The Emperor Pushed Out of Competition
"Ah... this is so damn boring. America was at least noisy, but here... isn't it way too quiet?"
Hailey muttered her complaints, irritation dripping from every word.
Beside her, Yohan—who had been watching a popular American drama—turned his head.
"What do you mean by noisy?"
"There were so many people. Relatives were always dropping by the house, so it was always packed."
"Ah, yeah, that was definitely true. But didn't you just go out with Emma?"
"I did."
"And you're still bored?"
"Yeah. Never thought I'd say this, but I wish school would start already."
"Missing your friends?"
"Not friends—minions. Underlings."
"Where on earth do you pick up words like that?"
"It was in the drama just now."
"So you only listen for the slang?"
"You looking for a fight?"
Hailey made a show of kicking at Yohan, then rose from the sofa and stretched long and slow.
"I hate everything about this place from top to bottom," she continued, "but the tiramisu is actually good. Let's go out and get some."
"No can do."
"Why not?"
"The club told me to watch my diet. I put on too much fat while we were in America."
"How much could you have eaten to need a diet? They're ridiculous. Fine—buy one and we'll split it."
"I said no."
"Not even one bite? It wouldn't even show."
"....."
"You want some too, don't you? It's written all over your face."
She was right. Yohan loved tiramisu.
More precisely, he loved anything sweet. And because Hailey always knew the best dessert spots, tagging along with her had completely rewired his palate to match hers.
"You totally want it."
"I really shouldn't..."
"Let's get the one with ice cream on top."
"...Well... ah, but still..."
"One bite is fine. You won't gain weight."
"You think so? It is just one bite... should be okay, right?"
"Exactly. Come on, let's go."
Hailey grabbed Yohan's arm and pulled; he unfolded from the sofa as lightly as a feather. She giggled at the sight.
There was a reason she treated him like a kid.
He caved to temptation that easily.
In the end, Yohan and Hailey each polished off an entire tiramisu of their own.
He simply could not resist the lure of food.
It was one of the few traits he had never managed to fix.
Among the six new signings who had arrived in Rome, the player carrying the highest expectations was Petr Novak.
He was a striker who had scored fifteen goals for Sampdoria the previous season—a side that finished fourteenth. Given how few chances a weak team creates, putting away fifteen was almost a one-man show.
Inside Serie A, Juventus and Inter had also chased him, but Roma moved first and secured the deal. For the club it was a welcome acquisition, yet one that left a faintly bitter aftertaste.
When the contract details surfaced, it became clear Roma had been very much the weaker party at the table.
Novak could have joined a Champions League side, yet he chose Roma because of superior playing-time guarantees and wages. On top of that, a sixty-million-euro release clause was attached—enough for any rich club to pry him away without too much pain if they truly wanted him.
Roma had become the kind of club players now viewed as a convenient stepping-stone.
That impression, once the contract leaked, left a handful of supporters with a sour feeling.
It was against that backdrop that the 2018/19 Serie A season opened with an away trip to Udinese.
Yohan found himself on the bench rather than in the starting eleven.
Novak and Guidotti occupied the forward spots, Lorenzo took the second line, and the midfield three of Rossi, Solomon, and Ricci—already an elite unit—left no room for him.
Judged purely on the starting midfield, the side was not quite title-contender calibre, yet it was close enough. The back line looked formidable as well: Miguel and Mackenzie had always been solid, while Nathan and the newly signed Nigerian, Ekene Nwosu, both carried strong reputations. Bastien, the goalkeeper, had been ordinary in the World Cup final but spectacular in every match before it—calling him a key piece was almost an understatement.
Even the substitutes were high quality. Barring a plague of injuries, people expected Roma to make some noise.
Riding that wave of expectation, Roma took the field.
And the match unfolded strangely.
Turnovers kept occurring deep in the opponent's half, and one player offered zero defensive help, becoming a pure liability. That player was Lorenzo.
Ah...
Sitting on the bench, Yohan felt a deep, helpless sigh rise inside him.
The same Lorenzo who, in Yohan's childhood, had once dazzled crowds with breathtaking flair was now visibly crumbling under the weight of the years.
Thirty-four. For most players that was the age when quality dropped off a cliff. Careful self-management could preserve form, but Lorenzo had never been that rigorous. His position—the second line—was also one that exposed decline immediately. The sum of those factors left the current Lorenzo looking, even with the kindest spin, far from good.
