In the crowd, Connor Gough stood in the corner, his face looking terrible.
He had originally thought Theo was just a lousy goalkeeper.
He didn’t expect him to perform so well today.
He actually managed to get a professional contract at the last minute.
Most importantly, the other party got it by slapping him in the face.
Having that 17-year-old genius goalkeeper Connor Gough in the U18s wasn’t enough; that Theo guy stayed too.
This made him feel very angry.
At this moment, Ajayi walked over.
“Binks, it’s fine.
It was just luck for the other guy today.
He’s just a third-choice goalkeeper; he’ll still be our toy in the future.” After hearing this, Binks’ anger subsided slightly.
He took his change of clothes and went to the locker room.
After the match, the U18 team gathered.
First, they listened to Assistant Coach Steve Avery’s review of the match in the locker room.
He specifically praised Theo’s performance.
This made the other players look sideways, and it also made Binks, the U18 starting goalkeeper who played for the Reserve Team today, even more embarrassed.
Afterward, under the guidance of the physiotherapist, they did recovery training and supplemented some nutrients.
Even though Theo didn’t have a high training volume, he followed the physiotherapist’s requirements.
His system didn’t have any ‘invincibility’ to prevent injuries, so he had to be careful from the very beginning and couldn’t afford to get injured easily.
In the evening, back in the dormitory, Theo looked at the 6 extra points.
For him, these were 6 attribute points.
He opened his personal panel, looked at the attributes below 60, and sighed.
“There’s too much to add!
Never mind 6 points, even 60 or 600 wouldn’t be enough!” Then he only exchanged 5 attribute points and added them directly to Reaction.
His current two defensive skills didn’t have long prediction times.
With faster reactions, the success rate would be higher.
But after adding 5 points, the overall rating didn’t change at all; it was still 53.
It seems the road ahead is long and arduous.
In the end, he could only comfort himself to take it slow.
Name: Theo Age: 18 Height: 190cm Wingspan: 198cm Weight: 80kg Position: Goalkeeper (Locked) Team: Charlton Athletic (EFL League One) Attribute Points: 0 Points: 1 Overall Rating: 53 (EFL League One Reserve Team) — — — — Physical (54) — — — — Strength: 53 | Speed: 50 | Reaction: 60 (5) Explosiveness: 48 | Jumping: 55 | Stamina: 59 — — — — Goalkeeper Ability (51) — — — — Saves: 60 | Positioning: 60 | One-on-One: 60 Rushing Out: 48 | Aerial Ability: 55 | Goal Line: 50 Handling: 55 | Goal Kick: 45 | Throwing: 48 Penalty Saving: 47 | Free Kick Saving: 46 — — — — Associated Ability (54) — — — — Balance: 55 | Anticipation: 55 | Composure: 52 Theo stared at Strength, Speed, Explosiveness, Jumping, and Stamina.
It seems these items need to be trained by himself.
Future opportunities to add points should be reserved for the goalkeeper’s exclusive abilities.
The next morning at 6 o’clock, Theo woke up.
He went to sleep very early last night.
First, in this era, mobile phones weren’t smartphones, there weren’t that many short videos to scroll through, and he didn’t have a desktop computer and didn’t want to play games.
He was troubled by his extremely low attributes yesterday and prepared to start exercising hard today.
New Eltham, where he was located, was a quiet residential area in southeast London with many surrounding communities, right near New Eltham train station.
It was March, and there were very few people on the road.
Most were early risers exercising.
Theo chose Avery Hill Park for his morning exercise.
It was only 1.5 kilometers away from where he lived and was the closest park nearby suitable for daily aerobic running.
There was a mature 5-kilometer running route and a small outdoor fitness area in the park.
Thanks to the physical fitness laid down by the previous Theo, he found running 5 kilometers quite easy now.
Then it was time to use the outdoor fitness equipment for simple training.
Physical training is a gradual process, a long-term endeavor.
Theo didn’t expect to see results in just a few days.
