Chapter 7: Manchester City U-18

The next day, Furochi came back to Kazuki.

His arrival this time was to confirm Kazuki's intentions after his contract with Manchester United expired. As a good agent, of course, Furochi must prepare in advance what kind of club Kazuki wants to go to next.

After the daily training was over Furochi took Kazuki to a nearby cafe from the Trafford training center. After ordering a cup of coffee, Furochi asked Kazuki, "I heard that you have played him consecutively in the Premier Academy League. Although it's not enough to arouse the attention of other clubs but at least they won't refuse if they intend to join those clubs. Especially English second-tier league clubs, I'm sure there you will get a better chance."

Before Kazuki answered the question, Furochi continued to say, "Or maybe you are thinking of renewing your contract if Manchester United invites you to the U-23 squad? It's also good if you can prove yourself in the U-23 English league I guarantee the bottom clubs would be happy to receive you."

Kazuki thought about Furochi's words carefully. If he goes to a championship league club, he'll probably play in the under-23 league while occasionally getting the chance to appear as a substitute. The advantage was clear, if Kazuki was able to convince the coach with his abilities it was not impossible that he would become a member of the first team of the second-tier club. On the other hand, if Kazuki continued his career at Manchester United, he would be completely focused on the English U-23 league for a few years. The advantage was, Kazuki would get more attention from the premier league clubs if he played well but the drawback was that Kazuki's progress towards the professional competition would be hampered.

Seeing Kazuki who was still undecided about his choice, Furochi sighed and said, "There are still two weeks for you to think about it, I hope you can think about it carefully."

"Besides that, I hope you can contact your parents soon. Sooner or later you have to be in touch with them again, especially your mother, she must be very worried."

Kazuki kept quiet without trying to answer Furochi's words. Kazuki came from a family that could be said to be very rich. His family runs a large company. His father had always been against Kazuki's wish to become a footballer. Although Kazuki's mother supports Kazuki's dream but in his family, his father's decision is the most important. Kazuki's relationship with his father froze after Kazuki forced himself to accept Manchester United's invitation. Even though his mother still diligently transfers money to Kazuki secretly but he has never contacted his father and mother at all in the past 1 year.

Kazuki still remembered his father's words that always made an impression on his heart.

"No matter how successful you are as a footballer, you will be less successful than becoming a successor to our family company."

Those words made Kazuki even more motivated to become a top soccer player. He wanted to prove that his career as a footballer would outweigh the success of his career as the successor of the company.

After the conversation, Furochi escorted Kazuki back to the training camp, the two of them again parted ways after Furochi said goodbye.

***

Finally, the Premier Academy League continued matches started. In this round, Manchester United U-18s will visit their neighbors, Manchester City U-18s. At this time Manchester City occupies the first standings of the English Premier League academy south of the region.

Manchester City Academy has had good results in recent years, they not only won the Premier League of England academy but also won the UEFA youth league. You could say the fate of the Manchester City Academy is inversely proportional to the first team. After three years of major changes with the acquisition made by Sheikh Mansour, Manchester City still could not get their first English league title, even Manchester City had to fight desperately to get into the champions league zone only.

Instead of focusing on the locals, Manchester City Academy brings together a lot of talent from all over the world with the money they have. Ironically, although they spend a lot of money to collect these talents the percentage of Manchester City Academy players' advancement to the first team is very low. Manchester City's first team would rather spend big bucks to buy mature stars than train young players.

After Manchester City's sudden rise to become a wealthy club, the Manchester Derby which has always been dominated by Manchester United is now starting to change. The heat of the Manchester Derby has increased greatly after the previous season where Manchester United failed to win the Premier League trophy after losing to Manchester City which resulted in the Red Devils being overtaken by Chelsea in the last match.

Although not as hot as in the first team, the Manchester United U-18 players also still felt the weight of this match after Traves gave enthusiastic instructions to Kazuki and his friends.

"Let the new rich man know who the real owner of Manchester is. Don't embarrass the symbol on your chest. Let's win this game."

The young players responded to Traves with enthusiasm.

