Chapter 4: Training Match, Ten Hag Observes from the Sidelines

"Erik!"

Tang Ye extended his right hand toward Ten Hag; as a reserve player for the second team, he certainly knew Ten Hag, the first-team coach.

Ten Hag briefly sized up Tang Ye: "How tall are you roughly, 1.75 meters?"

"1.74 meters."

Tang Ye replied, and Ten Hag patted his shoulder: "It's fine, you're only 16 and still growing, keep it up!"

After bidding farewell to Ten Hag, Tang Ye arrived at the second team's training ground; by the time he got there, his teammates had already begun their warm-up under the direction of assistant coach Karen.

"Tang, you're late again!"

The moment Tang Ye appeared on the training ground, Merent's voice rang out immediately, prompting Tang Ye to rush into the locker room to change his shoes.

"This is your 15th time being late this month; do you know what date it is? The 19th!"

Merent looked at Tang Ye with eyes full of fury, while the latter scratched his head: "Mr., doesn't that mean I wasn't late for four days?"

"Those four days were holidays!"

Merent slapped Tang Ye on the buttocks: "Hurry up and warm up, something very important is happening today! Mr. Erik from the first team is coming to observe the second team!"

"Erik?"

Tang Ye's eyes lit up, and he immediately found Zaka, who was warming up nearby: "What's going on? Why is Erik coming to watch our training?"

"The new season is about to start, and the first team lacks midfielders."

Zaka explained; it wasn't just the second team lacking midfielders—the Utrecht first team was also facing a void in their midfield.

"I heard Milner is very likely to be promoted to the first team."

As Zaka spoke, he jerked his chin toward the direction where Milner was; currently, Milner appeared to be the midfielder most likely to be favored by Ten Hag.

"But I think you have a chance too!"

A smile hung on Zaka's face as he raised his eyebrows at Tang Ye, only to receive an eye-roll in return: "You're dreaming."

Beep!

The warm-up ended, and under Merent's arrangement, the 29 players of the second team split into two sides, selecting 22 starters from the 29 individuals.

Originally, Tang Ye had no chance of making the starting lineup, but Ten Hag had requested that all midfielders play in this training match; Tang Ye benefited from this rule and successfully donned the green bib representing Team B.

After assistant coach Karen blew the whistle, the intra-squad training match, lasting 30 minutes, began.

Merent and Ten Hag sat together chatting; in truth, Ten Hag had long since decided who would enter the first team, and the existence of this training match was merely to make the process appear more fair.

"By the way, that number 99, yes, the Asian one."

Ten Hag pointed at Tang Ye, who was wearing a green bib on the pitch: "Is that guy in poor physical condition?"

"Hmm, why do you say that?"

"The match has been going on for five minutes, and he hasn't run yet."

"..."

Merent stood up from his chair: "Fuck, Tang, get running! If you don't run, get the hell off the field!"

Merent's words proved highly effective; the moment his voice fell, Tang Ye immediately swung his legs and sprinted out, arriving in front of the Team A ball-carrier, Zaka.

Although Tang Ye had started running, he merely stared at Zaka before him without making any defensive move.

Could this be the legendary...

... eye defense?

"Slap!"

Tang Ye failed to complete his tackle; Zaka seized the opportunity and played a precise through-ball to Milner, who then dribbled forward.

Seeing Milner in possession, Merent now felt somewhat nervous.

Ten Hag was here to pick players from the second team; if he took away their best midfielder, Utrecht's second team would face a predicament next season—a predicament of being brutally beaten by other Eredivisie teams!

"Erik."

Merent thought carefully for a moment before speaking to Ten Hag beside him: "Although Milner has good dribbling ability, he is actually a very inconsistent player, and... to be honest, Milner's defensive capability is rather average."

Ten Hag raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by Merent's words: "Isn't that still good? I feel that number 20 (Milner) should be your second team's best midfielder; he has the level of an Eredivisie substitute!"

Damn it!

Merent silently realized the situation was dire.

It is precisely because Milner is the best that you cannot take him away!

A first-team head coach cannot comprehend the suffering of a second team!

"That is true, but this is an intra-squad training match, so what you see is often the players' best side."

Merent had his own set of arguments; just then, Milner, who was dribbling to break through, encountered defense, so Ten Hag signaled for Merent to quiet down and finish watching Milner's current play before saying anything else.

At the arc for Team B, Milner faced two defensive midfielders pressing up; he first looked left and right—Zaka on the right flank was in an excellent position, so logically, Milner should have passed the ball out to the wing.

But Milner did not choose to do that.

Sitting outside the pitch was the first-team head coach!

Under the gaze of the two head coaches, Milner chose to forcibly charge toward the arc, resulting in the loss of possession.

"You see, this is exactly what I said; Milner is a player with very obvious flaws!"

Ten Hag remained silent; he had also noticed that play just now—Milner was a player who quite liked to show off.

Playing selfishly is acceptable, but Milner did not possess the ability to support such a lone-wolf style of play.

Moreover, this guy is a midfielder; how can a midfielder not pass the ball!

Considering that Merent was the second-team head coach and knew the second-team players best, Ten Hag turned his head and asked a very serious question: "Then who do you think is more suitable to come to the first team?"

Merent extended his right hand, pointing at number 99 on the pitch: "Him!"

"You mean Tang?"

Ten Hag widened his eyes: "No, no, no, his match attitude is too passive; unless he can consistently deliver passes like he did yesterday, he will struggle immensely playing in the Eredivisie!"

After watching the training match for over ten minutes, Ten Hag had formed a rough understanding of Tang Ye's situation.

Not to mention him gasping for breath after just a few runs; merely this attitude of not even running meant Ten Hag would absolutely never let Tang Ye play in the Eredivisie.

"Moreover, he is far too young!"

"That is not a problem!"

Melent said with utmost seriousness, then looked at Ten Hag with a mysterious expression, gesturing for the Dutchman to lean his ear closer.

"That outside-of-the-foot pass of Tang's was executed by his own skill; he can still produce passes of that caliber during matches!"

!!!

Melent's heart pounded fiercely as he spoke these words, yet he kept suppressing his emotions.

Must not blush.

At this moment, absolutely must not blush!

"Are you serious?"

"One hundred percent serious!"

Melent raised a thumb, a confident smile plastered on his face.

Just then, Tang Ye gained possession of the ball, and Melent's confident smile vanished instantly.

Damn it, I was about to successfully pull this off; hurry up and pass the fucking ball!

Tang Ye was unaware of the situation off the pitch, nor did he care who might be watching him; lifting his head, the first person he saw was Issa Kallon, running furthest ahead.

Slap!

An outside-of-the-foot flick sent the ball straight to Kallon's feet.

This was another one-on-one, a textbook one-on-one!

Kallon controlled it perfectly; he only needed to cushion the ball with the inside of his foot and follow up with a push shot to complete the goal.

"Hmm!"

Clap clap clap!

Ten Hag applauded Tang Ye on the field: "Melent, your eye for talent is quite good!"

"Melent, hmm?"

Melent remained silent, so Ten Hag turned his head and found the reserve team's head coach staring at Tang Ye on the field, utterly dumbfounded.

"Ahem, ahem."

"Uh, Erik, listen to me; actually, Tang has many shortcomings; the matter of promoting him to the first team must absolutely not be rushed!"

(End of Chapter)