Super Wingstorm

Sitting on a park bench, Yang Yang gently rubbed the photograph in his hand.

In the photo, he was beaming while wearing an Almere number nine jersey. Beside him stood a sharply dressed Van Basten. The legendary Dutch superstar had a hand placed kindly on his shoulder, a gentle smile on his face.

The only slight imperfection was that Yang Yang looked a bit stiff in the photo. While he hadn’t resorted to a cringey peace sign, he clearly didn’t know what to do with his hands. It immediately brought back the memory of how he felt that night meeting his idol.

The photo bore Van Basten’s signature. It was written with such a flourish that it was completely illegible, but it looked impressive all the same.

Arroyo had helped him laminate the photo so he could treasure it.

He truly intended to treat this photo as a family heirloom. In the future, no matter how good he became at soccer or what level he reached, he could always pull out this photo and show it off to his children and grandchildren. ’Back in my day, I met Van Basten.’

Radulu and Arroyo sat to one side, quietly watching Yang Yang’s expression. When they saw him put the photo away in his backpack with such care, they exchanged a knowing smile.

Van Basten was a giant of world football, admired by countless people, and they were no exception.

In the world of professional soccer, the power of idols has always influenced one generation after another.

Perhaps people idolized Van Basten now, but in the future, countless others would idolize players like Van der Vaart, Ibrahimovic, Robben, and Sneijder. Who could say?

"Did Louis really say that?" Yang Yang asked, his interest piqued.

Just a moment ago, Radulu had relayed the results of the morning’s management meeting. Ajax wanted him to participate in the Talent Day tryouts as originally planned.

Of course, to prevent any misunderstanding, Radulu explained that Ajax had already decided to sign him after the Talent Day event. He also mentioned the benefits of participating: if Yang Yang performed well, he could go straight to the B team coached by Van Basten. This was a rare shortcut for him.

Even if he skipped levels after joining the youth academy, it would take at least a year or two to reach the B team. By then, there was no guarantee Van Basten would still be the coach. This shortcut was incredibly appealing to Yang Yang.

Yang Yang understood. Van Gaal knew what was on his mind—that he idolized Van Basten and Ronaldo—and had pointed him down this path. It was also likely a way to test and motivate him.

It seemed the old man, who always appeared so standoffish, wasn’t as stern and harsh as he looked.

"He really did say that," Radulu said with a nod.

Yang Yang nodded. "Alright, please let Louis know that I agree to his arrangement."

Radulu and Arroyo were overjoyed. This meant Yang Yang had decided to join the Ajax Youth Academy.

"Also, please pass on another message for me. Congratulate him on his appointment as Ajax’s technical director, and tell him I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon. Oh, and please pass on my thanks to Marco."

As he finished, Yang Yang patted his backpack, referring to his gratitude for Van Basten’s signature on the photo.

To him, it was a precious gift.

Ever since he’d started playing soccer, he’d known Van Basten’s name. For years, he had dreamed of his two idols, Van Basten and Ronaldo, hoping for a chance to play on the same field with them.

Playing against Van Basten was a lost cause now that he was retired, and Ronaldo was far away at Real Madrid. But if he had the opportunity to play under Van Basten’s coaching, to be trained by him—that would be a long-held dream come true.

"Alright, we’ll be sure to pass that on."

"Thank you."

"If you feel it’s necessary, we can help you skip the first stage of the Talent Day tryouts and go straight to the group scrimmages in the second stage," Radulu suggested.

Yang Yang thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No, thank you. Since I’m participating, I’ll follow the rules. I’m going with two of my teammates, and I’d like to use this opportunity to see how much I’ve improved over the past two months."

Radulu and Arroyo glanced at each other, both looking pleased. They could clearly sense Yang Yang’s confidence.

Based on his evaluation at Almere, Yang Yang’s performance at the Ajax Talent Day should be upper-middle at best. After all, any truly promising talents would have already been scouted by Ajax long ago.

But considering Yang Yang’s dedication to his training and the momentum of his progress over the past few months, he might just cause an unexpected stir. If he did, it would reflect well on the two of them, who had so strongly recommended him.

"Alright. We’ll let you know the details ahead of time. If you need anything at all, just give us a call."

...

...

After seeing off Radulu and Arroyo, Yang Yang gathered his things and headed back to the Chinese restaurant.

His uncle, Shen Ming, knew that Yang Yang had always had a mind of his own. The decision to join the Ajax Youth Academy was an excellent one, so he agreed wholeheartedly, repeatedly encouraging Yang Yang to keep up the hard work and strive to play for the Ajax first team.

Yang Yang didn’t have a detailed plan for that yet. He was only sixteen, after all.

