Chapter 40: Fighting for a Starting Spot with Training Discipline

Tang Ye sat on the sofa, watching Charles and Pohl exchange sharp words beside him.

Before entering the room, Tang Ye had already told Pohl his demand.

That he needed a vacation—more vacation!

This was the most important thing!

Half an hour later.

“How did it go? Will I get weekends off from now on?”

“Tang…”

Pohl lowered his head: “I’m sorry, I couldn’t secure more vacation time for you. Utrecht now considers you one of their core players.”

It wasn’t that Pohl was incompetent—it was that Ten Hag had issued a strict order on this matter.

From the start of negotiations, Pohl had felt it unlikely extra vacation days could be written into the contract—and the result proved him right.

“Damn, it’s definitely Eric’s doing!”

Tang Ye swung his fist.

Ten Hag now only gives him one day off per weekend; Tang Ye had originally planned to fight for a two-day weekend to train his FIFA skills and knock out Zaka in the next matchup.

Now it looks like knocking out Zaka will have to wait.

“Don’t be upset yet.”

Pohl chuckled: “I managed to get your weekly salary up to 2,600 euros.”

“….”

Tang Ye stared blankly.

Unsurprisingly, Pohl had focused entirely on his own salary.

Tang Ye’s vacation had nothing to do with Pohl.

But his raise? That was Pohl’s business!

“Besides the generous weekly salary, I also secured a release clause for you: if any club wants to terminate your contract with Utrecht, they must pay…”

Pohl held up his index and middle fingers: “200,000 euros!”

He patted Tang Ye’s back: “With a release clause, you won’t be completely locked in by the club.”

Tang Ye nodded, half-understanding.

Not being fully restricted by the club? That sounded great!

“So if I don’t want to show up for work anymore, I just pay the club 200,000 euros to terminate the contract?”

Tang Ye asked. Pohl suddenly stopped walking: “Uh… who told you the release clause works like that?”

“How does it work, then?”

“If another club wants to sign you but Utrecht refuses to let you go, they can simply pay 200,000 euros to take you. Now you understand, right?”

“No player pays their own release clause!”

Pohl was exasperated.

Players from youth academies often didn’t understand many things—being their agent could be tricky.

How could any youth academy player suddenly come up with 200,000 euros? That made no sense at all!

“Oh, I get it—I’ve done this in the game!”

Tang Ye’s eyes lit up as he recalled using release clauses to buy players in FIFA.

A release clause meant someone didn’t want to sell—but you could just pay to force the deal!

It was freedom, sure.

But…

Tang Ye shook his head and looked at Pohl beside him: “This doesn’t help me, though. Besides Utrecht, is there really any other club that wants me?”

“You must never underestimate yourself!”

Pohl warned: “Play well, settle in the Eredivisie for four or five years, and I’ll find a way to get you into one of the top five leagues. You know the top five leagues, right? Their players often have market values in the tens of millions of euros!”

Tens of millions of euros!

Tang Ye blinked. So far, the highest-valued players he knew were his own team’s two forwards.

Ale and Barazite—both valued at 2.5 million euros!

Ten million euros!

Tang Ye took a deep breath.

Why did others have such incredible talent, while he had to rely solely on hard work to make up for his shortcomings?

Damn it!

But Tang Ye knew nothing could be rushed.

He set himself a small goal.

To reach a market value of 2.5 million euros before turning eighteen—matching his two senior teammates!

It was difficult, but Tang Ye would give it everything!

…

October 26 afternoon, two days before Utrecht’s next KNVB Cup match.

Tang Ye was excited because his Portuguese treasure chest would hatch after the next match.

It was already a high-level chest—if Tang Ye scored again in the next match,

he’d receive a superstar treasure chest!

A Portuguese superstar treasure chest!

The importance of the chest needed no explanation—this was why Tang Ye had been subtly probing about the starting lineup for the next match.

More playing time meant higher chances of scoring—a truth even a fool understood.

But Tang Ye was stuck with Ten Hag—a real sneaky bastard.

He never directly told Tang Ye who’d start next match; he just kept dangling promises.

After finishing the 10×30-meter shuttles, Tang Ye panted heavily and walked toward Ten Hag: “Eric, I’m done!”

“OK, good job.”

Ten Hag clapped: “I feel you’re one step closer to starting next match. Let me calculate—you now have a 90% chance of starting!”

90% chance!

Tang Ye rinsed his mouth with mineral water.

Ten Hag was truly disgusting—he’d set up a training ladder system.

If Tang Ye wanted to increase his chance of starting next match, he had to complete Ten Hag’s assigned training tasks.

Yesterday, his starting probability was 30%; each training session increased it by 10%.

Though annoying, it did follow the principle that hard work brings rewards.

Tang Ye had suffered greatly—and now he’d finally raised his starting chance to 90%!

That meant if he completed just one more training task,

he could lock in a starting spot for the next match.

“So tired, sir—what’s the next training task?”

Tang Ye sat on the grass, beside teammates playing a practice match.

Roughly speaking, Tang Ye’s training volume was at least 1.5 times, even double, that of other first-team players!

“You look exhausted.”

Ten Hag glanced at his iPad, where software displayed Tang Ye’s real-time heart rate:

“Take a break.”

Ten Hag handed Tang Ye a Gatorade. Tang Ye took it but objected: “Eric, I only look tired—I can still run.”

Today’s training was about to end; tomorrow was pre-match prep day, no fitness training scheduled.

Tang Ye knew what the sneaky bastard was thinking—he wanted Tang Ye to rest now, quit training, and then deny him a starting spot the day after tomorrow by keeping his chance stuck at 90%!

Tang Ye wouldn’t let Ten Hag win.

“Wow, Tang, I didn’t know you had this much grit.”

Ten Hag raised an eyebrow: “Fine. I’ll give you ten minutes’ rest, then you’ll start today’s final task: 3km interval run!”

The 3km interval run was brutal, but to secure his starting spot, Tang Ye gulped down a glass of Grimaldi’s beer.

Just do it!

Half an hour later.

“Pant… pant… pant… Eric, what’s my starting chance now?”

“You did well!”

Ten Hag glanced at Fan De’s watch.

The time was average, but given Tang Ye’s original level, he’d truly given everything in that 3km interval run!

“Perfect performance. Your effort deserves a starting spot next match. Your starting chance is now…”

“99%!”

…

(End of chapter)