Rafael closed the panel before the home side restarted.
Conceding forced them to push their midfield several metres higher, although they did not abandon their structure. Their defensive midfielder remained close to Rafael whenever he dropped, and both centre-backs continued protecting the penalty area.
Metz could no longer circulate possession without pressure. The match became faster, and the home side created their first dangerous moment after winning the ball near halfway. Their right winger carried it beyond the first challenge before Metz’s left-back forced him wide. The cross struck the defender and travelled behind for a corner.
The delivery dropped near the back post, where an opposition centre-back rose above everyone and headed across goal. Metz’s goalkeeper moved along his line and caught the ball against his chest.
The remaining minutes of the first half passed without another clear chance. Metz entered halftime leading 1–0, and the coach kept his instructions brief. He told the midfielders to release the ball earlier whenever Rafael laid it back, warned the full-backs not to advance together and reminded everyone that the opposition would have to take more risks.
When play resumed, the home side pressed higher. Their striker closed Metz’s centre-backs, the wide players stepped toward the full-backs and the defensive midfielder left his position more frequently to prevent Metz from building through the centre.
The pressure made possession less comfortable, but it opened spaces that had not existed before halftime. In the fifty-third minute, Rafael received a firm pass with a midfielder closing from his left and redirected it toward Yanis with one touch.
The ball reached Yanis’s front foot, allowing him to move forward without breaking stride. The fractional improvement to Rafael’s short passing helped, but it did not account for everything. He had checked Yanis’s position before receiving and opened his right foot early enough to change the angle.
The System had made the execution cleaner. Experience had chosen the pass.
Yanis carried possession inside and attempted to release the right-back, but the opposition winger followed the run and intercepted. Several minutes later, Rafael tried a similar combination on the left. His layoff travelled behind the midfielder, delaying the attack long enough for the home side to recover.
Rafael raised a hand in acknowledgement and returned to position. A reward of two-tenths did not remove mistakes.
The home side created their best opportunity shortly after the hour. Metz lost the ball while trying to pass through midfield, and the opposition moved it forward before the defensive line could settle. Their striker received near the edge of the area, turned away from the first defender and struck low toward the far corner.
Metz’s goalkeeper reached the shot and pushed it around the post.
The resulting corner was headed clear, and Yanis collected the loose ball outside the box. Two midfielders surrounded him before he could counter, but Metz regained possession after the next stoppage and slowed the match again.
Rafael stayed available between midfield and defence. When the ball reached him, he released it quickly. When no passing lane existed, he remained near the centre-backs rather than dropping into a teammate’s space.
The second goal arrived in the sixty-eighth minute.
Metz built from the left. Their full-back carried the ball beyond halfway and passed toward the winger, who received with the opposing full-back close behind him. Rafael left the penalty area and offered himself inside.
The winger found him, and Rafael set the ball first time toward an advancing midfielder. The defensive midfielder stepped forward to challenge, but the ball had already gone. The Metz midfielder returned it outside toward the full-back, who had continued his run.
Four players had touched the ball without anyone holding it for more than a second. The home defence shifted toward the left, and Rafael turned back toward the penalty area.
The full-back reached the edge of the box and delivered low. The nearest centre-back stepped ahead of Rafael and stretched to clear but could not direct the ball away from danger. His touch sent it rolling toward the edge of the area, where an arriving Metz midfielder struck first time.
The shot passed through the recovering defenders and entered the right side of the net.
Rafael joined the celebration without claiming responsibility for the move. He had played one pass. The winger had protected possession, the full-back had delivered the cross and the midfielder had taken the finish. No single player had created the entire goal.
That was why the attack had worked.
Metz protected their 2–0 lead instead of chasing a third. Their wingers dropped beside the midfielders, the full-backs stopped advancing together and Rafael remained near halfway as an outlet. When the defenders cleared the ball, he protected it long enough for support to arrive and won two fouls from frustrated challenges.
The home side created one final chance during the closing minutes. Their winger reached a pass behind Metz’s right-back and pulled the ball toward the penalty spot. A substitute striker met it first time, but Metz’s goalkeeper reacted with his right leg and blocked the shot before a defender cleared the rebound.
The final whistle confirmed the 2–0 victory.
Metz’s coach gathered the players near the technical area after the handshake line.
"Good discipline after the second goal," he said. "We didn’t give them a way back."
His attention shifted toward Rafael. "Quicker when it came into your feet today. Keep moving it like that."
Rafael nodded and followed the others toward the changing room.
Less than half an hour later, he stepped outside with his bag over one shoulder. Several parents waited near the team bus while staff loaded equipment into the storage compartment beneath it. Rafael was walking toward Yanis when he noticed a man standing beyond the perimeter barrier with a dark notebook beneath one arm.
