Super Wingstorm

"Him? What do you think?"

Ibrahimovic chuckled. "Just a few days ago, he made it very clear to the head coach and the management that he wants to leave. He won’t be renewing his contract and hopes the club will release him."

Yang Yang and Vermaelen were both surprised. They hadn’t expected Talabesi to be so resolute this time.

Thinking it over, Yang Yang was certain that Talabesi must have been in contact with a few top clubs. They must have made him some kind of promise; otherwise, he wouldn’t be defying Ajax like this.

Yang Yang remembered that AC Milan was one of the teams that had gutted Ajax by poaching its players in the past.

And now, Manchester United, which had failed to sign Talabesi over the summer, and AC Milan, their group stage opponent in the Champions League, were clearly the most eager to poach him.

"So what’s the club’s position?" Yang Yang asked, concerned.

"This is completely beyond Ronald Koman’s control now. Of course, he doesn’t want his player to leave, but Talabesi is resolute, so his hands are tied. The intentions of Technical Director Van Gaal and the board aren’t clear yet, but I’ve heard whispers that Van Gaal is leaning toward selling him."

"Sell?" Yang Yang was surprised, but on second thought, it made sense.

In the current European football market, when a player is dead set on leaving and their contract is about to expire, forcing them to stay never ends well. It could even be a lose-lose situation for both sides.

For Ajax, the best way to handle it would be to first renew Talabesi’s contract, then let him go in the summer. This would give them enough time to prepare a replacement, and they could also sell him for a more reasonable price.

But Talabesi clearly prefers to leave in the winter. That way, the buyer pays a lower transfer fee, but Talabesi himself gains more leverage in negotiations to secure a higher salary.

As for a club like AC Milan, they have deep pockets. And since Talabesi would be cup-tied and unable to play in the UEFA Champions League anyway, they don’t really care if the transfer happens in the winter or next summer. However, if they can use this situation to disrupt Ajax’s morale, it would be a massive boost for the Red-Black Army’s chances of reclaiming the top spot in the group.

"The sale might not even happen. A faction led by Cruyff is fiercely attacking Van Gaal, arguing his ideas are too radical. They find his reforms—both to the club’s internal management and its overall business philosophy—unacceptable and believe they’ll only bring destructive consequences for Ajax."

"Regardless, Talabesi has been frozen out. The official reason is a knee injury, but everyone knows the truth. The club has so many players out injured, yet he’s perfectly healthy and still can’t get a single minute on the pitch."

Yang Yang sighed to himself. ’Every family has its own troubles,’ as the saying goes.

When he was at Almere, he had seen Ajax as this lofty, untouchable institution, the undisputed top club in the Netherlands. He’d imagined everything about it was perfect. But now, he suddenly realized that the Ajax he once viewed as a towering mountain was merely a small hill in the grand landscape of European football.

Whether AC Milan was genuinely interested in buying Talabesi was anyone’s guess. But with just one flimsy transfer rumor, they had managed to throw the entire Ajax organization into turmoil.

Talabesi wasn’t wrong to make such a decision. He was already twenty-six, right in the prime of his career. If he couldn’t get a transfer now, in two or three years, who would still want him?

Was Ajax wrong, then?

Yang Yang didn’t think so. From the club’s perspective, letting Talabesi go just like that was completely unacceptable. It would be a repeat of that disastrous exodus in the nineties. More importantly, what kind of message would it send to the other players?

Didn’t Ibrahimovic want to leave? Didn’t Van der Vaart want to leave?

If the club appeared weak at this critical juncture, how could they maintain control over the team?

Of course, from the perspective of powerhouses like AC Milan and Manchester United, they weren’t wrong either. They were just acting in their own self-interest. It might not even matter to them whether they actually signed Talabesi or not.

Without Talabesi, there was always another Tom, Dick, or Harry.

Yang Yang suddenly realized that this scene unfolding before his very eyes was the true face of professional football.

"Right now, many players on the first team are carrying injuries. Sunk has a back injury, O’Brien a knee injury, Pinaar his ankle, and then there’s Van der Vaart. All of them have injuries serious enough to affect their performance. After freezing out Talabesi, the right flank will be a big problem."

At this point, Maxwell looked at Vermaelen. "If Koman has Heitinga play on the right, then there’ll be a spot open for a center-back. This is your chance."

Hearing this, Vermaelen finally felt the first team beckoning to him for the first time.

No matter how many internal and external problems Ajax was currently facing, in a way, this was an opportunity for the young players.

Sneijder cemented his spot as a starter at a young age, Van der Vaart became team captain at a young age, and then there were Heitinga and De Jong. They all started to take on key roles. Wasn’t it because the team had all sorts of problems?

