When I win, it seems that even the air has become sweet.

That's how Ajax's chief scout Tony Browns Slotz felt on Sunday morning.

Last night, at the Amsterdam Athletic Stadium, Ajax played quite well against the visiting Graafschap.

After opening the scoring just three minutes after Hans van der Haal opened the scoring to the opening three-minute goal, the Ajax men quickly adapted and quickly equalised in the 16th minute through midfielder Jakubu van der Vaart.

If the first half of the game was evenly matched, then the second half was completely dominated by Ajax, with Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Galasek, Pienal, Maxwell and Bockarie scoring successively, and finally helping Ajax to beat Graafschap 7-1 at home and complete a hearty victory.

The victory greatly relieved the pressure on Ajax, and the two homegrown rookies Van der Vaart and Sneijder also showed their core temperament at key moments, which made the whole team feel very happy.

Van der Vaart was particularly eye-catching in the four games in which Swedish centre-forward Ibrahimovic was sidelined, scoring six goals in four games, once again putting the limelight on the Dutch number one winger Van der Meyde, who has shone this season.

Donny van der Meyde has been Ajax's best star of the season, with the right winger being coveted by a number of big clubs in the Champions League and has been rumoured to be leaving this summer.

This is also a knot in the hearts of the whole team, including manager Koeman.

Defence is Ajax's biggest problem, with young players such as Heitinga and Zivu not mature enough, but they are quite sharp in attack and are the best attacking team in the Eredivisie this season, with the likes of Donny van der Vaart and Ibrahimovic reaching double figures.

Among them, Van der Meyde on the right side is a crucial right attacker for the team, if he does transfer and leave, it will inevitably bring immeasurable losses to the team's attack, but if there is really a bid from a giant team, it will be difficult for Ajax to keep Van der Meyde.

Back in the mid-90s, after Louis van Gaal's generation of Champions League champions fell apart, Ajax was unable to retain their stars and was completely reduced to a star processing plant for European giants.

But it's precisely because of this that Ajax is taking scouting more seriously than ever.

Excavating semi-finished products, carving them, and then selling them at a high price for arbitrage has become the consensus of Ajax's management, and it is also the way for Ajax to survive in the fiercely competitive European football.

Ajax won 7-1, PSV Eindhoven lost 3-1 away to Feyenoord, Kezman scored a goal and Van Hojtenck scored a hat-trick, including two penalties, which caused a lot of controversy.

Regardless, Ajax managed to chase the league points gap to three points.

With two rounds of the league remaining, everything is still possible.

It was with such a happy mood that Slotz walked into the scouting office of Detokmost, the Ajax training base.

Ajax's scouting network is spread all over the world, not to mention the Netherlands itself, but also the Nordics and Africa are also the most important areas for Ajax's scouting resources, and every day there are scouts all over the world, or partners with Ajax who send player information and follow-up reports.

The assistants would collect the reports and deliver them to Slotz's desk on time every morning.

As always, the first thing Slotz did when he came to work was to read the report.

Although Ajax has long since lost the glory of the early 90s, the skinny camel is bigger than the horse, and it is still a well-known powerhouse in European football, and it is famous for its youth training, which naturally makes young players all over the world flock to it.

There are countless player materials sent to the team every day, and Slotz has long been accustomed to it, so he roughly browsed it and picked out a few players who were more interested in it to understand a little, even if he saw the final finale, when he saw the news of the youth football match around Amsterdam, an amateur scout recommended a wing player who claimed to be Ronaldo II, but it did not attract his attention.

Ronaldo II?

In these years, there are simply not too many players who have been deducted from this title, but how many are real people?

Will the pendulum be Ronaldo II?

And he turned out to be a right wing-back who only played two games......

Slotz shook his head and closed the report in his hand, put it on the corner of the table, and smiled bitterly in his heart, "The quality of scouts has been getting lower and lower these years, and it seems that it should be rectified again." ”

Technical director Leo Benhag had a peach scandal with the club's little secretary, claiming that he was leaving the team this summer to get together and disperse, but in fact he has left now and is no longer in Amsterdam.

Management is currently looking for a suitable technical director, and the chairman is said to have been selected, and Slotz, who is currently taking over some of the responsibilities of the technical director, feels that he should take the opportunity to put together a shuffling of his scouting network so that he can get results.

Iron battalions, flowing soldiers.

The new technical director took office, and I don't know what to do.

…………

…………

While Slotz was worried in the southern suburbs of Amsterdam, Yang Yang was in the skate park in Almere, finishing his morning basic training, sweating profusely, as if he had been fished out of a bucket.