The man appeared to be in his late thirties, with a plain coat buttoned over his shirt and a receding line of dark hair. He was speaking to the father of an opposition player.
Rafael stopped because he knew him.
They had never worked together during Rafael’s previous life, but the man would eventually represent one of his former teammates through a serious knee injury. Several more influential agents had lost interest once the player stopped appearing in matchday squads. This man had remained.
He never became famous. He had simply continued doing his job when there was little money or attention available.
The conversation beyond the barrier ended. The opposition player’s father shook the man’s hand before walking toward the car park, and Rafael changed direction.
"Excuse me."
The man looked at him. "Yes?"
"Were you watching the match?"
"I was."
"For someone on our team?"
The man glanced toward the departing father. "Their left-back. His family contacted me several weeks ago."
That answered Rafael’s first question. The man had not appeared because of Rafael’s recent goals. He had attended for another player and happened to watch him.
"Could I have your business card?" Rafael asked.
The request appeared to surprise him. "Why?"
"I’m looking for an agent."
"You’re Rafael Morales."
It was a statement rather than a question.
Rafael nodded.
"Three goals in your first match back, then one last week and another today," the man said. "People beside youth pitches still talk."
"I know a few goals don’t make a career."
The man studied him for another moment before reaching inside his coat and passing a white card through the barrier.
Rafael read the name printed across the top.
Julien Moreau.
Below it were an FFF licence number, a telephone number and an email address.
"I’ve seen your name before," Rafael said.
Moreau’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Where?"
"On the FFF list. I started checking licensed agents after ending things with the person advising me before."
Most academy players Rafael’s age would not have searched the federation’s register. The explanation made his knowledge unusual without revealing anything about his regression.
"Who was advising you?"
"Adrian Bell."
Moreau’s expression revealed nothing. "Did you sign an agreement with him?"
"Not the representation agreement he brought to our house."
"That wasn’t my question."
Rafael paused. Bell had placed several documents in front of them over the previous months. Rafael remembered refusing the representation agreement clearly, but he could not be certain how every earlier form or authorisation had been presented before his regression.
"I don’t know," he admitted. "Not without checking everything."
"Then check."
Moreau pointed toward the card. "You’re seventeen?"
"Yes."
"Your mother contacts me through the email address printed there. Verify it against the federation’s register first."
"I can call—"
"No." Moreau’s voice remained calm. "Your mother contacts me herself. If she wants a meeting, she attends it. I’m not discussing representation, contracts, payment or transfers with you beside a football pitch."
The refusal told Rafael more than an enthusiastic sales pitch would have.
"If your mother writes to me, she should explain what happened with Bell and ask for a meeting," Moreau continued. "Nothing more until I’ve seen the documents. Bring copies and keep the originals."
He closed his notebook and walked toward the car park.
Rafael looked down at the card until Yanis shouted from beside the bus that the driver would leave without him. He slipped it into the inner pocket of his academy jacket and joined the team.
His mother was home when he returned that evening. Rafael waited until after dinner before placing Moreau’s card on the kitchen table.
She read the name without picking it up. "Who is he?"
"A licensed agent. He attended today’s match to watch someone from the other team."
"And you spoke to him?"
"I asked for his card because I think we should meet him."
"You met him once beside a barrier."
"I’m not asking you to hire him. He refused to discuss anything without you and said you had to contact him through the registered email address."
That mattered to her, although her expression remained cautious. "We will not sign anything during the first meeting."
"I know."
"Not even if he claims an offer expires the following morning."
"We won’t."
She picked up the card and carried it toward the computer. While the machine started, Rafael collected Bell’s folder from the sitting-room drawer and placed it on the table.
His mother found the FFF’s public register. Julien Moreau’s name appeared beside the same licence number printed on the card. The telephone number and email address also matched. A warning on the federation’s page advised players and families to verify those details because licensed agents could be impersonated.
His mother compared every character before opening a new message. She introduced herself as Rafael’s mother, confirmed that she consented to a meeting and asked what documents they should bring. She used the address listed by the FFF rather than any alternative contact.
Moreau replied later that evening. He was willing to meet them, but before discussing Rafael’s future, he needed to establish whether Adrian Bell possessed any continuing authority or legal claim connected to Rafael’s representation.
They should bring copies of every agreement, form and written promise Bell had given them. They were not to send the originals.
Rafael’s mother finished reading and looked toward the folder on the table. The representation agreement resting on top was unsigned, but the folder also contained earlier forms Rafael had barely read before his regression.
Refusing Bell’s final agreement did not prove that nothing among those pages could be used against him.
Rafael pulled the folder closer.
Walking away from Adrian Bell had been the first step. Now they had to discover whether Bell had left anything behind.