Chapter 180 Helping Out A Young Stranger

"I can't believe you didn't find that even a bit funny," Mateo said as he stepped down from the bus with Dave.

"Sorry, I didn't meet your expectations, I guess my sense of humor has been washed up a little bit." The goalkeeper said, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, and you should work on getting back, I can't deal with having to laugh at the jokes alone in the room." The winger said before he hastened his step toward the building.

'I didn't even watch the video so I believe my sense of humor is intact.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously.

After returning to their rooms, the team had their lunch together and now it was time for them to get some rest or do whatever they wanted to do as long as it didn't go against their code of conduct while they were there after all they didn't have any match to play tomorrow but they were still going to train.

"The match was hectic," Mateo said before crashing down on his bed. "Especially for you." He added.

"Yeah," Dave said before crashing down on his bed.

"I heard they wanted to sign but the club refused their offer," Mateo said before turning his gaze to him.

"Yeah." He replied.

"They're going to be more interested in you now that they've seen what you can do." The winger said.

"I guess so."

"You'll be a free agent just like me at the end of the season. Are you going to go there?"

"If Patti Moreno leaves then maybe I can move there but if he stays then I'll have to look for somewhere where I'll be really needed." The goalkeeper replied.

"I see, you don't want to be a second-choice goalkeeper," Mateo said.

"Yeah," Dave said. "What about you, where will you be heading to at the end of this upcoming season?"

"I don't know yet, I have a lot of bidders at the moment and I don't think the club management will want me to leave as a free agent, they want me to sign a one-year extension so that I don't become a free agent by the end of this upcoming season they're probably going to to try and do the same with you two," Mateo explained.

"Are you going to sign the extension?"

"I will, if they agree to let me leave at the end of the season you should also sign the extension under the conditions too after all leaving as free agents won't help the club in any way, this is the only way we can help them get more money to clear the last part of their debts while we're gone."

"Yeah, you're absolutely right." The goalkeeper replied.

The two lay there for a while and talked about a few other things before Mateo had to leave to take care of something, leaving Dave alone in the room once again.

'What's wrong, Catherine? You're unusually quiet.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously with his gaze on the ceiling.

<What do you want me to say?>

'Something like you usually do. Are you suddenly quiet because of what happened earlier today?' He asked but there was no response from her.

[ Player Profile ]

[ Name: Dave Richards ]

[ Player Level: 5 ]

[ 100/100 HP ]

[ 475/600 EXP ]

[ Position: Goalkeeper ]

[ Goalkeeping Skills ]

[ Double jump: level(01) ]

[ Ball magnet: level(02) ]

[ Goalkeeping attributes ]

[ Shot stopper: level(01) ]

[ 127/127 Energy ]

[ Unused stat points: 8 ]

[ Skill points: 6 ]

[ Skill upgrade points: 4 ]

[ Physical Status ]

[ Strength: 33 ]

[ Dexterity: 37 ]

[ Endurance: 29 ]

[ Career info ]

[ Name: Dave Richards ]

[ Age: 21 ]

[ Height: 187 cm ]

[ Position: Goalkeeper ]

[ Strong foot: right ]

[ Developed qualities: Shot stopper ]

[ Developing qualities: Sweeper Keeper, ball playing keeper. ]

[ Current Team: Unique FC ]

[ Status: Starter ]

[ Market value: €10,000 ]

[ Matches played: 78 ]

[ Goals: 0 ]

[ Assists: 3 ]

[ Shots faced: 141 ]

[ Goals conceded: 80 ]

[ Saves made: 47 ]

[ Penalties faced: 20 ]

[ Penalties saved: 02 ]

[ Clean sheets: 01 ]

[ Career average rating: 6.3 ]

[ Awards ]

[ Man of the match awards: 02 ]

[ Trophies: 0 ]

[ Records set/broken: none ]

'I'm getting closer to my next level up, and it looks like my market value hasn't gone up yet.'

He wanted to get Catherine's attention with this but there was still no response from her.

"I think a walk will do the both of us some good." He muttered before getting up from his bed.

He walked to the side of the room where his black coat was hung and put it on before slowly making his way toward the door.

'The streets of Barcelona, so refreshing.' He said subconsciously as he walked down the street.

"It's okay, Ferran, I'll just find another person to be my teammate."

Dave looked ahead to see the same boy who had said that angrily kicked one of the dustbins along the street just after bringing his phone down.

A teenager who seemed to be around sixteen years of age.

"How am I supposed to find another teammate now?"

"Hey, what's wrong?"

The boy slowly turned back to see Dave standing behind him.

"It's nothing important." The boy said, shaking his head.

"Really? Then why did you kick that thing like that?"

"What does it matter? It's not like you can help me or anything." The boy said.

"You can't just conclude that someone can help you if you haven't told him what your problem is," Dave said.

The boy didn't reply to him and slowly brought down his head.

"What do you need a new teammate for?" The goalkeeper asked, causing the boy to quickly raise his gaze to look at him.

"It's my friend Ferran, we signed up for the tennis ball tournament and we managed to make it this far to the finals and we really need to win that final because we need the money but he suddenly fell sick and won't be able to make it and now I can't find a new teammate because the person will surely ask for a share in the prize and probably an equal share when we were the ones who struggled to make it this far."

'Wow, the kid didn't want to say anything before but looks like he just poured his whole soul out to me.'

"A tennis ball tournament I see," Dave muttered. "How about I be your new teammate."

"Really?" The boy said before looking at him from head to toe. "No offense, mister but do you even know how to kick the ball?"

'Seriously?'

"Why don't you give me a ball so that I can show you? If you have a ball with you."

"Yeah, I have a ball with me." The boy said before he quickly brought down his bag, unzipped it, and brought out a blue football. "Here." He said before throwing the ball toward the goalkeeper.

Dave caught the ball with his feet and immediately began to joggle it with both feet.

"His joggles are so neat." The boy muttered after watching him for a little while.

He even did a few of the freestyle tricks he knew before kicking the ball up to joggle it with his head and after doing that for a while, he brought the ball down and sent it back to him.

"Was that convincing enough?"

"Even Ferran couldn't joggle the ball like that." The boy said with an amazed look on his face.

"Then I guess that's a yes," Dave said, moving closer to him.

"Yeah, but there's a problem."

"What's that?"

"The maximum age requirement for the tournament is twenty years." He said.

"Then I guess you're in luck today because I'm just twenty years old," Dave said.

"Really?" The boy said with a surprised expression on his face.

"Yeah, and don't worry about your cash prize because I don't need it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, now where's this tournament taking place?"

The boy didn't reply and just stared at the goalkeeper while wondering if he was dreaming.

'Good things like this don't usually happen to me in situations like this.'

***

New year mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.

Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.