THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Zachary was surprised by the turn up for his unveiling ceremony that afternoon. While walking around the pitch, he could easily judge that more than 40,000 fans were in the Juventus stadium to welcome him. Most were even yelling his name in chorus while waving excitedly at him. As far as he was concerned, they had given him the warmest welcome a club could show to a new player. He couldn't contain the feelings of joy and pride bubbling within him.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!" The announcer yelled after Zachary had finished making his rounds around the pitch. "Let's put our hands together for Zachary Bemba, the new number 10, the future phenomenon for the most glorious club in Italy. Zachary Bemba! We welcome you to Juventus."

Without losing composure, Zachary smiled and stepped onto the stage positioned in the middle of the pitch. After taking a few steps, he stood before the familiar Fabio Paratici, the sporting director, who shook his hands enthusiastically and hugged him.

After a few seconds, the sporting director stepped back and grinned. "As I said, everyone at Juventus, including the fans, the top management, and the coaching staff, can't wait to see you playing for the club. Do you believe me now?"

Zachary nodded and smiled. "It's really an honor to have these many fans welcome me to the club. Thanks for organizing everything."

"You're welcome," Fabio said with a grin. "Come; I'll introduce you to the club chairman."

Without waiting for Zachary to respond, the sporting director led him by the hand toward another gentleman with a bushy beard and slightly overgrown eyebrows. "Andrea!" He said, his voice exuding a sense of pride. "This is Zachary in the flesh. He is finally here at the club."

The other gentlemen chuckled and extended his hand to Zachary, "Nice to finally meet you, Zachary Bemba," he said in English. "Thank you for choosing to join the most glorious club in Italy. On behalf of all the fans, the management, and club officials, I welcome you to Juventus."

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman," Zachary said, taking Andrea's hand. "I'm also happy to be here at the club. Thank you for signing me."

Andrea chuckled and released his hand. "Let's not make the fans wait any longer," he said. "We can discuss more after the ceremony. But for now, I'll first give a speech welcoming you to the club. Then, you can also follow my lead and say a few words to the fans. You can speak English and Fabio will be your interpreter. By the way, did you prepare a short speech for today?"

"Nope," Zachary replied honestly. "But don't worry. I can easily compose the speech within my head."

"Good," Andrea said. "Since you're ready, let's move on with the program."

With that said, the president stepped before the microphones positioned at the center of the podium and started speaking rapidly in Italian. His speech clearly excited the fans, and they kept on yelling after every sentence of his. And finally, he gave a few concluding remarks before welcoming Zachary to take center stage.

Zachary nodded and walked forward towards the microphones. Every step he took across the stage elicited a wave of thunderous cheers from the fans. But all that didn't affect his composure, and he finally stood before the microphones.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" He said, glancing around and towards the sea of fans in the stands. "Dear fans of Juventus! It's an honor to be here. Thanks a lot for taking the time to come and welcome me to this great club. And thank you for giving me the warmest of welcomes to Turin."

He paused and waited for Fabio to translate his words into Italian. The latter wasted no time completing the task, thus eliciting another wave of cheers from the fans in attendance.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Zachary continued after getting the signal to resume from Fabio. "Please bear with me for not speaking Italian. I'll do my best to learn the language in a few months."

Fabio translated that, causing many fans to whistle and burst into laughter. They seemed to be quite the understanding crowd and didn't mind Zachary's lack of knowledge of the Italian language. The only issue they probably cared about was what Zachary could do for their club on the pitch.

"I only wish to say a few words to all of you that have come to welcome me to Juventus," Zachary continued while Fabio translated. "It's really a great honor to be at this great club. It's a dream come true for me to be at such a club with glorious history. As such, I promise that I'll do my best and work hard to make all of you proud when I finally step on the pitch. I'll try my utmost to meet all your expectations as a Juventus player. I thank you all again for coming. JUVENTUS, OYE!" He pumped his fist and ended his short speech with a small cheer.

That got the fans going, and they responded to Zachary's cheer with zest. Then, a bit later, when he began showcasing his skills by juggling the ball on the podium, their voices rose up several notches and shook the entire stadium. They sang the famous chants of Juventus in Italian while occasionally mixing in his name for the next few minutes. They only stopped cheering when the unveiling ceremony ended with Zachary's return to the dressing room.

-----

Later that day, at five in the evening, Zachary attended his first press conference as a Juventus player. He spent an hour answering questions from many famous journalists working for popular media houses like ESPN, BBC, Sky Sports, and many others. And to respond to their queries, he talked about his aspirations at Juventus and why he chose to join Juventus, among other things.

