The Football Agent System

Last flag. The loan clause." Garcia didn’t dress it up. "As it stands you can ship him anywhere, any time, no consultation. So I’ll ask you straight. Do you intend to sign him in January and loan him out before you’ve even looked at him properly?"

"No," Peter said. "That’s not the plan. We want him inside the first-team environment. But I won’t pretend we don’t want the normal squad flexibility any club keeps."

"I’m not asking you to promise you’ll never loan him," Garcia said. "I’m protecting the first six months. After that, you consult, and it’s transparent."

"We can live with that."

7. TEMPORARY TRANSFER

7.1 The Player shall not be temporarily transferred before 1 July 2076 without his prior written consent.

7.2 After 1 July 2076, the Club shall consult the Player and his representative before concluding any temporary transfer.

7.3 Any temporary transfer shall require a separate written agreement identifying:

(a) the temporary club; (b) the duration; (c) salary responsibility; (d) accommodation and travel arrangements; and (e) the Player’s recall conditions.

"Then the money," Garcia said, "and I won’t take ’competitive salary’ or ’standard bonuses.’ Put figures on the page. Every line."

Peter slid a schedule across the shared screen.

SCHEDULE 1 — PLAYER REMUNERATION

Fixed Salary

The Club shall pay the Player a gross fixed monthly salary of €14,000, payable on the final working day of each month from the Commencement Date.

Appearance Bonus

The Player shall receive €1,500 for each official first-team appearance of at least forty-five minutes.

Substitute Appearance Bonus

The Player shall receive €750 for each official first-team appearance of fewer than forty-five minutes.

Performance Bonuses

Goal: €2,000 Assist: €1,000 Clean-sheet contribution where applicable: Not applicable Team league-position bonuses: As listed in Appendix A

Relocation Support

The Club shall provide:

(a) temporary furnished accommodation for the Player’s first three months; (b) one relocation journey from England; (c) reasonable baggage transport; (d) assistance with local registration and banking; and (e) one return journey to England during the first three months.

Medical Travel

The Club shall pay the reasonable travel, accommodation and local-transport costs connected to the pre-contract medical.

Garcia read the fixed figure twice, and thought about a family that had bled three thousand pounds into a bedroom agency and never once asked for it back.

Fourteen thousand a month was not superstar money. To the Coles it was another planet.

"Does the option season carry the bonuses and the accommodation forward?" he asked.

"Bonuses, yes," Peter said. "The accommodation, no. That’s relocation support to help him land, not permanent housing he keeps for life."

"And between October and January. What does he actually do?"

"Goes home after the medical and the signing. Follows a conditioning programme our performance department sends him remotely. Reports in January." Peter spread his hands. "No regular duties, no permanent training in the Netherlands before commencement and work authorisation allow it."

"Write that down too."

8. PRE-COMMENCEMENT PERIOD

8.1 Following execution of this Agreement and before the Commencement Date, the Player shall remain responsible for maintaining reasonable professional fitness.

8.2 The Club may provide a remote conditioning programme and monitoring support.

8.3 The Player shall not be required to perform regular employment duties before the Commencement Date.

8.4 Any voluntary visit to the Club before the Commencement Date must comply with the applicable immigration and work-authorisation requirements.

"The medical," Garcia said. "When?"

"Inside forty-eight hours. We want it now, not January." Peter didn’t dress that up either. "No sense pouring months into immigration for a player before we know the one condition everything hangs on is actually met."

"That’s fair," Garcia said, and meant it.

He sent the amended draft to Jay and told him to go back through it with the Manchester solicitor before agreeing to a thing.

Jay’s questions came over two calls, and Garcia answered every one without dressing it up.

"If I go for the medical," Jay said, "have I already told Egersund no?"

"In effect, yes. You fly to a medical after accepting these terms, you’ve chosen this road. You can’t keep telling Egersund you’re undecided while you do it. It wouldn’t be honest and it wouldn’t hold."

"Can Go Ahead still walk if the medical finds something?"

"Yes. A real problem lets them withdraw or renegotiate. That’s the risk you’re carrying to Deventer."

