Become A Football Legend

"Considering your sustained performance since we started the discussions, we decided to keep your salary at €1,000,000 for the first year as your agent initially suggested. We also increased the yearly increment to €300,000 per year. The appearance, goal, and assist bonuses are also quite good for a first professional contract."

"Hmm... That's nice," Lukas thought as he skimmed through the contract while listening to Hardung.

"The good-faith-negotiation fee, though, was set at €75M."

Javi flipped through another copy of the contract Hardung handed to him. They got to the page detailing the salaries and bonuses Hardung had just mentioned.

They were as follows:

€245,000 signing bonus.

€10,000 first team appearance bonus or €5,000 for squad inclusion without playing.

€7,500 per goal in the Bundesliga/DFB Pokal.

€12,000 per goal in a European competition.

€5,000 per assist in any competition.

€50,000 for 10+ goals in all competitions in a season.

€30,000 for 10+ assists.

€50,000 for 20+ appearances.

€100,000 if Frankfurt qualifies for the Champions League, and €50,000 for the Europa League.

€250,000 if Frankfurt wins the Bundesliga competition with him having 10+ goal contributions in that competition.

€350,000 for international competition with the same condition.

€75,000 for the DFB Pokal.

For his image rights, the club would pay €150,000 per year to have non-exclusive rights to use his image for club marketing only, while Lukas would retain his global image rights for third-party sponsorships — although he hadn't had any substantial sponsorship offers yet, Marco knew it was only a matter of time.

The other men in the room stayed quiet as Lukas and Javi looked through their copies of the contract.

The bonus and remuneration section took up several pages of the contract document, and Javi was impressed.

He looked by his side to Marco, who he knew had done a great job in the negotiations.

"Also, we have included a renegotiation clause. So if Lukas makes 20+ first team appearances in a season, the contract will immediately be opened for renegotiation. In addition, if he gets 20+ goal contributions in a season, it will trigger a mandatory salary and extension review."

"Hmm... That's not bad," Javi thought as he nodded his head to Hardung's words.

"We will take a copy home and go through it thoroughly, any questions or issues will be communicated through Marco here. If there are none, we will be ready to sign it in 10 days," Javi said as he closed the contract and put it in a briefcase he came with.

"That's good. We will be hoping to hear from you soon," Krösche responded as he stood up to greet the men who were about to leave.

The meeting was coming to an end.

Javi stopped abruptly before opening the door and turned around, "Also, if possible, please can the exact details of the contract be kept away from the media? At least for now."

"Yes of course. That works perfectly well for us too. The pressure might not always be the best thing, especially for someone who's still as young as Lukas."

"Thank you for understanding," Javi replied as he left the office with Lukas and Marco.

"Phew... That went well," Krösche said as he sat down on his sofa when Lukas's group was out of earshot.

"Were you that worried? I thought the contract is generous enough," Hardung asked sensing Krösche was concerned that Lukas or Javi might object to the fee structure.

Krösche was the one who asked for the increase of the base salary from the initial €900,000 agreed in the first negotiation meeting.

"I think this is a steal. I bet you, we're gonna be renegotiating this contract by the end of this season or by this time next season," Krösche replied.

"You really have that much belief in him?"

"I know a star player when I see one touch the ball, and I've been following his games with the reserve team. In the five games played since the start of the negotiations, he has five goals and made four assists — bringing his season total to 22 goals and 28 assists in 20 league games."

"Yeah, I know about that, but it's the reserve team. The Bundesliga is miles above the Regionalliga in every single metric."

"How many times have you heard or seen a 15-year-old do that?"

Hardung had nothing to say. He knew Krösche was right.

"I hope he turns out as good as you said. We might need him sooner than we thought."

"Yeah, it's about the interest from Manchester, right? Have they formally tried to reach out?"

"Not yet, but I heard they've been trying to poke around to see if Omar would be interested in the move."

"Even if they're currently going through a rough patch, they're still one of the best teams in world football, it'll be hard for him to turn them down. Have you talked to him?"

"Not yet, it's not yet official so I've just asked Topmöller to keep an eye on him."

"Alright. That's good."

"Should we let him leave?" Hardung asked as he looked at Krösche.

"Well, I'm not against it if they offer a good price. I also think it won't hurt to form a good relationship with the both Manchester City and the City Football Group behind them."

"Alright. I'll keep that in mind and inform you of any development in the situation."

Hardung packed up the documents he came with, and left the office.

* * *

12 days later. 30th December, 2024.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The guests in the apartment screamed as they popped the confetti.

It was a birthday celebration at Javi's apartment. They had gotten permission from the neighbours to throw Lukas a birthday party.

João was the DJ — pressing next on the Spotify playlist he created — while Anne prepped the meal with Javi.

Joanna had brought the cake — a velvet cake with a football boot carved out on top and the number '16' written with the laces.

She had placed an order for the cake the same day she agreed to go on a dinner date with Lukas — one they still hadn't been able to have for various reasons.

The snow was starting to paint the environment white, so most people came dressed thick clothing — huge coats, gloves, and snow boots. Several coats and furry jackets hung on the coat rack. The temperature in the room was a polar opposite of the one outside.

The living room had about 20 people who knew Lukas from several parts of his life — school, SV98 academy, Riederwald, and even a few players from the reserve team he had gotten really close with. There was no one from the first team, though. Earlier that morning, he had gotten a 'happy birthday' text from Larsson, but that was the only message he had gotten from a first team player.

"Congrats, Luke," Christian said as they shook hands and hugged each other.

"What's the U19 like, Chris?"

"It's mad! They can't stop asking about you in training, though. We basically watch all the games the reserve team plays. I have a feeling it's because of you, but the coach says it's not."

"Hahaha... You should hurry up to the reserve team."

"I'd love to, but I doubt I'll even meet you there, though. You'll be playing for the first team soon enough. We all know you now train with them 'cause we barely see you at Riederwald."

"I do hope coach Dino gives me playing time."

"He will be crazy not to."

Lukas finished greeting Christian and walked around to greet the other guests. He exchanged pleasantries with most conversations congratulating him for his reported contract with Eintracht Frankfurt.

A few — like coach Patrick of SV98 who dropped by briefly — lamented allowing Lukas to leave SV98 instead of recognizing his talents. But truth be told, it wasn't really his fault. Lukas was a horrible footballer just six months ago. His fate had been completely flipped by TT and he knew how lucky he was.

"Lukas! Watch this," João called out as he connected his phone to the TV and cast a video to the screen.

The video started with Larsson, in a full training kit, bent down on what was presumably the training ground, arranging the camera.

"Is it recording? Yeah okay good," he said as he rushed back to some people who were already positioned a few steps behind him.

Coach Topmöller, Hugo Ekitike, Kevin Trapp, and Knauff Ansgar were standing behind Larsson.

Larsson waved to the camera.

"Happy birthday, Luke. As you know, we've got training today, and although you were exempted, we were unfortunately not.

Happy birthday from the team, Luke."

Lukas was shocked as he watched the players each take a moment to wish him a happy birthday. He had trained with the first team only for a brief moment and never even played an official match with them. So for these stars to take the time off training to record a video message and send it to him was something he never expected.

Without even playing an official match, his performances on the training ground had already won the acknowledgment of his teammates.

A/N: Have a great day y'all. Peace

-Writ.