Chapter 752: The True Home Ground: Guangzhou

"A bit scary."

Walking out of the hotel restaurant, Zhang Zhang Yuning and Tang Ye chatted nonstop: "He straight-up cursed at him, damn, haha!"

Indeed, no one expected Escrivá to directly corner Ten Hag and unleash a tirade; this truly carried a hint of shattering stereotypes.

"Actually, I feel neither of them needed to go this far."

Tang Ye said; he had only heard about this matter from his teammates.

Based on Tang Ye's previous speculation, the conflict between Ten Hag and Escrivá absolutely could not persist.

Yet today, he had been proven wrong.

To be honest, this was indeed a very unpleasant situation.

Tang Ye felt that he, standing in the middle, had nothing to do with this incident, yet on Check Dongqiu Di, nearly all fans regarded him as the root cause of the conflict between Ten Hag and Escrivá.

Truly innocent!

"They should have a proper talk, but only after Escrivá's alcohol wears off."

"That definitely won't work, Tang Ye; I feel if you let them talk again, they'll just start arguing once more—those two have gone mad."

Zhang Zhang Yuning said, offering his suggestion.

Better to keep some distance between Ten Hag and Escrivá.

The distance between England and China was just right.

"... Sigh."

Tang Ye shook his head.

Just as he prepared to enter his room, something suddenly occurred to him: "By the way, Brother Ning, order some takeout for me and buy a phone; I've lost mine."

"Okok, no problem."

Manchester Evening News headline—Manchester Derby: Mancheng draws 2-2 with Manchester United at home; De Bruyne scores, Foden and Varane injured off. (Comments: 182,732)

Although Tang Ye did not participate, this did not mean the heat surrounding the Manchester Derby within China had dwindled.

In Tang Ye's absence, Manchester United did not perform as poorly as fans imagined; on the contrary, they could be described as quite resilient, since playing away against the second-ranked Mancheng and securing a draw was indeed a respectable result.

What was distressing was Varane's injury-induced substitution.

Counting Luke Shaw, who was injured in the previous Red Devils derby, and Rashford, who suffered muscle discomfort during training, the number of injured players within Manchester United had now reached three, the peak for this season.

The frequent injuries around November were inseparable from Manchester United's schedule; consecutive matches against Liwupu, Tottenham, and Mancheng would cause even a super-team like Manchester United to reach its limit.

The existence of these three injured players also drew the eyes of fans worldwide toward the Premier League.

With three key players down, was there any team in the Premier League capable of stepping up to hand Manchester United their first defeat?

Commentator Morgan: Manchester United needs to strengthen their defense during the winter transfer window; otherwise, their squad cannot last until the end of the season.

"Many Manchester United fans are unwilling to admit it, but such is the fact. The current situation is that if Manchester United suffers just one more injury to a midfielder or forward, they will lose their current competitive standing."

Morgan expressed his views on the current half-year during an interview with reporters.

The injuries to Varane and Luke Shaw would certainly impact Manchester United, but this impact was not decisive; Manchester United could use their squad depth and tactical intensity to cover for the absence of key players.

However, the defects Manchester United's squad strength could cover were limited; with three players already out, if even one more key player got injured, Manchester United would explode.

"Ty, Rodri, Dembélé, and De Jong—Manchester United must ensure the health of these four players as much as possible, for they are the foundation of Manchester United at present."

The Sun headline—Ty's endorsement contract with Adidas has only one final year remaining before expiration.

When Adidas signed the endorsement contract with Tang Ye several years ago, they had included the 2022 World Cup in their calculations.

Unexpectedly, the 2022 World Cup was held in winter, leading to a problem: the duration of the contract between Adidas and Tang Ye did not encompass the Qatar World Cup.

If Adidas wanted Tang Ye to continue endorsing them during the Qatar World Cup, renewal became the only option.

Judging from the current situation, a renewal between Adidas and Tang Ye was basically a foregone conclusion, yet The Sun reporter also detailed certain aspects unclear to fans.

According to The Sun reporter's investigation, the fee for Tang Ye's contract as a global ambassador for Adidas might exceed 35 million euros per year, and this was still a conservative estimate.

Why would the reporter say this?

Because the contract between Adidas and Tang Ye was signed relatively early, dating back even to before the 2018 Russia World Cup.

At that time, Tang Ye's influence was not as exaggerated as that of Messi or Ronaldo, but due to Adidas's heavy reliance on sales in the Greater China region, they still provided Tang Ye with a substantial endorsement fee.

This endorsement fee was confidential; apart from the company, Tang Ye, and Tang Ye's agent, no one else knew.

As for why it was kept confidential, the answer was quite simple: Tang Ye's initial endorsement fee had already exceeded that of Messi, C. Ronaldo, and Neymar individually; to prevent this signing from becoming a bargaining chip for other stars negotiating their prices, Adidas chose triple confidentiality.

When the contract was formally signed, Tang Ye was only 18 years old and had played in top-tier leagues for merely two years; without the Asian market behind him and his unique three-stripe celebration gesture, the signing of such an exaggerated endorsement contract would have been completely impossible.

Facts proved that Adidas's gamble was correct.

But not entirely correct!

Because they had only signed Tang Ye until autumn 2022, just before the Qatar World Cup.

"Signing a contract exceeding 35 million euros per year with Ty in 2018 might have been a risky move, but from today's perspective, perhaps Adidas should have signed Ty for a longer duration initially, because 35 million euros is now somewhat insufficient for Ty, especially at such a critical juncture as the Qatar World Cup."

After all this talk, The Sun still hadn't figured out exactly how much money Tang Ye received from Adidas.

But one thing was certain: Adidas was now facing a minor crisis.

To avoid losing their three-stripe ambassador, they might need to bleed some cash before the World Cup.

... Mm-hmm.