommend.”
“The Dutch league gives you PSV, Ajax, Feyenoord at the top, real Premier League-level intensity, plus weaker sides where you can breathe.
Perfect for your development.”
Ethan shook his head.
“What else?”
Edwards passed over another file.
“Option B.
Derby County in the Championship.
A step below the Premier League, but a solid proving ground for young players.
Worth a look.”
Ethan barely glanced at it before closing the folder.
“Anything else?”
Edwards leaned back.
His expression shifted.
Sixteen was young.
If the kid didn’t have the stomach for either of those, how was he supposed to survive at a club like Liverpool?
Edwards gestured toward a file sitting at the edge of his desk.
“That leaves Option C.
Sheffield United.
League One.”
“You’d definitely get minutes there.
Third tier.
But I’ll be blunt.
Even if you tear it up, nobody will take it seriously.
League One just doesn’t carry the weight.”
Ethan gave a faint, dismissive smile and shook his head again.
Edwards was lost.
League One wasn’t good enough either?
What, did the kid want the National League?
He had to be joking.
Ethan pointed past him, toward a file on the shelf.
“That one.
Is that a loan club too?
Which team?”
Edwards glanced back and waved his hand.
“That one’s not for you.”
“Fiorentina.
Serie A.
Finished fourth last season, sitting sixth right now.
Strong side.
They’ve also got Europa League football.”
“Their midfield engine, Borja Valero, is out with a serious injury.
They need a rotation-level midfielder on loan to fill the gap.
And they don’t want to pay a loan fee.”
“I know a lot of Italian clubs are broke, but this is ridiculous.
They want a free meal and expect us to pick up the check.”
Edwards shook his head, clearly annoyed.
“Mr.
Edwards, if it’s possible, I want Fiorentina.”
The room went still.
Edwards stared.
Gerrard stared.
“Ethan, think about this.
Fiorentina is the worst fit of all these options.”
Gerrard believed in Ethan’s talent.
But Fiorentina was a serious Serie A side.
The internal competition would be brutal.
Breaking in and staying there wouldn’t be easy.
And Ethan had come up through the English academy system.
He was built for English football.
Serie A was a completely different animal.
The style, the tempo, the physical demands. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
The adjustment alone would make everything harder.
Edwards jumped in.
“Steven’s right.
And the loan term is only six months.
End of the season, it’s over.
You’d have half a season to prove yourself at a club like that.”
“That’s no time at all.
You might not even figure out the league before the loan expires.”
“The whole point of sending you out is to get you minutes, develop your game, and give you a platform to show what you can do so you come back ready for Liverpool.
Fiorentina doesn’t serve any of those goals.”
As sporting director, Edwards had laid it out with surgical precision.
“Ethan, this loan could define your career.
Don’t gamble with it.”
Ethan looked at both men, their faces full of doubt, and answered without hesitation.
“I’m not gambling.
I know exactly what I’m choosing.”
“I want the hardest competition available.
Even if it’s the toughest road.”
He turned to Gerrard, whose worry was written plain across his face, and smiled.
“If I hadn’t run into you at Tottenham, I wouldn’t be here.
I’m grateful for that.
And I want to prove something.
Not just that I can play.
I want to prove that a Liverpool legend doesn’t just have a great career.
He’s got an eye for talent that’s just as good.”
In his last life, Ethan’s career had been eaten alive by circumstance.
Wasted years.
By the time he retired, he’d barely left a footprint in any of Europe’s top five leagues.
The regret had burrowed into him and never left.
Now he had a second chance.
The hunger to test himself hadn’t faded.
If anything, it burned hotter.
And this time he had the system’s legendary player model backing him up.
If he didn’t push himself now, what was the point?
There was a practical reason too.
The system’s first mission required him to appear in a top-five league.
He needed to clear that objective fast, before the system threw him another curveball.
By that measure, a Serie A contender like Fiorentina was the perfect fit.
The conviction in Ethan’s voice, the speed of his decision, caught both men off guard.
But it was Edwards who felt it most.
As the man responsible for every signing and sale, he’d sat across the table from countless young prospects.
Plenty of them were years older than this sixteen-year-old.
And almost none of them had shown this kind of clarity, this kind of nerve.
There was something different about this kid.
Something a career football executive learned to recognize.
Edwards found himself thinking the thought he’d never expected to have.
Maybe the worst loan option on the table was exactly the one this kid could turn into something.