Chapter 255: Villarreal's Legendary Season: Is Tang Ye the Player of the Season

"Eric, I'm very sorry you lost this match; with a 2-3 scoreline, to be honest, Manchester United held a significant advantage in the first half."

Click-click!

The press conference room was bustling; the reporters seemed to already envision the scene of Ten Hag being put in an awkward position.

Before this match began, the Manchester United head coach on that podium had issued some harsh words.

But now he had been slapped in the face!

"I know, I know, at the start of the match we held the advantage, a huge advantage."

After losing the match, Ten Hag's face was iron-green; it was clear his mood was not good.

Losing the match was not the most important thing.

What was most important was that just now, while in the circular corridor, Ten Hag had figured out why he had lost the match.

Even now, the knuckles of his right hand still carried a faint sensation of pain!

"Before the match began, both sides studied the opponent's tactics and then identified the tactics to use for today's game; we found better tactics, which is precisely why we maintained the lead throughout the early stages of the match."

"Our tactics were superior to the opponent's."

The reporters recorded Ten Hag's words, then tossed out the next question: "But you gradually lost that advantage once the second half began."

"We misjudged the abilities of certain opposing players, but I must clarify that this has nothing to do with tactics; our tactics were better, and strictly speaking, we were the true victors of today's match."

"My mood is very poor right now because I have discovered that, in a certain sense, I lost to myself."

?

Ten Hag's words left the reporters below staring at each other in bewilderment.

"Lost to yourself? Eric, could you elaborate on that statement?"

"Tom was already my player last season; back then, I was constantly developing him—two-footed technique, distribution ability, precise long passes, even set pieces, and so on... I said before that Villarreal should pay me an additional 3 million euros in development fees for this."

Ten Hag held his right hand flat, then raised it: "I developed Tom to a very high level, and then Tom almost single-handedly led his team to defeat me."

"Lost to Villarreal?"

Ten Hag shook his head: "That characterization is absolutely incorrect."

"I admit I lost, but I lost to myself."

Click-click!

Click-click-click!

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: Ten Hag time-travels to counter-kill the Yellow Submarine; in reality, did he lose not to Escrivá but to himself?

Post-match hot discussion: Ten Hag stated after the match that his tactics were superior; what do Check Dongqiu Di fans think?

【Ten Hag is indeed a pity; if Rooney were just one year younger, this match would have been a sure win.】

【Hahahaha】

【The main issue with Ten Hag is that he couldn't use the players he wanted; none of Manchester United's four defenders suit Ten Hag's style.】

【Ten Hag still has capability; once he makes a signing during the Piggy Xia Chuang transfer window, Manchester United can take off.】

【Forget it, forget it; no matter who coaches Manchester United, they couldn't beat the Yellow Submarine; didn't you see who Villarreal's number 10 is?】

After the Europa League final concluded, dawn had already broken across most regions of China.

The fans were already too excited to sleep, and seeing the sun rise outside the window made sleep even more impossible.

Fans who had watched the live broadcast gathered in the comment section to discuss this 120-minute match, marveling at Villarreal's super miracle this season.

As they marveled and chatted, the fans eventually turned the conversation to Tang Ye.

Tang Ye's contract with Villarreal had only 15 days remaining.

Where would the Chinese Heavenly King's next stop be?

Would it still be Villarreal?

"Golden Boot!"

Sitting on his stool, Tang Ye carefully examined the Golden Boot trophy in his hands.

Unlike the Golden Boots he had received as a child, this Europa League Golden Boot possessed immense texture, seemingly crafted from real gold.

Tang Ye took off his football boots and attempted to stuff his foot inside the trophy.

Unfortunately, this shoe appeared to be only size 36 or 37; Tang Ye had absolutely no way to force his foot inside.

"Tom, what are you doing? Haha!"

Rodri took out his phone, wanting to capture the moment Tang Ye tried to stuff his foot into the Golden Boot, but Tang Ye dodged quickly: "No photos of this, no photos of this."

He called out to Ale, who was sitting opposite him.

"Sebastián, take a photo of me and Ale."

"What!?"

Ale spread his hands toward Tang Ye: "Tom, think carefully about what you just said."

