Jason jumped off the treadmill, huffing violently as he had just finished an intensive 30-minute run at above-average speed, and sat on the floor while mopping some of his sweat away with a towel.
Team training for the Porto Juniors hadn't resumed as they were supposed to be resting after their game just over a day ago, but Jason would never lay on the couch that long in the name of rest.
He would rather up his grind at every moment, continuously trying to better himself as while he had been given a second chance, he would still have to work extra hard to make good on this chance and achieve his dreams.
He hadn't been given a system or some sort of cheat ability like in those books with similar situations to what he had experienced, so he had to work extra hard if he wanted to change anything from how it was in his previous life.
Things had already begun changing and he was already walking a very different path from his previous life, but that was not going to stop him from working hard.
Rather he was going to up his work rate, increase his training time, and do as many body conditioning exercises at every chance he got.
If Cristiano Ronaldo could make it to the top of the football world with hard work combined with his talents, then Jason didn't see any reason why he couldn't do the same...
... Even though things hadn't gone that way in his previous life despite how hard he worked, that wouldn't dampen his enthusiasm and efforts
As soon as he caught his breath, he stood up again to continue his run on the treadmill, while thinking to himself,
'Rico should have contacted the club management, or maybe he's even meeting them already.'
Rico Gulaz was Mylo's agent whom he had hired to help negotiate his contract with the PC Porto club management.
Rico was the one who would contact the club and negotiate a contract with them before getting back to him with the results of the negotiation and asking for his input if he was unsatisfied with the deal or his signature if he was satisfied.
It was probably too early to be expecting Rico to have come to an agreement with the club as he had just hired him the day before, but Jason couldn't help feeling eager to put pen to paper as soon as the deal was finalized.
'I hope that guy doesn't mess things up,' Jason couldn't help thinking to himself.
***At the same time at Estadio do Dragao***
Rico arrived for a hastily set up appointment and was ushered into a widely spaced meeting room that looked a little empty except for the presence of three people.
Seated in the chairs at the end of the table were Sergio Conceicao, Rafael Hernandez who was attending in place of Head Scout Andre, and Filipe Carlos, the substitute legal representative for the club and the person majorly in charge of the negotiation proceedings.
Rico walked in and shook hands with everyone before he was offered a seat and the negotiations began.
"I think I speak for the majority of the club's management when I say that we have seen the talent shown by your client and are very impressed and hope to add him to our ranks," Filipe Carlos began speaking, doing his job as the lead negotiator.
"Of course, my client is also eager to join the FC Porto team… as long as the negotiations are complete," Rico began on a light-hearted note but added another sentence to show that despite Jason's eagerness, their side wouldn't be willing to concede benefits just to join the squad.
Filipe Carlos could hear Rico's intention from his tone, but he wasn't fazed as this wasn't his first experience with such a situation.
"I have read the contract draft that you sent to me and I believe that some adjustments need to be made," Rico began not noticing Sergio Conceicao's eye roll on the side.
Sergio Conceicao had seen the contract draft as well since his input was one of the most valued when the draft was put together.
While the current draft wasn't the best that could be offered, it was the kind of contract that would be accepted by any other player in Jason's shoes, so he didn't see any reasons why there needed to be adjustments made to the draft.
But Filipe Carlos who was in the same line of business already expected that every agent would always try to secure more benefits with or without the consent of their clients as more benefits equaled more agent fees, so he wasn't ruffled and coolly asked,
"What part do you think needs an adjustment?"
"I'm sure you don't think you can secure my client services with a salary of just 7000 euros weekly," Rico replied and everyone in the room couldn't help but feel their lips twitch.
"I'm sorry… did you say 'just' 7000?" Filipe's composure which had been trained with experience over years flew out the window and he barely managed to grab onto it in time.
He had seen agents that overreached their bounds, but it was his first time meeting one this brazen and he couldn't help but curse internally,
'This motherfu**er.'
"How much do you think your client's wages should be then?" Filipe asked after he had reigned in his composure.
"At least 30000 euros weekly," Rico said self-righteously.
This time, Sergio and Rafael couldn't keep their faces straight and Rafael immediately interjected as he couldn't stay silent,
"Don't you think paying 30000 euros a week to a player who doesn't have more than a single professional game under his belt is a bit over the top?"
"If it's for a player with as much talent as my client, then no, I don't think it is," Rico immediately replied, not willing to take a step back.
"No one is saying he doesn't have talent, we just haven't seen a consistency of such performances in games to give him such a salary," Rafael began trying to explain, but Sergio could no longer stay silent and took over the explanation,
"That's why it's only a two-year contract, and when he has proven himself to the team, the club management, and the fans, then paying that much or even higher isn't a problem," Sergio countered Rico's reasoning.
"But-…" Rico began but Filipe suddenly interjected,
"Is this a demand of your client?" he said, his voice dropping dangerously low.
"Well, I'm here to represent my client an-…" Rico began again after realizing that things may end up getting out of hand, but Filipe interjected again,
"IS THIS… A DEMAND. OF YOUR CLIENT?" he asked, slowly spelling the question out.
"I believe my client would fully agr-…" Rico tried to play it off but it seemed that Filipe was intent on not allowing him to finish any sentences as he interjected once again,
"Do you know who the highest-paid person in the FC Porto team is?" Filipe asked, but then went ahead to answer the question himself,
"It's Pepe, a three times champions league winner and he has a weekly salary of about 55000 euros,"
"The average weekly salary of our players is just about 24000 euros…"
"But now, you are demanding an amount above the average salary for a player who doesn't even have an academy experience ," Filipe fired away, his words harshly scratching against Rico's ears.
"I'm very sorry, but if those are your demands, then there is no point in negotiating," Filipe said the last words any agent would want to hear with conviction.