I build a giant in the Premier League

Chapter 343 The Battle to Snatch Players! They've Made the Entire Dutch Eredivisie Cry! The Leveling Up Path of Majin Buu! [Please Subscribe]

In the past, Yang Cheng would always feel puzzled when he saw scenes in period dramas where people blocked the streets to petition the emperor.

How did these people who filed complaints know the emperor's itinerary so accurately?
It's important to understand that leaking the emperor's whereabouts in private is no ordinary matter.

That's absolutely outrageous!
If he were the emperor, he would definitely want to know the source of the information.

But when he flew from Milan to Amsterdam and was stopped and complained about, he had no interest in investigating the source of the information.
That's quite a spectacle!
The person who led the way in stopping him was UEFA Vice President and Dutch Football Association President Van Praag.

In addition to Dutch Football Association officials, three Ajax bigwigs, Bergkamp, ​​Van der Sar, and Overmars, were also present.

Also present were PSV Eindhoven's CEO, Thun Gruntz, and football director, Marcel Brandes.

Both of PSV Eindhoven's players came from AZ Alkmaar.

In the past few years, AZ Alkmaar has achieved outstanding results in both the first team and the youth team, so the management was directly sold by PSV Eindhoven.

Also present were Eric Goode, CEO of Feyenoord, and Martin Vangil, Technical Director.

Both of them have experience and background with Ajax.

It can be said that the relationships between the three giants of the Dutch league are actually quite complex.

Their elaborate "interception" of Yang Cheng had only one purpose: to file a complaint!

Who should we sue?

Premier League teams.

That's absolutely outrageous!

As Yang Cheng said before, with the massive influx of capital, especially in the English Premier League, broadcasting fees have been soaring, and every club has made a fortune.

But the competition is too fierce.

The difference between the Premier League and the Championship is tens of millions of pounds every year, and when the new broadcasting contract takes effect, the difference will be more than 100 million pounds.

What about the Premier League teams?
They're trying to poach people!
A frenzy to recruit people!

To avoid relegation, they are truly willing to go all out.

Therefore, the purchasing power of the Premier League is extremely strong.

As a result, player transfer fees across the European market have skyrocketed, and they continue to rise.

In this situation, many teams, especially those in the Premier League with already strong youth academies, have started to take a two-step approach.

They are recruiting players on one hand, and developing their own youth academy on the other.

In fact, teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur have been doing this for a long time.

However, this trend is becoming increasingly obvious.

Especially with the FA and the Premier League strongly supporting youth training, and UEFA's financial legislation also encouraging youth training, these teams have done their own calculations.

Instead of waiting until the players are relatively mature before making big-money purchases, I'd rather support youth training myself and specifically target young players.

So, which age group of players offers the best value for money?

In fact, if you look closely at the Premier League now, you will easily find that, apart from the Chinese players at Besworth, there are almost no youth training teams for the U10 age group.

Not to mention satellite youth academies like the Baswater Chinese training center, which even has players as young as 6 and 7.

This is simply impossible for them.

One is the limitation on the range of materials that can be selected, and the other is that the facilities do not allow it.

Not long ago, Arsène Wenger of Arsenal said the following in an interview with The Sun.

A reporter asked him why Arsenal couldn't develop young players like the Chinese players at Besworth, and instead kept poaching players from Besworth.

Wenger first joked, "If you can poach players, why bother developing them yourself?"

But he later explained that it was because Arsenal did not have the conditions for a complete youth training program.

To use a simple analogy, if we think of youth training bases as agents covering a certain area, Arsenal's Colney training ground is like the general agent for the entire London area.

However, the 10 youth training bases owned by the Chinese at Beswater can be delegated to district agents in various regions.

Then, through these district agents, we connect with more youth training clubs in communities, which are like capillaries.

This leads to the formation of a dense network of youth training programs.

This has become a moat for the Chinese in Baswater.

Other London teams simply can't learn from this.

After Arsenal and Chelsea realized this, they also wanted to build satellite youth training bases, but after building one or two, the costs became prohibitively high.

In recent years, the value of assets in London has increased significantly, coupled with the soaring transfer fees of players, youth training has also benefited.

They have missed the best time to enter the market.

