Become A Football Legend
Chapter 41: Best Interest

Chapter 41: Best Interest

"Okay then, I will contact his agent and we can open contract negotiations," Hardung replied as he stood up, the conversation was coming to an end.

The men shook hands before leaving the CEO’s office.

Unbeknownst to them, they had just made a key decision which would earn the club a ridiculous amount of money in the near future.

* * *

Later that day.

RING RING

At the Rising Talent Agency, Marco’s phone rang; a call from an unknown number.

He stared at the number for a second before answering the phone call.

"Hello, is this Marco Kasten?" A voice asked from the other end of the phone.

"Hello, yes. This is he. Who am I speaking to, please?"

"My name is Marx, and I overheard something you might be interested in."

"Marx? Do I know you? How did you get my number? What is it you heard?"

"You are the player agent for Lukas Brandt right?"

"You haven’t answered my questions yet."

"I cannot reveal too much, but a club in Dortmund is interested in him."

"Dortmund, huh? You should contact Eintracht first if you want to talk to my client. He is under contract with them."

"They already did that, Eintracht rejected them."

"They? You’re speaking like the club is a separate entity from you."

"Of course it is. I don’t work for the club — contacting you would be illegal if I did. I’m just a third party scout who was asked to relay their interest. You can always contact them if you’re interested in moving."

"I see. We still have contractual obligations to Eintracht Frankfurt, though. But thank you for relaying the message Mr. Third Party Scout."

"Hahaha. Anytime. Just contact me if you’re interested in setting up a meeting. They really are serious in bringing in Lukas. It will be a big step up."

"Okay. Bye."

Marco hung up the phone before the other party could say anything else.

"Borussia Dortmund wants Lukas?" He thought deeply.

There was no particular mention of Borussia Dortmund, but it was obvious because they were the only popular professional football club located in Dortmund.

"Would moving to Dortmund be a better move for his career?" Marco’s first concern was Lukas’s career development. He wouldn’t facilitate a move if it wasn’t in the best interest of his client.

And objectively, Dortmund had a better track record of developing world class players from the youth level.

They had players like Marco Reus, Christian Pulisic, Jadon Sancho, and Mario Götze come through their youth system.

They also had superstars like Lewandowski, Haaland, Aubameyang, Bellingham, and Dembele who didn’t come through their youth system, but exploded into superstars after arriving at the club.

With their track record — which has proven that they are willing to give first team chances to young players who are good enough — it was clear that a move there, at the least, wouldn’t be detrimental to Lukas’s career.

RING RING

Another call brought Marco back to reality. He answered immediately he saw the caller ID.

"Hello, Mr. Hardung, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Hello, Mr. Kasten, please can we meet somewhere soon? The club has an important proposal to talk to you about."

"Who is it about?"

"Lukas Brandt. We would like to discuss the details of his first professional contract."

"Lukas? A professional contract? This wouldn’t have anything to do with Dortmund, would it?"

"They contacted you even after our rejection? That’s not legal."

"No, apparently they just used an unaffiliated third party to inform me of their interest."

"You’re not honestly thinking about taking Lukas to Dortmund, are you?"

"I haven’t spoken to him nor his father, yet. I just got the call a few minutes ago. But of course it’s Dortmund, you know how good they are at developing talents. So it’s not completely off the table."

"Come on Marco, this is his club. This is your club. Our club."

"And I love the club. But I have to put my client’s career first."

"Think about the distance. Dortmund is more than 2 hours away from Darmstadt. Will his family allow him to move there on his own? Will they uproot their lives to move there with him? What about his friends in Darmstadt, in Frankfurt? He’s still young, there’s no need to burden him with things like these."

Marco could sense the intent behind Hardung’s speech, but he let him continue, mainly because he had a point.

To Marco, no matter how talented Lukas was, he was still 15. That’s a young age to tell a kid to move to a completely new city. Javi might not even agree to it.

And even though Eintracht was no Dortmund, its youth system was no joke either.

If Lukas continued developing in Frankfurt, there would be nothing stopping him from moving to any city or country he wants when he gets older in a few more years.

But the decision would ultimately be made by Lukas and Javi, and he had to let his client know about all the options on the table before giving a definite answer to Hardung.

"I will talk to Lukas and his father, and we will get back to you."

"Please Marco, explain to them how we are the better option, all things considered."

"I will get back to you as soon as I can."

He hung up the phone for the second time.

"Lukas... They’re already scrambling for your signature before you played a minute of first team football."

He stood up from his seat, took his jacket laying on his desk, and headed for the door.

"I wonder what it’ll be like after you make your first team debut." He thought as he left for a meeting.

* * *

Tuesday, November 5th, 2024.

"Bro! Have you seen this? Look at the highlights."

At the school cafeteria, João joined Lukas’s table with his lunch as he showed Lukas a TikTok compilation of his highlights that season.

The quality of the videos wasn’t superb, but anyone could see Lukas working his magic.

It was captioned ’#36 Lukas Brandt! Boy against men,’ and showed his numerous goals and assists.

Lukas watched the edit quietly, and by the time it was done, he had a slight grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Ahem.. I didn’t know I looked like that on the pitch."

"C’mon man, you’re lying. You’re definitely clip farming. 17 goals and 24 assists in 15 games? There’s already speculation that you might feature in the first team soon."

"I don’t even have a professional contract yet. And I haven’t heard any news about even training with them."

"Well I’m sure you will soon. Cause you’ll be turning 16 in about 2 months and several clubs will definitely be lurking to see if they have a chance. Frankfurt would be stupid to not offer you a good deal."

"I don’t know about all that, man. What I know is I just need to keep playing well. What will happen, will happen."

"That’s a great mindset."

"How about you? How’s it going with Darmstadt U19?"

"It’s going alright. I’m getting minutes at the U19 Bundesliga, and I can feel myself getting better with every game."

"That’s the spirit man. Just keep pushing."

DING

Lukas got a text message while in the middle of the conversation.

Dad: "Luke, Marco just called me. He asked to meet us after your training today, there are a few things he wants to discuss with us. I’ll pick you up after your class."

Lukas: "Alright, dad. I’ll wait for you."

"Who was that?" João asked, as he poked his head from the opposite side of the table to look at Lukas’s phone.

"It’s my dad. He says Marco wanted to meet up and talk in Frankfurt after today’s session."

"Hmmm.. what do you think it’s about? A professional contract? Maybe interest from another club? Or maybe even both?"

"Haha.. let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ll let you know if you’re right."

"I bet I’m right, though. By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s going on between you and her?" João used his eyes to point towards Joanna who had just stepped into the cafeteria, taken her lunch, and headed to a separate table where a few of her classmates were sitting.

"What do you mean? Wasn’t she also at the game on Friday? There’s nothing going on. She’s in her final year of high school so I’m sure she’s quite busy."

"It’s just weird man. I tried to get her to come with me too see you after that match, but she insisted on going back immediately."

"What’s weird about that? She might have been hurrying to catch the train or something."

"No way! Your dad offered to take us back to Darmstadt, but she insisted she had to take the train. I was worried about her, so I took the train with her. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s like she’s been avoiding you for a while now."

"Is this because of what happened the other day?" He thought as he walked out of the cafeteria.

A/N: So Liverpool just agreed to pay €95M for Hugo Ekitike after one good season at Frankfurt. Don’t come at me in the comments saying "this is unrealistic" after I sell our boy for €140+M in a few seasons. The current player transfer market is a joke