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[Thursday, 03/10/2019, 12:00, Leverkusen]
2 days after Leverkusen clashed with Juventus in Italy headlines in the sporting world still reported on the match. After all the redlines practically created an underdog story that even plywood couldn't script better. They had almost died on the way there, fell 2 nothing during the first half and had their lead levelled by one of the best players in the world.
Usually, a goal like that would end in a team either winning the game or ending it in a draw but not in this one. Juventus lost their lead in one of the most unexpected goals in this Champions League, a goal from a corner. However, it was Rakim's refusal to accept Ronaldo's kit because it was a Juventus kit that the football media decided to make news.
It seemed that while he was talking to Ronaldo a camera managed to pick up his words and the Italian media decided to push it. For them, it was a matter of protecting their league which was seeing an uptick in interest when Ronaldo joined in 2018 the previous year. So, like any organization running an entertainment league like the Serie A perception is all they care about and depressing racist allegations in one of the flagship teams became paramount.
Thus, Rakim spent his off time trying to dodge a couple of paparazzi trying to interview him on his bad sportsmanship. Luckily it wasn't too bad as neither Juventus nor Serie A wanted him to really speak his mind with the news. After all, they had gotten so used to putting a plaster on a pig and shining more light on it wouldn't do them good.
Rakim didn't have to personally say anything as the Leverkusen media team was running a full-court offensive. The German reporters also got in on the action as they sent their own reporters to interview foreign players writing exposes on their treatment in the league. However, none of this was published in major media outlets as only a few minor online publications didn't care about politics enough to stop criticizing Juventus and the Serie A.
However, most were quickly suppressed by the powerful influence of Italian football organizations, eager to protect their image. The one publication in Germany that didn't care about playing nice and even regularly criticized their own government decided to throw a punch the very next day after the game. "Red Lions Wunderkind Rakim Rex score's group stage winner among Racist abuse." That was how Rakim achieved his second cover appearance in any German publication after his destruction of Dusseldorf.
None of the controversies mattered to Rakim at this very moment as he heeded his team's advice to let them handle the media war. According to Marcus the head of marketing there is nothing better to unite the fans than a common enemy, especially one that seems like a giant like Juventus and Serie A. It became a pastime for the player to browse his socials to read the support he received from his fans and the keyboard war they fought with Italian fans.
While all this was going on Rakim was fighting another war in a board room as he did his best to appear as if he was interested in the discussion. He had been sitting in this conference room for about an hour just listening to his mother and Uncle William discuss things with a group of well-dressed suits.
They had already discussed the main bits of the deal and just needed to hammer out little details. This was prone to be the biggest deal Rakim would sign in his young career and would be significant for at least half his playing days. It was a shoe deal that saw him tied to the company for a decade until he turned 26.
However, the payoff was well worth it as what they offered is unprecedented for any athlete. Since the company had struck gold with recent investments with drivers in motorsport, and some up-and-coming footballers, they wanted to make their mark. They were currently a medium-scale apparel company that mainly focused on streetwear and sneakers.
Their Career in producing football boots had been about a decade breaking into the industry in 2008. They did well adapting to trends and improving their R&D departments aiming to stockpile ideas to continuously innovate their boots. It went well for a while until they started eating too much of the market share gaining the ire of more established companies.
Since they are a US-based company, they managed to monopolies a good bit of the womans soccer market. However, that's where their problem started with women's football gaining traction big players like Niki and Adidas heavily invested in this niche market, making it a proper market. From having a dominant position, they found a lot of their clients being poached with the two giants outright buying out their penalties when possible.
This change forced Apex Apparel and Co. to make drastic changes as some of the shareholders gave up and started selling their stakes back to the CEO. Since they had gotten money from all the compensation Grant Jones had to make a drastic choice. Thus, while he was debating whether to give up on the sports shoe market and focus more on apparel and streetwear, he saw his chance.
He had been jealous of how Niki and Adides managed to pick up young stars with their brand image alone, but one of the biggest up-and-coming stars was currently unsigned. Niki had managed to drop the ball and Rakim was without a signature but that didn't mean he had a chance to sign the wonder kid given his current value at such a young age. Added to the fact the young star was already so prolific in the eyes of the media at only 16 as he walked the walk and backed it up with talk.
He had expected one of the other big 3 to pick up his signature like Puma had done with the Brazilian prince. None of that happened as from what he heard they seemed to blockade any company from offering too much to the kid's agent. It seemed they had reached an agreement giving NIKI the chance to recruit the kid back into their fold.
Jones didn't give to $hit$ about whatever agreement they reached and decided to reach out to his agent Lisa. It was only later he found out she was his mother and understood why she was so careful with this deal after being burnt with Niki. Thus, he didn't hesitate and decided to swing for the jugular, especially after seeing Rakim wear his company's boot to destroy Düsseldorf in the Bundesliga.
That match gave him goosebumps since he had never seen any of the athletes his company had signed ever perform like that. He was in Germany for a business deal and the person he was negotiating with took him to watch the match at a high-end sports bar. That day is when he knew for sure that he had to give it his all to at least try gaining his signature, and when his team showed interest he was delighted.
They talked for a few months with talks intensifying when Niki blocked Rakim's entry into Team USA under-17's. They held the talks secretly with Jones only utilizing his most trusted employees as he was ready to bet big one more time for the 2022 World Cup. Thus, he was ready to offer Rakim a deal he couldn't refuse which led to today's final meeting to finalize things.
"Let's go over the deal one more time," A bespectacled woman stated with a serious face gaining the attention of everyone present even Rakim who had mastered the art of zoning out but looked like he was paying attention.
"Rakim Rex will sign a 10-year deal with Apex Apparel & co, exclusively wearing our boots in official matches. Becoming our flagship Ambassador of the Apex brand, he will be required to appear in at least 2 commercials a year with Apex planning commercial shoots around his working schedule. He will be required to post a minimum of 2 pictures a month wearing our boots earning $5,00 for each additional post." She stopped speaking after this, taking a moment before stating all the media and brand events they would like him to attend but these were optional.
After completely stating all the obligations he would have to adhere to, she finally moved on to talk about compensation. Feeling the shift Rakim paid more attention wanting to understand what his mother and uncle had negotiated. "In exchange for this Apex agrees to a one-time compensation of 1 million USD as a signing bonus or the equivalent in Shares amounting to 3% as of today. Apex agrees to launch a signature shoe if Rakim Rex meets certain targets both on the playing field and off it this season automatically triggering this clause. This would officially launch the Rex brand which would be a Collab between Apex and Rex Fashion & Sport."