"This kid might actually be a genius?!"
On the sidelines of the Atlético Madrid B team training ground, Germán Burgos was briefing the B team manager, Milinko Pantić, about Shane Carter.
"You are telling me this kid is just a workhorse midfielder?"
Pantić pointed at Shane, who was currently out on the pitch effortlessly juggling the ball, demonstrating an exceptionally smooth first touch.
Germán squinted. He recalled the conversation he had with the American teenager on the ride over to the facility.
"Well, what he showed during that match for the Real Madrid U19s was outstanding physicality and defending," Germán muttered.
"Just integrate him into the squad first. We will find out what his real traits are once training gets going," Germán said. He waved his hand, calling Shane over.
"Shane, you will be training and playing with the B team for now. With your physicality, playing in the youth leagues is a bit of a waste. The B team matches should be a perfect fit."
Atlético Madrid B currently competed in the Segunda División B, the third tier of Spanish football. Many reserve teams of La Liga clubs played at this level, such as Real Madrid Castilla.
Although the Segunda B was largely a semi-professional league, the intensity of the matches was several notches higher than the U19 youth leagues. The opponents here were not kids. They were mostly fully grown men.
Shane nodded.
He had no objections to this arrangement.
It was December 2011, and Atlético Madrid was a fantastic destination for him.
For one thing, Atlético was a massive club. For another, it was close to home. Therefore, he had absolutely no reason to reject a youth contract with them.
Of course, he was not currently thinking about the first team just yet.
After all, until he actually proved his worth on the pitch, there was no way Diego Simeone would casually call up a seventeen year old kid to the senior squad.
According to Atlético Madrid's standard development path for academy players, even a prospect who eventually secured a spot in the first team had to grind. They had to play in the B team for two or three seasons, go out on loan for another two or three, and only then get recalled to the senior squad.
Current first team players like Koke and Gabi had all gone through that exact process.
Of course, that was the development path for ordinary geniuses.
For a monster like Shane, a seventeen year old armed with the passing and ball control of peak Zinedine Zidane, that standard process simply did not apply.
But Shane also knew he could not just talk his way to the top.
He had to show his abilities in a real match.
What he needed was an opportunity. And at Atlético Madrid B, there would be no shortage of opportunities.
As long as he showed his true quality, and as long as Simeone was not blind, he would not be ignored.
Moreover, a B team youth contract held absolutely no restrictive power over him. He was under eighteen and legally could not sign a binding professional contract yet.
Spanish football regulations were very strict on this. Youth contracts were not deeply protected by employment law. They were essentially just gentlemen's agreements.
Otherwise, Arsenal would not have had such an easy time poaching Cesc Fàbregas back in the day.
Once he unleashed his terrifying midfield dominance, the ones who should be worried would be Atlético Madrid.
...
Germán left the B team training ground.
In his view, Shane might have a decent amount of talent, but he was still miles away from the Atlético first team.
A seventeen year old simply had far too much to learn. Even B team matches might be slightly out of his depth for now.
Therefore, Germán figured it would probably be quite a long time before he saw the kid again. He was the first assistant manager of the senior team. He was a very busy man.
Meanwhile, B team manager Pantić had just received Shane's physical test report.
He had to admit, the numbers were incredibly satisfying.
One hundred and eighty four centimeters tall. Eighty five kilograms.
The kid did not look overly bulky in his kit. Weighing in at eighty five kilograms meant he had incredibly high muscle density and a very low body fat percentage.
What pleased Pantić the most were Shane's strength and stamina metrics.
A physique like that was not just impressive compared to other seventeen year olds. Even among fully grown professionals worldwide, it was well above average.
Considering Shane was only seventeen and still growing, Pantić could hardly imagine his ceiling.
With his relentless stamina and physical dominance, he was destined to be an absolute ball winning machine in the midfield.
Pantić could already picture it. A monstrous, muscle bound enforcer standing nearly one point nine meters tall.
In an era where pure defensive midfielders were becoming increasingly rare, he would definitely carve out a place for himself in professional football.
