Lukas pretended not to hear it.

Eventually, after nearly another hour, everyone finally moved toward a dining area for lunch while the last administrative details were being prepared.

The atmosphere had loosened slightly by then.

João was already halfway through complaining about how hungry he was.

"I swear football clubs starve people on purpose before feeding them."

"You’ve eaten three times today," Joanna reminded him.

"That’s irrelevant."

They had only just started eating when Dr. Sala finally entered the room again holding a tablet.

Hugo walked in beside him.

Immediately, everyone looked up.

Sala nodded almost right away.

"It’s all clear."

Javi visibly relaxed in his seat.

"No abnormalities," Sala continued. "No PED indicators. No biological manipulation markers."

He looked directly at Lukas now, still sounding mildly disturbed by the entire situation.

"I still don’t fully understand how your numbers are possible," he admitted honestly. "But everything is clean."

João immediately grinned.

"So basically," he said proudly while pointing at Lukas, "he’s just built different."

That actually got a laugh out of several people at the table.

Even Sala smiled faintly.

"For now," he said, sitting down finally, "that appears to be the scientific conclusion."

Lukas shrugged lightly while taking another bite of food.

"Probably genetics."

He glanced toward Javi beside him.

"I probably got it from my dad."

Javi looked genuinely offended.

"No chance," he replied immediately. "You definitely did not get that from me."

That made the entire table laugh properly this time, finally breaking the tension completely.

* * *

A couple hours later, Lukas sat inside one of the conference rooms at the City Football Academy.

The room itself was sleek and modern, built almost entirely from dark glass and polished wood. One entire wall overlooked the training pitches outside, where academy players could still be seen moving through drills in the distance under the Manchester sun.

On the table in front of them sat the final contract documents.

Printed.

Organized.

Ready.

This was the last step.

Around the table sat Hugo Viana, Aaron, the lead negotiator Lukas had already met back in Frankfurt, one of Marco’s lawyers, Marco himself, and Javi beside Lukas.

The atmosphere was far calmer now compared to earlier in the day.

The difficult parts were already done.

Medical passed.

Agreement finalized.

Now it was mostly details.

Fine details.

Small details.

The kind that still somehow changed careers.

One of the lawyers flipped through another section of the contract while Hugo leaned back slightly in his chair.

"There’s also the squad number situation," he said.

That immediately got Lukas’ attention.

Hugo gave a small apologetic smile.

"Unfortunately, we couldn’t reserve the number 10 for you."

Lukas nodded immediately.

That was expected.

"Cherki already took it," Hugo continued. "And we had to finalize that before this deal was fully completed."

Lukas nodded again.

"No problem."

"We can give you 30," Hugo said. "Or honestly, almost anything else that’s available."

Lukas thought about it for a second before asking,

"Is 19 available?"

Hugo shook his head lightly.

"Not right now. Gündoğan still has it."

Then he added:

"There’s a possibility he leaves later in the window... but currently it’s occupied."

Lukas leaned back slightly in his chair.

"Okay."

For a few moments, nobody spoke while he thought about it.

Aaron slid a list of available squad numbers toward him while Marco quietly skimmed through another section of the contract beside him.

"What number do you want?" Viana asked eventually.

Lukas stared absentmindedly at the paper for a second before his thoughts drifted unexpectedly elsewhere.

To one of his previous LTC sessions.

One of the footballers he took lessons from.

A small smile slowly appeared on Lukas’ face.

Then he looked back up.

"I want the number 17 shirt."

That got a brief pause around the table.

Then Viana smiled slightly.

"Alright," he said. "17 is yours."

João, who had somehow convinced Aaron to let him sit quietly in the corner of the room halfway through the meeting, immediately grinned.

"Kevin De Bruyne replacement," he muttered dramatically.

Lukas laughed softly while Hugo shook his head with amusement.

"That number carries expectations here," Viana said calmly. "A lot of them."

Lukas leaned back into his chair comfortably.

"Good."

That answer made the Sporting Director smile again.

And somewhere deep down—

it also confirmed for the Manchester City staff in that room that they had probably made the right decision.

Lukas leaned forward slightly as the final contract documents were placed in front of him.

The atmosphere inside the conference room had settled into something quieter now. The major negotiations had already happened over the past days. What remained was the formal confirmation of everything they had agreed upon.

Still, nobody in the room was casual about it.

Not Marco.

Not Hugo Viana.

Not the lawyers sitting nearby reviewing the final pages one last time.

This was the biggest contract of Lukas’ life.

And everyone knew it.

Marco’s lawyer flipped through the stack carefully before nodding once.

"Everything we negotiated has been included," he said calmly.

Hugo leaned back slightly in his chair.

"Some of it," he added dryly while glancing at Marco, "after far more arguing than necessary."

Marco smiled faintly.

"That release clause was necessary."

Hugo shook his head immediately.

"No club likes release clauses."

"And no player likes being trapped," Marco replied just as calmly.

That earned a brief silence.

Because it was true.

Manchester City had initially pushed hard against including one at all. Pep himself apparently hated release clauses in contracts. Hugo had mentioned it multiple times during discussions.

But Marco had refused to back down on it.

Especially because Lukas was only sixteen.

Eventually, the compromise had become simple.

If there had to be a release clause—

it would have to be absurd.

Aaron slid the finalized financial breakdown toward Lukas.

At the top of the document:

Manchester City Football Club — First Team Professional Contract

Five-year deal.

£12.5 million annual base salary.

10% automatic salary increase if Manchester City wins the Premier League and Lukas records at least 15 goal contributions in the competition.

15% automatic salary increase if Manchester City wins the UEFA Champions League and Lukas records at least 10 goal contributions in the tournament.

The room stayed quiet while Lukas continued reading.

£10 million signing bonus, split across scheduled payments within the first contract year.

£75,000 per first-team appearance.

£45,000 per Premier League goal.

£60,000 per UEFA Champions League goal.

£30,000 per domestic cup goal.

£25,000 per assist in any competition.

£500,000 bonus for reaching 15+ goals in all competitions.

£350,000 bonus for reaching 15+ assists.

£750,000 bonus for reaching 30+ combined goal contributions in a season.

£500,000 Golden Boy award bonus.

£750,000 Ballon d’Or nomination bonus.

£2 million Ballon d’Or victory bonus.

£300,000 FIFA Best XI inclusion bonus.

Then came the image rights section.

Manchester City would pay £2 million annually for non-exclusive club commercial image rights while Lukas retained full personal ownership of all global sponsorship and endorsement agreements outside official club obligations.

And then—

the final clause.

The one Marco had fought hardest for.

A mandatory release clause.

£300 million.

**********

A/N: Sponsored by Arthur! Thank you so much for the biscuit!

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