He Was Famous

Noordwijk was a coastal city more than forty kilometers southwest of Amsterdam.

With its beautiful North Sea beaches, distance from the bustle of the big cities, and picturesque scenery, it was an ideal place for a summer vacation.

Van Gaal had liked the tranquility here, so he had bought a plot of land in the resort area and built an exquisite home. Ever since then, aside from vacationing in Portugal during the winter, he had spent most of the rest of the year living here.

Especially over the past six months, after returning to the Netherlands from Barcelona, he had only stayed in Almere for a while.

Every night, the sea breeze blowing in from the North Sea to the west swept across the balcony, bringing a hint of coolness. Lying in a beach chair and gazing into the tranquil, magnificent night sky, he could occasionally hear the laughter of visitors from the distant beach, making him feel as if he were about to sink into the calm darkness.

He had no idea how long he had been sitting there before Van Gaal finally tore his gaze away from the stars. Only then did he realize that Trus had somehow taken a seat beside him. She was always silently keeping him company, yet he always seemed like a child in need of care.

Perhaps it had something to do with him being the youngest of nine siblings.

The youngest was always especially well cared for.

"I was listening to Aron Mooy's Football Online inside just now." Trus smiled faintly.

"Mm." Van Gaal neither agreed nor disagreed. It had once been his favorite radio program, but he had not listened to it in a long time.

"Nearly half of tonight's program was about Ajax. Things aren't looking very good for them."

Van Gaal nodded slightly and sighed deeply.

European professional football had changed too quickly. Especially in the years since the Bosman ruling, it had changed at a dizzying pace, so fast that he could barely keep up.

Player transfers had become much easier. Wealthy and powerful clubs no longer valued youth development as much, instead adopting a faster way to improve their squads: burning money.

There was nothing wrong with that. All the elite clubs played that way, and Van Gaal had done the same when he coached Barcelona. But in truth, he knew that this was not where his strengths lay. He was best at developing and promoting young players, shaping a team step by step, just as he had done at Ajax in the 1990s.

Unfortunately, modern professional football no longer had the patience to let him do that.

Every club, whether Barcelona or Ajax, was becoming increasingly focused on immediate results. Whether it was player movement or team performance, everything was speeding up, so fast that when he coached Barcelona for the second time, he had only been given six months.

Of course, Ronald Gaspart stepping down as club president had played a major role in that. But Van Gaal also knew that everything was becoming increasingly unfamiliar. He needed to adjust himself and adapt to this environment once again.

Some time ago, Ajax president Michael van Praag had personally visited him in Noordwijk, hoping that he would replace Leo Benhak as the club's Technical Director. Interestingly, when Van Gaal had taken over as Ajax's Head Coach in the 1990s, his predecessor had also been Leo Benhak.

Van Gaal was somewhat resistant to the idea because the club's Head Coach was Ronald Koeman.

He knew Koeman very well. He was certainly a Head Coach with strong convictions. But Van Gaal also knew himself. Put kindly, he was frank and direct; put less kindly, he did not know how to be tactful, was not smooth in dealing with people, and was too sharp-edged, making it easy for him to offend others.

If he really became Ajax's Technical Director, could he coexist peacefully with Koeman?

Even if he could, would he be able to solve the various problems Ajax was currently facing?

Ajax was one of the biggest victims of the Bosman ruling. Not only had the squad that won the Champions League in the 1990s almost completely dispersed, but this summer they would probably be unable to keep Chivu and Van der Meide. In the future, they certainly would not be able to retain Ibrahimovic, Van der Vaart, Sneijder, and the others either.

Even if Van Gaal and Ronald Koeman worked together, what could they really change?

Thinking of this, Van Gaal sighed deeply again. "It's all bad news."

"Not all of it." Trus chuckled.

"Oh?"

"Aron Mooy spent most of the program discussing someone."

"Who?" Van Gaal asked curiously.

"Yang Yang."

"It's him." Van Gaal immediately recalled the Chinese boy he had met in Almere. The image of him practicing tirelessly against the wall at the Skate Park surfaced in his mind, and warmth rose in his heart.

It was the best thing he had encountered in the past six months.

"He's famous now." Trus smiled.

"Hmm?"

"In these past four matches, he represented Almere in amateur games and won all four. He performed extremely well. Aron Mooy had never even heard of him before, but many fans called the hotline to share stories about him—dribbling past three players, the Pendulum Dribble, Ronaldo II, and so on. They were especially excited to talk about him."

Van Gaal could not help laughing when he heard that. He had not expected this.

"That kid became famous in this way." He shook his head with a wry smile.

"Almere isn't famous. Fans were thrilled that such a promising youngster emerged from a little-known team."

Van Gaal understood how the fans felt. If Almere really produced a star, every citizen would be proud of it, even if Yang Yang was not Dutch.

