Chapter 97: Rumors of Teng Hagh Leaving the Team

【You have obtained 10 Counterattack Points.】

"..."

"Beep, beep-beep!!!"

The match ended; playing away, Utrecht defeated Vitesse 4-0 and claimed the three points for this game.

According to post-match ratings by journalists and commentators, Tang Ye lost the Match MVP award to Haller by a margin of 0.1 points.

But that didn't matter; Tang Ye had his own reward.

That was the Eredivisie Player of the Month for April!

Alongside Tang Ye, Sitting Like also received the honor of Eredivisie Manager of the Month for April.

There was no helping it; Utrecht had won every single Eredivisie match in April, so these trophies were exactly what Tang Ye and Sitting Like deserved!

After finishing his interview with reporters, Tang Ye clutched his trophy and walked into the players' tunnel, where Zhang Zhang Yuning, already changed, was waiting for him.

"Amazing, Tang Ye!"

"Haha!"

Tang Ye gripped the trophy in his hand, then shared an embrace with Zhang Zhang Yuning.

Perhaps because he was playing football alone abroad, speaking Chinese with Zhang Zhang Yuning gave Tang Ye a profound sense of relaxation.

"Hiss, if I remember correctly, this isn't your first Player of the Month award?"

Zhang Zhang Yuning suddenly asked.

Tang Ye nodded: "There was another one in February."

"Impressive!"

Zhang Zhang Yuning gave a thumbs-up, and the two exchanged contact information on both WeChat and WhatsApp.

This guy Tang Ye was truly remarkable; back in February of this year, Zhang Zhang Yuning had just been promoted from Vitesse U19 to the first team, yet Tang Ye had already secured the Eredivisie Player of the Month award.

Remembering that Tang Ye's birthday fell in March, it meant he had won his first-ever Eredivisie Monthly Best Player award at the age of only sixteen!

"So what's your take? Is it true, as the news says, that you're going to Frankfurt?"

Zhang Zhang Yuning walked with Tang Ye toward the Utrecht locker room while casually asking about the transfer matter.

Right now, the topic generating the most discussion on Check Dongqiu Di regarding the Eredivisie was Tang Ye's next club.

Everyone in their hearts had only one question.

Would Tang Ye move to one of the Top Five Leagues next season?

And if so, which club would he join?

"Damn, I feel like everyone is asking me this question."

Tang Ye spread his hands, expressing his innocence.

Hiss—

Perhaps this was the trouble that came with fame!

Tang Ye told Zhang Zhang Yuning about his current situation of being locked in by Utrecht as the two reached the locker room door.

"Shall we stay in touch via phone then?"

"Yeah, let's stay in touch via phone!"

Meanwhile, in the press conference room at Vitesse's home ground, Sitting Like accepted his Manager of the Month trophy for April and immediately faced interviews from reporters on site after receiving the award.

Sitting Like was very particular about details; before the interview, he placed the trophy on the table.

This might potentially block his face, but Sitting Like didn't care; he needed the reporters and fans to see this trophy.

"Erik, after this match, you continue to lead the league standings, and in two weeks, you will face AZ Alkmaar at home in your final Eredivisie match of the season. If you can secure victory in that game, you will make history by winning Utrecht's first-ever Eredivisie title."

"Erik, regarding the season finale in two weeks, do you have sufficient confidence?"

"Confidence? I don't think that's even a question; of course we have confidence."

Sitting Like spread his hands; clearly, in his view, this was not a topic worthy of discussion.

Having reached this stage, all Utrecht needed to do was fight for the league championship.

The gap between the league champion and the runner-up was enormous; Van Wolfswinkel had discussed this with Sitting Like several days ago.

If they became league champions, Sitting Like would receive a transfer budget of at least 25 million euros during the Piggy Xia Chuang.

But if they finished as runners-up, that budget would be slashed directly to 10 million euros.

There was no need to elaborate on the difference between 25 million euros and 10 million euros; in the latter case, Sitting Like might even need to sell some of the team's existing players before he could acquire the ones he desired.

But with 25 million euros, there would be no such worries.

"Erik, last season Utrecht finished only 11th in the league, yet this season your goal has been set on the league title, and you've just won the KNVB Cup; do you believe you have made a tremendous effort with this team?"

"Hmm..."

Sitting Like hesitated in expression: "I feel this question shouldn't be answered by me; the fans know clearly what I've done for the team."