"There are a lot of problems with the attack up front too. Koman has been fond of partnering me with Sunk recently, but we still haven’t found a suitable winger for the right side. Neither Deridder nor Scola have put in a convincing performance in that position."

Ibrahimovic pointed at Yang Yang and chuckled. "I’m really looking forward to us playing together in a first-team match. With you and Maxwell delivering crosses from the wings, Vermaelen anchoring the back line, and me leading the charge up front... if the four of us are in sync, who could possibly stop us?"

The Swedish Striker’s words were grand, even a little arrogant, but they were exactly what the others wanted to hear.

Yang Yang, Vermaelen, and Maxwell all felt their spirits lift.

They didn’t doubt Ibrahimovic’s determination for a second. To rack up more impressive stats and secure a move out of the Eredivisie as quickly as possible, the Swedish Striker had been working incredibly hard over the past few months, both in training and during games.

Van der Vaart, Sunk, Sneijder, Pinaar, Escude, Galasek, De Jong, Maxwell, Talabesi... every one of these starters on the Ajax first team was exceptionally skilled. If they could truly pull together as one, reaching the Champions League quarterfinals again was not out of the question.

And for Yang Yang, getting into the first team no longer seemed so out of reach.

As November began, the Dutch football world remained optimistic about Ajax.

In the tenth round of the Eredivisie, Ajax hosted Alkmaar.

Although they were at home, Ajax conceded a goal just five minutes into the game. After that, Ibrahimovic pulled one back in the twenty-first minute, but they conceded another goal two minutes later.

The match was a tough struggle. It wasn’t until the 77th minute that starting defensive midfielder De Jong finally equalized for Ajax. Alkmaar couldn’t hold on. During stoppage time, a foul by Decra inside the box awarded Ajax a penalty. Decra, having accumulated two yellow cards, was sent off.

Galasek stepped up and converted the penalty, narrowly securing three points for the home team.

Since Ajax was still at the top of the league table and had been performing quite well recently, and with a UEFA Champions League match coming up midweek, everyone was satisfied with the victory.

In the midweek away game against Celta Vigo, head coach Ronald Koman was full of confidence. At the pre-match press conference, he even joked with reporters that when he played for Barcelona, he had faced Celta Vigo twelve times and never lost a single match.

Koman backed up his words with actions, making adjustments to the starting lineup. Romanian wide forward Mitja and Ghanaian player Yakubu were both in the starting eleven, with Yakubu capable of playing anywhere on the right side, from winger to full-back.

The war of words between the technical director and the legendary godfather flared up again.

In a pre-match media interview, Van Gaal expressed his full confidence in Ajax’s abilities.

"We have everything we need to win. Why shouldn’t we?"

Cruyff, who was based in Spain, quickly hit back at Van Gaal’s comments in the media, calling them blindly arrogant. "Besides recklessness, I see nothing that Van Gaal can leave behind for Ajax."

But the result of the match stunned everyone.

After two straight wins in the group stage, Ajax was on the brink of qualifying. All they needed was one more victory. Instead, they delivered a terrible performance at Balaidos Stadium.

Yakubu, making his first Champions League start at right-back, gave away a penalty in the twenty-fifth minute. Celta Vigo’s French midfielder, Peter Luxen, stepped up and converted it.

Van der Vaart, wearing the captain’s armband, was very unhappy about this. He retaliated against an opposing player, received a yellow card, and will now miss the next crucial match against AC Milan.

Trailing in the match, with their captain losing his cool and the team playing a disorganized game, Ajax quickly conceded again.

Sylvaino broke through Yakubu’s defensive area and provided an assist for Milošević, who scored to make it 2-0.

Although Sunk quickly pulled a goal back for the team early in the second half, a mistake from Yakubu in the 63rd minute dragged Ajax straight back to hell.

Ultimately, Ajax lost the crucial match 3-2. Van der Vaart scored in the 82nd minute, but the Ajax captain will now miss the pivotal clash against AC Milan, a blow that will have a huge impact on the young squad.

After the match, the Dutch media once again descended upon Ajax, savaging Koman’s team selection and tactics. For example, the starting Mitja had made no impact whatsoever, while Yakubu had "successfully" helped the opposition score three goals.

Some media outlets even used cartoons to satirize Koman and Yakubu, suggesting the Ghanaian defender should get the Man of the Match award because he orchestrated all three of Celta Vigo’s goals, and they were all very beautiful.

"Twenty-seven fouls—three times more than Celta Vigo. A statistic like that would have been unimaginable in the past, but it perfectly exposes the impatience and lack of emotional control in this young Ajax team. Van der Vaart is the prime example."

"There are two matches left in the Champions League group stage. If Koman wants his team to advance, he first needs to get them to keep their composure. At the same time, they have to learn how to defend their own goal."