"When do I get paid?"

"Salary starts on the commencement date. First of January. Not at the October signing."

"Where do I train in the gap?"

"Home. On their programme. Nothing permanent in the Netherlands before you’re allowed to be there properly."

"Can they dump me in the reserves?"

"The new status clause puts you in the first-team squad. Reserve work only where it makes sense for your fitness or minutes. Not a place they can bury you."

"And if they try to loan me straight away?"

"For six months, you can refuse outright. After that they have to consult you, in writing, with every detail spelled out."

"What if the work permission drags?"

"If the delay isn’t your fault, your salary’s protected from the commencement date. That’s the line I fought for."

Jay was quiet, then asked the one that mattered most.

"And Egersund. If the Dutch thing falls apart — do they keep their offer open for me?"

"Almost certainly not," Garcia said. "You pull out to sign elsewhere, that door shuts behind you. If Friday goes wrong, you could catch nothing at all. I won’t pretend otherwise."

That last answer was the one Jay sat with longest.

He checked it with his parents that night, and Garcia was on speaker for part of it, because Jay had asked him to be.

"Talk me through it plain," Jay’s father said. "No football words. What are we actually choosing between."

"A safe offer and a bigger one," Garcia said. "Egersund is real, in hand, and it’s a good club for him to play regularly. Go Ahead is a level above that, a proper level, and it’s still tied to a medical he hasn’t taken."

"And if the medical goes bad?"

"Then he’s walked away from Norway and landed nothing. I won’t hide that from any of you."

There was a silence on the line. Jay’s mother’s voice came through it, tired but clear.

"When would he leave?"

"January," Jay said quietly. "I’d be home till then."

"Your treatment," Jay started, and stopped.

"Don’t," his mother said. "Don’t you dare pick the small one for me. I’ll manage. You’ve been rotting here for months. I’ve watched it."

Nobody in that house pretended it was easy. They just made it.

Jay didn’t send Garcia a speech about destiny. He sent back the signed authority page and the passport details Go Ahead needed to book his travel, and that was the whole of his answer.

Garcia accepted Go Ahead’s amended principal terms in writing on Jay’s authority. The system answered before he’d closed the email.

[URGENT SIDE MISSION GENERATED]

Mission: Close the Norway Route Cleanly

Objective: Withdraw Jay Cole from Egersunds IK’s evaluation after accepting Go Ahead Eagles’ written contract pathway.

Requirements: — Inform Egersunds IK before Jay leaves Norway. — Disclose that written terms and a medical have been arranged. — Do not claim that the Go Ahead contract is already completed. — Return all temporary kit, access cards and club property. — Confirm the end of accommodation and transport arrangements. — Obtain a final expense statement. — Do not allow Jay to sign conflicting employment terms.

Reward: — Skill Points +300 — Client Management SP +100 — Negotiation SP +100

Unavoidable Consequence: — Reputation -10 — Egersunds IK Relationship: Damaged — Norwegian Network Access: Reduced

Failure Penalty: — G11 accused of acting in bad faith. — Go Ahead medical pathway placed at risk. — Jay Cole’s trust decreases.

Garcia called Kjetil himself, before anyone at the club heard it secondhand. He owed them that, and he wanted his own voice on it.

"I’ll get to it, no wasting your time," Garcia said. "Go Ahead Eagles have put written terms in front of Jay. He’s accepted them, subject to a medical. The medical’s arranged."

The line was quiet for a second.

"Go Ahead," Kjetil said. "The Dutch club."

"Their scout was at your controlled match. He’d come to watch your striker. He saw Jay and filed a separate report." Garcia kept it complete. "That’s how it started. I’m not going to pretend it started anywhere else."

"When did the enquiry come in?" Kjetil’s voice cooled, but it stayed level. "How much of this happened before you told us anything?"

"Initial enquiry came in during his third week. I verified it before I said a word to anyone. Then a written assessment. Then a proposal. Jay signed with G11 only after that arrived. Then the clause negotiation. The medical, this week." Garcia gave him all of it, in order. "That’s the timeline. Nothing hidden in it."