Harbinger Of Glory

.....

Noah called at 8:14 in the morning, earlier than Leo would have liked on the day after a game.

He answered it anyway and lay there with the phone against his ear, eyes still mostly closed.

"There is my player of the month," Noah said.

"Congratulations!"

Leo lay still for a moment and then nodded!

"When was it announced?" he asked, with Noah replying that it was just at seven and that it had been for the month of October!

"That’s nice to hear," Leo said after Noah finished!

"That’s it?" Noah came in from the other end.

"That’s the reaction?"

"What do you want me to do?" Leo said, shifting slightly against his pillow.

"I don’t know, something. You’ve just won the Premier League player of the month award."

Leo shifted slightly on the pillow.

"The excitement for that one died a while ago," he said.

"I felt like I should have won it in the first month or two when I was actually playing well consistently. October, I wasn’t at my best after the international break for some stretch, and the malaria also didn’t help!"

"It’s a nice award though, but I’m just saying."

"Fair," Noah said. "But for what it’s worth, this award isn’t just about goals and assists. Your influence on how Wigan play doesn’t disappear when you’re not scoring. The people voting for this see that."

"I know," Leo said. "And I’m grateful for it. I am."

"Good," Noah said. "Now. In terms of receiving it, they’ll probably send it to the Wigan complex sometime today or tomorrow."

Leo was quiet for a second and then laughed, quietly to himself.

"What?" Noah said.

"I was just thinking," Leo said, "Imagine if they decided to give it to me at Old Trafford. On the day of the game."

A beat of silence followed on the other side before Noah broke into a fit of laughter!

"The United fans would genuinely lose their minds," he said.

"Completely," Leo said.

They stayed with the image for another moment before Noah finally pulled the conversation back.

"Get some rest," he said. "And go in for recovery when you’re ready. Next week matters."

"I know."

"Okay. We’ll talk later."

The call ended as Leo placed his phone on the nightstand and stared at the ceiling.

For a few seconds, he considered getting up.

He could shower again, make something to eat, maybe sit in the living room and put something on.

He looked toward the bedroom door, and beyond it was the living room, the kitchen, and everything else that came with being awake.

He looked back at the ceiling as none of it sounded particularly appealing.

Eventually, the bed won as Leo rolled onto his side, pulled the duvet over himself and closed his eyes.

For now, he just needed to sleep.

...

Just as Noah had said, the player of the month trophy arrived the following day at the Wigan complex.

It came in a box that one of the administrative staff brought into the training complex common room while the players were finishing up their lunch.

The woman who carried it in set it on the table near the window with the careful hands of someone delivering something that mattered.

"Congratulations, Leo," she said, receiving an appreciative nod from Leo before she left without much fuss!

Jake found it first.

He looked at the box, looked at the label on the side, looked at Leo sitting across the room, and then looked back at the box.

"Is this what I think it is?"

Leo didn’t look up from his phone.

"Open it if you want," Leo said, and Jake didn’t need a second invitation.

The box came apart, revealing the trophy that Jake held up with both hands like he’d won it himself, turning it slowly towards Leo in the process!

"Premier League Player of the Month," Jake announced, reading the words with exaggerated reverence.

Reyes appeared in the doorway and stopped.

"Who won it?"

"Bro, keep up with the times," Jake said, not bothering to answer as Reyes looked at Leo, then at the trophy, then back at Leo.

"For October?"

Jake confirmed as Reyes nodded slowly.

"The same October where he was playing like he lost a leg half the time!"

"The very same."

Leo lowered his phone and then glanced at the two.

"I’m sitting right here."

"We know," Reyes said, walking in. "That’s why we’re saying it to your face."

Carlo followed after Rice into the room, took one look at the trophy in Jake’s hands and smiled.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you," Leo said. "At least one person in this building has manners."

"I have manners," Jake said as he carefully looked over the trophy.

"I just think October was generous."

Leo laughed.

"Well, I said the same thing."

That took some of the fun out of Jake’s argument.

"I wasn’t at my best," Leo continued, "but I think I should have won it at least once the month before!"

Jake glanced at Reyes before glancing back at Leo, the fun draining out of the moment as whatever argument he had been preparing seemed to disappear between them.

Carlo shook his head and reached for the trophy.

"Give it here before Jake drops it."

"I wasn’t going to drop this pretender of a water bottle award!"

"Yeah, yeah, give it here!" Leo laughed as Carlo took it from him.

Before the talk could go on further, the door to the room opened, revealing the form of Dawson.

He looked at the award before looking at Leo, the two exchanging a slight nod before he addressed them all.

"You do know that we have a recovery session, right?" he said as Reyes went right past him, evacuating himself from the situation!

Carlo smiled and set the trophy down before also bolting away, leaving Jake and Leo!

"Just go," Dawson said when Jake looked like he had some words to say right as Leo also got to his feet, putting the award back in its case.

"Here’s to many more," he heard Dawson say a second later as the coach went right back, before Leo followed suit a second later!

...

The day’s session went on with the players slowly being run through a lot of Nolan’s methods, which sought to help them avoid any complications while bringing their bodies to the best conditions they could be.

As always, it wasn’t pretty, but the players knew it worked, so neither complained about the ice baths nor the cold plunges!

Leo, after his session, didn’t join his mates at the cafeteria, opting for a bench right outside the training complex where he sat with his phone right in front of him and on the screen was Vittoria!

"How was training?" she said, looking at Leo’s drained face from the camera!

"As you can see," Leo responded with a tired smile!

Vittoria reciprocated the smile before she leaned closer towards the camera!

"So I’m almost done with most of what I had here," she said.

"And I was thinking I could come see you."

Leo looked at her and then smiled at the suggestion!

"I’d be glad if you graced me with your presence!"

Vittoria laughed.

"Don’t push it."

She went quiet for a second and then said, "Oh, so I was reading something online earlier. About you and Manchester United. Is it really like that?"

Leo chuckled.

"They’re making it sound like a soap opera or some fanfiction out there!"

"So it’s true though," she said, arriving at her own conclusion!

"Most of it," Leo replied, "though I still think a lot has been exaggerated for effect! They make it sound like they killed my parents or something!"

"Then that won’t do," she said. "I’m coming to the game."

"It’s four days away," Leo said.

"Don’t rush it and come when you’re ready."

"I’ll be there," she said. "And Leo."

"Yeah."

"Play that match like your life is on the line," Vittoria said, pausing slightly before she seemed to correct herself.

"Actually no," she said. "Like my life is on the line."

Leo laughed.

"That’s a bit grim, Tori."

"Then play very well," she said, and he could hear the smile in it.

"I’ll do my best."

"Good. I have to go, so see you later, okay!"

"Go," he said.

She kissed goodbye through the phone, and the call ended, and Leo sat there for another moment with the evening settling around him before he got to his feet and made his way inside!

....

....

Away from Wigan, Erik ten Hag had not slept particularly well on Tuesday night, though that was not unusual for a manager in the middle of a difficult season.

He sat in his office at Carrington on Wednesday morning with a coffee going cold beside him and the Wigan footage playing on the screen in front of him, the same footage he had watched three times already since Monday.

He had managed against good teams.

He had managed against great teams, and he understood pressing systems and how to build against them.

What he was watching on the screen didn’t look like a pressing system.

It looked like eleven players who simply understood the game better than the people they were playing against, and at the centre of all of it was a player his club had released on a free transfer some 20 months ago!

He picked up his coffee, found it cold, and set it back down.

"Right," he said, to nobody, and reached for the remote.