Football: I am only 16 years old, and you want me to retire and make a comeback?

Chapter 932 The Fifth Golden Globe Award
With the 2023 Ballon d'Or ceremony just around the corner, could TY become the first player to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or while playing for an Asian team?

World Cup third place + six-time champion season + Asian Cup winner, is the Ballon d'Or a foregone conclusion?

In an interview, Dembele stated that he lacks a certain level of competitiveness compared to TY, even though TY is no longer in the top league.

"This year's Ballon d'Or is calculated from last year's World Cup. Although we were World Cup champions, I still feel it's not enough. If I had to choose, I think this year's Ballon d'Or should go to Tom, and I will strive for the 2024 Ballon d'Or."

After a Champions League match, Dembele shared his thoughts on this year's Ballon d'Or with reporters: "I made a promise with Tom that I would win a Ballon d'Or while he is not in the top five leagues, and I am working towards that goal. I think I should be able to fulfill my promise to him in 2024 or 2025."

Judging from what Dembele said in an interview, the French striker doesn't seem very optimistic about his chances of winning the Ballon d'Or this year.

"Manchester United are currently second in Group C of the Champions League, and you even suffered a three-game draw streak in the league at the start of the season, something you haven't seen in recent years. Do you think TY's departure was the cause of Manchester United's series of defeats?"

"..."

Dembele was somewhat exasperated by the reporters, but that's just how they are; they always like to ask questions related to Tang Ye.

"I think there's a lot to it."

Although reluctant, Dembele spoke frankly: "Tom has always been our most important player, and his departure may make it difficult for us to adapt in a short period of time."

"But this is not a problem, we will adjust as soon as possible."

"Tom and I made a promise that I would win the Golden Globe sometime within the next three years."

When he said his last words, Dembele's eyes were incredibly firm; he was no longer the hothead he was during his time at Dortmund and Barcelona.

For this French talent, the best decision he ever made was leaving Barcelona for Manchester United. Almost all Manchester United fans witnessed his growth from a naive youngster to one of the team's core players.

Now Dembele carries the burden of a promise to Tang Ye, and he is determined to win a Ballon d'Or at the peak of his career!

……

Forwarding Dembele's interview: Manchester United's poor form in the new season is related to Tang Ye's departure. Tang Ye's departure has left some Manchester United players without direction; I believe the team can adjust its form as soon as possible; I don't think the team's poor performance is Ten Hag's fault.

Dembele's conversation with reporters has sparked a lot of discussion among fans, especially now in October, a crucial time when this year's Ballon d'Or winner will be announced.

With second place in the league and second in the Champions League group stage, the 2023-24 season is undoubtedly a failure for Manchester United, at least for now.

Fortunately, Rodri and Dembele have maintained their consistent performances, and De Jong is close to recovering from injury, so most Manchester United fans still have hope for the future.

Of course, a small number of fans hold a pessimistic view.

When will Glazers get out? Damn it, the €5.5 million that Donados left is for the club, not for Glazers!

Ten Hag is still not good enough. I hope he won't be able to beat Manchester City this season... That wouldn't be good.

[Will Ronaldo's words come true...? I always have a feeling that what Ronaldo says comes true soon after. Is Manchester United really in trouble?]

[The guy upstairs is too pessimistic. Manchester United won't fall. Their current strength is incredible; they're guaranteed the league title no matter how many losses they suffer.]

[A sure thing for the league title? Do you really think you can disregard Guardiola? Haven't you seen how dominant Haaland has been this season?]

Don't even mention it. I can't even imagine what the comments section will be like when a Saudi Arabian player wins the Ballon d'Or next week. Football is getting more and more abstract.

"TangYe!"

"TangYe!"

"TangYe!"

The cheers at King's Stadium were like a tsunami. Tang Ye, holding the MVP trophy, stood in the middle of the court, receiving the cheers from the fans.

“TY, we remember that you were controversial when you first came here because you only played about 70 minutes per game, far less than the 95 minutes you played per game at Manchester United.”

"Haha, they all say I'm here to retire."

Tang Ye smiled wryly: "Of course, it's definitely more comfortable here than in the Premier League."

