"Ha, John, you guys really aren't having any luck today."
Henk de Koning suddenly appeared behind John Rep and Dick Van Pool, outside the wire fence along the sidelines.
"What do you mean?" John Rep was startled.
"Henk Dimer, who had the best prospects before, messed up. And now this Yang Yang has had the bad luck to be matched against Vincent Weijl." At this point, Henk de Koning gave a smug smile. "I'm telling you, Weijl was known for his defensive ability in Ajax's youth team. After he was eliminated, defense on the left side of the Under-18 team has always been its weak point."
Clearly, he was saying this to emphasize Vincent Weijl's individual ability.
"So what?" John Rep countered.
"Nothing much. I'm just afraid Almere will be going home empty-handed again this year." Henk de Koning burst out laughing.
Hamler was a major Youth Training Camp hub. Every year, some players would make it into Ajax's Youth Training Camp. Taking part in Talent Day was only one avenue. More importantly, Ajax's scouts evaluated players during the regular season, and players could also attend trials at De Toekomst.
That was easy to imagine.
Ajax had arranged more than fifty scouts around Amsterdam. The truly promising youngsters were generally already known to them, and some had even been recruited. Why would they wait for Talent Day, which was held only once a year?
Even Vincent Weijl had been eliminated by Ajax half a year earlier. Unwilling to accept defeat, he had returned to Hamler and trained hard before making a comeback through Talent Day, hoping to return to Ajax's Youth Training Camp.
"That Yang Yang of yours is skinny as a monkey. One little bump and he'll probably go flying. Ha..."
After hearing this, John Rep and Dick Van