Super Wingstorm

”Forward, forward...”

”Higher, get it higher! Watch my seal dribble header!”

”Four o’clock, quick pass!”

”Haha, check out my slick back-heel...”

”Damn it, who kicked my ass again?”

...

Hearty and cheerful laughter marked the beginning of another morning in the small Dutch town of Oude Kerk.

Yang Yang, Ibrahimovic, Maxwell, and Vermaelen chased each other along the path by the lake. The ball moved back and forth between them like a butterfly flitting through flowers as they passed it around, having the time of their lives.

This had been a daily scene for some time now.

Ever since Ibrahimovic started joining Yang Yang for his morning training, Maxwell and Vermaelen seemed to realize they couldn’t slack off anymore. They too resolutely started waking up early, joining the morning training corps.

The four of them went to bed early and woke up early, training and playing around Oude Kerk Lake every day, sometimes losing all track of time.

This was their most carefree period.

Neither Ibrahimovic nor Maxwell faced much competition for their spots at Ajax. As long as their form wasn’t too terrible, their starting positions were set in stone. If the team hadn’t been focusing on the Champions League recently, the Greek striker Anastasios wouldn’t have even had a chance to play.

Maxwell’s left flank was similarly devoid of competition. The American player O’Brien and the Belgian player Van Daele could both play the position, and even right-back Gregory could fill in on the left, but none of them performed as well as the Brazilian left-back.

Among the four, Yang Yang was the youngest but had risen the fastest. He was already a sensation in the Netherlands and had even gained some fame in Europe and World Football. Everyone knew that the Ajax team had a player who had delivered the final blow to Real Madrid, which meant he was destined to be heavily promoted by the club.

Vermaelen had also secured his footing in the first team this season. He had performed quite well in his multiple appearances, but he still needed more opportunities and had to further improve his skills and performance.

None of the four felt much pressure. Their futures were bright, and the team had just eliminated Real Madrid to enter the Champions League semifinals. Everything was wonderful, and they could train and play joyfully without a care in the world.

Life like this was truly comfortable.

”Last night, after the match, I heard that kid from Denmark was there.”

After two laps, they stopped to rest at a scenic spot by the lake. Maxwell, the group’s source for all gossip, started talking about a rumor he’d heard last night.

”Who?” Yang Yang didn’t immediately catch on.

”The one from Denmark. The ’second Ibrahimovic,’ the one John Sten Olsen recommended.”

”Oh.” It dawned on Yang Yang. He suddenly remembered there was indeed such a person. Back when the team went to Portugal for winter training, Maxwell had said Van Gaal was going to scout him personally.

”The kid just turned sixteen in January, a bit younger than you. He plays for Copenhagen in Denmark. I heard a lot of clubs have their eyes on him, and Arsenal is the most interested. Wenger even invited his whole family to visit London. That’s why our club acted decisively and invited them to Amsterdam to watch the match.”

Inviting a player to visit and watch a match was a standard recruitment tactic for clubs, but Ibrahimovic just snorted coldly upon hearing this, clearly recalling his own unpleasant experience with Arsenal.

”A fledgling kid like him is finished if he joins Arsenal. He won’t get any chances,” the Swedish Striker said with certainty.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t surprising. Arsenal was a Premier League giant now, burdened with the pressure of competing on multiple fronts. Their forward line included established European stars like Henry, Bergkamp, Reyes, and Kanu. How much playing time could a young prospect get at Arsenal?

Besides, the Premier League was notoriously intense. A league with that style of play was not friendly to developing young players.

Of course, the Swedish Striker’s certainty was also partly due to his dislike for Arsenal.

”Hey, by the way, what’s his name?” Yang Yang suddenly asked.

He had heard about this Danish kid several times, but Yang Yang still didn’t know his name.

”I hear his name is Niklas Bendtner.”

Yang Yang repeated the name silently, committing it to memory. After all, this might be his teammate next season.

”Bendtner is still very young, so the team can’t place high hopes on him just yet. I reckon if Zlatan transfers, the management will definitely have to sign someone else. Ryan Babel and Demuer will probably get promoted to the first team too.”

Hearing the names Babel and Demuer, Yang Yang felt a sense of familiarity. They were both his teammates from the youth team. Although they had only played together for a short three or four months, they had at least shared the pitch.

”Judging by the current situation, even though the team is doing great this season, there’s still going to be a restructuring. A lot of players will be leaving—some because the club isn’t satisfied, others because they want to leave. But new players will be brought in, too. I was talking to a friend from Brazil last night, and I heard Ajax has already locked in two full-backs, one for the left and one for the right.”

Maxwell’s tone and expression were calm as he said this because he wasn’t worried about his own position.

