Chapter 3

The first training session lulled Akin into a false sense of assurance, the training was hardly intense just some exercises and a game.

But Arsene Wenger was not known for being lax in training his players, his entire career at Arsenal he has reputedly trained his young players hard to squeeze out every ounce of their potential.

This 2005/06 season is destined to be even more extreme than all others.

After returning to the locker room before he could enter he was stopped by a voice, "Adekele, come here lad."

As he turned he saw the familiar figure of Pat Rice, Arsene's Assistant who is a well-known veteran of the team, this man predates the Wenger era and is very well respected.

Akin walked up with some concern at being singled out, "Yes sir, how can I help?"

This caused the Irish man to throw his head back, his body shaking with his roaring laughter.

Shortly after calming down, he looked at Akin with a grin, "Gods lad how are you going to survive in this league if you are this meek? And just call me Pat I won't bite ya."

With a sigh Akin relaxed and grinned easily, "Sorry. Pat then, What do you need?"

Pat nodded at him, "head to the gym, the team has arranged a fitness trainer for you, you need to begin strength training and balance training."

Akin was confused, "I thought the training was finished everyone seems to be going already?"

Now Pat was no longer showing the face of a friendly old man but a stern veteran as he looked at him, "Look lad I will be honest I don't know why Wenger brought you, but you are now here playing with men, not the boys you used to play with, the premier league is not a place for boys, so now what we need to do is Man you up."

Akin frowned as he thought back to the match and getting bullied by Reyes, the game had shown him his limitations as he was unable to hold the ball for long after being pushed around.

In fact, Reyes was not serious, Akin knows that in his heart but if he was to play in the Premier League as he is now then it would be like leading a pig into a butcher's shop.

So he could only nod and accept his fate, "So where is the gym?"

Pat gave him a nod face growing lighter, "Good lad, follow me I will lead you there."

Akin found him being introduced to a muscular British/Caribbean man, Philip Cavill, a 37 years old retired boxer who joined as a fitness coach two years ago, the man seemed to have a face that never smiled.

The Irish man gave the man a pat on the back introducing him, "From now on after every training session you will come here to Henry and go through weight exercises and cooling down exercises."

Philip' nodded at him, "Nice to meet you mate, just call me Phil."

Akin returned his greeting before speaking, "So where do we start?"

Phil looked at Pat who grinned, "Leave you lot to it then, off to see the boss."

Soon Akin found himself going through a series of tests, measuring his weight, height, body fat, flexibility, strength, vertical jump, speed, stamina and balance.

Phil looked at the result with a sense of incredulity, "These results are insane, who have you been training with before?"

Akin looked at him as he rehydrated feeling a wave of fatigue, "Is it good?"

Phil looked at him with a strange expression, "These results are almost unheard you scored in the top performance in each category, and with your body's growth, you could potentially excel in any sport. Have you ever done weight training?"

Akin shook his head, "No I heard that doing so will cause damage if I did it before I turned 16 so I planned to start this year."

Phil nodded, "That is smart and very good but that just makes these result more terrifying, these are much better than any 16-year-old should be able to produce naturally. You did just come from the Youth academy, right?"

Akin could only shrug, "Yeah but to be honest I never really felt challenged in the youth league."

This caused the trainer to laugh, "I would imagine so, but this is really good, alright that should be all for tonight you go wash up and have dinner."

The young man shrugged and left with a wave and entered the locker room.

His locker was a temporary one in the corner of the room, as he exited and was met by Pat.

That older man gave him a measuring look, "Ai there you are lad, hear you gave Phil quite a shock"

Akin grinned a dimple showing then shrugged, "I tend to do that a lot."

Pat gave a short bark of laughter, "That so? I'll take your word for it, anyway, have you eaten?"

Akin shook his head, "Just about to head home now."

Nodding Pat placed a hand on his shoulder, "Alright off you go Lad?"

Akin smiled, " See ya Pat."

He left without looking back unaware of the long look of consideration on Pat's face as he watched the younger man retreat.

Akin left the training centre and climbed in the back of a black Mercedes C Class Avantgarde SE 2005 with Tinted glasses.

There have been a few changes in the past few years, one of the biggest was his manager, Jerome Anderson is now one of the most sort after agents in London, he is now the manager of many biggest names in Arsenal.

However because of this new prosperity, he was unable to focus on Akin anymore, so now the young prodigy he valued is being taken care of by his assistant a 26-year-old Egyptian man, Omar Sahleed, the two got along well after a slight hitch.

Now the man is acting as his driver and assistant, he wore a suit the coat flung on the passenger seat and turned back to him, "how was your first training king, get any signatures?"

Akin rolled his eyes as he leaned back on the seat, "I wish. There was no time today, the teams busy preparing for the new season."

