Harbinger Of Glory

While the slightly over-the-top dinner went on, Spalletti caught Leo’s eye from across the dining room.

The manager nodded towards the player before beckoning him outside with the wave of his index and middle finger.

Seeing this, Leo excused himself from his table and followed him out through the dining room doors into the Coverciano night, which was cool and still.

They walked a short distance before finding one of the benches that sat along the edge of the complex’s main walkway and settling onto it.

Spalletti looked at the dark outline of the training pitch for a moment before turning to Leo.

”How did it feel?”

Leo looked at him.

”How did it feel to be...”

”Your debut,” Spalletti said, a small smile arriving. ”How did it feel?”

Leo nodded, before answering shortly.

”It was good.”

”Good?” Spalletti questioned.

”I played well,” he said as he fiddled with the now empty carton of another juice box that Moise Kean had gotten for him after he finished his first and second.

”I got the man of the match as well as an assist. There isn’t much more I could have asked for from the night. I’d be acting greedy.”

Spalletti nodded slowly.

”I am glad you feel that way,” he said and was quiet for a moment before he turned slightly toward Leo.

”Some of the senior players came to me this evening,” he said.

”The ones who’d been trying to undermine my authority because of their, well, ’feelings’ towards the new management. They came and apologised.”

Hearing that, Leo nodded once.

”I suppose what you wanted to do came through then,” he said.

”It did,” Spalletti said.

”Though I’m not letting them off that easily.”

He said it without bitterness, more like a man confirming a position he’d already decided on.

”We’ve ended this break well. The Ukraine result gives us something to build from.

But the next international window is in about six weeks, and what’s expected will be considerably higher because of tonight. We have England in that break too.”

He turned to look at Leo directly.

”Let’s meet then,” he said as Leo nodded.

”Thank you for trusting me with this.”

Spalletti looked at him for a moment.

”Thank you,” he said, ”for making sure that trust wasn’t wasted.”

The two sat for a few minutes before Spalletti suggested that Leo eat some more after Leo’s stomach rumbled in those few minutes they sat.

...

The following morning, suitcases rolled across the tiled corridors of Coverciano as players drifted in and out of rooms for the last time.

A few of the players were delaying their departures, but most had their bags slung over their shoulders, voices crossing over one another as goodbyes, travel plans and promises to see each other again blended like the steady mood of a training ground emptying itself after a session.

Marco found Leo, Carlo and Udogie waiting outside the main entrance, their luggage already lined up beside the van that would be taking them to the airport.

He stopped in front of them and let his eyes settle on each of the three in turn.

”Do well enough to come back here,” he said as all three nodded almost at the same time.

The corner of Marco’s mouth twitched, whether in approval or amusement, before he turned and headed back inside without another word.

The driver finished loading the last of the bags into the boot as Leo climbed into the van, finding Tonali already settled by the window with a pair of headphones resting around his neck and his eyes already shut.

Carlo and Udogie followed behind him, closing the sliding door behind them, and a moment later the engine came to life as the van rolled away from Coverciano and out onto the road.

The airport would be where they split.

Tonali would catch the direct flight back to Newcastle.

Udogie would head for Heathrow.

And then Leo and Carlo would be on the same flight to Ringway, retracing the journey they’d made together ten days earlier, and perhaps because of that familiarity, the trip already felt shorter than the one that had brought them to Florence.

Vittoria was in the middle of tying her coat when her phone rang, and Gianna’s voice came through.

They talked the way they always did when one of them was getting ready, the conversation weaving between the sounds of drawers sliding open, wardrobe doors closing, and the occasional zip being pulled shut.

Somewhere in the middle of it, Gianna laughed.

”You sound excited.”

”He’s been away,” Vittoria replied. ”Of course I’m excited.”

”I can hear you smiling.”

Vittoria rolled her eyes before threatening her friend.

”One more word, Gianna, and I’ll hang up.”

”No, you won’t.”

Vittoria clicked her tongue before shaking her head.

”Watch me.”

She ended the call before Gianna could answer, and the silence that followed lasted all of three seconds before she found herself smiling anyway.

Shaking her head at herself, she unplugged her phone from the charger, slipped it into her handbag and checked once that she’d packed everything she needed.

Right then, the doorbell rang.

She paused instinctively before letting out a quiet breath.

”Right, Mia,” she muttered to herself as she then crossed the apartment, unlocked the door and pulled it open, already speaking.

”Mia, I was just going to pick your brother...”

When she realised halfway that it wasn’t Mia but Leo standing there, she lagged a bit, looking at the latter, who had his bag behind him, travel-worn but smiling.

His arms opened a second later as she shot forward like a bullet, the impact making Leo laugh instead of wincing.

”Missed you too,” he said.

”How are you.....You told me the wrong time, didn’t you?” she said, into his shoulder.

”I wanted to surprise you.”

”But I wanted to pick you up from the airport too, as you do for me.”

”There’ll be time for that,” he said. ”I wanted to do it first.”

She pulled back enough to look at him.

”It’s not as fun when you do it.”

Leo laughed. ”Now I know.”