At 8 o’clock in the morning, Theo arrived at the training base.
At this time, several U18 players had already arrived.
In the past, he wouldn’t have greeted other players, and others wouldn’t have paid attention to him.
But today, just as he entered the cafeteria door, someone shouted, “Theo!
Come here for a moment!” Theo looked up and saw it was the U18 captain, Morris.
He was eating breakfast with a few other players.
Theo waved his hand and replied, “Okay!” The breakfast at the training camp was pretty much the same old stuff.
But for Theo, having free food was good enough.
After exercising for over an hour, he was truly hungry now.
2010 was in a “transitional period” for football dietary reform.
Although the concept of “scientific diet” was beginning to spread, the “traditional English breakfast” was still very common in clubs across England.
Theo didn’t choose the sausages, bacon, fried eggs, or grilled tomatoes.
He still chose the oatmeal, whole-wheat toast, boiled eggs, baked beans, and boiled chicken breast, which tasted relatively worse but were more scientific.
He piled up sugar-free Greek yogurt, freshly squeezed juice, and milk—a full plate.
He wasn’t afraid of not finishing it.
He didn’t know if it was because of the continuous point-adding, but for the past two days, he had been feeling famished.
Jenkinson, who was sitting with Morris, clicked his tongue when he saw the items on Theo’s plate.
It was a full, large plate, weighing at least five or six pounds, not including the juice and milk sitting next to it.
Especially that piece of chicken breast—it was daunting.
It was too much.
Even he couldn’t finish it.
As for Theo, who was in urgent need of energy, he wasn’t in a position to be picky.
As long as it could replenish the energy his body desperately needed, that was fine.
Theo watched as the captain and the others had already finished half their meals, so he also sped up.
At this moment, Morris started gossiping, secretly looking at a few people sitting on the other side of the cafeteria.
“I heard the First Team has a lot of injuries lately.
The situation isn’t good.” Jenkinson didn’t think much of it after hearing that.
“Aren’t they in second place right now?
Their recent form is good.” Morris replied disdainfully, “What do you know?
Left center-back Grant Belsey is out for the season.
The defense is shaky now.
We all have a chance.” Jenkinson’s eyes lit up when he heard this.
At this moment, Morris looked at Theo.
“The starting goalkeeper, Rob Elliot, has a fractured elbow and is out.
He’ll probably be resting for a while.
Theo, you have a chance too.” Theo was listening to gossip and news, never expecting it to concern him.
He had a rough understanding of the few backup goalkeepers in the First Team.
Darren Randolph and Willie Garet were the team’s backup goalkeepers, and they were previously on par with the U18 starting goalkeeper.
It seems there really is a chance.
After eating, Theo rested for a while and went to the office of the Youth Academy Director, Steve Gritt, before 9 o’clock.
Regarding professional contracts for ordinary players, there are now very standard, uniform contracts throughout England.
Unless you are an exceptionally outstanding player, most players’ first contracts are about the same.
The contract Charlton Athletic gave Theo couldn’t be called the lowest, but it wasn’t much higher than the minimum.
Theo didn’t fight over this point; the club’s finances were currently quite tight, and he wasn’t willing to argue until he was red in the face for a few dozen pounds.
But on the issue of the signing bonus payment, Theo did not concede at all and haggled with Director Steve Gritt several times.
Normally, when a youth contract becomes a professional contract, the signing bonus is paid in several installments.
But Theo chose to have it paid in one lump sum.
Given that Theo didn’t quibble over the weekly wages or appearance fees, Director Steve Gritt eventually agreed to pay the £5,000 signing bonus in one lump sum.
The final contract details were: · Contract for 2 years · Weekly wage: £300 (minimum tier is £200) · Signing bonus: £5,000 · First Team appearance fee: £400/match · Win bonus: £500/match · Clean sheet bonus: £300/match · Buyout clause: £200,000 After confirming the contract details, Theo signed his first professional contract readily.
And Theo’s target this time was that £5,000 signing bonus.
That was the beginning of his takeoff.