The starting line-up this time was Kazuki again playing as a striker even though Perreira's condition seemed to have regained its sharpness. Of course, Kazuki would not waste the opportunity that Traves gave him in vain.

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On the other hand, Kazuki saw that most Manchester City U-18 players aged 15-16 years differed greatly from Kazuki who was 18 years old. In the senior team the younger one is the more energetic and hardworking they are, but in the youth team like this young age only signifies low physical fitness and confrontation. It was certain that the 18-year-old Kazuki had a stronger body than the Manchester City players who were 15-16 years old on average.

Therefore the instruction that Kazuki received from Traves this time was to become a traditional striker. Kazuki had nothing to fear from a confrontation against those gentle defenders from Manchester City.

Kazuki felt confident in his ability to face the two Manchester City center-back.

In the 7th minute, Kazuki received an aerial pass from Ethan. He then pressed against the opposing center-back and forcibly broke through. Kazuki then greeted Ethan's pass with a powerful volley.

The score immediately changed to 0-1 with Manchester United's advantage.

Ethan and Kazuki had a strange celebration that they had agreed upon if they gave each other an assist or goal. The goal fueled the spirit of Manchester City players. They then had the ball and took the initiative to attack Manchester United Under-18s. It's a shame even though Manchester City had the ball they always failed to penetrate Manchester United's solid defense. Manchester United, which is under constant attack, does not remain silent. They launched a counter-attack which resulted in a goal for Ethan just before the end of the first half.

During the break, Traves praised Ethan for appearing most prominent in the first half. Of course, he also praised Kazuki who scored the goal. However, unlike Ethan and Kazuki who were praised by Traves, Bennett and several Manchester United U-18 midfielders were criticized for not being able to wrest control of the game from Manchester City.

Kazuki and Ethan cheer up Bennet who looked sullen after being criticized by the coach.

The second half began, Manchester City made a substitution by entering Jordan Sanches. Similar to Bennet Jordan is the star of hope for the Manchester City Academy. Jordan's inclusion had an obvious effect on The Cityzen.

In the 56th minute, Jordan broke through the Manchester United defense. In the penalty box, he gave a lob pass to his teammate. The pass was completed well by Jordan's partner. Manchester City managed to score the first goal.

Manchester United wanted to counterattack but the ball continued to feel under the control of the Manchester City players. In the 70th minute, Manchester City was awarded a free kick with a distance of about 20 meters from the goal. Jordan then executed the free-kick beautifully. He penetrated the goal of Manchester United.

In the final minutes' Manchester United made some threatening counter-attacks, it's a shame the score of 2-2 was maintained until the game was over.

When the match was over, Kazuki asked Jordan to shake hands. Jordan did not refuse because he saw Kazuki's performance which also deserved praise in this match. But after shaking hands with Kazuki, Jordan took the time to mock Bennet by saying that he did not contribute at all to Manchester United in this match.

Bennet and Jordan are players who come from the city of Manchester itself. They were friends and were used to making fun of each other. Therefore, even though Bennett was annoyed, he didn't reply to Jordan's taunts at all.

What Kazuki didn't know was that someone was observing the match between Manchester City U-18 Vs Manchester United U-18. He's a scout from Southampton. His job was to keep an eye on Kazuki. He had already watched over Kazuki for a few days. But this was Kazuki's first match under his observation.

He couldn't draw conclusions from just one match. But he was still able to describe the playing style and ability that Kazuki displayed in this match.

First, as a Striker, the ability to shoot and receive the ball is quite good. Kazuki's positioning and movement without the ball were also very good. Kazuki's passing might not be great but with a good vision, he could provide an unexpected pass that could pose a threat to the opponent's defense. Judging from his posture Kazuki was quite tall so he had the potential for aerial duels.

At the end of the note, John gives his conclusion.

[He is a striker with a quite good potential. For a team that has a single striker strategy, he may not be very attractive, but in a team that has a two-striker strategy, he has great potential.]

Need further observations to get more accurate data.. John closed his notebook slowly.

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