The moment Sitting Like finished speaking, a roar of cheers erupted from the stadium.

The reporter's interview was being broadcast live on the stadium screens, and it was a real-time live feed.

The Utrecht fans knew exactly what Sitting Like had just said, and they wanted to show their support for Saint Teng.

"One last question."

The reporter lifted his head, staring straight at Sitting Like.

Sitting Like thought the reporter was about to ask him again about Tang Ye's transfer.

He had already prepared himself to refuse answering that question, only to find that wasn't the case.

"Due to poor team results, current Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is rumored to be directly dismissed by the club, and according to reports from British journalists, Manchester United has contacted you; is this true?"

Sitting Like fell silent.

"Indeed, that is the case."

"Manchester United has offered you a salary more than ten times that of Utrecht, Erik; will you head to Manchester United after the summer transfer window opens?"

Creak—

Ten Hag pushed his chair back and stood up.

"Apologies, I cannot answer that question; for now, I am focused on Utrecht."

The Times front-page headline: Manchester United has contacted Utrecht head coach Ten Hag; the Glazer family believes the Dutchman can save the team.

The Sun front-page headline: Who exactly is Ten Hag, the new manager rumored for Manchester United?

Utrecht RTV reporter Joël: If Ten Hag stays at Utrecht, he will receive a new contract with an annual salary exceeding 1.5 million euros, but this pales in comparison to the 7 million euros per year Manchester United has promised him.

Right now, Utrecht fans are bewildered; rumors linking Manchester United and Ten Hag have exploded overnight.

Actually, Manchester United had already made contact with Mourinho; the Portuguese had just left Chelsea and was currently idle at home.

But Ten Hag's emergence gave Manchester United a new idea.

Manchester United fans had no idea who Ten Hag was, but the Manchester Evening News immediately introduced him.

Single-handedly dragging Utrecht from 11th place in the Eredivisie to the championship position.

Seeing these words, Manchester United fans were no longer surprised.

To be honest, this guy truly has strength!

Moreover, the most crucial point is that Ten Hag's annual salary is low!

If Manchester United wanted to lure Mourinho, they would have to pay an annual salary of around 15 million euros, whereas Ten Hag's current salary at Utrecht is already low; Manchester United only needs to pay half of Mourinho's salary to get Ten Hag to happily sign the contract!

【True or false, is Ten Hag coming to our Devils?】

【Awesome, can you bundle my Tang Tang Qiuwang along with him? I feel like without Tang Ye's assistance, Ten Hag won't be able to handle Manchester United.】

【After just one season, his annual salary directly increases tenfold; now who dares to say my Saint Teng is a slacker?】

【Where's Tang Ye? Can Tang Ye go to Manchester United too? Damn, it's been so long since a Chinese player kicked in the Premier League!】

Judging from the comments, neither Chinese fans nor Dutch fans generally believe Ten Hag will remain at Utrecht next season.

Why?

Because what Manchester United is offering is truly f***ing huge.

Utrecht's transfer budget for last summer's window wasn't even 7 million, yet Manchester United casually offers Ten Hag an annual salary of 7 million euros!

How the f*** can they possibly keep him!

"What's the situation? Is Mr. Erik leaving?"

In the first-team canteen, players gathered around a table; Tang Ye, while eating his hamburger, asked Ramseelaar.

"I don't know either."

Ramseelaar shook his head.

"But aren't you the captain?"

Alle placed both hands on Ramseelaar's shoulders, while the latter pleaded innocence: "I don't know either; if I hadn't seen the news, I wouldn't even have known Manchester United was approaching Erik."

Ramseelaar looked left and right.

Learning that the head coach might leave, these first-team players were somewhat listless.

Hmm...

Except for Tang Ye.

"Tang, why do you look so happy?"

Ramseelaar asked, and the players unanimously turned their gazes toward Tang Ye.

"Huh?"

Tang Ye quickly swallowed the hamburger in his mouth: "No, no, I just think this hamburger tastes good; of course, I'm also very upset that Mr. Erik is leaving."

"How upset?" Amrabat pressed.

"Um... cough cough."

Tang Ye accidentally laughed out loud.

"Sorry, sorry, I was thinking about the game I played yesterday; sorry, sorry."

Tang Ye apologized repeatedly, fearing he might ruin the current atmosphere.