Omar smiled, "You have plenty of time."

The two exited the car park, and suddenly stopped, Akin looked out the window seeing cameras snapping at people trying to peer into the car.

They were blocked by drunk fans and media reporters, Omar sighed, "What a fucking mess."

The car horn blew twice, and security began clearing the way.

Akin watched the scene in a daze, he could hear the fans screaming at the car, "COME ON ARSENAL!!!"

The cheers made him sigh and smile, while Omar laughed shaking his head.

As the two drove to the new home of the Adeleke's, a big house in Hampstead another change which occurred in Akin's life was convincing his mother to make smart investments using the money from his time in the Youth Academy.

Alicia has also become an MD and has opened a GP with Kat.

Between her GP and the stock investments, Alicia has been living comfortably much to Akin's relief.

This is the reason Omar gave him the nickname King, in his eyes, the Adeleke family live a very wealthy life.

They have a six-bedroom, five-bathroom detached house in Elms walk, Hampstead.

Entering the driveway Omar got out quickly and opened the door for Akin, who did not move at all much to the older man's amusement, "We have arrived sir."

The younger man sighed and exited with his gym bag, "You know your gonna have to stop that I am getting used to people opening the door for me now."

Omar Laughed and smiled, "Yeah I noticed."

Looking sideways at the man he rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time and walked to the door fishing his keys out of the bag.

The door opened and he could hear laughter, he smiled dimpled cheeks on full display as he entered the kitchen he heard Omar entering behind him and closing the door.

Akin smiled at his mum Alicia dressed fashionably and looking young chatting with her best friend the attractive redhead psychiatrist now co-owner of her GP in Chelsea.

Both noticed him and Alicia smiled as she walked over, "Ohh my baby how was practice."

Akin returned the hug, "It was great Ma, I think I made a good first Impression. Hi Aunt Kat."

Kat laughed and spread her arms, "What no hug for me?"

Akin snorted before raising a hand, "How about settling for a high five."

Alicia laughed at the back and forth while Kat pouted, "What happened to the cute boy who called me his Angel."

This caused him to flush as he retorted, "One time, I slipped one time, when are you gonna let that go?"

Kat grinned her eyes twinkling with familiar mischief as she teased him, "Never! It will be written on my grave."

Omar stepped into the kitchen, "I am always happy to defer that hug in his stead Kat."

Kat lost her mischievous twinkle transforming her temperament from an attractive fairy to a frosty ice queen as she rolled her eyes retorting coldly, "I am sure you would Omar."

Akin looked at him with a mix of disgust and amusement watching the familiar scene play out.

Omar watched her sweep past him before turning to him, "Ok what is up with that why does Kat hate me?"

Akin grinned wryly, "She has a superpower she developed through her psychology training, I call it her bull shit detector."

Omar was insulted, "What do you mean? I am a good guy?"

Alicia laughed but nodded, "Yes Omar you are a good guy, A greasy guy, but A good guy nonetheless."

Akin laughed while Omar fell into a pout before turning a curious look, "Come to think of it I have never thought about it before that I flirt with Kat?"

Akin looked incredulously at him before laughing, "You're asking that now, this has been going on for over a year, but no Omar if I felt you were disrespectful or had any chance with her what so ever I would have shattered your jaw over a year ago, count yourself lucky you are just a harmless guy with no game.

Omar felt mildly insulted as he spluttered, "What? I have game!"

The mother-son duo both laughed hilariously at this as he continued to protest, "I DO! I HAVE GAME!"

Kat looked at him with disgust before turning to Alicia, "Should we get going now If we don't want to be late."

Alicia smiled and nodded catching Akin's attention, he looked at them, "You guys have plans?"

Alicia hugged him to her side, "We are going to the movies we have been so busy setting up the GP this year now we are finally up and running with everything going smoothly we can finally relax and there is a movie we never got to see we really wanted too."

Omar looked curious, "What movie?"

Alicia smiled happily, "Mr and Mrs Smith, it just came out last month but everyone has been talking about it, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are both in it."

Kat clapped, "Yeah I can't wait to see it, they are both attractive so there should be a lot of chemistry, honestly I have very high expectations."

Omar nodded, "Yeah I have watched it already, I can't believe you haven't honestly it was actually really good."

Akin looked at them all talking excited about this new movie, but in his mind, this is just an old movie that did well, at times like this he felt most lonely, people are excited about new things but for him, new things are not new unless it is after 2022, so its all just dull to him.

Omar looked at him and said, "Wait did you go and see that movie with Akin I remember we spoke about it already."

Alicia and Kat both looked confused, "What do you mean Akin has seen this movie?"

