You are my mums (a Lucy Bronze fanfic) - Book 2

Chapter 18 - Indescribable

Rosie's POV:

To date, the youngest ever professional women's football player is Melanie Barcenas. At 15 years old, that only makes her 6 months younger than me. Playing professionally at such a young age isn't unheard of, but it definitely isn't common. Keira signed her first professional contract with Man City at 18, Lucy was 19 with Everton, Alexia was 18. I'm effectively still a child. But after I've signed, everything will change. I'll be treated as an adult and my career will have begun. 

It's crazy to think that the WSL only became completely professional in 2018, and the Women's Championship still isn't completely there yet. Many players in the lower leagues will have been playing for years while trying to maintain a job on the side. But here I am, signing a contact to earn a six figure salary at 16. That doesn't seem fair. 

I'm signing a 2 deal until 2025. During that time, I can't be bought by any other clubs or go out on loan. By the time that ends, I'll be 18 and will have to decide whether to stay with Barcelona if they want me or move somewhere else. 

Barcelona had sent me a polo shirt and some joggers to do my signing in. After, I will be given a full kit with my name and number on the back to take some photos at Camp Nou similar to what Keira and Lucy did. I still didn't know which number I would be wearing though. At Man City, I was 7, but that was Ana's number. From all the numbers up to 40, there were only a few available - 26, 29, 31, 35, 38, 39. To be honest, I don't care which number I get because I'll still be wearing the shirt and playing for Barcelona. 

Me, Keira and Lucy were all sat patiently waiting in the lobby of Barcelona's training campus main building. They had dressed up nicely for the occasion and appeared to be more nervous than me. I was just casually scrolling through Instagram and TikTok, but Keira was bouncing her leg restlessly, keeping her eyes fixed on the door Jonatan was due to come out of any minute. Lucy was constantly double checking the time on her phone, ensuring that we were on time and not late. 

"Please, take a seat Rosie". Barcelona's director for women's football told me. There were many important people in the room such as: the club President, the club Secretary, a couple of board members and of course, Jonatan. There were also many photographers with big, black cameras sitting on tripods in front of the desk I was about to be seated at. They each greeted me, Lucy and Keira and then the President began to read out the terms in my contract. When he had gone through every single piece of information on the piece of paper, he looked at me and questioned, "Does that all sound okay?". Nodding my head, the moment I had been waiting for my entire life was on the verge of happening. 

Silence filled the room as I finally put pen to paper. The light scratching sound was the only thing to be heard until I looked up from the paper, smiling widely and a short round of applaused sounded throughout the room. Barcelona's president held my shirt up for me to see it: R.Bronze 35. The gold lettering and numbers stood out from the blue and red stripes, shining in the overhead lighting. Since me and Lucy would be playing on the same team in potentially the same games, I had to get my first name initial on it as well. But I didn't mind. He reached out his hand to shake mine, "Welcome to the Barcelona family Rosie". I replied with a thanks and a wide grin as he passed my shirt to me. 

The photo session began. Hundreds of photos must've been taken: some by myself, some with Lucy and Keira, some with Jonatan, some with the Board of Directors and finally some with the President of Barcelona. It reminded me of when I signed for City, only this was much different. They reassured that they would send all the photos to me and I could post them on my social media once Barcelona had made the official announcement first. 

It felt surreal to be able to call myself a Barcelona player and I'm sure that it's going to be a shock to everyone when it's finally announced. No one knows that it was happening, not even family. I've been so busy wrapped up in my bubble of happiness and pride that I completely forgot to mention it to anyone. I'm sure Leah will have something to say about me keeping it from her. To be fair, I only found out a week prior that they wanted me to sign. That week had been absolutely hectic. I had got a tattoo and had to come to terms that I was about to join the best team in the world. There were going to be some shocked and surprised reactions for definite.