How Could It Be Him?

"The top scorer in this year's comprehensive evaluation is... Yang Yang!"

As Van Pool's words fell, the scene seemed to sink into a deathly silence.

No one could believe their ears, seriously suspecting they'd misheard, or that Van Pool had read it wrong.

How could it be him?

When everyone turned in unison toward the outermost edge of the crowd, where Yang Yang had just been about to leave, he too spun around in shock, staring incredulously at Dick Van Pool ahead.

Mis... misheard?

How could it be me?

Even Yang Yang himself found it hard to believe. It was impossible.

"Must be a mistake. How could it be him?"

"Did the scoring glitch?"

"Mr. Van Pool, did you read it wrong?"

"How is this possible?"

"Yeah, him taking first—is there some trick going on?"

A murmur rippled through the crowd. No one could accept this result. They were stunned and deeply suspicious.

Was the coaching staff trying to give Yang Yang special treatment?

But that was too absurd, wasn't it?

Playing favorites was understandable—giving him third, or even second, could be explained—but why first?

Even Henk Dimer and Nick stared at the coaching staff in disbelief, seriously questioning the evaluation's authenticity. They would never believe Yang Yang could take first place.

No matter how much he'd improved lately, it couldn't be this much, could it?

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

This result wasn't just shocking to the players—even the coaches were stunned. At one point, someone had suggested adjusting it slightly to avoid misunderstandings, like giving Yang Yang second or third place, but John Rep had made the final call.

Let the scores stand as they were. No need to fabricate anything.

Seeing the players' strong reactions, John Rep stepped forward, raising both hands to signal everyone to calm down, not to get worked up, and to quiet down—he had something to say.

As the team's head coach and a former national team legend, John Rep commanded immense respect. The moment he stepped in, everyone naturally complied, and the noise quickly died down.

Yang Yang, who had been about to leave, also moved closer to the crowd. He wanted to know what was going on.

"As you all knew beforehand, this comprehensive evaluation considered three main areas: daily training, match performance, and the final assessment. The only exception was that we added a growth-and-progress evaluation to the twenty sub-items of the final assessment. That was Mr. Louis van Gaal's idea, and many youth teams have already included it in their evaluations."

Everyone nodded. This had been announced before the results came out, and they had no objections.

"In a moment, every player's evaluation scores will be posted on the locker room door. You can check them carefully then. For now, I'll briefly explain Yang Yang's scoring."

As the top scorer, he was the target of all attention and the most controversial. The coaching staff really needed to clarify.

"When you see Yang Yang's evaluation, you'll notice that his daily training performance has been getting better and better, especially in the last month. Not the best, but certainly above average. As for match performance, his showing in the past four games has been obvious to everyone. He's been the best player on the team."

Everyone noticed that John Rep didn't use "one of" this time. It was clearly the coaching staff's acknowledgment of Yang Yang's performance over those four matches. He was the key contributor to the team's three-game winning streak. Even in the loss to Omnibus, he was the one who salvaged the team's dignity.

Even Henk Dimer and the others had to agree with John Rep. In terms of match performance alone, Yang Yang was undoubtedly the team's top contributor. And among the three evaluation areas, match performance carried the most weight.

Nick had been mediocre since returning from injury, still finding his rhythm. As for Henk Dimer, ever since his poor showing against Omnibus, he hadn't been able to get back on track.

Still, even though Yang Yang had performed brilliantly in matches, the impression he'd left over the past year was still a disaster in everyone's minds. Many couldn't change their views in such a short time. They all acknowledged Yang Yang's progress, but they didn't think he was that outstanding.

"Now, look at the final assessment results. Yang Yang scored full marks in off-the-ball movement, one-on-one offense and defense, ten-meter and thirty-meter shuttle sprints, and other areas. His weak points are first-touch control, shooting, and passing—especially first-touch control, where he didn't even pass."

The quality of first-touch control wasn't about whether he could stop the ball, but how well he did it.

A good first touch lets you place the ball exactly where you want it, but Yang Yang's touch often sent it too far or was just off. That's why he was better suited to the wings, where there was more space. Plus, he always ran into open positions to receive the ball, so it didn't show as much in matches.

In short, if you don't lose the ball or make mistakes, no one remembers whether you stopped it within a meter or ten meters away.

And with Yang Yang's speed, even if he knocked it too far, he could chase it down quickly.

