Rise of a Football God

After Sam's performance last season in the EFL Cup, dragging an unlikely Fulham all the way to win the EFL Cup at the expense of heavyweights like Chelsea and Liverpool, he got the status of a streets would never forget player in Fulham.

But after his performance against Manchester City on October 5th, his status was truly solidified in the city of Fulham, London.

After the Man City game, a big mural of Sam was made in the city, immortalizing the moment when Sam's rainbow flick took out Rico Lewis.

There were also banners of him all over the city as Fulham fans still basking in their victory despite the fact that it was a draw paraded their star player as the best player in the league.

All of these had a ripple effect in Sam's career.

The premier league was the most broadcasted of the top 5 European leagues in football, and games against elite teams of the premier league was one way for players to put themselves in the limelight.

The game against Manchester City was one such game.

Sam was no longer an unknown player in the premier league. He was well-known in London especially, but after his performance against Man City, his popularity exploded and with it came endorsement deals.

Sam already got his first endorsement deal some time ago during his holiday after his first season with Fulham, and this time, he got 3 endorsement deal offers.

As a professional football player already building his brand, Sam had to be wary of the companies he got associated with though to protect his image.

With this in mind and with Kayla handling the logistics, he rejected one of the company's offers, settling for the last 2 and they were not small contracts.

They were big contracts; the first being the biggest money deal that Sam has ever made in his career till date.

The first company was Lexus, the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation.

The contract with the Japanese automaker company earned Sam a whooping 12 million Euros. And all he had to do was be one of the faces of the company brand, mentioning it in all his social media platforms and the company's page.

His second deal was less lucrative but still, considering where Sam was coming from, it was a ridiculous sum of money.

The second contract was a marketing deal with Rolex SA, the leading luxury watch manufacturer in the world. Sam got 4 million Euros for his troubles, and a neat collection of 5 new Rolex luxury watches.

Sam was already a Lexus owner as his car was a gray Lexus IS 350, but the Lexus deal made him a proud owner of a brand-new luxury Lexus car.

Sam got a brand new white 2024 Lexus LX worth approximately $100,000. It was a full-size luxury SUV, and most definitely, it suited Sam's current status as a rising superstar of the English premier league.

Sam loved his new ride.

Apart from the 2 new endorsement deal contracts that Sam managed to secure with 2 big companies in the world, another thing that excited him after the Manchester City game was more personal than the contracts.

This was related to his football and career.

During the last 10 minutes of the game against Manchester City, Sam felt in a state of unnatural calm and tension, a contrasting mixture that resulted from his strong emotions and willpower to win.

That contrasting mixture of emotions pushed him into the zone state.

Sam was not unused to entering the zone state when he was extremely focused on winning in football, but that day's own, that one was different.

It was that feeling that enabled him to try things out that he had never tried on the professional stage before then.

Not only did he use a rainbow flick to obliterate Rico Lewis, the Man City youngster, but that trivela shot, Sam still did not know where it came from. Everything happened by instinct.

And since his system didn't give any notification concerning that, Sam thought it was just a fluke but the feeling lingered, the feeling that something about him changed fundamentally.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

In consequent training sessions with Emile Smith Rowe, the English footballer also told him that he noticed something different in his gameplay.

It took Sam a few days of training for that feeling to finally solidify and when it did, Sam felt like an entirely different player.

And his system finally lit up with notifications, confirming it.

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[Your efforts in training and professional games have borne fruit, you have broken a skill bottleneck!]

[You have unlocked basic mastery level of the football skill: Rainbow Flick!]

[You have unlocked basic mastery level of the football skill: Trivela Shot!]

[Your owned football skill, La Croqueta has automatically upgraded from the basic mastery level to the intermediate mastery level!]

…

[Congratulations! Your dribbling attribute has increased by +2]

[Congratulations! Your shooting attribute has increased by +1]

[Congratulations! Your overall player attribute has increased to 82!]

----

[Owned Football Skills:]

[Passive skill: Stalwart]

[Active skills:]

[Basic mastery level: Body feint; Power shot; step overs; roulette; knuckle shot; overhead kick; rainbow flick; trivela shot]

[Intermediate mastery level: Elastico, Cruyff turn; La croqueta]

[Advanced mastery level: Spatial awareness]

…

[Legendary Inheritance: Spatial Awareness]

[Legendary Inheritance: Elastico]

…

Player Attributes:

*Pace: 81

*Shot: 80

*Pass: 80

*Dribbling: 78

*Defending: 38

*Physicality: 76

*Stamina: 84

Overall Rating: 82

~----~

After a long time of remaining stuck at an overall rating of 81, Sam finally took another big step, jumping to an overall rating of 82 and the Manchester City game was the big catalyst that pushed him towards this step.

Looking at his new skillset, Sam could not help but grin and when he thought back to the Manchester City game, his smile widened in excitement.

"It was a nice game". He mumbled, smiling. "By the course of the season, if I can play a few more games like this to push my limits, my skillset and level will surely improve even more".

"It will prepare me for the big stage next season, the champions league".

He rubbed his palms in anticipation. "I can't wait".

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