Not to mention London, which was dominated by Chinese from Bethwaite, even in Manchester, Manchester City tried to emulate it, but only managed to build two before giving up.

Ultimately, it comes down to a mismatch between costs and output.

Wenger said they had done the math and found that the Chinese at Beswater, through sponsorships and player development, could not only be self-sufficient in youth training each year, but also make a profit.

What about teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham?
They also did the math and realized that instead of making a large investment, it would be more cost-effective to maintain the status quo and poach players from the Chinese youth training system at Baswater every year, paying them a sum of money.

But what is the cost of this?
That is, the best and most outstanding young players each year are often dominated by Chinese players from Basworth.

They could only pick what the Chinese at Bethwater had left over.

Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Some gems are inevitably overlooked.

But these Premier League teams aren't fools either.

In London, in the Premier League, we can't beat the Chinese at Basworth Field. But if we go all over Europe, or even the world, I can't beat other clubs.
Given the current strength of the Premier League, how can they not find young players?
Therefore, all the Premier League giants, including Arsenal and Chelsea, basically do not value their youth teams below the U12 age group, because for them, there is not much value in investing in them.

Their focus is on poaching local players aged 12 and above.

At the same time, they are searching the world for outstanding young players around 15 years old.

Therefore, you can often see a news report about a young player who suddenly appears and immediately attracts the attention of multiple Premier League teams, all of whom rush to play for him.

Are they robbing people?

We're vying for the future!
Young players around 16 years old have basically developed their overall abilities, which scouts can recognize, and they have a high probability of becoming successful.

Once recruited, they can be nurtured for two or three years and immediately stand out.

But this is really bad news for teams in other European leagues.

According to their disdain for Premier League teams, these damn Englishmen are like locusts.

After it passes through, nothing grows!

But the biggest problem isn't that.

Just like teams in the Dutch Eredivisie.

In fact, they welcome Premier League teams to cross the English Channel to poach their players.

Because that's how they make a living.

Without Premier League teams poaching their players, where would they get their income?
The Premier League pays even more.

The problem is, you can't just target rookies who are around 16 years old.

At this age, if you haven't signed a professional contract yet, you won't make any money if you get poached.

Even fishermen know to make their nets bigger, but you Premier League players are really trying to wipe them out!

A recent news story is related to Ajax.

Their youth academy prodigy, Donyell Malen, has been poached by Arsenal.

He is only 16 years old!

How could you do such a thing? You beast!
The most outrageous thing is that Arsenal snatched Tangell Malen from several top clubs.

Including Manchester United, Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City...

Oh, by the way, Donyell Malen's agent is Raiola!
Damn it, even the agents are all tangled up like this!

Is this a coincidence?

Obviously not!

Teams like Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, and AZ Alkmaar lose countless players to poaching clubs every year.

There was no way to stop it!

Therefore, Van Pragner stopped Yang Cheng this time to file a complaint against those top European teams.

"This time, I have decided to run for UEFA president. If elected, I will definitely establish stricter rules and regulations to protect these young players."

"Because at their age, they have absolutely no chance of joining a top club like Arsenal, and it might even ruin their lives!"

Van Pragman said indignantly.

Van der Sar and others also chimed in to echo this sentiment.

They have clearly reached a consensus.

Yang Cheng also looked very serious, nodding repeatedly, as if he took this matter very seriously.

But in reality?

He was already cursing under his breath.

Get lost, you lot!

Still aggrieved?
Arsenal didn't leave you any compensation?

It's just a little less than usual.

Besides, wasn't Donyell Malen also poached by Ajax from another club?
Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp.

At least Arsenal left you with some compensation.

But when you poached Donyell Malen from Hollandia, you didn't pay him a single penny.

They were only 10 years old back then!

When it comes to this kind of thing, no matter how you look at it, no one is more noble than anyone else.

It's just a business deal.

However, the Dutch league is in such a slump that players see no hope and are all eagerly trying to move to the top leagues.

Doesn't Donyell Malen know that if he goes to Arsenal, he won't be able to play for several years?

he knows.

But going there will give you a better chance!

Staying in the Eredivisie, Ajax has been in such turmoil for the past few years. Cruyff launched a so-called revolution, but ended up suing Ajax in court because of his personal feud with Van Gaal, causing a huge uproar.