With that thought, Pantić put down the report. He instructed his assistants to officially integrate Shane into the squad.
...
"Hello, everyone. I am Shane Carter."
To be honest, Shane's first introduction to his new B team teammates was not exactly warm.
Some players completely ignored him, while the friendlier ones merely offered a polite nod or a brief smile.
A fish swimming over from a completely different pond could not expect to instantly integrate into the new school. It would take time.
However, Shane was not discouraged. He had experienced this exact same scenario just over a week ago at Real Madrid's U19 setup.
It was kind of crazy to think about. In just two short weeks, he had already bounced between two different clubs.
Luckily, it was the winter transfer window, meaning Atlético could still officially register him. If this had been delayed much longer, he would have been stuck purely training for the rest of the season without being allowed to play any official matches.
"Hey, I am Saúl."
A very young looking player stepped forward to greet him.
"I have heard of you," Shane smiled. "You are a regular starter for the Spain U19 national team. Good luck at the Euros this summer."
"Thanks."
Saúl grinned, a hint of pride flashing across his face. Securing a starting spot for the Spanish U19s at just seventeen was no small feat.
Saúl Ñíguez was undeniably a true prodigy.
He could play as a defensive midfielder, an attacking midfielder, or even out wide. He was incredibly versatile across the midfield and possessed a strong eye for goal.
He was also the absolute core of this Atlético Madrid B team.
Regardless, Saúl's acceptance was the critical first step for Shane in integrating into the squad.
Right now, the vast majority of the dressing room was watching the new American kid with a mix of curiosity and intense scrutiny.
Even Saúl was subtly evaluating him.
After all, exactly what kind of player was he to warrant the first team manager personally sending his assistant to bring him in?
...
The training regimen for the B team was vastly different from the youth academy.
The majority of the sessions involved tactical drills in groups. This was followed by high intensity intrasquad scrimmages.
During the tactical drills, Shane performed adequately, drawing no special attention.
Without any real physical pressure, almost every player at this level could pass, trap, dribble, and shoot perfectly. None of his teammates noticed anything particularly special about him yet.
To reveal a player's true quality, you had to throw them into a highly contested, pressurized environment.
The intrasquad scrimmage was the ultimate test.
The coaching staff, however, was growing increasingly pleased with Shane. His physical attributes were outstanding, and his fundamentals were rock solid.
That was more than enough for Pantić to consider starting him as the B team's primary defensive midfielder.
Therefore, before the scrimmage began, Shane was handed a red training bib. It was the color reserved for the starting eleven.
When he slipped the red bib over his head, the attitudes of the players who had previously ignored him instantly shifted.
Before this moment, Shane was just a random new kid. Offering him a smile was the extent of their charity.
But now, things were different.
He had literally just walked through the doors and was instantly handed a starter's bib. This fundamentally changed the dressing room dynamic.
When he posed no threat to their playing time, they could ignore him. But now, he had become a target of envy and resentment.
The players in the yellow substitute bibs all glared at him.
Even his teammates in red were scrutinizing him. What exactly could this kid do to waltz in and immediately take a starting spot?
...
Saúl was also quite surprised. He had not expected the coaches to value Shane this highly right off the bat.
Before kick off, Manager Pantić ran through the tactics.
The starting eleven would be playing a 4-1-4-1 system. Saúl would partner with another midfield prospect, Óliver Torres, as the two central midfielders.
Shane would anchor the midfield alone as the single pivot.
Stepping onto the pitch again, Shane felt entirely different from before.
He glanced around, and the positions of every single player on the pitch were instantly etched into his mind. His eyes functioned like radar, continuously feeding him spatial data and constructing a real time tactical map in his head.
Was this the power of having ninety five Vision?
Having elite vision did not just help with passing. It drastically improved his defending.
For example, when the substitutes shifted the ball out wide and tried to funnel a pass back into the center, Shane suddenly materialized perfectly in the passing lane, cleanly intercepting the ball.
