Football Genius Midfielder System

When you open your hotel room door and find an entire Liverpool delegation standing there in suits, starting with Mike, followed by Liverpool's chief contract negotiator, chief scout, vice chairman, the chairman's assistant, and head of the youth academy, what would your first reaction be?

All of Liverpool's most important staff members were lined up outside the door, waiting to see him.

"What's going on?"

"Why are all of you standing out here?"

Leo was confused at first. Then a thought occurred to him.

Could Liverpool be planning to terminate his contract?

But after thinking about it, that seemed unlikely. Liverpool were paying him such an enormous salary that terminating his contract early would cost them a fortune.

The Liverpool chairman probably wouldn't be willing to spend that much money just to make him leave. Besides, Leo hadn't done anything wrong!

His statue was still being built, too.

So why had so many people suddenly shown up at the hotel where he was staying during the UEFA European Championship?

What exactly did they want?

Mike entered Leo's room and immediately started looking around for anything edible.

They had come in such a hurry that Mike had spent the entire flight discussing what they were about to do with the rest of Liverpool's staff, and he had completely forgotten to eat.

The moment he saw Leo, his mood lifted. Only then did he remember that he hadn't eaten anything, and his stomach was practically roaring.

"There are a few biscuits in my nightstand. Save one for me. I eat those at night when I'm watching TV!"

Leo invited Liverpool's senior management and staff into the room.

Before long, despite having the privilege of staying in a room by himself, Leo found the place completely packed with Liverpool representatives.

After eating a few biscuits, Mike finally looked revived.

Then he handed Leo a contract with all the important fields completely blank.

"It's been a long time since the last contract we offered you. Thank you for everything you've done to help Liverpool grow over the past four years. Truly, thank you."

Normally, when Mike said something like that, it meant a player was about to leave.

Wijnaldum and Solanke had both heard similar words from him before.

But the words that followed for players like Solanke, who had already left Liverpool, would never be spoken to Leo.

Mike would never say those things to him.

"These are the standard clauses we use when drawing up a player's contract. Weekly salary, bonuses, every possible incentive we could think of. We've broken all of them down in detail."

"There's also your signing bonus, the agent fee you want Barnett to receive, and even the conditions under which you want to terminate the contract. Every clause is laid out clearly."

Then Mike handed Leo a fountain pen.

He even thoughtfully removed the cap, turned the nib toward himself, and placed the pen into the most comfortable position between Leo's thumb and index finger.

Mike was always meticulous about details like that.

"From this point on, every clause and every blank is yours to fill in."

"Your weekly salary, every other payment, when you want the right to terminate the contract yourself, which year you want us to offer you another new contract, when you want your weekly salary doubled again, when you want it increased further. You decide everything."

Hearing that, Leo wondered if he was still asleep.

Pen in hand, he walked out of the room, closed the door behind him, then opened it again just to make sure everyone inside was actually real.

"Leo, come on. Fill in every detail however you want. I promise you, we won't regret it."

Leo finally understood why Liverpool had sent such a huge delegation to see him.

This contract could very well become the most important one he would ever sign, not just at Liverpool, but perhaps in all of football.

"If you're really sure about this, then I'm starting."

Everyone around him nodded.

Leo finally put pen to paper.

The first blank was his weekly salary.

His current wage was already the highest in the Premier League at £450,000 per week. Even now, nobody had surpassed him.

But since Liverpool were offering him a new contract, they obviously expected him to write down a higher number. Otherwise, why renew at all?

Thinking about the highest salaries in world football, Leo began writing.

£600,000.

The moment Mike saw the figure, he took the eraser from the pen in his own hand, erased the £600,000 Leo had written, then looked at him with a smile.

Too much?

That was Leo's first thought.

So he tried again.

£500,000.

Only £50,000 more than his current £450,000. That couldn't be unreasonable, right?

Laughter immediately broke out around the room.

Mike erased that figure too.

Now Leo understood.

He hadn't written too much.

He had written too little.

Apparently, even £600,000 a week was lower than Mike had expected.

So Leo moved to the contract length and wrote down "indefinite."

Then, in the final clauses, he added that either he or Liverpool could terminate the contract at any time.

Mike immediately erased "Liverpool" and gestured for Leo to leave only himself in the clause.

Leo returned to the weekly salary.

This time, he decided to write down something outrageous and scare everyone in the room.

They had laughed at him for writing £500,000, after all.

So he wrote a huge figure across the contract.

£700,000.

Once he finished, Leo grinned.

Surely that would shock them.

But when he looked around with an amused expression, not a single person seemed to think he was joking.

The seriousness on Mike's face actually made Leo a little nervous.

"£700,000?"

"A week?"

"Mike, did you actually look at what I wrote?"

Mike merely gestured for him to continue.

"There are still plenty of blanks for you to fill in. We don't want to take up too much of your rest time because we know you need to be fully prepared for the UEFA European Championship final."

"But if you'd rather spend more time with us, we'll stay right here until you finish the entire contract."

"And by the way, £700,000 is actually still a little lower than I expected."

"If you want, you can change it again."

"We're willing to spend every penny Liverpool has on you!"

"So don't hold back!"

"Be bold!"

...

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