Even at Ajax, a club famous for developing and promoting young players, debuting for the first team at sixteen or seventeen was incredibly difficult. Even a super-prodigy like Van der Vaart was seventeen when he first played for the senior squad, and he only appeared in a single match during his first season.

And a player like Ryan Babel, a widely recognized prodigy in the youth academy, still hadn’t made his first-team debut.

So, Yang Yang was self-aware. He knew the most important thing right now wasn’t to aim for the first team, but to focus on improving his skills, securing his spot on the youth team as quickly as possible, and, ideally, making it into Van Basten’s B team.

With his short-term goals clarified, Yang Yang immediately focused on the upcoming Talent Day tryouts.

He understood Van Gaal’s intentions and wanted to perform well at the event. To do that, he needed to shore up his weaknesses as quickly as possible.

"Can I learn a second Star Skill?"

Back home during his lunch break, Yang Yang entered the Super Training space, his first words an eager question for Old Ice.

For the past two or three months, he had been completely focused on training "Ronaldo’s Breakthrough." Most of that time was spent practicing the Pendulum Move. Once he had mastered Ronaldo’s famous signature skill, he started practicing the other techniques within "Ronaldo’s Breakthrough," such as a series of feints and ball-drags.

But now, as he improved—especially after his performance in the amateur matches with Almere—Yang Yang’s other problems had become more apparent. His fundamentals, for example, were his biggest weakness.

Even now, Yang Yang still practiced juggling every single day. Whenever he could, he would run to his destination while juggling the ball instead of taking transport, all to squeeze in as much training time as possible.

His feel for the ball was no longer an issue, but his first touch was still a major weak point, especially under pressure from defenders.

Controlling a stationary ball and controlling one in motion are two completely different things. The latter is exponentially more difficult.

Therefore, Old Ice had integrated fundamental drills into every aspect of Yang Yang’s training. For example, when he was training by kicking a ball against a wall, several of the exercises were designed to improve his first touch, specifically his dynamic first touch.

But improving his fundamentals while in motion, especially under high-intensity pressure, would require much more time.

It wasn’t something that could be improved quickly.

Yet, when playing in the amateur league, Yang Yang had clearly hit a plateau. He needed to find a way to improve further.

"You can," Old Ice’s detached voice sounded in his ear. "What do you want to learn?"

"Given my current weaknesses, what would you recommend?" Yang Yang asked.

"You have many weaknesses. First touch, passing, crossing, shooting... It seems that aside from one-on-one dribbling, you’re weak in every other area."

"Could you be a little more tactful?" Yang Yang deadpanned, his expression darkening. ’Isn’t that a little too direct?’

"I only state facts."

"Fine," Yang Yang said, throwing up his hands in resignation. "Break it down for me, then."

"For ball control, Bergkamp’s is excellent. For passing, many players have profound skills, which can be divided into long and short passing. For shooting, it would have to be Van Basten. There are many options for crossing, but Beckham’s crosses from the right wing are in a class of their own, arguably the best in the world."

These were all major weaknesses that had been exposed in Yang Yang’s game, and he needed to work on improving them.

Bergkamp’s first touch was indeed incredible. And according to Van Gaal, he had developed that control and technique by training against a wall. However, that method required a high level of fundamental skill. Without having built up his basics to a certain point, forcing himself to train that way would be an inefficient use of his time, yielding minimal results for maximum effort.

A poor first touch had become Yang Yang’s calling card. After getting to know his playstyle, many of his teammates would try to pass the ball into the space in front of him so he could run onto it, a tactic that did its best to bypass his greatest weakness.

Yang Yang’s daily training time was limited. A host of fundamental drills already took up most of his time, and "Ronaldo’s Breakthrough," which he relied on heavily, also required constant practice and refinement. If he invested a huge amount of time grinding his first touch now, it would not only be inefficient but could also negatively impact his other training. The cost would outweigh the benefit.

Of course, he would have to work on his first touch sooner or later. An exquisite first touch was far too important for a professional player’s performance to neglect. But he’d have to wait until his fundamentals had improved to a certain point and he could free up enough time to really drill it.

Passing wasn’t his top priority either. His current position was as a winger who specialized in dribbling past defenders, and he would likely continue in that role at Ajax.

As for shooting, it was unlikely Yang Yang would be given that kind of license. It might have been possible at Almere, but at Ajax, he would have to start as a dribbling winger, and the team would never grant him a license to shoot at will.

It was said that on the Ajax first team, not even Ibrahimovic or Van der Vaart had that kind of authority.

That left very few options.

For Yang Yang, the skill that would most quickly improve his competitive edge was, without a doubt, crossing.