The crowd was roaring.Wembley was alive.And Alexander Marshall was flying.
Nineteen years old, boots laced with dreams, and a Three Lions shirt clinging to his sweat-drenched back. His debut. His moment.
Then came the tackle.
A sickening crunch.A white-hot pain.A stadium falling into silence.
He didn't hear the whistle.He didn't hear the chants.He only heard the tearing of his dream, screaming from his knee.
They told him he'd never play again.
Multiple surgeries. Failed rehab. Media calling him "the biggest what-if in English football."
He didn't give up.He couldn't.But effort meant nothing when your body betrayed you.
By 25, he was coaching U15s at a local academy. Still smiling. Still pretending it was enough.
Then, on a rainy Tuesday night, it all ended. A crash. A blur. Headlights.
And darkness.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
[Welcome, Player: Alexander Marshall]
[Rebirth Successful: Year 2012]
[Mission: Become the Greatest Footballer of All Time]
[Location: Manchester United Academy Dormitory]
Alex gasped, wide-eyed, staring at his hands. They were... young. No scars. No stiffness.
The calendar read July 2012.
And he heard it again—A voice, cold and robotic, but oddly familiar.
"Let's try this again, shall we?"