"Hey Maria" Christophe says as I approach. He is talking to Hugo Ekitike, I know that because I recognize him from pictures as well. "This is Hugo, Hugo this is my niece" he shortly says.
"Hi, nice to meet you" I shake his hand. Every single one of the players that I met so far look so good. I'm gonna have fun here.
"Nice to meet you too", Hugo smiles at me. In the meantime Kylian, Neymar and Marcos already went to changing rooms.
"Are you excited?" My uncle asks and Hugo walks away with a quick nod.
"Nervous", I whine. I don't realize how nervous I am until I arrive here and take a look around. We are standing in the hall where on the left side in the corner I can see a tunnel and changing room sign and laughter coming from the same direction. On the right side is a big glass door through which I can see the stadium. It is a smaller one with a lot of different equipment on the field.
"No need to be, you will be working with some amazing people and I am here to help if you come across any issues", he says.
"Who will I be working with?" I ask.
"With Leá and Camille, they will be here any minute now. Those two girls are amazing. They have been working for me for a year now and I can't complain", he tells me.
"What do they do exactly?" I feel a little intimidated.
"They are nutritionists for the youth team and sometimes for the first team as well, they do their job well", he says proudly.
"Okay then", I breath out.
"Today you will be with me on the field outside to observe the team playing. Try to recognize how they react to other players passing them the ball, how they react when they miss the goal, what triggers them on the field, what seems to make them angry and just generally any kind of reaction they give. Write it all down and then later you know what to say to them", he explains and I nod. This is something I am confident I can do and know that I am good at it.
"Alright I can do that", I say confidently.
"Didn't doubt you for a second", he smiles. "Come with me, I'll show you your office". He walks in front of me and I follow him through the hall where I assume are the changing rooms. As we walk I hear voices and laughter get louder and as I turn left I see through an open door a changing room and most of the PSG players changing. From the corner of my eye I see Neymar's shirtless torso and I quickly look in front of me, praying he didn't catch it. I looked only for a second but I have a clear image of his chest and his tattoos in my head now.
"Here it is", Christophe opens the door on the right, almost right across the changing room. "It's only temporarily, we don't have any available offices now, but as soon as something opens I will let you know" he explains and I nod. Does it have to be across the changing room? My doors will definitely be closed all the time I say to myself. I take a look around the 'office'. It's not much but it is more than fine for me. There is a desk in the right corner facing away from the window and the view on the stadium, and in the left corner is a sofa and a chair facing the sofa. Cute.
"Alright I'll give you couple of minutes to organize the documents and prepare", he says. "I'll wait for you on the field". I put the documents I held in my hands on the desk and I take a seat, trying to fix the swivel chair. I take my notebook out and look through the documents one more time. Even though I prepared well, I still wanted to make sure I have all the information needed. I go through the players' profiles one more time and the notes their previous counselor made. I raise my head when I hear a knock on the door.
"You look like a pro", Kylian remarks, standing in the door frame. He has PSG training clothes on, the shorts exposing his leg muscles. His mood seems to have improved but his eyes still reveal he had a sleepless night. I want to ask him but just thinking about it makes me uncomfortable. I don't know if he would want to talk to me about it.
