Chapter 304: King of Amsterdam

Ajax Eases Past Central Army, Young Genius Scores a Brace!

Two Trophies in Two Years, Ajax Writes a New Chapter of Revival!

Europe’s Strongest Young Talent Emerges in UEFA Cup Final, Chinese Starlet Makes History!

Two Goals, One Assist! Tonight, He is the King of Amsterdam!

Shining in Lisbon! Who Dares Say He Isn’t the Next Ronaldo?

…

After the UEFA Cup final, media and fans all over the world were heaping praise on the eighteen-year-old Yang Yang.

UEFA even commented in a news article on its official website that with his brace and an assist from a corner kick, Yang Yang was reminiscent of an eighteen-year-old Ronaldo in his omnipotence.

The Dutch media gave Yang Yang’s performance extremely high praise, considering him Ajax’s most important player of the season and the key figure who enabled the team to advance on both the Eredivisie and UEFA Cup fronts.

“Ajax’s start to the league season, and even their performance in the first half of it, was not ideal. But after the team adjusted its tactics and established an offensive strategy centered around Yang Yang, it not only fully unleashed his scoring prowess but also allowed everyone to witness his growth and improvement.”

“So far this season, Yang Yang has only played in twenty-eight league matches but has already scored twenty-eight goals. Furthermore, he didn’t play the full ninety minutes in many of those matches, making his scoring efficiency far higher than that of Feyenoord’s Kuyt.”

“In addition to the Eredivisie, Yang Yang also has very impressive goal-scoring statistics in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup.”

“After Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart departed, everyone was worried about Ajax’s attack. But as it turns out, one should never doubt Ajax’s ability to develop players. Sneijder and Pinaar have largely filled Van der Vaart’s void this season, and Yang Yang has performed even better than Ibrahimovic.”

“With one final round left in the league, Yang Yang is still one goal behind Kuyt and two goals shy of Ronaldo’s record. For a player like Yang Yang, who has been in red-hot form lately, this is no longer an insurmountable chasm.”

Besides the Dutch media, the Portuguese media, hosts of the UEFA Cup final, also gave Yang Yang extremely high praise.

They generally agreed that Yang Yang was the decisive figure in the final. His two goals and one assist completely broke the stalemate and tipped the scales of victory firmly in Ajax’s favor.

“Moscow Central Army’s head coach, Gazayev, stated in a post-match interview that he had tried everything he could think of to stop Yang Yang, but unfortunately, Yang Yang ultimately dominated the final, and there was nothing they could do.”

The Spanish media also featured Yang Yang prominently, believing that helping Ajax win European titles for two consecutive years was enough to prove his growth and ability. This, in turn, has drawn the attention of the two giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Diario AS revealed, “Even before the UEFA Cup final, Ronaldo had already formally recommended Yang Yang to Florentino. The Brazilian striker believes Yang Yang’s growth and improvement are incredible, that he has the potential to become the best player in the world, and that such a player should be playing for Real Madrid.”

“In last season’s Champions League knockout stage, Yang Yang helped Ajax mount a comeback against Real Madrid. That was the battle that made the Galaxy Battleship remember his name for the first time. This season, his all-around explosion in form has made Real Madrid even more keenly aware that he is already one of the standouts among Europe’s new generation of players.”

“Van der Vaart is also an active proponent of Real Madrid signing Yang Yang. He hopes the arrival of his former teammate can improve his own position at the Bernabéu and earn him more playing time.”

“According to information obtained by our reporters, Florentino is also very interested in signing Yang Yang, because the player from China is backed by the enormous Chinese market—an allure that Real Madrid simply cannot refuse.”

“Sources reveal that Florentino has already tasked Real Madrid’s financial team with studying the feasibility of signing Yang Yang. Based on Yang’s current performance, it would require paying Ajax a transfer fee no less than what was paid for Van der Vaart and Ibrahimovic.”

“And Yang Yang would be more than happy to play on the same team as his idol, Ronaldo.”

Meanwhile, Catalonia Region’s World Sports Daily reported, “Yang Yang has been placed on Barcelona’s priority watch list. Both Laporta and Rijkaard are very interested in him, and Rijkaard has even used private channels to inquire with Ajax about the possibility of signing Yang Yang.”

“Back in the day, Ronaldo transferred from the Eredivisie to Barcelona and became a top world superstar in one fell swoop. Yang Yang could very well retrace Ronaldo’s footsteps by joining Camp Nou.”

“As for the highly anticipated young starlet, Lionel Messi, the possibility of him being sent out on loan to gain experience has not been ruled out.”

If the Spanish media was being coy, then the British Sun was direct and public, stating, “After Ajax’s UEFA Cup victory, at least two teams are determined to sign Yang Yang.”

“Benitez’s Liverpool has long been plagued by a weak attack. Having reached the Champions League final this season, the team will receive a substantial income. Benitez has already formally proposed to the management that he hopes to sign Yang Yang this summer to strengthen the team’s offense, and this transfer is expected to cost between twenty-five and 30 million euros.”

