It's Always Been You

Chapter 1

August 2021 - Lyon, France

My first day of training was definitely different. As soon as I arrived in France, I was at the Lyon training centre and rushed into signing day duties. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before - the quick tempo and the French environment - it was exhilarating. Despite my initial worries, arriving at the club strangely calmed my nerves, making the move feel somewhat right.

"The famous Valentine Dahlberg, it is so nice to meet you." One of the Lyon coaches said to me as I got out of the car, shaking my hand at the same time.

"Val, is fine." I replied laughing, not having heard my full name for a while. "It's great to meet you as well!"

"Of course, Val." He responded and introduced me to the physiotherapist and medical staff, along with the social media coordinators and so on. They had all come to meet me at the entrance, which I really appreciated. "We are so excited to work with you, and I know the team is also. This morning you will participate in a short training session, where we will also be taking pictures of you for the media release. Then this afternoon you will be taking pictures in the kit and complete an interview. After that, your first day is over and tomorrow we have a full day of training."

"Sounds perfect." I responded, "I can't wait." Of course it was nerve-racking to start at a new club in a new country with new people. It wasn't the most 'Valentine' thing to do, but I wouldn't let my fear be visible to everyone. I was great at faking my emotions and putting on a brave face after all. Once I had finished the formal parts of my first day, including signing my two year contract, I was taken to the training grounds where the rest of the team was already warming up. A blonde haired girl, who I knew as Ellie Carpenter from Australia ran up to me to introduce herself, brining along a brunette I didn't recognise. It was nice to see them making a large effort to say hello, despite me appearing confident, I was so nervous underneath the surface.

"Hi! I'm Damaris." The brunette said, "It is so nice to meet you." Of course, Damaris Egurrola, I had played against her a couple times when she was at Everton. She played as centre back for them but at Lyon she was being used more as a central mid, similar to me.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Val. And you're Ellie Carpenter, right?" I responded, instantly putting on my practiced and enthusiastic smile, turning to face her.

"Yes!" She replied, "We are so excited to play with you! You're such a great player! Also, I am so jealous of your hair." I genuinely laughed when she said that, and as she ran her fingers through her own dyed hair she exclaimed again, "Look at my roots!"

"Well it's only genetics, and I most Scandinavians have blonde hair. I personally would absolutely love dark hair, it's so pretty. I'm too scared to dye it though!"

Ellie and Damaris both laughed, before pulling me along to meet the rest of the team. It was actually quite exciting meeting everyone, and I recognised quite a few of them from the national team scene and matches in other leagues. Even though I didn't have long enough conversations to make lasting impressions on anyone, realising the talent that surrounded me satisfied my inner football nerd. There was so much that I could learn and achieve at Lyon. I worked as hard as possible during training, with all of us participating in an 11 v. 11 scrimmage. On my team, joining me in the midfield was Damaris and the American player Catarina Macario. Dama was more of a defensive midfielder, similar to my position, but was able to shift to centre half, so she stayed back while I moved the ball up towards the forwards and Cat, who was more of an attacking midfielder and had the ability to play as a striker. It was a close game, but we were able to win 3-2. I assisted two; one for Cat and one for the Dane, Signe Brunn, with the final goal coming from a header from Wendie Renard. The coaches and my teammates praised my performance and thankfully, I seemed to have good initial chemistry with the team, which definitely settled my nerves a little. Both goals for the other team where scored by the Dutch international Danielle van de Donk. She was good, amazing even, and seemed to be settling in well after coming in from Arsenal over the summer. She wasn't even a forward and was still scoring the only goals on their team. I had played her before, with Sweden, with Manchester City and even back when I was playing for Linköping, but I had never been able to watch her play without the pressure of playing as opponents.