Hm?

Tang Ye hadn't reacted yet, so he recalled the words he had just spoken.

"Oh, no, no, Bruno, take a group photo of me and Sebastián."

As Tang Ye spoke, he held his Golden Boot trophy and stood together with Ale.

He held his Golden Boot in the center, then signaled for Ale to raise his Silver Boot as well.

"So why is this?"

Ale did not quite understand Tang Ye's action.

"We both have one shoe, but shoes must come in a pair to be worn."

Tang Ye explained slowly: "Therefore, we must put the shoes together; only then can they be worn."

"Wow."

Alai nodded, feeling that Tang Ye's words made perfect sense.

So he held his Silver Boot trophy in his right hand and gave a thumbs-up with his left.

"Is it OK?"

"It's fine; I think this pose is great."

Click!

After the photo, Bruno suddenly said, "I want one too; who'll take a picture of Tom and me?"

Tang Ye put the trophy back in his locker, but Bruno signaled him not to do that.

"You can bring your trophy out; hold the Golden Boot in one hand and the MVP trophy in the other—that's it."

Ruiz took a photo of Tang Ye and Bruno; after that, Rodrigo said he also wanted a picture with Tang Ye.

"You all want photos with me? Wait, wait—let me fix my hair."

"Tom, don't you have short hair?"

"It got messed up by you guys when I scored. OK, OK, now it's ready, now it's ready."

Click, click!

Apart from the players' cheers, the only sound in the locker room was the snapping of phone cameras.

Every Yellow Submarine player took a photo with Tang Ye; finally, Bruno proposed taking a group picture.

"The second row can stand on the stools—on the stools, yes, yes, yes; give Tom a spot in the middle."

"Why give me the middle spot?"

"Don't ask why; my phone is ready."

Bruno quickly ran over and stood just below Tang Ye.

The flash of the phone camera blinked faster and faster.

"Here it comes, here it comes!"

"Get ready!"

"Vamos Villarreal!"

……

"You recorded two goals and one assist in the final to help your team lift the championship trophy, and you also won Best Player of the Final..."

"And the Golden Boot."

Tang Ye reminded the reporter.

The Golden Boot was very important; it could not be overlooked.

"Right, and the Golden Boot. Winning such honors in your first Europa League season—can you share how you feel right now?"

"Very excited; I'm very excited right now."

For Tang Ye, questions like this that required no thought at all were simply too easy.

He glanced at Escrivá beside him.

"At the start, we actually didn't set winning the Europa League as our goal, but in the end we still achieved it."

"The knockout rounds were tough; we nearly lost against Roma, and, well, also against Beşiktaş."

"I'm very grateful to my teammates because they are amazing; without them, we couldn't have reached the final."

Click, click!

"You had an excellent performance in today's match: 11.2 km covered in the 90 minutes of regular time—the longest running distance of your career."

But you have to remember, this is Tom!

For Tom, a full-match running distance of 11.2 km absolutely required giving his all!

Hmm... strictly speaking, giving his all might not even be quite enough; Tom also needed some willpower to pull it off.

"Yes, I could feel how tired I was today, because I said I would lead them to win the final, so I needed to work harder; losing the final would have been such a pity."

Hearing Tang Ye's words, Bruno reached out and patted Tang Ye on the shoulder.

"What about next season?"

"Where will you go next season? Is there a chance you'll stay at Villarreal? The Yellow Submarine fans hope you'll stay."

Having been asked this question many times, Tang Ye had now mostly figured it out.

With a smile on his face, he said, "I don't know yet; hmm... when I do know, I'll tell you all immediately."

UEFA Official: The 2016–17 Europa League Player of the Season is Tang Ye (Villarreal), who defeated Mkhitaryan (Manchester United) by nearly five times the votes in the ballot.

Marca front-page headline: Villarreal boldly claims the 2016–17 Europa League championship trophy. Tom is the first player in history to win the Europa League Player of the Season while on loan.

Mundo Deportivo front-page headline: Dembélé's agent spotted in Barcelona; Barça executives view Dembélé as a backup option for Tom.

A god-tier performance in the Europa League final plus an expiring loan contract—combined, these factors make Tang Ye arguably the most talked-about player recently. At present, there are only two kinds of newspapers in Spain.