"Our final assessment score is a composite. With twenty sub-items plus the new addition, the overall score put Yang Yang in second place. Combined with daily training and match records, the three areas together gave the final score you see."

As John Rep explained, a coaching staff member had already posted the evaluation score sheet on the wall behind him. The players, mostly convinced by John Rep, surged forward.

Sure enough, looking at the score sheet rankings, Yang Yang's lead was very narrow—just one and a half points ahead of second-place Henk Dimer. But in match performance and progress evaluation, he was far ahead of Henk Dimer, Nick, and the others.

From the scores, Yang Yang was still a mixed bag. His first-touch control didn't even pass, but his strong areas scored very high, with multiple perfect marks. His match performance also led the pack, and his academic results were outstanding. When everything was combined, he ended up in first place.

Seeing the score sheet, everyone found it hard to believe, but they accepted it.

At the very least, the coaching staff couldn't have fabricated a sheet like this to deceive them. Many of the scores matched their own impressions—for example, everyone knew Yang Yang's first touch often sent the ball too far.

Henk Dimer felt a pang of frustration. He'd been magnanimous earlier because he thought Yang Yang couldn't threaten his position on the team. But now it seemed he'd underestimated this Chinese kid.

Not just him—everyone, including the coaching staff, had underestimated him.

They all knew he'd been working hard to improve, but they hadn't realized he'd progressed this much—so much that it was hard for any of them to believe.

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

"Thanks." Yang Yang hadn't seen the scores and didn't know what was going on.

"This is what you deserve." Henk Dimer felt a sour twinge inside, but he forced a smile onto his face. "You won this time, but I'll double my efforts in the upcoming amateur matches. I hope you won't let us down either."

Yang Yang gave a slight smile. "Don't worry."

Suddenly, Henk Dimer recalled over a month ago, in the classroom at Baken Academy, when Yang Yang had told him he was going all out for a top-three spot. Back then, he had jeered and laughed at Yang Yang, but never expected that over a month later, Yang Yang wouldn't just make the top three—he'd even taken first place, leaving the rest of them feeling ashamed.

As Henk Dimer stepped forward to offer his congratulations, the other teammates also gathered around in twos and threes to congratulate Yang Yang. Many, after looking at the score sheet, felt that while Yang Yang's first-place finish was somewhat controversial, it was still well-deserved.

However, from start to finish, no one asked Yang Yang to get them autographs from Ajax's star players. They still hadn't truly accepted him—after all, a little over a month was still too short a time, and Yang Yang had always been a lone wolf.

The teammates gradually drifted away, some pleasantly surprised to have passed, others sighing in disappointment, and three at the bottom of the list looking utterly dejected.

Once the crowd around the score sheet had thinned, Yang Yang stepped closer to take a look at his own scores.

He wasn't much interested in the rankings; he cared more about his overall strength.

It was clear that he still had a considerable gap to close with Henk Dimer and the others, especially in fundamentals.

Fundamentals couldn't be mastered overnight; they could only be built up day by day, and rushing wouldn't help.

But Yang Yang knew well that his time was running out. With only two months left until Ajax's Talent Day selection in August, and with middle school amateur matches in between, he couldn't afford to slack off—he had to push even harder.

If possible, he hoped to leave a good impression on his idol, Van Basten, during the Talent Day selection, and also to test himself against Ajax's star players.

With summer break just starting, he could devote himself fully to basic training. He had to work even harder and more diligently.

After reviewing the score sheet, Yang Yang, Henk Dimer, and Nick were called over by Head Coach John Rep for a talk. The main topic was that the team was about to disband, and the signing of professional contracts with the three of them would begin in the new season.

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

An agent could handle many things for a player, like contract negotiations with the club. Having an agent mediate made it less likely for conflicts to arise, and they were also more familiar with contract formats and clause details.

"Okay, I understand," Yang Yang agreed.

Hearing that all three had decided to participate in the amateur matches, John Rep expressed his delight and encouraged them to play as many games as possible to gain experience and improve their strength quickly. Once the new season started, they would officially train and play with the First Team.

"I'm really looking forward to the day I see you all wearing the First Team jersey and playing in a match," John Rep said with an encouraging smile.

The three of them felt equally inspired after hearing that.

Especially Yang Yang.

Please support us with your votes—thank you!