"Has he... been performing well lately?" Van Gaal became interested.

Trus nodded. "I hear he's been doing extremely well, but I don't know the details either. How about we go watch him play?"

Van Gaal hesitated.

He had lost a bet to Trus the last time. The wager was that he would do one thing she asked: find a job as soon as possible instead of staying cooped up at home all day. At present, several clubs had invited him, and Ajax had also approached him, so Van Gaal was seriously considering his options.

Would it be appropriate to go watch Yang Yang play now?

But soon, Van Gaal smiled to himself. Whether it was appropriate or not, he could go if he wanted to.

"All right. Let's go watch."

Volendam was a professional club from the small town of Volendam, northeast of Amsterdam. In the previous season's Dutch Second Division, it had finished sixth and successfully earned promotion to the Eredivisie through the playoffs.

Founded in 1920, this professional club had once been a powerhouse in the Eredivisie. But it had suffered relegation in the late 1990s and struggled in the Dutch Second Division for five years before finally returning to the Eredivisie this year.

As a small club, Volendam had countless connections with Ajax. The two teams maintained an extremely close partnership. Wim Jonk, who had played for Ajax in the early 1990s, had come through Volendam's youth academy. In 1993, he joined Inter Milan alongside Bergkamp, then returned to the Netherlands two years later to join Eindhoven.

As a club from a small town, Volendam had limited finances and an unremarkable youth system. But it benefited from having Ajax as a powerful ally. As a newly promoted Eredivisie team, Volendam had promptly borrowed several young players from Ajax that summer.

Among those taking part in the summer amateur tournament were center-back Hélder Postiga, left-back Paul Quasten, left winger Sebastiaan Steur, and forward Rowin van Zaanen. All four had come through Ajax's youth academy. Along with homegrown center-back Henny Schilder and right winger Charles Dissels, Volendam's lineup for the tournament was quite formidable.

Almere also had countless connections with Ajax and was even a satellite club signed by the Eredivisie giants. But the difference in league levels meant that Almere received far less support than Volendam.

At the very least, there was not a single Ajax youth player in the lineup competing in the amateur tournament.

Unlike Vlaferlants, whom they had faced in the previous round—a team strong in defense but weak in attack—Volendam was the most typical of Dutch teams: strong in attack and weak in defense. Playing at home, they launched a relentless assault on Almere from the very beginning.

Although Almere had been mentally prepared and had adopted the underdog's defensive-counterattacking stance from the opening whistle, they were still pinned down by Volendam and left in a miserable state. They were repeatedly driven into their penalty area, with danger constantly erupting in front of their goal.

Yang Yang was a right winger and the team's attacking core, but seeing his team in trouble, he chose to track back, actively press the opposing defense, and repeatedly retreat to support the midfield and defense. As a result, he did not have much impact in attack.

Even so, in the twenty-ninth minute, Volendam's right winger Charles Dissels broke into the penalty area and calmly scored.

After taking the lead, Almere became disorganized, and the situation grew even more passive.

Yang Yang could also see that his teammates' mentality had shifted. One after another, they became anxious and unsettled, and he grew increasingly worried.

If this continued, they would not merely fail to win—they would likely suffer a crushing defeat.

With that thought, Yang Yang decisively dropped back into the thirty-meter zone and stationed himself at the edge of the penalty area. At the same time, he kept signaling for his teammates to retreat actively, temporarily abandoning their attacking efforts in the front third so they could stop Volendam's attack first.

The home fans on the sidelines were shouting with particular enthusiasm.

The teams that had reached the fifth round were basically all strong sides. Volendam had been lucky enough to draw the weaker Almere, which was practically a free pass into the sixth round. For a team that had just been promoted to the Eredivisie, this was an excellent opportunity.

Van Gaal and Trus were also standing among the crowd on the sidelines. Watching the two teams face off on the pitch, he shook his head helplessly.

"The difference in strength is too great. Almere doesn't have much of a chance." Trus shook her head.

"I don't think that's necessarily true. As long as he hasn't given up, there's always a chance." Van Gaal disagreed.

There was still a second half to play. As long as the tactics were right, anything was possible.

Football was, after all, a game for eleven people. It was difficult for one man alone to change the course of a match.

Besides, Yang Yang was not some extraordinary genius. How could he possibly change the course of a match by himself?

Others might not know it, but Van Gaal understood very clearly that everything Yang Yang had achieved today came from his hard work, not talent.

Yet Yang Yang on the pitch seemed to pay no attention to anything else. He continued running tirelessly and defending as if every ball were his to win.

With the attacking players all tracking back actively, Almere barely managed to withstand Volendam's wave after wave of attacks.

At halftime, the home side Volendam led one-nil thanks to Dissels's goal.