The days are ticking by and Heurelho Gomes hasn't heard a thing. No hint, no inkling, no wink of reassurance about a decision that has been taken as a foregone conclusion up in the clouds.
'There are 11 of them coming on planes,' he tells Sportsmail. 'That is six brothers and four sisters. And my mum, she is coming too.
'They are flying here from Brazil. The only one who is not is one of my brothers. He cannot make it, but the rest, they are coming. And they all expect me to play. Me? I expect nothing, my friend.'
With that comes the warm laugh of a warm man whose life as a goalkeeper is '99 per cent' certain to end with Saturday's FA Cup final, whether he gets the gig or not.
What the 38-year-old has planned for his second life will be every bit as interesting, and possibly even more so.
But then there's Gomes himself. 'People might not believe it but, really, if Ben plays I am cool with this, 100 per cent,' he says. 'I have been told nothing by no one about who it will be. I will probably find out in the meeting on the morning of the game and I will be cool either way.
'People will think I'm just saying this but no. This is a team. I am part of it but I am not it. In my contract it doesn't say I must play finals or every game. If someone is ahead of me I respect it.
'If my job is to play in this final I will be prepared. If my job is to not play I will still be prepared to play and I will do everything I can to help Ben. That might sound like something people do not believe, but please, believe me, that is the full truth. My joy is the team's joy. I want to help in any way I can.'
Gomes, an evangelical who worships at the Christian Community of London, says: 'Some agents are very good and some are not. I am going to do the things that are right and good in God's eyes. I know what players clubs in Europe are looking for and how I can help. As a pastor, it is something more recent in my heart. I got a call from God and this is becoming more strong in my heart. God will tell me where I need to go and do it, probably in Brazil because I want to be home again, but I also want to be around the world doing it. I want to help people.
'When God puts something in your heart, like he has for me with this, it is because the time is coming. It is the right time for me to do this. Religion has always been important for me, in my heart, in my life, but it has never been on my mind like it is at the moment. I know this is what I want to do for the next bit.'
Gomes is reflecting on the previous 'bit' and a playing career that he expects to end in the next 48 hours. It's been 17 years since his first professional game, 19 since he made the switch from being a centre forward to a goalkeeper, and a few more years again since he sat under a tree as a teenager with his mother and told her he would one day earn enough money to buy her a new house.