It looks terrible!

Are things better in Eindhoven and Feyenoord?
They're all bullies at home!
In Yang Cheng's previous life, many fans saw Ten Hag's Ajax team reach the Champions League semi-finals and thought Ajax was amazing and was going to be revived, but what was the reality?

Forget it.

That revival was purely accidental.

Or rather, it was a coincidence that arose after the internal strife within Ajax!
Ajax still operates under a system of personal rule.

There is still no mature and stable management structure.

The situations in Feyenoord and Eindhoven are similar.

This is why the Dutch league is getting worse and worse!
Besides, many top teams now have their own methods for developing young players.

For example, Chelsea poached so many young talents, only to send them to Vitesse to play in the Dutch Eredivisie.

This is why the Dutch Football Association has been investigating the relationship between Vitesse and Abramovich, but has found nothing.

Of course, Yang Cheng couldn't possibly say any of this.

They came to file a complaint, and besides, it's not me they're complaining about, so what can I say?
Moreover, the key point of Van Pragner's remarks is not about youth academy players being poached.

Instead, he decided to run for UEFA president!

As a top student nurtured by China's nine-year compulsory education system, Yang Cheng's reading comprehension is quite good.

But just as Yang Cheng had this thought, Eindhoven's Thun Gbrontz turned the fire on Yang Cheng directly.

Or rather, it wasn't Yang Cheng, but Twente.

Gruntz stated that it's not just teams from the top five leagues outside the Netherlands poaching Dutch players; even within the Eredivisie, there are instances of people disrupting the rules.

That's Twente!

This summer, Twente first poached a 16-year-old young player named Cody Gakpo from the PSV Eindhoven youth academy.

That's fine.

Gakopo hasn't played for the first team yet and hasn't signed a professional contract, so it's understandable that he's being poached.

However, Twente managed to poach another 17-year-old player named Steven Belwin.

That's breaking the rules.

Bergwijn has already made an appearance for PSV Eindhoven's first team.

Even if it was only for a mere 11 minutes, that still counts as playing time.

Moreover, he is a Dutch U19 and U21 national team player, and is highly regarded and favored by everyone, no less than Tangier Malen who was poached by Arsenal.

Yang Cheng listened to Gebrontz's indignant and tearful accusations and nodded repeatedly in agreement.

At the same time, he was secretly observing the people opposite him.

No sooner had Gruntz finished speaking than Overmas began to complain endlessly.

Twente also poached players from Ajax's youth academy.

17-year-old Moroccan Mazraouil, 15-year-old Sven Botman, 14-year-old Joryon Timber, 13-year-old Ryan Hrafenbeh...

Twente is taking advantage of Ajax and relentlessly exploiting them.

The most outrageous thing is that even Matthijs de Ligt, who was highly regarded by Ajax and wouldn't turn 16 until August, was forcibly poached by them through some kind of trickery.

"This player is widely recognized in our Ajax youth academy as a future star player, and a key player we are focusing on developing!"

Overmas's heart bleeds when he talks about this.

Upon hearing this, Yang Cheng became furious and slammed his fist on the table.

"This is outrageous! This is so against the rules!"

"What on earth is Twente doing? They're completely breaking the rules, just messing around like crazy!"

"By the way, Michael, behavior like Twente's must be severely punished, severely punished!"

Yang Cheng's statement, ironically, embarrassed the Dutch Football Association president, Van Praag.

why?
If he could be punished, he would have done so already.

They were digging, but they weren't digging mindlessly.

It's like Twente poaching 16-year-old De Ligt, why not poach 17-year-old Van de Beek?

Because we couldn't poach Van de Beek; he's on a professional contract.

What about De Ligt?
He's not old enough yet, and his professional contract hasn't been signed.

As for Mazraoui, it was purely Ajax's own doing that led to their downfall.

This Moroccan player is 17 years old, but he has not yet signed a professional contract.

The key point is that although Twente poached players, they followed the rules and left behind compensation.

As for why the players left, is that even a question?
Twente has now latched onto the powerful backer of the Chinese team, Basworth. Who can't see the future of this team?

On the contrary, how chaotic has Ajax been internally for the past few years?

It's heartbreaking to even think about it.