Of course, Zachary couldn't say that he'd chosen Juventus because of the money the club offered him. That was publicity suicide. Instead, he repeatedly emphasized how Juventus was a great football club at the top of Europe and how he desired to succeed there.

Zachary honeyed his words and often mentioned how he wished to contribute to Juventus' glory by helping them win more trophies throughout the press session. His responses were very engaging to the extent that Fabio even mentioned that he could make a good politician after they exited the press room.

"So, Zachary," Fabio said as they made their way through the stadium's spotless hallways. "The press conference has marked the end of your official unveiling and initiation as a Juventus player. What remains is for you to settle down in Turin and start training with the team."

"I know," Zachary said, nodding. "I'll try to settle down as soon as possible."

"Excellent," Fabio said. "So, when do you think you can attend your first training? Before you reply, I hope you consider that you need to meet your teammates as soon as possible. You can't wait to get acquainted with them just before a game."

Zachary thought a bit and said, "If that's the case, then I won't try to look for a house before the pre-season tour. I'll instead settle down in a hotel near the training center. Then, I can work on my fitness for a few days before starting to train with the team on Monday, the 28th."

Fabio grinned and paused in his steps. "That's six days from now. Excellent choice. If you don't mind, we can arrange a hotel for you as a club. It would be very comfy and at no cost. What do you think?"

"Of course, I don't mind," Zachary hurriedly replied. "I would greatly appreciate it if the club organizes a secure hotel room for me. That would save me a lot of trouble."

"Then, let's do this," Fabio said, "I'll instruct my secretary to book for you an executive room at the J Hotel. Since the hotel belongs to the club, you can stay there until you find your own house in Turin. But I must warn you not to get too comfortable and stay there for a long time. One to six months is okay. But beyond that, the hotel management will start billing your stay at the hotel."

Zachary chuckled. "And why would I wish to stay for all that time in a hotel? I'll get myself a house after we return from the pre-season tour."

"Then, excellent," Fabio said. "We must part ways now, as I'm heading for another meeting. We'll meet again when you turn up for training on Monday. I'm looking forward to that."

"Don't worry," Zachary assured. "I'll be there."

-----

The next six days were like a roller coaster ride for Zachary, especially since he was busy. After settling down in a comfy executive room of the J Hotel, he spent most of his time training in the gym or on the turfs to deal with the side effects of the S-grade vitality-enhancing elixir.

Under the guidance of Coach Bjørn Peters, the fitness coach who had surprisingly already arrived in Turin, Zachary was like a maniac as he exercised like never before. Sometimes, he would even beg his fitness trainer to add more load to his training due to his urgency. He was that serious as he wanted to attain top match fitness before the start of the Serie A season on August 30th.

But that was not all there was to Zachary's schedule. Aside from the training, he also enrolled in a language school and took his first step towards his immediate goal of learning Italian. Every evening, he would head to the L'Italiano Porticando and spend about three hours pronouncing Italian words that he couldn't yet understand.

Of course, the classes were boring to Zachary since they were unrelated to sports. But for his future as a Juventus player, he soon became focused and even tasked his interpreter with the task of purchasing for him several Italian textbooks. As a result, trying to read the seemingly alien Italian books became another additional task he had to complete on a daily basis.

With such a hectic schedule tying him down, Zachary didn't feel the passing of time. One morning he woke up and was about to start going through his yoga routine before 'reading' his Italian textbook. Then suddenly, his phone started vibrating from a nearby table in the hotel room.

Zachary stepped forward and immediately scooped it up from the table. After glancing at the screen, he learned that the call was from Antonella Busso, Fabio Paratici's secretary. She was the charming lady who had helped arrange his executive room at the J Hotel.

"Hello, Miss Antonella," he spoke after pressing the accept button and holding the phone against his ear. "Nice to hear from you again."

"Hello, Mr. Bemba," The lady at the other end of the line said, her voice professional. "How's your morning? Are you enjoying your stay at the J Hotel?"

"My morning is perfect," Zachary responded. "And the hotel has everything I need. As you said, it's a very comfy place."

"I'm glad you like it," she said. "Now to the main point of why I'm calling you early in the morning. Mr. Paratici, the sporting director, has just instructed me to inform you that it's already Monday, the 28th. He hopes you can attend the team training at the Vinovo as you had promised. The training begins at 9:00 AM."

"Okay," Zachary said. "I got the message, and thanks for reminding me. I'll be at the training ground on time. You can tell the sporting director that."

"Great," the lady on the other side said. "I wish you all the best during your first training as a Juventus player. And if you need anything, don't hesitate to contact me. I'll try to the best of my abilities to assist you, especially since the sporting director has tasked me with helping you settle into the club."

"I'll remember that," Zachary said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the lady at the other end said before ending the call.