Omar nodded, "Yeah I remember we spoke about it and he seems to think that there's a scandal behind the scenes."

Both women looked curious, "You went to see this movie? When? We thought you were busy with practice this summer."

Akin shrugged nonchalantly, "Even I need a break sometimes."

Both nodded at the nonchalant answer before smiling at Akin and Omar, "So what is the scandal?"

Omar laughed, "Get this, he thinks Brad and Angelina are having an affair because of this movie as if any man could ever cheat on Jennifer Aniston."

Akin grinned, "Even if that person was Brad Pitt and the other person was Angelina Jolie?"

Kat looked curious at that, "Yeah he has a point, it could definitely happen."

But Alicia disagreed, "No way, Brad and Jennifer are good together that would be crazy."

Akin just shrugged, "Shouldn't you be going now if you want to catch the movie."

Both nodded and Kat said, "He is right besides maybe if we watch the movie we can see for ourselves, just keep an eye on it."

Alicia agreed, "Your right, we are off, Omar bye, Akin See you later, your dinner is in the fridge with the preparation instructions."

The two rushed out and soon Akin was alone with Omar.

Akin turned to him, "You know you can go right I don't need a babysitter and I ain't paying you Overtime."

Omar laughed, "You aren't paying me Jerome is, but I am here to make sure you stick to the team dietary plan."

Akin sighed depressed at this, Arsenal was very strict on disciplining players, so they create a diet plan for their players from the Youth academy and provide the ingredients and preparation instructions.

In his youth academy days, this was monitored by Alicia but Omar has stepped in recently due to her busy schedule, not because Akin cannot cook in fact he is a very good one.

However, everyone has seen his dedication since childhood and is unwilling on allowing him to waste all his hard work so they use this method to both motivate and support him.

After he prepared the dinner Omar left and Akin was by himself so after he ate he decided to sign in to MSN messenger, every time he did so was full of nostalgia.

Online was Billy, his best friend used the MSN screen name cookiemonster92, when he first saw it he shook his head but he was used to the boys weirdness by now.

He sent a message first:

GunKing89: BILLYYYY!!!

Cookiemonster92: Sup King! How ws day 1 with da gunnerz!

GunKing89: Do u not kno me? course I killed it bruh!

Cookiemonster92: Sick! my bro is gonna kick in da premz! Where my ticket @??

GunKing89: U kno I got u bro!

Cookiemonster92: Yhyh! my guy!

They both spoke back and forth for an hour before it was time to close out MSN.

Akin was strict on a lot of aspects of his life including his sleep schedule so he went to bed at 9.30 pm.

His mind is full of anticipation for a new chapter in his rewritten football history.

Meanwhile back in Highbury where most of the coaching staff was leaving.

Arsene sat in his office replaying the team's practice match watching the player's performance and making notes of Key individual training.

This year Arsenal was in dire financial straights and he was unable to buy stars, due to the team's huge loan debt from the banks taken out for the construction of the new stadium, with conditions that the team restrict their budget.

To make up for this Arsenal was forced to sell key pieces of its squad, most notably the core of the midfield defence Partick Viera who was still in his prime, which has caused some rumblings and placed a lot of pressure on 'The Professor'.

This is even more so the case with the arrival of a manager that has caused stirs with his arrival, former Porto Champions League manager Jose Mourinho backed by the Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich, as well as his biggest rival the Scottish manager leading the strong Manchester United team Alex Fergusson.

Many of the media and supporters are baffled by Arsenal's weak presence in this trade window, the biggest news is from selling their players but their most expensive purchase was Aleksander Hleb.

The French Manager is aware of the whispers, that he has lost his Ambition, that he wants to turn Arsenal into the next Ajax, and that he lacks spirit.

In his heart, he felt so wronged, but he was unable to speak out, not willing to cause too much of a stir, the banks have tied his hands, and those who are above him also do the same.

He is not like Alex, he has the respect of the board of directors for his contributions, but he knows he is still just the french man to them, so there was a certain distance between him and those that hold financial power.

In Times like this he felt the unfairness of English Football, the first foreign manager to lead a team to win a Premiership, he has proven his methods but he can only do so much by himself.

Sometimes he dreamt that a wealthy Saudi Prince would buy the team to clear its debt and tell him to buy who he wants, filled with bitter envy at Chelsea's turnaround.

Many Arsenals stars are already preparing for their departure because the team can no longer give them the wages they deserve, paid less than many of their peers in the league.

For Wenger, Akin was like a ray of hope, he remembers meeting the young man who fearlessly told him to win the Champions League.

In his heart, he felt this boy was a good seedling.

So he brought him up to the main team to personally guide his training, and also to gamble.

On what even he was not sure, but he had an instinct this boy might cause a ripple that may change Arsenal's Future.