Dynasty Awakening: Building My Own Football Empire-Chapter 266: The Billionaire’s Deal!

"Attack!"

"Whoa! I can’t believe he sent the center-back to play as a striker!"

"Diego is fired up!"

The Barnsley bench whooped and cheered as they saw the chaotic formation shift. They were now in a position to throw the kitchen sink at Liverpool so late into the game. All they needed was a loose ball in the box and there would be a guaranteed goal.

Michael Sterling headed up to the edge of the technical area, turning his gaze to Mateo Vega and awaiting eye contact. Michael tapped his left shoulder and tilted his tie, giving the signal for him to do as he pleased.

"Kyaa! Go Michael! Win it for us!"

A group of female fans in the front row called out, they were the marketing assistants from the office who had taken Arthur’s "gift" seriously. Despite having the mind of a visionary, Michael still felt some embarrassment at the extra attention during a crisis.

Not far away from the girls was Sarah sitting with Kenji in the VIP box. She was a little more reserved, but she looked cute in her Barnsley scarf and seemed to be watching intently.

Michael shook his head, trying to remove any distracting thoughts. It was a critical point in the game since they were down by a single goal at the 85th minute.

Virgil van Dijk seemed to be annoyed that he had to mark a bald maniac like Diego, Michael could see it in his body language. That was the problem with elite defenders, they often let their logic guide them in most things.

An idea flashed through Michael’s mind and he quickly glanced at Diego Nunez in the penalty arc, making a small signal with his left hand. Diego’s eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly composed himself and nodded.

Liverpool’s defense managed to calm down after a few moments and peeked over at the runner on the edge of the box. The midfielder brought his foot back before throwing a press trap, just within the legal limit.

Michael picked it the moment the ball left Mateo’s foot. It was the perfect pass to limit the distance that a defender could intercept. Unfortunately for Liverpool, he had other plans.

Mateo leaned forward and placed his foot out in one smooth motion, tracking the ball all the way up until it made contact. Then with practiced ease, he pushed the ball towards the penalty spot before sprinting as fast as he could to support.

"Dummy!?" Jean-Pierre called out in shock from the VIP box as the play unfolded in front of his eyes. He had not expected to see such a tactic being employed, especially since Diego had the capability to shoot big.

Liverpool were caught off guard as both Van Dijk and Konate went for the physical challenge on Diego. The Dutchman managed to get there first and was about to shoulder barge him when he heard the call from the goalkeeper.

"LEAVE IT!"

Van Dijk spun around in one motion and tried to block the shot as fast as he could. However, his face twisted in shock and confusion when he lifted his head and saw that there was no one on the ball.

Since the pass was hit towards Diego, the defenders should have been covering the man instead of the space. So while they may have been the first ones to get to the body, the entire defense was in disarray because of it.

Diego took advantage of the mayhem to let the ball roll through his legs, a perfect ’False Bull’ dummy. Only a few seconds later, the ball finally made its way over to the open space where Kaito Tanaka was limping.

"Goal."

Jean-Pierre and the other two scouts were speechless. This was not the sort of tactics that they would have expected from a Premier League game at this level.

"Was it the manager’s decision, or was it Diego’s?"

"Surely it couldn’t have purely been that bald idiot’s decision to dummy it," One of the men commented.

"I’m not sure. But all I can say is that dummy was masterful. It had the perfect timing and arrogance so as to draw in both center-backs, causing chaos in the box." Jean-Pierre stated, flipping through his digital notes once again.

"He’s so versatile and has great disruption in the final third, he would be a huge boost to our physicality next season."

There was silence for a few moments before a sigh broke out.

"It’s just such a shame about the winger’s hamstring."

A helpless smile formed on Jean-Pierre’s face as he closed the tablet. "I think we’ve seen enough to make some informed decisions."

The other two stood up and were about to head out of the exit to beat the traffic. However, Jean-Pierre told them to go ahead as he had something that he wanted to do.

The two agreed and Jean-Pierre began looking in the VIP crowd for someone. It wasn’t long until he was able to track him down, considering the expensive suit and the panicked expression of the man.

"Kenji, Mrs. Sterling." Jean-Pierre bowed.

"Ah, is that Jean-Pierre? Nice to see you." Sarah smiled, she recognized the old business rival of her husband’s friend from many parties ago.

"The pleasure is all mine. I wanted to talk about your investments if you have the time."

Kenji held his hand up, telling him to stop. "Victor is up to shoot, let’s wait a moment."

Jean-Pierre nodded and turned around to watch the game once again.

BANG!

A wide smile appeared on his features as he saw the ball sailing into the top corner, followed by a loud cheer from the away end and the dugout. Jean-Pierre felt even more confident in his decision and therefore turned back around to the billionaire and his friend’s wife.

"I want to offer 100 million pounds for Kaito Tanaka for next season. I hope you can do your best to convince Michael to take our offer." Jean-Pierre bowed, waiting for a response.

Sarah’s eyes lit up, however, she deferred to Kenji in such situations, since he was the owner of the club.

Chapter 182: The Last Arrow and The Tears of the Samurai

Kenji finally spotted the scoreboard flashing 2-2 and wiped the sweat from his brow. Seeing the equalizer after so long put a smile on his face, despite the earlier interaction with the PSG shark moments before.

"Sorry I’m stressed, Sarah." He said, leaning in and straightening his tie.

