A few hours after Tyler entered the car and left Rising Stars Academy's facilities, he touched down at Monaco. While on the flight, he learnt something interesting. Apparently, Monaco was an independent nation that was just really close to France.
As soon as he landed, he was picked up by a car sent from the club. He was told not to worry about his clothes and to get to the club's facilities on time.
Thirty minutes after he was picked up, the car pulled up at AS Monaco performance center. After he got out of the car, he was escorted to a press room where his grandma was waiting outside, with a bunch of other people.
Tyler didn't care about the other people though, he walked towards his grandma, using all the self-restraint he had in him to stop himself from running and gave her a hug.
"Alright, that's enough. I'm old, you'll break my bones." Tyler's grandma started nudging him slightly after he hugged her for a couple of seconds.
"Sorry," Tyler said as he pulled away. "I'm just so happy to see you."
"So I'm here, I guess that means football has been kind to you this time around," his grandma said while looking around.
"Yeah, it has." Tyler smiled.
Tyler and his grandma caught up for a little while, before he was eventually interrupted by Janai who told him he still had a contract to sign.
Tyler and Janai walked inside the press room and were welcomed by Adi Hutter and the club's sporting director.
"Hello Tyler," Adi said in English, his accent was a bit flat. "How are you doing today?"
"I'm fine, thank you," Tyler said while smiling.
They shook hands and after a few superficial talks, Tyler walked behind the table in front of the press room which had his contract on it. He signed the contract, facing an onslaught of flashing lights from the cameras in front of him, and then took a picture with Adi Hutter.
After that, he took a picture with his grandmother and then the sporting director.
When the contract signing event was over, Tyler was taken around the first team facilities and shown around the training complex. After that, he was taken to the jersey store where he was told to pick his jersey number.
He was given a brochure which held all the jersey numbers available. Out of all the numbers available, there were two that he was struggling to choose from. The number 19 and the number 14. After deliberating for a little while, he chose the number 19.
They used a heat press machine to print his name on the jersey number after which he was made to hold the jersey up and take a picture with the manager and the sporting director.
The entire process was recorded and would be released on the club's official social media page. This wasn't because he was a superstar signing, but it was more of a PR move from the club to praise its recruitment team. But to Tyler it only put more pressure on him to perform well.
Later in the day, Tyler's grandma informed him that she was leaving. Tyler tried to convince her to stay but she said that she didn't want to move to a new country at such an old age. Tyler could only respect her wish and let her go.
"Alright Tyler, I'm sure you're excited to be here." Adi Hutter wrapped his arms around Tyler's neck as soon as the press and PR team left. They had left the AS Monaco performance center and Adi was currently taking him to the club's arranged accommodation for him. He was apparently going to share it with someone else. "But being excited won't get you anywhere. I need you to work hard and earn your spot here. You're an investment that's been made by the club. And as I'm sure you know, whenever businesses make an investment, they want returns or they get rid of the investment."
Tyler nodded. In other words, Adi Hutter was telling him that he had to prove he was worth what the club spent on him or he would be binned.
"No pressure though, you're a young boy from a different country so of course you'll need time to adapt." Adi Hutter continued, making Tyler roll his eyes internally.
He basically threatened him to make good performances and then said that there was no pressure.
"So I've thought about it and while you'll train with the first team, you'll have a couple of games with the under twenty threes so that you'll get up to speed. Of course, if I see that you're good enough through the training then I guess you won't have to spend much time with the youth squad then."
The two of them talked for a few minutes until they finally reached their destination. It was a tall building that contained several apartments. According to the gaffer, the building belonged to the club and it was where players like Tyler who just arrived at the country and had nowhere to stay crashed at until they had a place to stay.
According to Hutter, he could stay at the building for as long as he liked but the players preferred to leave as soon as they could get their own place.
Tyler stared at the building with a smile on his face after Hutter left.
'Welp, it looks like rent and the other bills have been sorted'.
Tyler wasn't earning a shitload of money yet so he couldn't just close his eyes and move to a new apartment because he didn't want to stay at a place that the club provided. He went into the building, and after a chat with the receptionist, he learnt that all his things had been moved into his room.
He also learnt that he wasn't the only one that would be staying in the apartment that was provided.