Right now, a few teams were interested in him. There was even a rumor that Real Madrid wanted to buy him to replace Roberto Carlos. But so far, no team had made a concrete move, so he wasn’t sure what would happen.

Brazilian players are great value, and the country excels at developing attacking full-backs, which fits perfectly with Ajax’s tactics. Bringing in two full-backs, one left and one right, meant the left-sided one was a precautionary measure, while the right-sided one was likely to replace Talabesi.

The Tunisian was definitely leaving this summer; that was already common knowledge in the locker room.

”Victor Skora is supposedly also considering leaving,” Vermaelen, who had been quiet, suddenly said.

The other three were a bit surprised.

”Why?” Yang Yang found it particularly strange.

But Ibrahimovic, Maxwell, and Vermaelen exchanged glances, shaking their heads with wry smiles, but no one answered.

”What’s going on?”

”You, honestly. Besides playing football, you don’t worry about these things at all,” Maxwell said with a laugh. ”Don’t be fooled by Victor Skora starting almost every match. What’s the reality? He gets subbed off almost every second half, and in the recent Champions League matches, he didn’t even start. Do you get what that means?”

Yang Yang had a vague idea but didn’t say it out loud.

”He was a high-profile signing with a big salary. According to the team’s current plans, even if they don’t make you a starter next season, you’ll at least get a lot more playing time to develop. His position as a starter will become even more awkward then. In fact, his situation this season is already quite awkward.”

With it spelled out, Yang Yang understood, feeling a pang of guilt toward Victor Skora.

He just wanted to play football and do his best in every match. He never thought that he would end up forcing out a teammate because of it.

”Don’t feel guilty. Professional football is like this. Every penny the club invests is meticulously calculated. Even if Victor Skora leaves Ajax, he might end up developing better elsewhere. Besides, it’s not a given that the club will let him leave. After all, you only turn eighteen in October.”

Sometimes, even Ibrahimovic, Maxwell, and Vermaelen, who spent all their time with Yang Yang, were shocked when they thought about it.

They really couldn’t believe that Yang Yang was only seventeen.

Of course, anyone who saw how hard Yang Yang trained wouldn’t be surprised by the progress he’d made.

He had even managed to rope the laziest of them, Maxwell, into his extra training regimen, which just went to show how incredibly hard Yang Yang worked.

The team was performing so well this season that many clubs from the Four Major Leagues were sure to come calling this summer. Sales, signings, restructuring—these would be the main themes of Ajax’s operations.

But no one knew if they would still be able to remain on this team when that time came.

...

...

In the twenty-ninth round of the Eredivisie, Ajax played away against Feyenoord.

Having just fought a tough battle against Real Madrid Midweek, Ronald Koeman decided not to include Yang Yang in the squad, seeking to protect the young player.

The two sides battled for seventy minutes. In the end, it was the substitute Ibrahimovic who scored in the seventy-first minute. However, just before the end of the match, Kuyt equalized for Feyenoord, and the game ended in a one-one draw.

Thanks to a hat-trick from Kezman, Eindhoven thrashed Groningen five-nil in this round, finally starting to close the points gap with Ajax. The difference was now down to eleven points.

With only five rounds left in the league, this gap was already despair-inducing. Even Eindhoven’s manager, Hiddink, had to admit that their title challenge had failed for the season and that Ajax would take the championship.

But no one knew if this was just another one of Hiddink’s psychological games.

There was a full week’s interval between the twenty-ninth and thirtieth rounds with no cup matches. The Ajax players got a lovely break and could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The team was even given another day off, from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning.

Two days off in one week was an incredibly rare chance to relax for players who had been struggling through a long season.

A week later, in the thirtieth round of the Eredivisie, Ajax once again fielded a team of substitutes for their home game against Rosendal.

The visitors scored just three minutes after kickoff. The goal wasn’t really the fault of Vermaelen, who was in the starting lineup, but Ajax was now behind right from the start, putting them in a very unfavorable position.

Finally, in the thirtieth minute of the first half, Pinaar scored a goal to equalize for Ajax.

The two teams ultimately ended in another one-one draw, marking Ajax’s second consecutive draw.

Meanwhile, Eindhoven, thanks to a brace from Van Bommel and a goal from Kezman, defeated Nijmegen three-nil at home.

After this round of matches, Ajax’s lead was cut to just nine points.

However, neither the media nor the fans were worried about this. Everyone knew that Ajax’s real focus was the first leg of the Champions League semifinals against Monaco at home in Midweek.

As soon as Ajax was free from its Champions League commitments, the league title was practically in the bag.

And on the day before the home game against Monaco, the head coach of the Chinese National Team and Ajax legend, Arie Haan, arrived at De Toekomst.