How Could It Be Him?

"First place in this year's comprehensive assessment goes to... Yang Yang!"

As soon as Van Pul finished speaking, the entire scene seemed to fall into deathly silence.

Nobody dared believe their ears. They seriously suspected they had heard wrong—or that Van Pul had called the wrong name.

How could it be him?

When everyone turned in unison toward Yang Yang, who had just turned around to leave at the very edge of the crowd, Yang Yang also turned back with a stunned look on his face. He stared incredulously at Dick Van Pul.

I... I heard wrong, right?

How could it be me?

Even Yang Yang himself found it unbelievable. This was impossible.

"Something's wrong. How could it be him?"

"Was there a problem with the scores?"

"Mr. Van Pul, did you read the wrong name?"

"How could this be possible?"

"Exactly. He came in first? Could there be some kind of trick involved?"

The scene erupted into an uproar. Nobody could accept the result. They were shocked, yet deeply suspicious.

Could the coaching staff be deliberately taking special care of Yang Yang?

But this was far too outrageous.

They could understand if some strings had been pulled to give him third place, or even second. But why first?

Even Henk Dimer, Nick, and the others stared at the coaching staff in disbelief, seriously doubting the authenticity of this assessment. No matter what, they simply could not believe that Yang Yang had come in first.

Even if he had improved tremendously during the past period, he could not possibly have improved that much, could he?

John Rep and Dick Van Pul exchanged wry smiles. They had clearly anticipated the players' reactions.

The result had shocked not only the players, but the coaches as well. Someone had even suggested making a slight adjustment to avoid being misunderstood by the players—for example, giving Yang Yang second or third place. In the end, however, John Rep had made the final decision himself.

The result should be whatever the result was. There was no need to falsify anything.

Seeing that the players' reaction was getting out of hand, John Rep stepped forward and raised both hands, signaling for everyone to calm down and stop getting worked up. He had something to say.

As the team's Head Coach and a former international star, John Rep commanded tremendous respect within the team. The moment he stepped forward, everyone naturally obeyed him, and the scene quickly quieted down.

Yang Yang, who had originally turned around to leave, also approached the crowd. He wanted to know what was going on.

"As everyone already knows, this comprehensive assessment mainly takes three aspects into consideration: regular training, match performance, and the final examination. The only exception is that we added an assessment of growth and improvement to the twenty sub-events in the final examination. This was Mr. Louis van Gaal's suggestion, and many youth teams have already added this item to their assessments."

Everyone nodded. This had already been announced before the results were revealed, and nobody had any objections.

"In a moment, every player's assessment scores will be posted at the locker room entrance. You can all go over and check them carefully. For now, I'll just briefly explain Yang Yang's scores."

After all, he had come in first. He had drawn everyone's attention and was also the most controversial candidate. The coaching staff really should offer a proper explanation.

"When you look at Yang Yang's assessment, you'll find that his performance in regular training has been getting better and better. Especially over the past month, he may not have been the best, but he was certainly above average. As for his match performance, his displays in the past four matches have been obvious to everyone. He was the best-performing player on the team."

Everyone noticed that John Rep had not said "one of the best" this time. This was clearly the coaching staff's recognition of Yang Yang's performance in the past four matches. He had been the chief contributor to the team's three-match winning streak. Even in the match they lost to Omnibus, he had been the one who did the most to help the team preserve its dignity.

Even Henk Dimer and the others had no choice but to agree with John Rep. Judging solely by match performance, Yang Yang had absolutely been the team's chief contributor. Moreover, of the three assessment categories, match performance carried the greatest weight.

Nick had been fairly ordinary since recovering from his injury and was still searching for his form. As for Henk Dimer, there was no need to mention him. Ever since his poor performance against Omnibus, he had never managed to rediscover his form.

However, although Yang Yang had performed exceptionally well in matches, the impression he had left on everyone over the past year had been simply terrible. Many people could not change that impression in such a short time. They all acknowledged Yang Yang's improvement, but did not think he was particularly outstanding.

"Now let's look at the final examination scores. Yang Yang received excellent full marks in areas such as off-ball movement, one-on-one offense and defense, and the ten-meter and thirty-meter shuttle sprints. His weaker areas were his first touch, shooting, and passing. His first touch in particular was a complete failure."

The quality of a first touch was not about whether one could control the ball, but how well one controlled it.

An excellent first touch allowed a player to send the ball exactly where he wanted it to stop. Yang Yang, however, often let the ball roll too far—or failed to control it properly. That was why he was better suited to the wing, where there was more space. On top of that, he always ran into open positions to receive the ball, so his weakness was not particularly obvious during matches.

To put it plainly, as long as you did not lose the ball or make a mistake, nobody would remember whether you had stopped it within a meter or ten meters.