It was true that the players were naturally very sad about Ten Hag leaving Utrecht.

But Tang Ye's situation was somewhat special.

For him, Ten Hag's departure was actually good news.

As long as Ten Hag left Utrecht, Tang Ye's seat in the first-team canteen wouldn't be moved!

Currently constrained by Ten Hag, Tang Ye could only eat a hamburger once every three days.

As soon as Ten Hag left, Tang Ye would eat them every single day!

Oh, no, eating them every day isn't enough; he must eat them at every meal!

Training is so strenuous; how can one go without eating some junk food?

The rumors of Ten Hag's departure had a relatively serious impact on the players, so serious that both Ten Hag and Fan Fan Dejiahe noticed something was wrong during training.

Since it was affecting training, Ten Hag had no choice but to step forward and hold a meeting with the players.

During the meeting, Ten Hag did not explicitly tell the players whether he would leave Utrecht.

His focus was that the players needed to concentrate on the matches.

"In two weeks, we will play our final match, which determines whether we can secure the league championship this season; we will be competing with PSV Eindhoven." "Do you know who our opponent is? AZ Alkmaar; currently, AZ Alkmaar is 5th in the standings. And do you know who PSV Eindhoven's opponent is?"

"Damn Cambuur, they're about to get relegated!"

Ten Hag spoke, his meaning already quite obvious.

In the final round of the league, Utrecht's opponent is strong, but PSV Eindhoven's opponent is weak.

PSV Eindhoven will most likely win.

That means Utrecht must also win, otherwise it's straight to gg!

……

【De Bruyne 45-Degree Cross Lv2: Similar】

Proficiency: 62/100

"Huff..."

Hands propped on his knees, Tang Ye felt somewhat exhausted from this afternoon's passing training.

!

However, the results were still very good; with Pogba's help in grinding, Tang Ye's skill proficiency had increased significantly.

There were still two weeks until the match against Alkmaar.

Hmm...

Doing a quick calculation, Tang Ye should be able to upgrade 【45-Degree Cross】 to Lv3 before the final match.

Though it would be quite strenuous.

Returning to the dormitory for his lunch break, Tang Ye stripped off his clothes, tossed them directly onto the floor, set an alarm for 2 PM, and prepared to sleep.

But just then, his phone rang.

Glancing at the contact name, the call was from Tang Tang Zhengxiong.

Hmm?

Tang Ye was somewhat surprised.

In his memory, Tang Tang Zhengxiong was always too embarrassed to call Tang Ye proactively; that guy would always pretend to accidentally overhear Zhang Zhang Qingqing talking with Tang Ye, then drop by "on his way" to chat a few words.

If he was calling proactively...

Wasn't this supposed to be the first time?

"Hey, you picked up, Tang Ye!"

"What's up, Dad?"

"Nothing major, just wondering if you have enough living expenses, do you need me to transfer some more?"

So it was about living expenses...

Tang Ye's expression relaxed: "Enough, enough, I have a salary now too, definitely enough for living expenses."

"That's good, that's good..."

"Mm."

The two were chatting somewhat awkwardly; Tang Ye was just about to hang up when Tang Tang Zhengxiong stopped him the next second.

"No, no, no, don't hang up yet!"

Tang Tang Zhengxiong shouted: "I saw the news saying your team's head coach is going to Manchester United? Wait, this is making me a bit panicked, just how good is this Ten Hag anyway? Is he very formidable?"

Tang Tang Zhengxiong was a loyal Liwupu fan.

Upon hearing that Utrecht's dark-horse head coach was transferring to Manchester United, Tang Tang Zhengxiong immediately thought of his son.

His son played for Utrecht, so he must know Ten Hag extremely well!

"This..."

Tang Ye couldn't answer immediately.

Honestly, Tang Tang Zhengxiong's question was indeed not easy to answer!

Just how good was Ten Hag anyway...

Tang Ye disliked Ten Hag very much, but even so, Ten Hag was still his head coach!

He couldn't badmouth his own head coach behind his back!

"Um, Dad, putting it this way, I feel Ten Hag is quite strong."

"Crap, we're done for!"

Far away in China, Tang Tang Zhengxiong held his phone in his right hand while placing his left hand on the back of his head.

Indeed, the Manchester Evening News reporter wasn't wrong; if Ten Hag could pull Utrecht from 11th place in the league to first, he absolutely couldn't be some slacker.