The first kind details how many records Villarreal broke this season and what a legendary campaign it was.

The second kind focuses squarely on Tang Ye.

There are many rumors, but considering Barcelona's previous €120 million offer, only a handful of clubs truly have the financial power to buy Tang Ye.

The transfer window is still weeks away, but the fans can't wait!

And just as fans were frantically debating Tang Ye's next destination, an official UEFA announcement suddenly shot to the top of the trending list.

UEFA Official: UEFA will investigate an unidentified Chinese-language audio clip that appeared during extra time of the final; current leads point to Manchester United manager Ten Hag, who may face sanctions if the allegations prove true.

【Ten Hag out!】

【No need to think twice—it has to be Ten Hag; only someone who knows Tang Tang Qiuwang to a certain degree could come up with this trick.】

【What the hell is this "superhuman hearing" audio? This match is so damn classic, damn it!】

【The most ridiculous thing is that before Tang Ye took the free kick, there was even the sound of listening.】

!

【He's already carrying a three-year prison sentence, and now he's going to be punished by UEFA again; honestly, I feel a bit sorry for Coach Teng.】

【Coach Teng? Painful Saint!】

Carrying his backpack as he walked out of the locker room, Tang Ye stood in place, his two hands constantly operating his mobile phone.

While Escrivá was giving his speech in the locker room just now, Tang Ye felt bored and was playing on his phone.

He had originally been very happy about winning the championship, but the moment Tang Ye opened Bilibili, he scrolled straight to a video by his arch-nemesis.

Football Elements: 【18-year-old】 genius 【Seems-Like-a-Midfielder】, what level is his 【Imposter Striker】 ability?

【Tang~~~~Ye↑】

【Teammate makes a through pass, Tang Ye directly lets Rodri come up to cover the position, while he himself pretends to be a ↑striker upfront and kicks the ball straight out of bounds!】

【Playing long balls from the backfield, he can't even ↑control the ball under single-man pressing, and under double-man pressing he's utterly panic-↑stricken!】

【Dribbling the ball himself to the wing, pretending to be a striker despite being a midfielder; seems like a midfielder, but also doesn't seem like one; in essence, he's still a ~~full-field free role~~.】

【At this point, regarding what level this 18-year-old genius Seems-Like-a-Midfielder actually is, I believe everyone is already ~clear↑ in their minds.】

"..."

Even though Tang Ye hadn't followed this content creator, he always managed to scroll onto his videos the moment he opened Bilibili.

Thinking about it carefully, it must be because Tang Ye watches every single one of these videos through to the end whenever he scrolls onto them, so the system defaults to thinking he likes watching them.

Next time, I absolutely cannot click to watch them again!

Just as Tang Ye was about to turn off the screen, suddenly a hand landed on his left shoulder.

"Mr. Erik"

"Mm."

Ten Hag nodded; after an hour of calming down, his emotions had mostly improved, but it seemed Tang Ye's emotions were encountering a bit of a problem?

"We won the match, so why are you still frowning? Do you feel you haven't scored enough goals?"

"No, fans are cursing at me."

Ten Hag signaled Rashford to leave first, while he stayed in place to take a look at Tang Ye's phone.

Discovering it was in Chinese, he asked Tang Ye about it.

"What are they saying about you?"

"Seems-Like-a-Midfielder (in Chinese), meaning 'seems like a midfielder'."

"Haha!"

Ten Hag, who had been wearing a straight face until now, suddenly laughed at this moment, patting Tang Ye on the back: "Your anti-fans understand you very well."

Seems like a midfielder, but also doesn't seem like one.

Tang Ye's anti-fans had already grasped the characteristics of how he plays football!

"Erik."

Escrivá, who had walked back to find someone, greeted Ten Hag; the two simply shook hands, after which Escrivá took Tang Ye and left.

"Good luck, Seems-Like-a-Midfielder (in Chinese)."

Ten Hag's voice came from behind, and Tang Ye raised his hand to signal acknowledgment.

"Seems-Like-a-Midfielder? (in Chinese)"

Escrivá looked at Tang Ye beside him: "What does this mean?"

