Rise of a Football God

Unlike what most people expected when the much-anticipated transfer of the young Nigerian midfielder to the premier league was concluded by Fulham FC, Sam's start in England had been nothing short of blistering.

It didn't take him long, directly on his debut game that he opened his account for Fulham, getting his first goal for the club.

And it was just a first of many more goals and assists to come.

It was not just the goals and the assists though, Sam's work rate on the pitch alone elevated Fulham as a team.

But most importantly of all his achievements was the EFL Cup trophy.

No matter how much his haters and doubters tried to downgrade his achievements, it was still a fact that before the Nigerian Zidane era as fans already started calling it, Fulham had not won a single trophy in years.

With Sam's addition though, within just a few games, he won Fulham its first trophy in years. If that was not legendary, nothing else was.

Sam took the premier league by storm.

But while to the outside world, it seemed incredibly easy what he did on the pitch, personally, Sam knew that it was harder than even he expected.

Back in Nigeria, in the NPFL, Sam was not just a star, despite playing just 1 and a half season for Enyimba FC, he was already more or less a superstar.

Making the transition from the NPFL to the premier league though, Sam learned something, he learned firsthand the sheer physicality of the English premier league.

He still impacted games, helping Fulham win, but it was more because of his mentality than any other thing. In most of these games, Sam engaged in so much physical duels that his body was left aching at the end of it all.

Of course, with the physical conditioning elixirs that he consumed daily; it helped a lot with his post-match recovery but even this was not enough during the first few months.

That was how intense and grueling the physical drain of the premier league was but after almost 3 months, Sam was finally adapting.

This growth was fully embodied in the Sheffield United game.

Despite doing everything that he normally did during games, riding on his incredible never give up mentality, Coach Marco Silva could not help but notice something during the game.

Despite facing the physically imposing Sheffield United players, unlike in other games when Sam wriggled his way out of trouble through sheer energy and skill, today, Sam stood up to the physical challenge than in other matches.

Sam didn't even notice this, only his coach who was now fully invested in his development noticed.

Coach Marco Silva did not inform him though, only discussing it with his assistants to know how they would approach Sam's future development.

After the Sheffield United game, Sam was exhausted and was why he slept early. Waking up around 4am in the morning though, he saw a new system notification that surprised him.

~----~

[You have completed premier league matchday mission: A stalemate!]

[You played over 90 minutes of this game, doing your part in an exciting 6-goal thriller that ended in a stalemate!]

[Calculating reward…, please wait…]

[Calculation complete!]

[You have been rewarded with 15 Skill Points!]

[You have been rewarded with bonus 5 Skill Points!]

…

[Due to your role in participating in such an intense and grueling thriller, effectively asserting your authority over the game, real-time game experience accumulation has triggered!]

[Congratulations! You have broken a bottleneck!]

[Your physicality has improved by +3!]

[Your overall system rating has increased!]

[You have unlocked a passive skill: Stalwart!]

>You have proven your credentials as a reliable stalwart with well-rounded attributes in the middle of the pitch. You can score, you can assist, you can dribble, and you can press; you are the complete package<

>+10% to all 4 packages when on the pitch<

>All 4 packages refer to your shooting attribute, your passing attribute, your dribbling attribute, and your stamina attribute<

[System Remark: Solid Player!]

…

Player Attributes:

*Pace: 81

*Shot: 79

*Pass: 80

*Dribbling: 74

*Defending: 38

*Physicality: 73

*Stamina: 84

Overall Rating: 81

…

[Owned Football Skills:]

[Passive skill: Stalwart]

[Active skills:]

[Basic mastery level: La croqueta; body feint; Power shot; step overs, roulette, knuckle shot, overhead kick]

[Intermediate mastery level: Elastico, Cruyff turn]

…

[Legendary Inheritance: Elastico]

~----~

Staring at the notifications on his system's interface, Sam was pleasantly surprised. He grinned. 'Surprise surprise!'

This was not Sam's first time knowing of a passive skill.

He first noticed it when he played against Liverpool in the EFL Cup semifinal. Then, walking into the tunnel shoulder to shoulder with the likes of world-class stars like Virgil Van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister, and the others, he had a prime opportunity to go on a rampage with his snooping tool.

The good thing about his snooping tool was that he could use it to scan multiple players at once to know all of their ability status.

And of the 11 Liverpool players that he checked before the game started, 3 of them had passive skills, the only time Sam had seen them in a player before he also saw one in Cole Palmer when he clashed with Chelsea in the final.

Alexis Mac Allister had a passive skill called midfield maestro. It improved his playmaking skills by 20% on the pitch.

Allison Becker, the Liverpool goalkeeper who Sam got the opportunity to scan on the bench also had a passive skill called One-on-one specialist. It improved his one-on-one saving skills by an incredible 40% on the pitch.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Cole Palmer had a passive skill called midfield enforcer. It improved his ability of contributing to a game by scoring a goal or assisting by 15%, and this percentage increases to 20% in the final minutes of a game.

As for Virgin Van Dijk, the Liverpool legend did not have just 1 passive skill but 2. His first passive skill was called Solid Defender; it improved his zonal marking and tackling abilities by 20% on the pitch.

As for his second passive skill, it was called Power Header. It worked in conjunction with the Power Header skill, increasing Van Dijk's chances of scoring when he uses the power header skill by 30%.

After reading the status of these players in awe, admiring their passive skills, finally, Sam got his very own passive skill and it was just as impressive as theirs.