"Warm up. You're going on for Enzo."
The manager was already preparing the substitution—not to play alongside him, but to replace him. And it was only the thirtieth minute of the first half.
Bringing a player off that early without injury meant the performance had been abysmal.
Yohan began loosening up as Ferraro instructed, a heavy feeling in his chest, yet he was not truly worried.
Last season Lorenzo had still been razor-sharp. His defensive contribution had already been limited, but his vision and passing range had not vanished. There was no way three months could have eroded him this far.
It was temporary. Just a bad day.
When the substitution window opened, Yohan stood beside the fourth official. Lorenzo handed the captain's armband to Ricci, then walked over with a blank face and pulled Yohan into a brief embrace. Yohan bit down hard on his lower lip.
"Do well."
"Yes."
It hurt, but it was inevitable. Every player competed. Careers were full of moments when someone got pushed aside.
Time was cruel, yet plenty of players still thrived at that age. Lorenzo would take this match as a lesson and come back stronger. Yohan believed that—Lorenzo's competitive fire was that fierce.
That did not mean Yohan would ever yield the position if they ended up fighting for it. He would grind his teeth and fight for every starting place.
That was what competition meant.
The attacking midfield role he stepped into was one of the two positions Yohan felt most at home in. Because he had never played there last season, the fans felt a flicker of unease—until the moment he entered and the attack suddenly began to flow. Their worries evaporated at once.
Thwack!
Near the end of the first half, Yohan threaded a perfect ball into the gap. Novak met it first-time and smashed home his debut goal.
In the second half Roma's attack fully awakened, tearing Udinese apart. Guidotti and Rossi each added a goal. The defence snuffed out the few chances Udinese managed to create, securing a clean sheet and a comfortable win.
In that match Yohan completely replaced Lorenzo and earned glowing praise.
In the next fixture he started in the second line, created eight chances, and helped secure another victory. Eight chances created in a single game was a record that had not been touched since Lorenzo himself set it seven years earlier.
Roma raced through the first four rounds undefeated and sat top of Serie A. Their opening Europa League group match ended in a 4–0 thrashing as well. The side looked unstoppable.
Then they hit a speed bump.
Away to Empoli in round five they could only manage a draw. For Yohan it was the first draw of his career, and the performance itself had been nothing special. Dropping points against a weaker side cooled the public mood a little—until the following matches against Sampdoria and Cagliari produced emphatic wins, and the second Europa League group game finished 2–0 with another strong display. The doubts faded.
Then came round eight: Napoli at home.
After an end-to-end battle, Roma settled for a frustrating draw.
After eight rounds the record stood at six wins and two draws. With twenty points Roma shared second place with Inter.
By then Yohan had two goals and four assists in the league, plus one more assist in Europe—outstanding attacking output. Four assists in eight league games (five including Europe) stood out most of all. The simplest, most effective metric—passes that led directly to goals—had him alone at the top of Serie A, and that number kept elevating every evaluation of him.
Beyond chance creation, even his defensive numbers were solid. He had become an automatic starter.
Manager Ferraro, who had originally believed Yohan would be best as a deep midfielder, watched him dominate the second line and simply locked him into that role when writing the team sheet.
The attacking-midfield spot no longer belonged to Lorenzo. It belonged to Yohan.
People began saying Yohan had inherited Lorenzo's throne. Those with an artistic bent even painted the first-round substitution as a king handing his crown to the next generation before the eyes of his subjects.
Pushed out of the starting role, Lorenzo now came on for Guidotti or one of the midfield three. Whatever lesson he had taken from that opening match, he performed well whenever he appeared. Against Napoli he started in Guidotti's place, scored twice, and proved to the world that he was far from finished.
After round eight came the two-week international break.
Yohan received a call-up to the U-20 national team and prepared to answer it—until the club slammed the door shut.
Unless it was a full senior A-match call-up with no right of refusal, Roma's stance was absolute: a player now classified as a core asset would not be released to any national team.
"The club asked me to pass on how truly sorry they are," Simone told him. "They even added that if the schedule allows next time, they'll definitely send you."
Yohan felt the disappointment, yet given the circumstances—and the fact that the club was still trying to soothe him even after exercising a perfectly legitimate refusal—he understood and accepted it.
"I understand."
In that case, he would simply enjoy the rest he had been given.
The first person who came to mind was Hailey.