Chapter 40 Winning a Starting Spot Through Training Attitude

Tang Ye sat on the sofa, watching Charles and Paul go back and forth in a verbal sparring match.

Before entering the room, Tang Ye had already made his demands clear to Paul.

He needed a vacation, more vacation!

That was the most important thing!

Half an hour later.

"How did it go? Will I have weekends off from now on?"

"Tang..."

Paul lowered his head. "I'm sorry, I couldn't secure any extra holiday time for you. There's nothing I can do; Utrecht views you as one of their core players now."

It wasn't that Paul lacked negotiation skills, but rather that Erik ten Hag had laid down the law on this matter.

From the very beginning of the negotiations, Paul knew the chances of writing extra vacation into the contract were slim, and the final result proved him right.

"Damn it, it must have been Erik's doing!"

Tang Ye swung his fist in frustration.

Ten Hag was only giving him one day off on Sundays. Originally, Tang Ye had planned to secure a two-day weekend so he could practice his FIFA gaming skills and eventually defeat Xhaka in their upcoming showdown.

Now it seemed defeating Xhaka would have to be put on the back burner!

"Don't be sad just yet."

Paul chuckled. "I managed to negotiate a weekly salary of 2,600 euros for you."

"..."

Tang Ye was utterly speechless.

Unsurprisingly, Paul must have focused entirely on his own commission-generating salary.

Tang Ye's vacation had nothing to do with Paul.

But a pay raise? That definitely benefited Paul!

"Besides a generous weekly wage, I also applied for a release clause for you. If any club wants to terminate your contract with Utrecht, they will have to pay..."

Paul held up his index and middle fingers. "200,000 euros!"

He patted Tang Ye on the back. "With a release clause in place, you won't be completely restricted by the club."

Tang Ye nodded with a half-understanding expression.

Not being completely restricted by the club sounded great!

"So does that mean if I don't feel like coming to work anymore, I can just hand 200,000 euros to the club and terminate the contract?"

Tang Ye asked. Paul suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Uh, who told you a release clause works like that?"

"Then how does it work?"

"If another club wants to sign you, but Utrecht refuses to let you go, they can simply cough up 200,000 euros to take you away. Understand now?"

"Since when do players pay their own release clauses?!"

Paul felt a headache coming on.

Youth players like Tang Ye lacked knowledge about many things, and being their agent could sometimes be quite challenging.

Which youth player could magically pull 200,000 euros out of thin air? Even thinking about it made no sense!

"Oh, I get it now, I've done this in video games!"

Tang Ye's eyes lit up as he recalled buying players using release clauses in FIFA.

A release clause was basically a way to forcibly buy a player when the other side didn't want to sell!

Freedom was freedom, after all.

However...

Tang Ye shook his head and looked at Paul beside him. "This thing is useless to me anyway. Aside from Utrecht, do other teams actually want me?"

"You must never underestimate yourself!"

Paul admonished him. "Just play well, settle down in the Eredivisie for four or five years, and I'll find a way to get you into one of the top five leagues. Do you know about the top five leagues? Many players there are valued in the tens of millions of euros!"

Tens of millions of euros!

Tang Ye blinked. So far, the players he knew with the highest market values were the two attackers in his team.

Haller and Barazite, both valued at 2.5 million euros!

Tens of millions of euros!

Tang Ye took a deep breath.

Why did other people possess such heaven-defying talent, while he could only rely on hard work to make up for his shortcomings?

Damn it!

Still, Tang Ye knew better than to rush things.

He set a small goal for himself.

To reach a market value of 2.5 million euros before turning adult, matching the two senior players on the team!

It would be difficult, but Tang Ye was willing to put in the effort!

...

On the afternoon of October 26th, there were still two days left until Utrecht's next KNVB Cup match.

Tang Ye was very excited because his Portuguese mystery box would hatch right after the next match.

It was already an advanced mystery box. If Tang Ye managed to score again in the upcoming game...

He would obtain a superstar mystery box!

A Portuguese superstar mystery box!

The importance of the mystery box went without saying, which was why Tang Ye had been subtly probing about the starting lineup for the next match recently.

The more playing time he got, the higher the discipline of scoring, which was common sense.

However, Tang Ye was dealing with Ten Hag, and that guy was truly a sly fox.

Ten Hag never told Tang Ye outright whether he would start the next game, choosing instead to dangle carrots in front of him.

After finishing a set of 10x30 meter shuttle runs, Tang Ye puffed heavily as he walked over to Ten Hag. "Erik, I'm done running!"

"Okay, good job."

Ten Hag clapped in praise. "I feel like you've taken another step closer to starting the next match. Let me calculate, you now have a 90% probability of starting!"

A 90% probability!

Tang Ye rinsed his mouth with bottled mineral water.

Ten Hag was truly despicable for setting up a tiered training plan.

If Tang Ye wanted to increase his chances of starting the next game, he had to complete the training tasks demanded by Ten Hag.

Yesterday, Tang Ye's starting probability was still 30%, and it increased by 10% after the completion of each training session.

Though somewhat annoying, it certainly aligned with the principle that heaven rewards diligence.

Tang Ye had endured a lot of hardship, and now he had finally ground his starting probability up to 90%!

This meant that as long as Tang Ye completed one more training task—

Just one more task, and he could lock down his place in the starting lineup for the next match.

"I'm so tired, coach. What's the next extra training session?"

Tang Ye sat on the turf, watching his teammates play a training match nearby.

Roughly estimated, Tang Ye's current training volume was at least 1.5 times, if not double, that of the other players in the first team!

"You look quite exhausted already."

Ten Hag glanced at the iPad in his hand, where the software displayed Tang Ye's real-time heart rate.

127 beats per minute indicated that Tang Ye was in a rather painful state!

"Take a rest first."

Ten Hag handed Tang Ye a bottle of Gatorade. Tang Ye took it, but objected to Ten Hag's suggestion. "Erik, actually I only look tired. If I really have to run, I can still run."

Today's training time was about to end, and tomorrow was the pre-match preparation day, meaning no physical training would be scheduled.

Tang Ye knew what that sly fox Ten Hag was thinking. He just wanted to let Tang Ye rest now, end the training session immediately, lock in the 90% probability, and then bench him the day after tomorrow!

Tang Ye was not going to let Ten Hag succeed!

"Wow, Tang, I didn't expect you to have such perseverance."

Ten Hag raised an eyebrow. "Fine. I'll give you a 10-minute break, and then you'll start the final training exercise of the day: a 3km interval run!"

A 3km interval run was exceptionally grueling, but for the sake of starting, Tang Ye chugged a gulp of Grealish-brand non-alcoholic beer.

Just do it!

Half an hour later.

"Huf, huf-huf, huf-huf-huf... Erik, huf, what is my probability of starting now?"

"Well done!"

Ten Hag glanced at Vlap's watch.

The time was mediocre, but considering Tang Ye's baseline level, he had truly given his all for that final 3km interval!

"A flawless performance. Your level of effort deserves a spot in the starting lineup for the next match. Right now, your probability of starting is..."

"99%!"