"All that matters is that we didn’t lose." She replied with a smile.

Sarah could see that the billionaire had something on his mind when spotting him looking at Jean-Pierre. His creased brows were one of his telltale signs that he was thinking about a negotiation.

"A penny for your thoughts?" She said softly, leaning her head onto the glass partition.

Kenji was silent for a moment as he looked out onto the field where Barnsley were about to defend the kickoff. Letting out a sigh, he asked her a question.

"Did Michael tell you why Kaito didn’t celebrate?"

Sarah was a little surprised, however, she shook her head in response. "No, he didn’t seem to want to move. But I said that as long as he was happy, I wouldn’t pry. I was worried he might be embarrassed for crying on TV."

Hearing this, Kenji adjusted his suit jacket and sighed. This woman had a heart of gold, always worrying about the players while doing her best not to step on the medical team’s toes.

Once again Kenji let out a heavy sigh, feeling a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I think Kaito has torn his muscle..." he stated.

Sarah almost jumped out of her seat in a panic, "W-What do you mean!?"

"Did you see his finish? I’ve never seen Kaito shoot like that even since before he joined us. It was as if he was afraid that swinging his leg too hard would cause him to collapse." Kenji replied, seeing the worry on Sarah’s face.

"We can’t let him play if he’s injured. You need to call Michael."

Kenji grimaced. He knew how stubborn his manager could be, especially when it came to stoppage time. They would have better luck winning the lottery than convincing Michael to sub off a player who just scored, especially since it was the 90th minute.

Now that he thought deeper about it, the decision to dummy the ball was likely because it required the least amount of running out of all options in the box. It was rather likely that Kaito had known about his limit for a long time and came up with this solution to just stand there and tap it in.

The PSG scouts had commented on how good his positioning was, so that was a large indicator that Kaito had been doing what he could to improve his game despite the pain.

What kind of owner would he be if he were to trample on all of his player’s hard work this year to make it back into the Champions League spots? Sure, he was wrong for not telling the physio, but seeing the scoreboard, he could understand Kaito’s thought process.

Letting out his 3rd sigh in as many minutes, Kenji leaned back in the chair and shook his head.

"This is his last game before the break. He won’t be able to play during the Asian Cup because of rehab. Let’s let him play with his family one last time."

"Huh? One last time?" Sarah was immediately confused, tilting her head in response.

Back on the field, Victor Osimhen was up to press after both Amara and Mateo, the substitutes, had been bypassed. Unfortunately, pressing was not effective alone and his fate was the same as his two predecessors.

Barnsley once again walked onto the defensive line, their faces filled with determination. It was currently the 94th minute and they were up against the relentless attack of Liverpool.

These were the best attackers in the world and a big reason as to why Liverpool had managed to make it to the top of the table. Considering this was their final attack, Vladimir Petrovic was filled with some nerves.

As a rule of thumb, Liverpool tended to score well in ’Fergie Time’ considering they would have the Anfield crowd sucking the ball into the net. This was especially true in the big games.

The third attacker for Liverpool now stood in the box, holding his run and preparing for the cross.

Vladimir leaned forward off his line, preparing for anything that came his way. Since being exposed last half, he was much more aware of his shortfall.

THUD

The ball flew from Alexander-Arnold’s boot and flew over his head. Vladimir tried his best to reach the ball, however, it was just out of his reach, heading towards Darwin Nunez in the box.

Vladimir spun towards the goal and held out his leg, awaiting the shot from Darwin. Yet the striker managed to make it before the block could land.

"Don’t mind." Vladimir said, preparing to clear the rebound.

It was a little unfortunate that the striker made contact, especially since this next rebound was the real headache. Michael had performed True Vision on this ball and could tell that it would be hard work to save.

While the angle was tight, the power was high. It was also the reason for 2 of the Liverpool shots earlier, hitting the woodwork.

Jan Visser too felt some danger when facing this shot, however, he had confidence in his reflexes. He held his glove right down the middle of the goal and called for a miracle.

Darwin nodded (in his mind). As long as he hit this right, the ball would break the net, hopefully jamming the Barnsley hearts.

He wound up and smashed the ball, yet he could tell from the moment that it left his boot that it was a dud. The ball which was meant to curve inwards, kept its straight trajectory, causing both Jan and the striker’s eyes to light up.

CRACK!

The ball smashed against the post and ricocheted out.

It landed at the feet of a limping Japanese man.

"KAITO!" Michael screamed.

Kaito Tanaka didn’t run. He didn’t sprint. He couldn’t.

He looked up. He saw Victor Osimhen running at the halfway line.

Kaito swung his leg. It wasn’t a run. It was a pass. A long, desperate, beautiful pass.

"Go..." Kaito whispered as he fell to the turf, clutching his hamstring.

The ball flew. It bypassed the high line.

Victor Osimhen was alone.

"RUN VICTOR!" Kenji screamed from the box, knocking over his champagne glass.

Victor ran. He was fresh. He was hungry. Alisson came out.

Victor didn’t shoot. He went around him.

The net was empty.

GOAL.

LIVERPOOL 2 - BARNSLEY 3.

The whistle blew.

The Misfits had conquered Anfield. But on the grass, the Samurai wasn’t moving.

"Fuck," Michael whispered, running onto the pitch not to celebrate, but to carry his soldier home.