"Have you really decided to go back?"
The next morning, Yang Yang and the coaching staff gathered early at De Toekomst to prepare for that evening's Eredivisie match.
Xabi Alonso knew whom Yang Yang had gone to see the previous night. At the time, they had been studying their match against Alkmaar at Yang Yang's home, and Alkmaar was by no means a pushover.
"You know me, Xabi." Yang Yang did not hide anything from his right-hand man. "It's very hard for me to turn down Real Madrid or Florentino, especially at a time like this. And to be honest, this is also an opportunity."
"I never thought that someone as steady and measured as you were on the pitch would be so aggressive when planning your managerial career."
Given Yang Yang's professional background, it was not surprising at all that he had chosen Ajax as his first stop. He was fully qualified for it.
The aggressive part was that Yang Yang was only thirty-two. Taking on the roles of both player and head coach was definitely unexpected.
Throughout the history of European Football, there had been countless cases of players also serving as head coaches. There had been fewer in recent years, mainly because coaching had become increasingly specialized, and the demands placed on head coaches had grown much higher. It was no longer merely about football matters.
Yang Yang had studied business administration at a world-famous university, which undoubtedly gave him a major advantage as a coach.
If starting out a little aggressively by coaching only in the Eredivisie could still be overlooked, then Yang Yang's decision to go to Real Madrid at a time like this and take over the hot seat that every world-class manager—even Zidane—would hesitate to touch was extremely aggressive.
He was only thirty-two