“This is already the price tag for a top-tier European star at present.”

“Besides Red Army Liverpool, Mourinho has also once again made a request to Chelsea to sign Yang Yang. The reason is that Robben gets injured too frequently, which has already severely impacted Chelsea’s performance.”

“Ever since last year’s Champions League final, Mourinho has been very optimistic about Yang Yang, dead set on bringing him to Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately, they ended up signing the injury-prone Robben instead, which has left Mourinho still longing for Yang Yang.”

“This season, Yang Yang has had a breakout performance, and Chelsea is even more determined to get him.”

“Compared to Liverpool, who are poor and have short-term ambitions, Chelsea is wealthy and extravagant, completely unconcerned about the transfer fee. The key is only the wishes of Ajax and Yang Yang himself. There are even inside sources revealing that Chelsea is willing to pay a transfer fee as high as forty million euros for Yang Yang.”

“This would undoubtedly allow Yang Yang to break the sky-high price set when Manchester United signed Rooney.”

…

In contrast to the European media, which was widely hyping up Yang Yang’s potential transfer, the Chinese media was mostly jubilant.

As early as last season, when Yang Yang scored the winning goal in the Champions League final, he instantly became a source of pride for his countrymen.

However, quite a few media outlets still pointed out that Yang Yang was, after all, just a substitute, and winning the Champions League didn’t necessarily prove how strong he was. Even after Yang Yang’s excellent performance in the Asian Cup later on, this point failed to change their stereotype.

But now, in the UEFA Cup final, Yang Yang had used two goals and one assist to prove his strength to everyone.

The foreign media’s hype and praise were nearly overwhelming, and the domestic media was no less enthusiastic.

Countless fans went wild over Yang Yang’s outstanding performance, and everyone saw him as the hope and pride of Chinese Football.

Never mind China—in all of Asia, no player had ever achieved such proud accomplishments in European Football as Yang Yang. And more importantly, he was only eighteen years old!

Let alone some of the picky domestic media outlets, even the Japanese and South Korean media, which had always looked down on Chinese Football the most, had to bow their arrogant heads in the face of iron-clad facts and acknowledge Yang Yang’s achievements in European Football.

After Yang Yang won the UEFA Cup, the AFC went even further, publishing a glowing commentary on its official website. It stated that Yang Yang’s outstanding performance was not just the pride of Chinese Football, but the pride of Asian football as well.

China’s most authoritative television station and party newspaper both prominently reported on Yang Yang’s victory in the UEFA Cup final, particularly emphasizing that he had been the undisputed protagonist in helping Ajax win the title.

“Three days from now, the Eredivisie will see its final battle. This will decide whether Ajax can successfully defend their title and achieve a second consecutive championship. It will also decide whether Yang Yang can surpass his rival to claim this season’s Eredivisie Top Scorer award, and even break Ronaldo’s legendary record from a decade ago.”

“This will be a battle that captures the world’s attention!”

The National Television station even stated that they were already in talks with the specific broadcaster, hoping to arrange a last-minute live broadcast of the match.

Since the final round of the Eredivisie was scheduled to kick off at 1:30 PM local time in the Netherlands, which was prime time back in China, countless fans online declared they would definitely be glued to their TVs to watch, hoping to witness this historic moment.

Many fans even posted comments wishing that Yang Yang would get his wish, score another brace in the final round against Groningen, surpass Kuyt, and break Ronaldo’s record.

…

…

While the entire world was focused on Yang Yang, the enthusiasm of the fans in Amsterdam was no less intense.

Around noon on the day after the UEFA Cup final, when the Ajax players’ flight returned to Amsterdam from Lisbon, a crowd of several thousand fans had spontaneously gathered to welcome Ajax’s triumphant return.

All the fans were uniformly dressed in Ajax jerseys, loudly chanting the names of the team and Yang Yang. The grand spectacle at Amsterdam Airport even caught the attention of international travelers and was reported on by numerous media journalists.

Especially when the Ajax players appeared holding the UEFA Cup trophy, the scene even verged on losing control for a moment.

In the end, airport security personnel had to step in to maintain order, barely managing to bring the situation under control.

But afterward, all the fans, whether driving or walking, followed Ajax’s team bus as it slowly made its way toward the Amsterdam Arena, with more fans continuously joining the procession along the way.

Ajax had not arranged a celebratory parade; everything was spontaneously organized by the fans.

By the time the team arrived at the Amsterdam Arena, an even larger crowd of fans had gathered.

Among all the Ajax players, Yang Yang was undoubtedly the one the fans focused on the most, and whose name was chanted the loudest.

All the fans hoped he could keep up the momentum and deliver another superb performance in the final league match.

The league title, the Top Scorer award, and Ronaldo’s record—it would be best to sweep them all!