Van Pragner served as chairman of Ajax for over 20 years, creating Ajax's glory in the early 1990s.

Who would have thought that this team would fall to such a state?

Yang Cheng lost his temper and immediately turned to look at Eric Gould and Martin Van Gill of Feyenoord.

"Tell me, did Twente also poach players from your youth team?"

"Tell me, and I'll definitely settle the score with them!"

But as soon as Yang Cheng finished speaking, Eric Gould and Martin Van Gill were embarrassed.

"Actually... actually, Twente didn't poach any people from our side," VanGirl said with a wry smile.

"No?"

Yang Cheng wore an expression that said, "How could there not be? You don't need to hide it for them. Just speak your mind. I'll stand up for you. Will they cause such a ruckus?"

Vangil's smile was more like a grimace. "No, really."

"Huh?" Yang Cheng was taken aback and turned to look at Van Prag.

The Dutch Football Association president was even more embarrassed.

“In recent years, Feyenoord’s youth training has indeed been… a bit disastrous.”

Adam Crozier and Xia Qing, who were standing nearby, almost burst out laughing.

Even the people from Ajax and PSV Eindhoven couldn't help but chuckle.

This situation seems to be heading towards a farce.

To be honest, even though Yang Cheng's ninjutsu has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years, he is still having a hard time enduring it at this moment.

How terrible is that?

Why do they poach players from Ajax and PSV Eindhoven but not from Feyenoord?

This is beyond just a little humiliation!
If Yang Cheng were from Feyenoord, he would probably go to Twente to ask for clarification: Do you look down on people that much?

Why are they poaching from Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, but not from Feyenoord?
We, the three giants of the Dutch Eredivisie, are all in cahoots. If we're going to poach, we should poach together. That's what I call fair!
There are no like you!
Eric Gould clearly sensed the awkward atmosphere and immediately coughed lightly twice.

"Although Twente didn't poach players from Feyenoord, it still caused a lot of resentment throughout Dutch football."

"They poached 19-year-old Denzel Dumfries from Sparta Rotterdam."

“They poached 14-year-old Miki van der Fein from Volendam’s youth team.”

"They poached 13-year-old Sepp van den Berg from Zwolle's youth team."

"They poached 17-year-old youngster Turn Koopmenas from AZ Alkmaar's youth team."

"We have signed 13-year-old goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen from Breda."

"They poached 15-year-old Paul van Heck from the youth academy of JVOZ in Zeeland province."

"We have signed 14-year-old Joshua Zirkzee from ADO Club in The Hague."

Upon hearing this, Yang Cheng frowned and looked at Van Prags again.

"Is Twente really so brazen, poaching players from all over the place for free?"

Van Pragman was extremely frustrated.

Brother, no, bro, my dear brother, let's stop pretending we don't know, okay?
What's your relationship with Twente? You know, I know, and everyone here knows.

I know why I brought them here, and you know it too.

Can't you just be more straightforward?

"Actually, Twente's poaching of players everywhere has indeed caused a lot of resentment, but they are all doing things within the rules, and although they poached players, they also left behind compensation."

"In addition, they don't only poach young players. For example, Heerenveen's captain Martin de Roon transferred to Twente for a transfer fee of 130 million euros."

"But Heerenveen was also dissatisfied because they wanted to keep De Roon. If it weren't for Twente's interference, the two sides might have renewed the contract."

Yang Cheng suddenly realized.

In his previous life, De Roon transferred to Atalanta in Serie A this summer and later became Atalanta's captain, where he performed exceptionally well.

Unexpectedly, after all the twists and turns, he still ended up in his own hands instead of going to Atlanta. Seeing that the time was about right, Yang Cheng stopped arguing.

"Alright, I'll go to Twente right away to find out what's going on. If it's true, I'll definitely give them a good scolding!"

Yang Cheng's tone was not that of a Chinese boss at Beswater.

He is, in fact, the chairman of the FIFA Supervisory Board.

After a pause, Yang Cheng turned to look at Van Prag, who was staring at him expectantly, and immediately smiled slightly.

"The current environment is indeed a bit chaotic, and we really need more experienced people like Michael to step up and clean up this mess!"

Van Praggle's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this.

There is a play!

At the very least, Yang Cheng doesn't object!

Yang Cheng saw that Van Prag had understood immediately and couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

Van Praggio's decision to run for UEFA president was something he had anticipated.

Yang Cheng didn't guarantee he would be elected, nor would he lower himself to participate in such a matter.

Besides, why would Van Prags expect Yang Cheng to support him?
Yang Cheng's lack of objection to his candidacy is already considered very polite.

As for whether he can be elected, that depends on his own abilities.

……

I had a meal with Van Prag and others.

As soon as they stepped outside, Yang Cheng told Adam Crozier and Xia Qing that they should give Twente's team a bonus.

At the very least, they did a good job.

They almost made them cry when they poached people!

Looking back from 2024, how did Twente manage to specifically target and poach outstanding young players?

Is he cheating?

In reality, back in 2015, apart from a few players like De Ligt, most of these players were not very prominent. The truly talented ones, like Donyell Malen, had already been poached by top clubs.

Of course, a player's development is not necessarily entirely dependent on talent.

Especially now.

With the increasing level of youth training, talent and personal effort are certainly key to a player's success, but the surrounding environment, especially the atmosphere of the club they belong to, is also crucial.

Just like Donyell Mullen.

He is now favored by top clubs across Europe, and everyone has high hopes for him.

There's really nothing wrong with the talent or the player himself.

Raiola is very good at selecting players.

However, the player ultimately failed to meet Arsenal's expectations, mainly because the Gunners' football environment was not very good.

After returning to the Netherlands and joining PSV Eindhoven, he immediately made a name for himself.

The same situation applies to talents like Martin Ødegaard, who joined Real Madrid.

After going through so many teams, it's still quite surprising that they were able to make it in the end.

Another genius, Canales, wasn't so lucky.

Therefore, youth training often depends on luck.

When Yang Cheng and his delegation returned to Enschede, they were greeted not only by the people of Twente but also by the mayor of Enschede, Van Wildhausen.

Several months later, Yang Cheng is no longer just the Chinese owner of Beswater, but also the chairman of the FIFA Supervisory Board.

This made Van Wildhausen extremely proud.

I was good at recognizing opportunities and contacted Yang Cheng in time.

If it had been any later, by now, I probably wouldn't have had this opportunity.

After Yang Cheng acquired Twente, the team immediately fulfilled their promise.

Yang Cheng made a phone call to London's Chief Sports, paid off the overdue loan, bought back the player's ownership, and that was the end of it.

Chief Sports will definitely give Yang Cheng face.

After buying back the player's ownership, Twente can then legitimately send documents to the Dutch Football Association to prove that the club did not sell the player's ownership to third-party companies such as Chief Sport.

The Dutch Football Association immediately refrained from taking action and issued a formal statement clarifying the matter.

As for the debt owed to the Enschede municipality, it was paid off the day after the acquisition was completed.

In the past period, Twente has halted the naming rights renewal for Großkreutz Stadium, launched the expansion plan for the last stand of the stadium, and also started the training base project at Dickmann Sports Park in the south of the city center.

The training facility in Hengelo is also undergoing renovations.

In short, with money, many things become much easier.

Within Twente, the management system of Chinese engineers from Bethwater was fully adopted.

Regarding the most important position of head coach, Yang Cheng strongly invited Vitesse's head coach, Peter Bots.

Peter Bots has not yet produced any truly impressive coaching results.

His coaching stint at De Graafschap at the beginning of the century was a failure, but his later coaching at Hercules Almorlo was quite successful, not only leading the team to promotion to the Eredivisie but also successfully avoiding relegation.

It was thanks to Hercules Almeró's outstanding coaching that he was able to go to Feyenoord to serve as the football director.

He didn't return to coach Hercules until 2010.

He started coaching Vitesse in 2013, and his results have been relatively stable.

For the past few years, Vitesse has been mired in financial difficulties, and there have been persistent rumors that Abramovich provided financial support to Vitesse, which saved the team from bankruptcy.

Therefore, Vitesse's investment in the sport is actually quite small.

However, Vitesse under Peter Botz's management has consistently ranked among the top teams in the Eredivisie, demonstrating their high level of performance.

In Yang Cheng's previous life, Peter Bots led Vitesse until January 2016, after which he was poached by the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv, where he coached for six months with outstanding results.

In the summer of 16, he returned to the Netherlands and took charge of Ajax.

In recent years, Ajax has been in turmoil internally, but in terms of football, under Frank de Boer's management, their performance has steadily improved.

In the recently concluded 14/15 season, they finished as runners-up in the Dutch Eredivisie with 71 points, trailing PSV Eindhoven by 88 points.

In Yang Cheng's previous life, during the 15/16 season, De Boer's last year coaching Ajax, Ajax achieved 82 points, second only to PSV Eindhoven's 84 points, and finished as league runners-up.

In the 16/17 season, De Boer went to Serie A to coach Inter Milan, and Peter Botz took over Ajax, achieving 81 points, second only to Feyenoord's 82 points.

They've been runners-up for three consecutive seasons!

He also led his team to the Europa League final, only to be narrowly defeated by Manchester United.

But Peter Botz's advanced pressing and ball control tactics, along with his passion for attacking football, earned Ajax a flood of praise under his management.

For example, he devised a five-second rule specifically for Ajax.

It follows the same line of thinking as Guardiola.

The goal is to do everything in our power to regain possession within five seconds of losing the ball.

This made Ajax under Botz's management the most offensively potent and defensively solid team in the Eredivisie at the time.

But what's most impressive is Peter Bots's promotion and development of young players.

Young players such as Van de Beek, De Ligt, and Frenkie de Jong were all promoted and given important responsibilities during Peter Botz's tenure as coach.

It can be said that this led to the Ajax team that Ten Hag later led to reach the Champions League semi-finals.

So why did Peter Botz leave Ajax?
This is exactly what Yang Cheng just said: Ajax is a complete mess inside.

At that time, Peter Bots completely won over everyone with his passionate attacking football and his strong promotion of young players.

But at that time, internal conflicts arose within Ajax.

Some of the board's conflicts spilled over to the first team, leading to clashes between Peter Botz, the team's head coach (who was not a direct manager), and assistant coaches Spikeman, Bergkamp, ​​and others.

Spikeman and Bergkamp are both Ajax veterans, especially the Ice Prince, who is a legendary figure.

CEO Van der Sar strongly supports the two veterans, while Overmas endorses Peter Botz.

Ultimately, Peter Botz left Ajax in anger and went on to coach Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.

As it turned out, this breakup was a bad thing for both of them.

Peter Bots suffered a major setback at Dortmund, and was sacked in December.

Marcel Keizer, the Ajax coach promoted from the reserve team and also an Ajax legend, did not perform well and was dismissed after only one year in charge in December.

At the time, Ajax had considered bringing Peter Botz back.

But Ajax ultimately chose Ten Hag.

Peter Botz was out of work for a year before taking over Bayer Leverkusen in December 2018, and later coached Lyon and PSV Eindhoven.

Overall, Peter Botz's coaching level is quite good.

Yang Cheng recruited him to Twente this time because, on the one hand, his ability is indeed very good, and on the other hand, his tactical style is very much in line with Yang Cheng's positioning of Twente.

On the other hand, he is indeed very good at developing young players.

During his visit to Enschede, Yang Cheng made a special trip to meet with Peter Botz to discuss Twente's future development direction.

The two shared very similar ideas and their thoughts were in complete agreement.

In terms of results, Yang Cheng was very pragmatic and did not set too high a standard.

Peter Botz, on the other hand, hopes to use Twente as a platform to take his coaching career to the next level.

Whether it's Nice, Atalanta, Malaga, or even Palmeiras in Brazil, Yang Cheng and his team's ability to build a team is undeniable.

Peter Botz naturally hopes to make the most of his talents in Twente.

In the past period, Twente has not only been poaching players from all over the Netherlands, but has also been making moves in Northern and Eastern Europe.

For example, they bought back 20-year-old Dutch defender Nathan Ake from Chelsea's youth team in the English Premier League.

This player has been at Chelsea for four or five years but has never had a chance to break through, and now he is going to be loaned out repeatedly.

Ultimately, he chose to return to the Netherlands and join Twente.

Yang Cheng's team spent 150 million euros on this.

In addition, the team also poached 14-year-old Dutch prodigy Jeremy Frimpong from Manchester City's youth team.

The Norwegian club Hed FC has signed 19-year-old midfielder Fredrik Orsnes.

This player cost Twente only 50 euros.

They have signed 17-year-old defender Julian Ryerson from Norwegian Viking.

JMG Bamako Youth Academy in Bamako, the capital of Mali, has signed 17-year-old midfielder Amadou Haidara.

这笔转会花了特温特50万欧元，而且由于海达拉要到16年1月31日才满18周岁，所以将在冬歇期时转会。

Twente also signed 14-year-old Dominik Szoboszlai from the White City Golden Phoenix club in southwest Budapest, the capital of Hungary, on a free transfer.

Because it was an intra-EU transfer, Szoboszlai was unaffected despite being only 14 years old.

Just like another Hungarian player, Milos Korkos, who is only 11 years old but transferred from Serbia to Rapid Vienna in Austria more than half a year ago.

He has now transferred to Twente in the Dutch Eredivisie and entered the youth academy for training.

Around the same time he joined the team, there was another young player from Georgia, 14-year-old Hervica Kvalatskhlia.

Twente also signed center Alexander Isaac from AIK in Sweden. He will not turn 16 until the end of September.

This young player holds both Swedish and Eritrean citizenship.

Signed 16-year-old Swedish-Burkina Faso center-back Isak Hein from Dilholm, Sweden.

Twente also signed 17-year-old center-back David Hantzko from Slovakia's Žilina.

Signed 16-year-old Morten Julmander from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Sign 18-year-old midfielder Denis Zakaria from Swiss club Servette.

Twente also signed Ukrainian midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko from Russian Premier League relegation-threatened club Ufa for €65.

The 18-year-old player started twice and came on as a substitute five times in previous Russian Premier League matches, playing only 235 minutes and performing only moderately well.

The team also signed 18-year-old center forward Dovbik from Ceraschina in Dnipro, Ukraine.

Of all the players, the one that Yang Cheng values ​​most is 15-year-old Erling Haaland, whom the team acquired from Brüne, Norway.

Haaland was already quite well-known in Brune, and the Chinese youth training program at Besworth had been keeping an eye on him for a long time, maintaining contact with him, after all, he is a future leader in world football.

As a former professional player, Erling Haaland's father hopes that his son will grow and improve step by step.

Joining a top club is undoubtedly a meteoric rise, but it also brings intense competition that can be overwhelming for players.

This is clearly not what Haaland wanted to see.

Therefore, although he maintained contact with the Chinese at Baswater, Haaland Jr. never joined the Chinese team at Baswater.

But this time, after Yang Cheng acquired Twente, he called Haaland and his son, promising them playing time in the Dutch Eredivisie first team.

This greatly appealed to Haaland's father.

This aligns perfectly with his thinking.

The Dutch Eredivisie is also close to Norway, and the Netherlands' youth training system is renowned.

After Twente was acquired by Yang Cheng, he will definitely increase investment, especially in the development of young players.

Putting aside other things, every now and then, the Twente youth team can participate in some European exchange matches, invitational tournaments, and overseas training camps. The players not only get more match experience, but also become familiar with and understand the level of opponents in other leagues early on.

This will be a huge boost to the player's future development.

Stay in Brune?
Should we stay in Norway?

After careful consideration, Haaland Sr. decided to bring Haaland Jr. to the Netherlands to join Twente.

……

Over the past few months, the Chinese team at Beswathe have been actively scouting young players across the Netherlands, Northern Europe, and Eastern Europe.

Even those who were just starting out were recruited into his ranks.

This also turned Twente's first team and youth team into a multinational force.

When Yang Cheng visited the Hengelo training base, he emphasized that they must take good care of these young players no matter what.

Over the years, the Chinese at Beswater have accumulated a wealth of experience in how to arrange things and how to create a positive atmosphere.

From school to accommodation to food, Twente had everything prepared perfectly.

In addition to players brought in from the Netherlands, as well as from Northern and Eastern Europe, Twente also has a number of homegrown youth players, such as goalkeeper Drommel and midfielder Reindes.

Both players have been promoted to the first team and will continue to play a role for the team.

Reindes joined Twente's youth academy in 2011, but originally planned to leave in 2015. However, after Yang Cheng acquired Twente, he chose to renew his contract and keep him on the team.

In the coming years, Twente's team-building strategy will remain the same as it is now: focusing on homegrown youth development, supplemented by young players from other European countries and regions, to form a young, dynamic, and competitive team.

Yang Cheng stayed in Enschede for three days.

He not only had in-depth exchanges with Peter Bots, but also communicated with everyone at the club.

Haaland even brought his son all the way from Norway to meet him.

Yang Cheng has high hopes for Haaland.

"You're the player I've set my sights on; your future definitely lies in London!"

Yang Cheng patted Haaland on the shoulder, offering his encouragement in a serious manner.

"Work hard and lay a solid foundation first. After Twente reaches the maximum level, we'll take it one step at a time."

"When you land in London in the future, you will definitely shock the whole world!"

Playing in the Dutch Eredivisie at 15?

Why not?

According to research on youth training by Baswater's Chinese team, if a player's level reaches that of a U13 player, it is best to send him to the U15 level.

Similarly, if you reach the U15 level, then you should move to the U17 level.

In other words, they always skip one or two levels.

Whether it's level one or level two depends on the specific case, so the guidance and planning of youth training coaches are very important.

Why not in U13 or U15?
It's very simple. If a player has reached a certain level, keeping him in the U13 or U15 is like keeping him in his comfort zone, which will slow down or even stagnate his progress.

Let him skip grades and keep him under pressure for a long time; he will progress faster.

Of course, we shouldn't push things too hard.

The specific arrangements still need to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

It's definitely impossible for Haaland to become a regular starter in the Eredivisie.

Yang Cheng felt that playing as a substitute and occasionally making an appearance on the field, while keeping the main focus on the second team or the U18 team, was still a suitable option.

Once he has made enough progress, he can go directly from the Dutch Eredivisie to Nice in Ligue 1, or to Malaga in La Liga to train.

In short, the goal is to keep him constantly hungry and motivated to keep improving.

For example, Mbappe is about to make his debut for the first team.

The biggest difference between the Chinese players at Besworth and teams like Nice, Malaga, Atalanta, and Twente is that the Chinese players at Besworth are focused on achieving results.

However, the other teams don't use this approach, as they mainly focus on developing players.

Of course, the premise is that they can avoid relegation; if they can also achieve good results, that would be even better.

Who would refuse?
However, the club's most important task is still to develop players.

Although Yang Cheng had promised him over the phone before, Haaland was still filled with fighting spirit when he received the guarantee in person!
"Don't worry, I'll come to London to find you soon!" Haaland was already eager to go.

Yang Cheng, of course, smiled and gave his approval.

But deep down, he still felt a little regretful.

When Haaland has played long enough and is capable of playing for Baswater, and when Buu arrives in the Premier League, Baswater's head coach will definitely no longer be Yang Cheng.

In recent years, as he has acquired more and more teams, Yang Cheng has become increasingly busy.

As parents in China grow older, it is becoming increasingly urgent for them to take over the family business.

Now, Xia Qing has already begun to take over some of the Yang Group's overseas businesses.

With such a large group and two listed companies, there are just too many things to handle.

Yang Cheng was also very busy.

Especially after becoming the chairman of the FIFA Supervisory Board, Yang Cheng had even more to do.

Or rather, his career path has long since expanded beyond the football field.

Given his current status and position, it is indeed not appropriate for him to continue coaching.

Putting aside everything else, what will happen if the referee encounters him?
Isn't this blatant bullying?
Besides, Yang Cheng's path is no longer limited to the sports field.

He has already stood on a higher and broader stage.

Therefore, Yang Cheng had discussed it with Xia Qing and Adam Crozier beforehand. He planned that after finishing this season, if Flick could successfully take over the team, Yang Cheng would basically retire.

But this was only the idea of ​​Yang Cheng, Xia Qing, and Adam Crozier.

We'll have to wait until he returns to London to discuss the specifics with Brian Kidd, Flick, and others.

Having led the Chinese at Bethesda for so many years, Yang Cheng also has feelings for the company.

At the same time, he had mixed feelings.

His main concern right now is whether Flick can take over the team smoothly.
Can he manage the locker room?

That's the real problem!
(End of this chapter)