Ten Hag isn't a slacker?

Then who is the slacker at Utrecht?

With no one else, it could only be his son!

"Huff..."

Tang Tang Zhengxiong let out a long breath: "Tang Ye, can you listen to something I have to say?"

"Go ahead."

"Can you talk to your coach and ask him to take you with him after he goes to Manchester United?"

"Huh?"

Tang Ye was stunned: "Wait, why?"

"It's nothing, just find a chance to mention it to him, I watch Premier League matches often, you're very suited to Manchester United's style, really, trust me, if you go to Manchester United, Liw... oh no, Manchester United will definitely take off!"

"..."

"I, I'll try..."

Tang Ye gave a vague answer.

This wasn't the first time Tang Tang Zhengxiong had spoken to Tang Ye about transferring to Manchester United.

It was clear that, as a Liwupu fan, Tang Tang Zhengxiong truly wanted his son to help Manchester United rise again!

Tang Ye set his phone aside, lay flat on his bed, and began to think.

Although Tang Tang Zhengxiong made this request, Tang Ye would absolutely not go to Manchester United with Ten Hag!

……

May 8th; there were still ten days until Utrecht's final league match of the season.

Today, Tang Ye had achieved a milestone: he had raised the proficiency of 【45-Degree Cross】 to 75.

Only 25 proficiency points remained until the next level; the training boost provided by Sitting Like's mud indeed produced remarkable results.

"Tang, come here for a moment!"

Tang Ye, who was practicing one-two passes with De Jong, was suddenly called over by Ten Hag.

Turning his head, Tang Ye was surprised to discover that Melent, the reserve team's head coach, had somehow arrived at the first team's training ground.

"Calling me?"

Tang Ye pointed at his own nose.

"Yes, hurry up!"

Tang Ye hurried over, chewing gum, and kicked back a ball that a teammate had accidentally sent his way.

"Mr. Erik, Mr. Melent, what's wrong?"

Tang Ye asked, not forgetting to add, "I haven't been late a single day in the past month; you can't punish me."

"I know, I know, it's not about that."

Ten Hag waved his hand. "Just listen to Melent."

All eyes turned to Melent; the reserve team coach's face was slightly red, as if he felt too embarrassed to speak his mind.

"Um... Tang, do you know that our reserve team has a cup competition, the U21 Dutch Championship Cup?"

"I know."

"You know?" Melent paused, taken aback.

"Yes, I made the substitute list once last season for that U21 whatever-it's-called competition; if I remember correctly, we reached the quarterfinals last season, right?"

Utrecht's first team played in the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup, while the reserve team played in the Eerste Divisie and the U21 Dutch Championship Cup.

One league and one cup; these were basically fixed arrangements.

"Oh, right, I think I remember now."

Melent rubbed his nose and slowly explained, "We've played quite well this season; the day after tomorrow we'll be playing the Ajax reserve team in the final, and then..."

Looking at Tang Ye, who had big eyes, Melent simply couldn't bring himself to say it.

"It's fine, it's fine."

Ten Hag offered a brief reassurance; Melent took a deep breath. "We'll most likely lose to the Ajax reserve team, but this championship is still quite important to us."

Tang Ye nodded thoughtfully. "So what do we do?"

"Can you come with us the day after tomorrow?"

Huh?

Huh???

"Come with you? Me?"

Tang Ye pointed at his own nose, somewhat surprised that Melent would invite him to participate in the U21 Championship Cup.

"That doesn't make sense."

Tang Ye pointed out the problem.

"I've played in the Eredivisie this season; how can I go play in the U21?"

"That doesn't affect anything,"

Ten Hag said.

"But I need to be registered to play in this kind of competition, right?"

"I already had someone register you before."

With a single sentence, Ten Hag left Tang Ye completely bewildered.

"Before the season started, I had someone register you for both the Eerste Divisie and the U21 competitions."

"By the way, I also registered you for the U19 and U17; you can play in those competitions too."

"……"

Tang Ye fell into deep thought.

He had already joined the first team at the start of the season, so why would Ten Hag still register him for so many competitions?

Wait!

Tang Ye seemed to realize something.

This guy Ten Hag wanted to return him!

Damn!

Upon learning the truth, Tang Ye's heart shattered.

Mr. Erik!

I trusted you so much, and you only wanted to send me back to the reserve team?

……

(End of chapter)