Chapter 457: The Homecoming III: The Youth Team

In the sixty-fifth minute, I brought on Aviero for Semenyo protecting the young winger’s legs, giving the creative midfielder his chance. Then Townsend for Eze in the seventy-second experience to see out the match. And Abraham for Blake in the seventy-fifth fresh legs up front, the Chelsea loanee’s hold-up play and physical presence a different kind of threat.

But the night had one more act. One more moment that would be replayed on every highlights package in Europe and shared across social media until it had been viewed by millions.

In the seventy-seventh minute, Olise scored.

He had been quieter in the second half, his young legs tiring, the physical demands of his first competitive match beginning to show. I was about to substitute him McArthur was warming up on the touchline when Kirby played a short pass to him on the right side of the box. Olise received it, back to goal, a defender tight on his shoulder. What he did next was absurd.

He flicked the ball up with the sole of his boot not a normal flick, but a rainbow, the ball arcing over his own head and over the defender’s head simultaneously and as it dropped on the other side, he swivelled and struck it on the half-volley with his left foot. The shot was pure. Clean. Rising.

The goalkeeper saw it, set himself, dived and the ball flew past his outstretched glove and into the top corner with a force that rippled the net and drew a gasp from twenty-seven thousand people, half of whom were supposed to be supporting the other team.

Bristol City 1–4 Crystal Palace. Olise. 77 minutes.

Ashton Gate went quiet. Not angry. Not frustrated. Quiet in the way that people go quiet when they have just witnessed something that they will tell their grandchildren about. A sixteen-year-old boy, playing his first competitive match, had just scored a goal that belonged in a World Cup final.

Olise didn’t slide. He didn’t scream. He stood where he had struck the ball, the net still shaking behind the goalkeeper, and looked at his left foot as though seeing it for the first time. Then he looked up, found me on the touchline, and gave me the smallest, most private nod I had ever received from a footballer. Thank you for the chance, gaffer.

I nodded back. My throat was too tight to speak.

Paddy grabbed my arm. “Danny,” he whispered. “What did we just see?”

“The future,” I said. “We just saw the future.”

[GOAL. Michael Olise. Half-volley after a self-assisted rainbow flick. Age: 16 years, 10 months. xG: 0.02. This goal cannot be adequately analysed through statistical models. It exists outside the framework. Olise is not a prospect. He is a generational talent. Protect him. Develop him. Do not sell him. Under any circumstances.]

I brought McArthur on for Olise immediately the sixteen-year-old’s contribution was complete, his legs gone, his legend born. As he walked off, every Palace fan in the away end stood and applauded. Two thousand people, on their feet, for a boy most of them had never heard of before tonight. Olise walked past me, his head slightly bowed, and I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Remember this night, Michael. Remember all of it.”

He looked at me with those quiet, watchful eyes. “I will, gaffer,” he said softly. “I will.”

The final thirteen minutes were a celebration. McArthur and Digne managed the game with the calm authority of senior professionals who understood that the night belonged to the kids, and their job was simply to protect it.

Morrison and Kirby controlled the midfield until the final whistle, the partnership that had won the Youth Cup and the Nationals functioning exactly as it had eight months ago Morrison winning everything, Kirby passing everything, the two of them a unit that communicated without words.

The final whistle blew. Bristol City 1–4 Crystal Palace. Into the fifth round of the League Cup. The away end sang “Glad All Over” and the young players stood on the pitch, arms around each other, their faces glowing under the Ashton Gate floodlights. They had done it. Eight academy products. Four different goalscorers. A performance that would be talked about for years.

I found Paddy. He was standing very still, his hands in his pockets, watching his players celebrate. There were tears on his cheeks. He didn’t try to hide them.

“That’s what it’s for, Paddy,” I said quietly. “All the sessions. All the drills. All the Saturday mornings when nobody’s watching. It’s for this.”

He nodded. His throat was too tight to speak. He didn’t need to. The scoreboard said everything.

[FULL TIME: Bristol City 1–4 Crystal Palace. EFL Cup Round 4.]

[Goals: Blake 24’, Eze 38’, Semenyo 58’, Olise 77’. Bristol City: Penalty 43’.]

[Manager Record: P22 W17 D3 L2. GF: 60. GA: 19.]

[Academy Record: 8 academy products in the starting XI the most in a competitive match in Crystal Palace’s history. 4 goals from 4 different academy graduates. Olise: 1 goal, 1 assist, aged 16 years and 10 months. Eze: 1 goal (consecutive matches). Blake: 1 goal (3rd competitive goal of the season). Semenyo: 1 goal (first competitive goal). Morrison: MOTM-calibre performance. Kirby: controlled the match. Mitchell: faultless. Hannam: commanding. Webb: one penalty incident, otherwise excellent.]

[EFL Cup: Crystal Palace progress to Quarter Final. Draw to be confirmed.]

On the bus home, the motorway dark and quiet, the young players scattered across the back seats in various states of giddy, disbelieving exhaustion, I sat at the front and let the night settle over me.

Morrison was already asleep, his head against the window, his combative energy finally spent. Kirby was showing Eze something on his phone a replay of the Olise goal, probably and both of them were laughing.

Semenyo was FaceTiming his mum, holding the phone up to show her the pitch through the bus window, his voice high and excited, the words tumbling out too fast to follow. And Olise was sitting alone, three rows back, his headphones on, his eyes closed, the faintest smile on his lips the smile of a boy who had just scored the most beautiful goal of his life and was still processing it in the quiet cathedral of his own head.

My phone buzzed. Emma: “Just watched the Olise goal on Twitter. It’s been viewed 2 million times in 40 minutes. That boy is going to make you very rich and very famous. Come home. The bed is cold without you.”

I typed back: “On my way. Save me a pillow.”

“You can have the pillow. But the duvet is mine.”

I pocketed the phone, leaned back, and closed my eyes. Tomorrow, there would be training. Analysis. Preparation for the next match. The machine would restart.

But tonight, driving south through the English darkness, I was just a man who had watched the future arrive in the shape of a sixteen-year-old’s left foot, a forty-yard sprint from a teenager who didn’t know what he couldn’t do, a curling shot from a twenty-year-old who was already better than most of the league knew, and a clinical finish from a boy who had never stopped believing that the pathway was real.

The siege was long. But the reinforcements were coming. And they were extraordinary.

***

Thank you to Sir nameyelus for the Massage Chair.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep