Chapter 765: Erik Wants a New Center Forward, Tang Ye's Ballon d'Or Celebration

Pinned: No chance? After drawing Manchester United, Inter Milan's odds to win the Champions League plummeted to 14th place, ranking last among the top five league teams.

The statement that drawing Manchester United means no chance is clearly wrong, and very, very wrong.

After all, Inzaghi also said that Manchester United is not completely unbeatable.

With two months remaining until the official match begins, Inzaghi can fully adjust the team and prepare for the clash against Manchester United!

The Sun—Inzaghi inquired about release clauses during an Inter Milan executive meeting; he seems worried about being fired.

Although the Champions League is still a long way off, Inter Milan fans are visibly panicking, forcing the club management to hold a press conference.

"The executive meeting was not convened because the team fears Manchester United; Inter Milan has a habit of holding club executive meetings in December. It's just that past confidentiality work was done so well that many reporters and fans were unaware."

The interviewee was Inter Milan chairman Zhang Zhang Kangyang, the youngest chairman in the club's history.

"Then what was discussed in your meeting?"

"Um... that's inconvenient to disclose. But what is certain is that we are studying how to deal with Manchester United. The Champions League is a very, very important competition, so even if the opponent is Manchester United, we will not give up; I believe in my players."

"If you are eliminated directly from the Champions League and also fail to win the league title, will you fire Inzaghi?"

"Of course not."

Zhang Zhang Kangyang answered quickly, seemingly knowing in advance what questions the reporters would ask: "If poor team results are caused by uncontrollable factors, the coach should not bear all the responsibility. Besides, I think what you mentioned is a low-probability event; between the Champions League and the league, we always have to choose one."

"Inter Milan once had the opportunity to acquire Tang Ye in 2017; what is your view on this?"

"..."

This question left Zhang Zhang Kangyang somewhat speechless.

These European reporters are always like this; as soon as a player grows into a superstar worth hundreds of millions, every club rumored to be linked with him in the past gets exposed.

Just like Cristiano Ronaldo in the past; due to rumors linking him with Arsenal, Wenger became an object of ridicule, and such examples are countless.

Reporters and fans seem to greatly enjoy this feeling of lecturing club executives because these clubs missed tremendous opportunities.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, including Tang Ye, are all subjects of such discussions.

But in most cases, these topics are meaningless; when Tang Ye was leaving Utrecht, at least ten rumored suitors were reported, and most of them were just empty talk.

They talked big, only to suffer severe backlash three to five years later; one could say the Inter Milan executives are truly very innocent.

"Everyone encounters many opportunities, but only a few can seize them."

"Perhaps we were not that lucky."

【You have received a new mission】

【Champions League Knockout Stage Chain Mission: Phase One】

【Mission Objective: Advance to the Champions League Top 4 or advance to the Quarter-finals with a perfect two-leg record】

【Mission Reward: Talent Optimizer (Fine)】

Current Progress: --

The Champions League knockout stage draw concluded, and Tang Ye also received his new mission.

Just as he remembered, the higher his attributes, the fewer missions he received from the system, and they became more difficult.

Tang Ye received almost no rewards during this season's Champions League group stage; now it seems all rewards are concentrated in the knockout stage.

This is quite interesting because, like the group stage, the number of matches in the knockout stage is not fixed; if you perform poorly and get eliminated, your number of matches naturally decreases.

Concentrating mission rewards in the Champions League knockout stage greatly increases the challenge of this season's Champions League, even giving people a feeling of gambling.

If this were in the past, Tang Ye would naturally be fearful.

Especially during his loan spell at Dortmund, every knockout match made Tang Ye feel terrified.

But now it is different.

If you do not enter the tiger's lair, how can you catch the tiger cub!

Since I've f*cking returned to Manchester United, how can I not play something fierce!

Additionally...

Speaking of missions, Tang Ye remembered he still had the super mission 【Uniting the Feudal Lords】 hanging over him.

The mission reward is an item; although he didn't know what that item did, even without the system explaining, Tang Ye knew how fierce that thing was.

The problem is, to complete this mission, Tang Ye must have nine subordinates who meet the conditions.

He is short only Cristiano Ronaldo, but Tang Ye simply cannot take that step.

Make Cristiano Ronaldo a subordinate?

That is completely impossible!

"Tom."

A voice came from the physiotherapy room entrance; Tang Ye turned his head to see Cristiano Ronaldo walk in, taking off the coat draped over his shoulders.

"Hmm? Cristiano, what's up?"

"Erik is looking for you."

"Oh, okay, thanks."

Tang Ye took a sip of water, stood up, and left the physiotherapy room.

With half a foot already outside, he then pulled his foot back in.

Turning his head to look at Cristiano Ronaldo behind him: "Did something happen?"

"What do you mean, did something happen?"

Cristiano Ronaldo looked at Tang Ye with a puzzled expression.

"I could tell your mood wasn't great just now, so something must have happened?"

Tang Ye could tell that Cristiano Ronaldo had just come out of Ten Hag's office.

"Oh, um, nothing."

Cristiano shook his head: "Just some not-so-good things; I can handle them myself. You go ahead, or else Erik will lecture me again."

Tang Ye shrugged.

He always felt something was a bit off with Cristiano.

Something must have happened between the Portuguese and Ten Hag, but Tang Ye couldn't guess what it was.

Thump, thump!

After knocking and entering, Tang Ye greeted Ten Hag.

He hadn't expected Fan Fan Dejiahe to be there; the Manchester United assistant coach was lying on his favorite sofa.

"Tom!"

Fan Fan Dejiahe fist-bumped Tang Ye: "Record a short Christmas greeting video with me later!"

"Haha, no problem!"

Walking up to Ten Hag, Tang Ye sat down naturally in the chair: "Cristiano asked me to come find you, Mr. Ten Hag. What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing major. I just looked at your contract with the club; it should end in July 2024, right? June or July... well, that one-month difference doesn't matter much."

Ten Hag flipped through the documents: "They told me they approached you for a renewal, but you didn't agree immediately."

"..."

Ten Hag looked at Tang Ye: "Are you looking for a raise or something? If you have demands, I think it's better to state them directly."

Ten Hag's point was that Tang Ye's personality made him unlikely to proactively request a raise, which would cause the renewal matter to stall.

Of course, this was actually quite unnecessary; given Tang Ye's current situation, if he had demands, he should just present them to the club. It should be Manchester United and Tang Ye's agent considering how to proceed, not Tang Ye himself.

"There are still over two years left; I feel it's too early, so it doesn't matter."

Tang Ye shook his head: "Mainly, there's not much room to increase my salary now; going any higher would exceed 500,000 pounds, which would disrupt the wage structure, wouldn't it?"

"I feel it doesn't matter."

Ten Hag shrugged, giving Tang Ye a hint: "You could aim a bit higher, say 800,000 pounds, 900,000 pounds; how to handle it afterwards can be dealt with later."

"Haha! Let's talk about that when the time comes; anyway, there's plenty of time. We can make a decision when there's a year left on the contract."