From Arsenal to the Ball God

After returning to the rental house, Safina headed straight to the kitchen in the room, checking various equipment and listing an inventory.

Harry, on the other hand, sat down in the living room with Ma’el. There was no tea in the house, so Ma’el handed him a bottle of drink, and they started chatting.

”The house doesn’t have an extra room.”

Harry noticed the layout of the house and smiled, saying, ”Post-training recovery massage might have to be done either in the living room or your bedroom.”

”No problem at all.”

Ma’el chuckled softly and explained, ”I’ll be returning to Arsenal in six months, so I won’t be staying here for long. Once my salary increases, I haven’t bothered looking for a larger house.”

”As long as it’s comfortable to live in.”

Harry didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. Although he didn’t know Ma’el’s exact salary, he imagined it wouldn’t be low.

Moreover, for a player with such extraordinary talent, as long as there’s no major setback or decline in his career, he will inevitably make endless amounts of money in this increasingly commercialized football world.

Their future income is unimaginable, something to admire but impossible to envy.

At this moment, Gilbert walked out of the room inside, surprisingly accompanied by a tall and strong yet somewhat immature-looking young man.

”Who are these two?”

He looked at Ma’el with some curiosity, ”Are they the physiotherapist and nutritionist you mentioned earlier?”

”Yes.”

Ma’el nodded towards him, his gaze resting on the figure behind him, someone he was very familiar with.

”Harry Maguire.”

Gilbert, noticing Ma’el’s gaze, pointed to Maguire and introduced, ”A defender from the team’s U18, same age as us, just reported to the first team today and got to chat with him.”

Maguire looked shy and a bit nervous, touching the back of his neck with one hand and nodding towards Ma’el.

He knew that Ma’el lived here too, and was already mentally prepared for this meeting.

But.....no matter how you put it.

Encountering Ma’el, who is now dominating the Championship, in such a private setting at home, still gives one an indescribable feeling, which could be summed as admiration mixed with caution.

Moreover, he was a defender.

Every week in the youth training camp, watching the first team matches, he would imagine being played by Ma’el like other Championship defenders.

Coupled with the media reports about Ma’el, gradually, he developed an impression of Ma’el as a ’monster’, fearing him from the bottom of his heart.

This is beyond age; as peers, seeing another peer achieve such accomplishments.

What Maguire felt was only admiration and awe, and a sincere sense of submission.

”You two.....”

Ma’el was somewhat surprised. It was his first time knowing that this future famous Manchester United defender turned out to have been trained by Sheffield United.

Still, he was more curious about something else right now, he looked disdainful: ”What were you doing in the bedroom?”

”Ah....”

Maguire was quicker to respond than Gilbert, being somewhat shy himself, he was almost incoherent: ”No, we weren’t doing that, you misunderstood, we’re both straight.”

”Fack?”

Gilbert came to his senses, feeling quite annoyed, ”What are you imagining? He said his jumping ability and headers were good, just lacking judgment on positioning, envied my header skills, so I was teaching him with the video tape.”

”Alright, alright.”

Ma’el was just teasing them, and after the joke was over, he didn’t drag out the topic further.

He then performed his first physiotherapy massage training in the room, which reminded him of his past days at a foot bath shop.

However, as a professional physiotherapist, Harry’s techniques were certainly much better than those of the foot bath girls, whose backgrounds are often quite tragic.

”Ouch.....” Ma’el frequently grimaced, only realizing during the massage how sore some muscle parts were.

”These are all potential issues.”

Harry pressed diligently while explaining to him, ”You young folks have strong bodies, usually feel great after warming up and starting to run, but some parts have already become overwhelmed from overuse.

”This is not just recovery, it’s also considered treatment. Lucky you had physiotherapy awareness early; otherwise, you could easily become injury-prone later.”

He didn’t just focus on criticizing Ma’el, often praised his strengths, ”Your flexibility is excellent, better than any footballer I’ve seen, your muscles are very developed too.

”Stick to daily physiotherapy, I believe you have a chance to have a body like Cristiano’s.”

This was the third time he mentioned Cristiano. Indeed, the Portuguese star has demonstrated much more than just his performances on the field.

He also possesses a capability unnoticed by the average person—an extraordinary playing rate!

Whether during late Manchester United days or now at Real Madrid, he maintains almost total attendance every season.

No need for rotation, rarely injured, it seems as if fatigue never bothers him.

Ma’el greatly admired this aspect of his abilities, but he didn’t underestimate himself; he confidently replied with a smile: ”Not just a chance, I believe I can achieve even more astonishing strength in the future.”

”Good luck.”

Harry might have thought he was joking, but didn’t argue, knowing it was just his first day on the job.

......

On January 17th, the 26th round of Championship matches arrived, with the whole Sheffield United team heading to Coventry’s home ground.

From the start of the match, Ma’el burst out with the activity seen at the beginning of the season, full of power throughout his body, feeling he had endless energy.

Undoubtedly, this was due to the physiotherapy massage over the past few days, his muscle fatigue significantly alleviated.

```