Harbinger Of Glory

After that, he went through the rest of the squad and tried finding the highest-rated player, but really, it was just him and then O’Shea, who had joined recently, also 80-rated, followed by Fletcher, who was out injured, with his 78 rating; but aside from him, the current second highest rated player was Carlo at seventy-seven.

Reyes at seventy-six, Whatmough also at seventy-six and then James McClean at seventy-five, same rating as Wigan’s first team keeper, Ben Amos!

"Decent," he muttered and then found Ezra’s immediately after, which was a seventy-five-rated card.

After that, he found Jake’s, which showed a 71 rating, which Leo found generous considering it was also Jake’s first card, but it was the same as Mbappe’s in FIFA 17, though the latter was 3 years younger than Jake.

He took a screenshot of both and sent it to the group chat with a single caption.

Ezra wins this one.

The reactions came in within seconds: laughing emojis from most of the squad, and then Jake’s message appeared in capital letters.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!

More reactions came through after that and more laughing emojis.

Reyes sent a voice note that was mostly him laughing while Jake typed again.

How does that fraud have a higher rating than mine? Unacceptable. Anyways, what’s your rating?

Leo sent the screenshot of his own card, and for about four seconds, the chat went quiet.

The people making these ratings are BLIND, Jake typed. How is he an 80? Have they watched football? Have they watched US? Have they watched HIM? Leo should be 76 rated at most. Are they saying he’s 9 ratings better than me?

I think he should be at least 20 ratings better than you, Reyes typed a moment later while Leo laughed at his phone, set it face down on the cushion beside him and turned back to the screen.

Leo had been on the team sheets long enough to have gone through every player on the Wigan roster twice when he finally navigated back to the main menu and settled into the controller properly, ready to actually play something.

Before he’d made his way towards the game mode selection, his phone began ringing with a call that had Noah’s Sarin’s name.

He answered, and Noah’s voice came through immediately, sounding like someone who’d been waiting for him to pick up.

"I’m guessing you’ve already bought the new one," Noah said as Leo, on his couch, glanced at the screen.

"Do you play it much?"

"Used to. More than I probably should have at certain points," Leo answered before throwing the question back to Noah.

"You?"

"I also used to," Noah said. "Less so these days since life and a lot got in the way."

"Anyways, what’s up?" Leo said as Noah seemed to remember the reason he’d called.

"Right," he said, shifting into the other gear he reserved mostly for business.

"EA Sports. You know they partner with the Premier League, and every year when the game releases they bring players in from various clubs for promotional content. Not every club makes the list, but I guess Wigan’s recent events have opened the door for you."

"Okay," Leo said, already listening more carefully.

"You’ve been added to the list this year. They reached out to me about getting you down to London for a session. It’s paid for, everything covered, and you’d be compensated for your time."

He paused briefly.

"It’s not a long commitment. Some football challenges, a player card reveal, that kind of thing. It’s good for content and for good exposure."

Leo didn’t need the full pitch.

"I’ll do it," he said as Noah paused, and in the pause Leo could almost hear the smile.

"Just like that," Noah said.

"Just like that," Leo replied as a chuckle came back from the other side.

"Alright," Noah said warmly.

"I’ll get everything set up on my end. You just wait for the date, and I’ll have all the details to you before then."

"Perfect," Leo said, and ended the call.

Vittoria, who had been on the other end of the couch with her legs tucked under her and her phone in her hand, lowered it and looked at him.

She reached over and poked his cheek once with one finger.

"Look at you soaring," she said, talking about what Leo and Noah had just talked about after hearing snippets of it.

Leo caught her finger before she could pull it back, held onto it for a moment, then reached across for the second controller resting on the cushion beside him and held it out to her.

"Want to play?"

Vittoria looked at the controller before glancing at the screen and then back at him as a slow smirk began to form on her face.

"Are you ready to lose?" she said as she grabbed the controller from Leo, who chuckled and turned back to the screen.

"Pick your team," he said before picking Wigan himself.

Vittoria, on the other hand, went through the various leagues, not taking the help Leo offered in choosing her team before finally finding the Spanish league and then picking Real Madrid.

"What?" Vittoria asked when she found Leo staring at her.

"I liked Cristiano as a child," she said before turning away and looking at the screen while Leo also turned to face the screen.

[10 minutes later!]

"Let me also have the ball," Vittoria complained after Leo decided to toy with her, not even scoring and just possession with the ball.

As a very fervent player, Leo liked that they’d animated his in-game character well, with it being easy to control as well as fast, much faster than his 74 pace suggested.

"At least, I won’t be useless in Ultimate Team," he thought while beside him, Vittoria continued to complain.

Eventually, he let his girlfriend have a whiff of the ball, with that whiff leading to Vittoria putting the ball in the back of the net after Leo intentionally dragged Ben Amos out.

"There it is. It’s my first time playing, but I am already better than you," Vittoria gloated with a large smile on her face.

A few minutes later, Leo wiped that smile off cleanly!

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