Chapter Four: An Old Injury Worth Eight Million

On the first Saturday after the transfer window closed, Harborbridge were two goals down at home. Milo sat on the bench. His registration was complete, but his fitness report permitted him only thirty minutes. Rain leaked through the North Stand at the Old Dockyard, beneath a new banner: WE BOUGHT BACK A CHOICE, NOT A MIRACLE. In the sixty-second minute, Joe Harding called Milo over. “Does the boy you paid four-point-seven million for know how to defend?” the old manager asked Lin Zheng. “No.” “Then he'd better know how to win.” Milo's first touch split two defensive lines. In the seventy-fourth minute, surrounded by three opponents, he back-heeled the ball for Harborbridge to pull one back.