Then, under intense pressing from an opposing player, he calmly shielded the ball, elegantly spun out of pressure, and laid it off into open space.
"Beautiful!"
On the touchline, Pantić could not help but applaud the defensive sequence.
Accurately cutting off the passing lane, shielding the ball under heavy pressure, and recycling possession to an unmarked teammate.
While Shane had not needed to use his bruising physicality, as a manager, Pantić knew that relying on anticipation, intelligent positioning, and clean interceptions was a far higher level of defending than merely relying on brute force.
This made Pantić even more eager to see what the boy would do next.
He locked his eyes onto Shane, watching his movement after shifting the ball out of the congested zone.
He saw Shane constantly scanning his surroundings before drifting into a pocket of space.
"His vision is fantastic!" Pantić suddenly remarked. "If his technical passing was just a bit better, he could easily be deployed as a deep lying playma... holy shit!"
Pantić was mid sentence speaking to his assistants when he saw the ball rolled back to Shane in open space.
Shane did not even take a touch. He simply swung his leg and launched a first time long ball.
The ball sliced through the air with a vicious backspin, flying at blistering speed toward the right half space just outside the penalty box.
As the ball hit the turf, the heavy backspin instantly killed its momentum. This allowed Saúl, who had perfectly timed his run into that exact pocket, to smoothly collect the ball in stride and slot it home with his right foot.
The ball rolled past the keeper's outstretched leg and nestled into the back of the net.
Having scored with ridiculous ease, Saúl turned around in absolute shock, staring back at Shane.
He had only made that forward run when Shane received the ball to drag away a defender and create space. He never expected Shane to instantly pick out the pass.
A sixty meter diagonal ball that completely bypassed the entire pitch.
It was hit with incredible pace, dropping right into Saúl's path just as he reached the box, dying on the grass so perfectly that Saúl barely needed to adjust his stride to shoot.
A sixty meter pass that essentially gift wrapped an unmissable goal.
That kind of passing ability was simply explosive.
Every single person on the pitch stared at the American teenager in stunned disbelief.
Pantić's jaw practically hit the floor.
"That is a defensive midfielder?"
He suddenly had very deep doubts about Germán Burgos's scouting abilities.
...
The intensity here is way too low.
That was Shane's immediate takeaway after just a few minutes of play.
Playing in a scrimmage like this could not even push him to give fifty percent, let alone a hundred.
Playing against these B team reserves reminded him of a charity event he did last month at Santa Ana, where the academy kids played against a local elementary school.
It felt exactly like playing against children. It was effortlessly easy.
I need to get to La Liga as fast as possible!
After delivering that long pass, that was the only thought burning in Shane's mind.
He took a deep breath. He raised his hand toward Saúl, who was sprinting over to celebrate.
The two high fived.
"Nice finish."
"Unbelievable pass!"
Meanwhile, more players in red bibs rushed over, swarming them in celebration.
As for the substitutes, all their previous resentment vanished.
On the football pitch, pure ability did the talking. Whether you had the goods or not was instantly proven by a pass like that.
With that level of execution, no one could complain about the new kid walking straight into the starting lineup.
For the remainder of the scrimmage, Shane fully unleashed his repertoire.
Controlling the tempo, threading passes, racking up assists.
He completely and utterly dictated the midfield.
Watching from the sidelines, Pantić felt a shiver run down his spine.
This kid was only seventeen years old!
Looking at the absolute masterclass he was putting on, Pantić suddenly realized a glaring issue.
Playing for Atlético Madrid B was going to be an absolute joke for this boy.
Shane belonged in the first team.
Pantić took a deep breath.
Even if it was just one intrasquad scrimmage, it was more than enough to make that definitive judgment.
"Playing for the B team is completely meaningless for him!" Pantić declared to his assistants.
"But boss, he is only seventeen."
"So what if he is seventeen? This is a generational talent! The kind of player this academy has not seen in a century!" Pantić exclaimed in awe. "I am calling Diego immediately. He absolutely must go to the first team!"