Since the beginning of May, the weather has gradually become hotter.

Scoring his first goal in the Netherlands gave Yang Yang a strong sense of confidence, but it was the Amsterdam Arena that really stimulated him and made him train harder last night and today.

Even just thinking about it is extremely shocking, and at the same time, he is deeply aware of the huge gap between himself and the young players at Ajax.

After returning to Almere last night, he watched the game live, and Van der Vaart's performance on the right flank made him feel ashamed, and Van der Vaart's skill and talent made him want to bow down.

But these two players are not much older than him.

The gap is so big, and the teammates have such a good training platform, if they don't try to catch up, they will only be pulled farther and farther away.

"Drink water."

The middle-aged Dutch man who often came to see Yang Yang's training came again, still carrying two bottles of water, still sitting in that position, not saying a word, and only after Yang Yang completed the special training project did he hand over a bottle of water.

"Thank you." Yang Yang took the water and thanked him while wiping his sweat with a towel.

"You just played the whole game yesterday and this morning not only doubled the training, but also increased the intensity, can you afford it?"

Feeling a little concern in his tone, Yang Yang smiled, "I know my own body, no problem." ”

The amount of his training is all controlled by Lao Bing in the super training ground, and if he can't bear it, Lao Bing won't allow him to do this.

"You've got something on your mind." The middle-aged Dutch man said with certainty.

Yang Yang was a little strange, "How do you know?" ”

"It's written on your face." The Dutch middle-aged joked.

Knowing that the other party was joking, Yang Yang couldn't help but reach out and touch his face, which made the middle-aged Dutch who had always been serious couldn't help laughing.

"I heard that you performed very well yesterday, with two assists and one goal, and the success rate of one-on-one breakthroughs is very high, it seems that you have gained a lot from special training in the recent period, and your basic skills have also improved a lot, what else is on your mind?"

For this middle-aged man who was so strange that he didn't even know his name, Yang Yang was wary at first, but after a long time and more contact, he found that the other party had no malicious intent, every time he just watched him train, chatted with him for a few words, and slowly let down his guard.

"It's normal, they've been receiving the most formal and professional football training since they were young, and the basic training you're doing now, they're already familiar with it when they're eight or nine years old, and it's natural that you're not there."

"I understand, too." Yang Yang nodded, a hint of unwillingness flashed on his face, "But I just can't accept it." ”

"And what do you want?"

Yang Yang pondered for a moment and asked with concern, "Do you think it's possible for me to catch up with them?" ”

"I'm still saying that, it's as hard as the sky, but since you can see the gap, but you still have this kind of thought, you might as well give it a try."

"What do you mean......"

"What you said when we first met, you have to try everything to know."

After hearing this, Yang Yang felt a lot better, and then looked at the middle-aged Dutch man, very curious.

'What position did you play when you were at Ajax? Is there anything as good as Van der Vaart, Van der Meyde, Sneijder, or Litmanen? What's it like to play at the Amsterdam Arena? ”

"When I played, Ajax's home stadium was still at the Olympic Stadium, they only moved to Amsterdam Athletic in '96, so I don't know what it's like to play there, but ......"

The bitterness in the eyes of the middle-aged Dutch man flashed, and he quickly continued: "I have never played for the first team of Ajax, but as an opponent, I have been here, but it feels no different. ”

"I see." Yang Yang nodded, but soon a new question arose, "Why do I often meet you here?" ”

"Because I love coming here to watch you train." The middle-aged Dutch is very honest.

"Why?"

"I made a bet with Truth, who is my girlfriend."

"What?"

"I bet you can't do this boring basic training for a month while she thinks you can."

"And then?" Yang Yang felt funny that he had become the gamble of the old couple.

"We made an appointment, and whoever loses must promise the other party to do something."

"Then you ...... now"

"I hope you can do it." The middle-aged Dutch man said very sincerely.

He confessed so frankly, but Yang Yang was a little speechless, although he wanted to ask what he would do if he lost, but he felt presumptuous, after all, this is a matter between the old couple.

"It's almost time, I've got someone to play golf, it's time to go."

The middle-aged Dutch man stood up from the bench and looked at Yang Yang beside him before he could move a step.

"At your current rate of progress, at most another week, you should appropriately reduce the training of juggling the ball, just pay attention to maintaining that sense of the ball, and don't blindly juggle the ball for the sake of juggling, you will only juggle the ball and play a bad game."

As soon as he took a step, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and looked back, "Oh, yes, and practice your left foot more." ”

After saying that, he left without any nostalgia.