From Arsenal to the Ball God

”I need to make a correction.”

Sagna placed both hands on Ma’el’s shoulders, jumping and laughing: ”Dun-dun-dun-dun... I have a friend who drives a Bugatti on the sidelines and performs a swan dance on the defender line...!”

”Why a Bugatti?”

Ma’el remembered the dance named after him, noticed the change, and asked with a smile.

”Because you’re also French.”

Sagna didn’t stop his actions, explaining: ”French people should drive French supercars, and Bugatti obviously rhymes better.

”Come on! Let’s dance together! Give me a season, I want to spread it among the entire Arsenal fan circle!”

Sagna grabbed Ma’el’s hand, leading him into a magical hip dance, occasionally twisting his shoulders and shaking his head, filled with joy.

Initially, Ma’el didn’t accept it, but after feeling the joyous atmosphere in the locker room, he gradually immersed himself, happily joining the dance group.

”Ole... OleOle...!!”

This is the football culture here. For over a hundred years, people have been accustomed to celebrating with friends they fought alongside after a victory; it is an indispensable part of their football world.

”Five-nil!”

”Magician Ma’el!”

”3 points! 3 points!”

”Wenger! Wenger!”

”We are the kings of North London!”

”.....”

They fully enjoyed the joy of victory, shouting crazily, maintaining this mood for the following week.

Soon, Wenger entered from outside, smiling as he saw the atmosphere in the locker room, clapping his hands joyfully.

”Mr. Wenger!”

”Join us!”

”Come on!”

Players invited Mr. Wenger to join the dance group. Sagna and Alexander Song even rushed over to drag Wenger; that’s just their nature.

”If I were 30 years younger... no, even 20, I’d dance with you.”

With a reluctant face, Wenger wildly waved his hands to decline, but was still pulled step by step into the dance group, ”Now I’m too old, just a bag of old bones... Ah, no!!”

Ma’el gave the professor a push, putting him in the center of the celebration group, with players dancing around him.

Wenger also slowly immersed himself in this atmosphere, though he didn’t dance, merely clapping and keeping the rhythm while laughing... mainly because being tall and thin, it was hard for him to make coordinated movements once his bones became stiff.

”How about this.”

Seeing the eager gaze of the players, he rubbed his hair, promising: ”I won’t dance this time, but I’ll take some time to learn a dance suited for me later.

”If at the end of this season our performance is good, I’ll dance with you all, even do a solo dance.”

”Great!!”

”Yes~ yes~...!”

”No backing out!”

”What counts as good performance?”

The players shouted excitedly, interested in what Wenger had said. Imagine, such a charismatic old man performing a celebratory dance for you... it’s a rare sight to behold.

Hearing someone ask about the specific performance criteria, Wenger raised an eyebrow and smiled: ”Seems I can’t escape... how about this, one championship trophy, what do you say?”

”No problem!”

”It’s a deal!”

”Yeah!”

The Arsenal players knew that Mr. Wenger was setting a goal for the season, motivating them in his own way.

But it aligned with their pursuit, a goal everyone collectively should aim for, needing only a moment of unity to set it.

Now, the moment of unity has come.

The players gladly accepted, eagerly looking forward to having a highly reputable top coach dance joyfully by the end of the season when they also enjoy the honor of a championship.

That would be an extremely wonderful day.

Ma’el was naturally thrilled too; he loudly asked, ”If there are two championship trophies, how about two dances?”

His words made everyone in the locker room pause, then burst into laughter filled with surprise at Ma’el’s ambition and anticipation: ”Haha...!”

”Of course.”

Amid the merry chaos, Wenger nodded energetically, pointing at Ma’el: ”I’ll learn two dances!”

......

At night, Arsenal’s bus slowly drove into North London, heading towards the Korni Base.

Ma’el woke from sleep, feeling his body’s fatigue, his thighs slightly sore... the consumption from the recent game was quite substantial.

”Hopefully, after my physical ability reaches Level 4, running like this in a game won’t leave me overly exhausted.”

He began looking forward to improving his physical ability, lately incorporating it into his physical training.

Taking out his phone, habitually opening Facebook and other social media, Ma’el began checking the increase in social media followers after the match, which would perfectly reflect the initial impression he left on Arsenal fans.

”Facebook 3.4682 million, Twitter has surprisingly surpassed it, with 3.5223 million, and Instagram is at 1.0921 million.”

Thinking of the previous follower count, he found a notable increase, the first two by 400-500 thousand, the last limited by platform traffic, only increasing by about 50-60 thousand.

Pleasure arose in Ma’el’s expression, such growth just a few hours after the match.

It seems, riding the wave of this ’hat-trick’ fever, the first two could very well break through 4 million followers, 4.5 million isn’t out of reach.

Getting closer to the million US dollars per post ad rate, another step forward!

He skimmed through media reports about him, curious about these; he always did after a good performance.

”Arsenal’s new beacon? 18-year-old Ma’el scores a hat-trick in his debut, dazzling the entire field, helping the team to a 5-0 victory over Newcastle United!” – UK Daily Mirror