Besides, with Yang Yang's speed, even if he pushed the ball too far, he could quickly catch up to it.

"Our final examination score is a comprehensive score. It combines the twenty sub-events with the new assessment item. In the final combined score, Yang Yang ranked second. After adding in his regular training and match records, the three categories were combined, producing the score everyone has now seen."

As John Rep explained, a member of the coaching staff had already posted the assessment score sheet for every player on the wall behind him. The players, who were nearly convinced by John Rep's explanation, rushed over.

Sure enough, judging from the rankings on the assessment sheet, Yang Yang's lead was extremely slim. He had scored only one and a half points more than second-place Henk Dimer. However, in match performance and improvement, he had left Henk Dimer, Nick, and the others far behind.

Looking at the scores, Yang Yang was still a mixture of strengths and weaknesses. His first touch had actually failed, yet his strong events were very strong, with full marks in several categories. His match performance also led everyone else. Combined with his outstanding academic results, the overall assessment had unexpectedly placed him in first.

After seeing the score sheet, everyone still found it incredible, but they accepted it.

At the very least, the coaching staff could not have deliberately created such a sheet to deceive them. Moreover, many of the scores matched their own impressions. For example, everyone knew that Yang Yang often pushed his first touch too far.

Henk Dimer felt bitter. The reason he had acted magnanimously earlier was that he believed Yang Yang was incapable of threatening his position on the team. But now it seemed he had still underestimated this Chinese kid.

It was not only him. Every player, and even the coaching staff, had underestimated Yang Yang.

Everyone knew that he had always been working hard to improve, but nobody had known he had improved this much—so much that all of them found it unbelievable.

"Congratulations, Yang Yang." Henk Dimer sighed inwardly, but still turned and walked over to Yang Yang, extending his hand to congratulate him.

"Thanks." Yang Yang had not seen the scores and did not know what had happened.

"You deserve it." Henk Dimer felt sour inside, but forced a smile on the surface. "You won this time, but I'll work twice as hard in the upcoming amateur matches. I hope you won't disappoint us either."

Yang Yang smiled faintly. "Don't worry."

Suddenly, Henk Dimer remembered what had happened more than a month ago in a classroom at Baken Academy. Yang Yang had told him that he would do everything he could to fight for a top-three place. At the time, Henk had jeered at and mocked him. Yet more than a month later, Yang Yang had not only made the top three, but had even taken first place. This left all of them ashamed.

After Henk Dimer stepped forward to congratulate him, the other teammates also gathered around. They congratulated Yang Yang in small groups. After looking at the score sheet, many of them felt that although Yang Yang's first-place finish was somewhat controversial, it was indeed well deserved.

However, from beginning to end, nobody asked Yang Yang to obtain autographs from Ajax's stars on their behalf. They still had not truly accepted him. After all, a month or so was still too short a time, and Yang Yang had always been a lone wolf.

The teammates gradually dispersed. Some were delighted to have passed, some sighed in disappointment, and three players at the bottom wore utterly dejected expressions.

Only after the teammates gathered around the score sheet had gradually dispersed did Yang Yang move closer to look at his own scores.

He was not particularly interested in the ranking. He was more concerned about his overall ability.

It was obvious that he was still quite far behind Henk Dimer and the others, especially in terms of fundamentals.

Fundamentals could not be mastered overnight. They could only be built up over time. There was no point in rushing.

But Yang Yang knew perfectly well that he did not have much time left. The Ajax Talent Day selection in August was only two months away. In between, he still had to participate in the secondary school amateur matches. In any case, he could not relax. He had to work even harder.

If possible, he hoped to leave a good impression on his idol, Van Basten, during the Talent Day selection. He also looked forward to competing against Ajax's stars.

The summer vacation had arrived at just the right time. He could devote himself wholeheartedly to basic training. He had to work harder and train more diligently.

After looking over the score sheet, Yang Yang, Henk Dimer, and Nick were summoned by Head Coach John Rep for another talk. The main topic was that the team would soon be disbanded, and that discussions about signing professional contracts with the three of them would begin in the new season.

"By the way, Yang Yang, you still don't have an agent. You should find one," John Rep said.

An agent could help a player handle many matters, such as negotiating a contract with the club. With an agent mediating, conflicts were less likely to arise, and the agent would also be more familiar with contract formats and detailed clauses.

"Okay, I understand," Yang Yang agreed.

After hearing that all three of them had decided to participate in the amateur matches, John Rep expressed his delight. He encouraged them to play more matches, hone themselves, and improve their abilities as quickly as possible. Once the new season began, they would officially train and play with the First Team.

"I'm really looking forward to the day I see you wearing the First Team jersey and stepping onto the pitch," John Rep said with an encouraging smile.

The three of them were equally filled with anticipation.

Yang Yang most of all.