Malick Fofana was 21, and there were two planes waiting for him on the tarmac.
One was headed to Sunderland, the city where he had already signed an agreement. The other was bound for London, where Crystal Palace had appeared out of nowhere at the last minute to tempt him.
Fofana boarded the second one. He landed in the English capital convinced that was where the story ended. Everything was ready and arranged at Crystal Palace.
But Sunderland did not give up. They improved the offer to his agents, and while the Belgian player was already walking around London, he stopped responding to Crystal Palace’s messages.
Eventually, he signed with the club he had almost lost at the airport: Sunderland. Sometimes fate isn’t decided in a boardroom, but in the boarding line.