He Is Yang Yang! [Happy Chinese New Year, Everyone!]

"I never imagined he could achieve so much."

The day after Yang Yang successfully defended his World Footballer of the Year title, the Dutch Telegraph published a column dictated by Van Gaal and compiled by renowned journalist Michel van der Sma. It appeared as the lead story on the front page.

"The first time I met him was in the summer after I had been dismissed by Barcelona. In a park in Almere, he had his back to me and silently practiced against a battered wall. His fundamentals weren't very good at the time, but he practiced for a long time, over and over again."

"Even now, anyone can visit the park in Almere and see that wall. Countless traces left behind by Yang Yang during those years of practice still remain on it. It has already become a famous tourist attraction in Almere, drawing countless visitors to the Netherlands every year."

"At the time, my impression of him was that he was diligent, hardworking, and tireless. I was in a terrible mood, so I watched him and made a bet with myself. I felt he wouldn't last long, because no one could keep up such monotonous training for a long time. Back then, Yang Yang seemed very ordinary to me. I couldn't see any sign that he might amount to anything."

"I simply thought that perhaps the boy had been driven crazy. He wanted to play football, but he was about to be eliminated from the Youth Training Camp of Almere, an amateur club, so he was practicing as if his life depended on it. Unfortunately, it was destined to be pointless. His persistence was nothing more than a momentary impulse."

"But the result was something I never expected: his persistence moved me."

"I had never seen anyone endure