Wickliff was standing at the main entrance when the taxi pulled up.
Hughes Yves was beside him - younger, slightly taller, the kind of assistant who moved with the efficiency of soone used to being the second-fastest person in the room after whoever he worked for. They'd both been waiting, but they'd been waiting differently. Wickliff had his hands in his jacket pockets and a look on his face that didn't quite hide what was underneath it. Hughes Yves was checking his watch.
Mateo paid the driver and got out.
Wickliff said nothing. He just put a hand briefly on Mateo's shoulder - a single pat, more acknowledgnt than congratulation and stepped back to let Hughes Yves lead the way.
That was enough. Mateo understood what it ant.
"Elevator's this way," Hughes Yves said, already moving. "He's been waiting."
They went up to the top floor.
Mateo had been in this building before - canteen on the wrong level. The carpeting was different from the lower levels. The corridor was quieter. Through the doors on either side he could hear the muted hum of the administration offices that kept a Bundesliga club running.
Hughes Yves knocked twice on a door at the end and opened it without waiting for a reply, which told Mateo sothing about how this particular office worked.
The room wasn't large. A desk buried in papers. A tactics board on one wall with the Cottbus written and thier defensive shape still diagramd on it. And on the television directly opposite the desk, a highlight reel was playing - the 14-pass sequence from the Magdeburg match, Mateo's inside-of-foot arc dropping into Hant's stride at the far post.
Magath was standing behind the desk watching it.
He was shorter than he appeared on the television coverage of Bundesliga matches, which sohow made him seem more solid. He looked at Mateo, then at the screen, then back at Mateo. He gestured to the chair.
"Sit down."
Mateo sat.
Magath remained standing. He watched the screen for another few seconds - the free kick delivery curving away from the front post, the back post arrival, then picked up the remote and turned it off.
He looked at Mateo.
Mateo looked back.
Neither of them said anything. Ten seconds. Fifteen. Magath studied him the way he presumably studied footage - looking for the thing that would tell him whether what he was seeing was real or a product of circumstances. Mateo held the gaze without doing anything with it. He wasn't performing confidence. He just wasn't uncomfortable.
Magath put the remote down.
"What did Manchester United offer you?"
Mateo told him plainly. Three thousand euros per week. First-team training access. Cup match appearances to begin with.
Magath absorbed this without reacting visibly. He pulled out his chair and sat down, which felt like a change of register - from assessnt to negotiation.
"Refuse them," Magath said. "I'll tell you why." He laced his fingers on the desk. "At United right now, their squad is built for a title challenge. First-team players in your position are experienced internationals. You won't start league matches. You probably won't start cup matches either, not in the first year - they'll say you will and then find reasons not to. You'll be seventeen years old in the United reserve system, which is good but not exceptional, surrounded by players who also believe they're the future." He paused. "Here, I can give you first-team training from tomorrow. I can guarantee you cup appearances this season - not as a possibility, as a commitnt. And if you perform, the league minutes will co."
He held Mateo's gaze.
"One more thing. The German league will teach you things the Premier League won't, not at your age. The physicality. The tactical structure. The press." He nodded toward the screen. "You play with your head more than your body. That's rare. But the body still needs to catch up. Here you have ti to do that properly."
Mateo considered this. It was a different pitch from Carl's - less about prestige, more about what the next eighteen months would actually look like.
"What about the salary?" he asked.
"That's the manager's departnt, not mine." Magath's expression was straightforward about this - it wasn't a deflection, just an accurate description of how it worked. "I can tell you that Manchester United's enquiry will get noticed upstairs, and when it does, the contract conversation will change. That's how this works."
Mateo looked at the blank screen for a mont.
It wasn't a difficult decision. He'd known it before he walked in, if he was honest - the taxi ride over wasn't uncertainty, it was giving himself space to make sure. Magath had confird everything that mattered: playing ti, a clear pathway, and a tactical environnt that would actually develop him. Carl had offered a na and a floor.
He took out his phone.
"Give a mont."
Magath nodded.
Mateo dialed. It rang twice before Carl accepted the call.
"Carl. It's Mateo." A pause on the other end. "I appreciate you coming out and the ti you spent. But I'm going to stay at Schalke this season. If things change at the end of the year, I'll be in touch."
He could hear Carl processing this on the other end. The pause lasted about three seconds, which was about two seconds longer than Carl's pauses usually lasted.
"I understand," Carl said finally. His voice was professional, if slightly tight. "The offer stands. You know where to find ."
"I do. Thanks."
He ended the call and put the phone away.
Magath watched him. Then sothing shifted in the coach's expression - not quite a smile, more the small recognition of a man who has just confird sothing he suspected.
"Good," he said. He stood up, which ant the eting was over. "First-team training tomorrow morning. Eight-thirty."
"I'll be there," Mateo said. He stood too, and hesitated for half a second. "I'm usually on the pitch by five. Is that a problem?"
Magath looked at him.
"Not for ," he said.
Wickliff was still at the entrance when Mateo ca back down.
"Well?" he asked.
"First team tomorrow. Cup matches this season he said." Mateo paused. "He said he'd push the contract upstairs."
Wickliff's expression did sothing complicated that resolved into warmth. He'd watched this kid arrive at the club six weeks ago with a Dortmund reject tag behind him and he'd sohow leveraged into two outstanding Third Division performances and a Manchester United enquiry. He'd watched him on the pitch at midnight. He'd watched him at seven in the morning. He'd left notes with Daniel about his training load and dietary plan and never once had to chase a follow-up.
"Congratulations," Wickliff said simply. "You earned it."
With a grateful nod, Mateo let out a soft, "I appreciate it. He looked toward the training ground, visible through the glass of the side entrance - the floodlights off, the pitch dark, the cones he'd left stacked by the far goal still sitting there.
"I'm going to get a couple more hours in," he said.
Wickliff shook his head slowly. Not in disapproval - in the particular way of soone who has stopped being surprised by a specific person.
"Get so sleep at so point," he said.
"I will." Mateo headed for the door. "Thanks, Mr. Wickliff. For everything since I arrived."
Wickliff watched him go. The side door opened, letting in a brief pull of cool September air, and closed again.
He stood there for a mont.
Then he went back to his office to finish the paperwork.
At nine o'clock he finally packed up and left for ho. On his way through the complex he passed the training ground. The lights were off. The pitch was dark.
The familiar sound was coming from the far end anyway.
Plz Drop So Power Stones.
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