Chapter 52: So, What Exactly Is Our Current Standing?
After Van der Gaag left, Ten Hag remained in the office and logged back onto the Royal Dutch Football Association’s website. Seeing the homepage photo of himself in a suit, directing players on the field, Ten Hag exhaled deeply.
The Best Coach award primarily focused on tactical arrangements, and Ten Hag recalled that in October, he hadn’t really studied Utrecht’s tactics much. He could only say that winning the Best Coach trophy this month was much easier than he had imagined!
He just wondered if he could win another one this month?
...
After a one-day break, training resumed.
The first day’s session was light, focusing on simple ball control and passing drills. The training was easy, but the players couldn’t seem to find any joy.
Their next league opponent was PSV Eindhoven!
Ramseelaar, Barazite, and Tang Ye practiced passing combinations on the right flank, while Alay was contesting for the ball in the center.
“Tang, you seem pretty relaxed. Don’t you realize how strong Eindhoven is?” Ramseelaar noticed that Tang Ye was the most carefree among all the players training that day.
“Of course I know Eindhoven. They have a player who’s really good at tackling!” Tang Ye replied.
“Really? Who is this great tackler you saw on TV? What’s his name?” Ramseelaar and Barazite exchanged puzzled looks.
“Oh, he’s from the second team,” Tang Ye suddenly recalled.
“I’m talking about the second team—the guy is from Eindhoven’s reserves. If their second team players are that good, the first team must be even stronger!”
“Ha! Tang, did Eindhoven’s second team completely destroy you last season?” Alay laughed, but Tang Ye shook his head.
“Oh? You guys drew the match?” Tang Ye shook his head again.
Barazite’s eyes lit up. “Wow, don’t tell me you’re the one who destroyed Eindhoven’s second team?”
“Nope,” Tang Ye said, shaking his head. “I didn’t play. I was just sitting on the bench while my teammates got crushed.”
“...”
Ramseelaar and Barazite burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs, leaving Tang Ye confused about what was so funny.
Soon, Ten Hag blew a long whistle and ended the first morning training session fifteen minutes early.
Checking his watch, he said, “I’m ending training fifteen minutes early because I feel today’s session wasn’t very effective.”
Ten Hag’s eyes gleamed. From the moment the Utrecht players gathered this morning, each one wore a gloomy expression—they were clearly feeling the pressure of the weekend’s match.
Maintaining this mindset was unacceptable. Ten Hag knew he had to say something.
He scanned the players before speaking, “I know Eindhoven is strong. They were last season’s champions and remain at their peak this season.”
“But that doesn’t matter.”
His gaze firm, just looking at Ten Hag’s expression gave Tang Ye an inexplicable surge of strength.
“Although we’re a mid-table team, and this season we might even be fighting relegation, I want to say—we are not bad.”
“We have excellent players—Sebastian, Barazite—all very good. And no matter what, I am still here.”
Ten Hag’s words caught Tang Ye’s attention. Originally seated on the ground, he suddenly stood up.
“To be honest, the Dutch FA announced the Best Coach for October yesterday afternoon, and I was lucky enough to win it…”
Halfway through his sentence, Tang Ye sat back down.
Looking around, he saw Van der Gaag and Ten Hag surrounded by players, so he quietly slipped away.
From Tang Ye’s experience, when Ten Hag was showing off like this, his concentration was intense—he wouldn’t notice Tang Ye sneaking off!
...
That afternoon, Ten Hag had planned to hold a tactics session, but the club’s owner, Verhoeven, happened to visit the club at that time.
Training was temporarily handed over to Van der Gaag, while Ten Hag met with Verhoeven in the office.
Verhoeven was straightforward, immediately bringing up the matter Ten Hag had been pressing for—the purchase of a top-class controlling midfielder.
“I’ve seen the report Michel gave me. You’re interested in a midfielder from Ajax’s second team, a playmaking midfielder, priced at around 8.5 million euros.”
“And you want him in the winter transfer window, right?”
Verhoeven looked Ten Hag in the eye, who nodded sheepishly.
Back in July, Utrecht’s first team and Ajax’s reserves had contested a player named Frenkie de Jong.
In the end, de Jong transferred from Willem II to Ajax’s second team for 7.7 million euros.
That was Ten Hag’s first transaction after taking charge at Utrecht—and it failed outright because Utrecht couldn’t raise that much money in the summer window.
Ten Hag had repeatedly told the club’s management he wanted to buy de Jong from Ajax in the winter window, but the club had never agreed.
...
“Yes, sir, listen to me. Frenkie is definitely a qualified midfielder. He fits our system perfectly, and…”
“I came here to talk about this very thing,” Verhoeven interrupted.
“I know you want de Jong. We can raise some money through sponsorships and broadcasting revenue in the winter window. But Eric, you want the player in January.”
European football has two transfer windows—summer and winter. The price for the same player in winter is often higher than in summer.
That’s because everyone knows you need reinforcements in January, so some shady dealers jack up prices.
Ajax bought de Jong in July for 7.7 million euros. If they have to sell him in January, Utrecht’s management estimates it will cost at least 8.5 to 9 million euros, maybe even a full 10 million.
Utrecht can scrape together 10 million euros in the winter window, but de Jong is a prodigy, and Ten Hag was rolling the dice.
If de Jong didn’t perform well at Utrecht, that 10 million would be wasted.
That’s 10 million euros!
Verhoeven had been busy negotiating with Nike for over a month, aiming to sign a six-year 38 million euro sponsorship deal.
Ten Hag would spend a quarter of that just on one young talent!
“Sir, listen—”
Ten Hag wanted to argue further, but Verhoeven raised his hand to refuse.
“I know it’s difficult, but I can give you 8 million euros to buy other players. Our primary goal this season is to avoid relegation—ideally stay within the top twelve.”
“For that goal, you should spend money on 25 or 26-year-old players—they’re more stable.”
“We are trying, and our results are pretty good. Avoiding relegation is basically not a problem.”
Ten Hag was growing anxious.
“You keep saying the results are good. Well then, what exactly are our results?”
“Um…”
Ten Hag twitched his nose and whispered,
“First in the league.”
“Ah?”
...