Just as Tang Ye was about to answer, suddenly Ale ran back from ahead: "Damn, I forgot to take my trophy; Tom, do you remember where my trophy is?"

"Hmm, you lost your trophy?"

Sebastian was still too careless!

"I'll go look for it with you."

After the Europa League match ended, the club's senior management directly gave the team a one-week holiday, essentially combining it with the summer break.

During these past few days, Tang Ye was very relaxed; during the day he went fishing with Bruno and the others, and at night he played video games at home.

Incidentally, he was also waiting for news regarding the transfer window.

Although the transfer windows for the top five leagues have not yet opened, the transfer market has already begun to surge with undercurrents.

Apart from Real Madrid and Juventus, who still have to play the Champions League final, all other clubs in the top five leagues have no more matches!

Over these past few days, Tang Ye received many phone calls; Utrecht chairman Kalhoff gave Tang Ye a call.

"Tom, didn't I previously say I suggested you transfer to Barcelona?"

"Seems like it was; what's wrong?"

When Kalhoff made the call, Tang Ye was playing video games, and he wanted to end this conversation quickly.

"My point is, don't rush; Barcelona might not be the best choice."

"What's wrong?"

Tang Ye wanted to press further.

However, Kalhoff merely indicated that the Utrecht senior management had been busy with transfer matters recently, and that besides Barcelona, Tang Ye would have other options.

And then...

And then there was no 'and then'; Kalhoff ended the call.

"What's wrong, Tom?"

Neymar's voice came through.

"The transfer matter."

Tang Ye said, "There was a camper in spot A; okay, no worries, I took him out."

Neymar, who had long been eliminated, was watching Tang Ye play.

"By the way, if you decide which club you're going to, remember to tell me."

"What's wrong?"

Neymar began to explain.

He might leave Barcelona during the summer transfer window.

"Leaving Barça, Junior, are you sure?"

Tang Ye nearly shouted it out.

Neymar of the MSN trio leaving Barça—if this news got out, the fans would absolutely explode.

"Calm down, calm down; remember not to tell the reporters. I'm not very certain myself right now."

Tang Ye continued eliminating players while Neymar slowly explained.

Paris Saint-Germain had contacted Neymar's agent and offered an extremely lucrative salary.

A salary sufficient to tempt Neymar!

But Neymar couldn't transfer right now!

"Why?"

"Because of you."

"Huh?"

Tang Ye froze for a moment and was immediately taken out by a sniper shot from the opponent.

"Junior, I'm innocent!"

"No, I'm not talking about any bad deeds you committed; I mean that my transfer is tied to yours."

If Neymar leaves Barça, then Barça must buy Dembélé to fill the striker gap.

But Dembélé's transfer is influenced by Tang Ye.

If Tang Ye goes to Barça, then Dembélé cannot go to Barça.

Conversely, if Tang Ye does not go to Barça, then Dembélé is basically confirmed to go to Barça.

"This..."

Tang Ye sighed.

Heaven is unfair!

Tang Ye, Neymar, and Dembélé!

The three comrades-in-arms who fought side by side actually couldn't play for the same team!

What kind of talk is this!

Simply incomprehensible!

Front-page headline of "China Football News": The national team announces the new season training squad, led by Tang Ye, with Zhao Mingjian added as a late call-up.

On June 13, the national team will travel away to play against Syria; this is the eighth round of the Asian qualifiers.

Now there is a question: when will Tang Ye return to China to join the training camp?

According to Spanish and Chinese journalists, Tang Ye is currently still staying in Villarreal to rest.

However, the fans have already begun to look forward to it!

After Tang Ye joined, the national team secured two consecutive victories, jumping straight from sixth place in the standings to fourth.

It's just unknown whether they can ultimately secure a spot in the World Cup group stage?

Then there is the situation in Europe.

The top five leagues have successively concluded, the transfer window has not yet opened, and the Champions League final is still a week away.

With neither matches to watch nor transfer news to follow, football fans can be said to be extremely bored.

Right at this moment, the news arrived!

La Liga Official: Villarreal midfielder Tang Ye wins the 2016-17 La Liga Player of the Season award.

(End of Chapter)