“可是你在过去8场联赛中打入了24个进球，在每场比赛只踢70分钟的情况下达成了场均3球2助的数据。”

Wow!!!

As soon as the host finished speaking, cheers erupted from the stands.

Indeed, although Tang Ye has been somewhat lazy this season, his statistics are truly outrageous, giving people the feeling of being incredibly successful.

"Haha, I think it's alright. Actually, I don't pay attention to my data most of the time."

Tang Ye shrugged: "I'm probably more concerned about the team's ranking in the standings than the statistics. But so far we've won all eight of our league games, so there's no need to worry about the ranking."

Tang Ye's stance was clear: he was here to be a thug.

Regardless of how many goals or assists he gets in a match, his mission is to ensure that Al-Hilal wins every single championship, without missing a single one.

"Will you become the first player to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or while playing for an Asian team? This would be your fifth Ballon d'Or (excluding the World Cup Ballon d'Or)."

"We can look forward to it."

Tang Ye looked at the camera: "I'll be going to Paris next weekend, then I'll know everything."

……

"Theo".

Back in the locker room, Tang Ye and Hernandez high-fived: "That was a great assist."

"It should."

Hernandez was in a good mood: "I don't think the Saudi league is as strong as Ronaldo said. We've been dominating them the whole time."

"Shh!"

Tang Ye gestured to Hernandez not to make any wild remarks: "Keep a low profile, Theo, although I agree with what you said."

"Haha."

Hernandez and Tang Ye bumped fists: "I wish you can win the Ballon d'Or this year. I'm also on the shortlist. I'll applaud you then."

"He probably doesn't need you."

Mitrovic joked about Hernandez: "The Ballon d'Or ceremony was full of his brothers. Didn't you see the list? A bunch of Manchester United guys."

"That too."

Hernandez shrugged, not giving Mitrovic any face: "But having one more person wouldn't be a bad thing, would it? We can talk about this when you can get to the site."

"Alright, alright, be quiet."

Tang Ye clapped his hands: "Remember to do your best in the upcoming AFC Champions League matches."

……

Riyadh United Daily News – A whirlwind! TY has scored 31 goals and 20 assists in 12 appearances since joining Riyadh's Al-Hilal, averaging a staggering 9.7 rating per game. Is Al-Hilal's hefty offer for TY a waste of money?

Riyadh Sports editor-in-chief: Regardless of the cost to Mobil 14 in pushing for TY's transfer, their current performance is an undeniable fact. If Victory doesn't want to fall too far behind, the management should heed Ronaldo's advice and make "more signings."

So far this season, Ronaldo has been shut out twice by Crescent, which has given him a huge headache and even made him more irritable.

They said they came to the Saudi league to retire, so why are players like Tang Ye, Mitrovic, and Cancelo on the opposing team?
However, if you look at it from another angle, it's actually not a bad thing for you.

In an interview with Saudi radio, Cristiano Ronaldo stated that the Saudi league has already surpassed Ligue 1 and entered the ranks of the top five leagues, and will become even stronger in the future; Ten Hag's clownish nature has not changed, and TY's departure will allow him to reveal his true colors sooner.

Ibrahimovic responded to Ronaldo's comments: The intensity of Ligue 1 is far greater than that of the Saudi league. Ronaldo has never played in Ligue 1, so his judgment is inaccurate.

……

Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet. This is the scene from the 2023 France Football Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Several Manchester United players stood on the red carpet, answering reporters' questions while constantly looking around, as if waiting for something.

Just then, a black Lincoln slowly drove up, instantly catching Dembele's attention: "Here it comes."

Seven Manchester United players waited in front of the red carpet, and Kane kindly opened a door for them.

"Wow, Harry, thanks."

Tang Ye and Kane embraced.

Click, click! Click, click, click!

"Ha ha!"

"long time no see!"

"long time no see!"

Tang Ye gripped Dembele's hand tightly: "So, Ousman, do you think you can win the Ballon d'Or this year?"

"He exploded."

Rodri nudged Dembele: "He hasn't won as many MVPs as I have this season, I don't know what he's doing."

"I told you I wasn't feeling well, but I recovered quickly."

Dembele made an excuse for himself, but Kane quickly spoke up for him: "Actually, I have some issues. If I had converted all the assists you provided, you would have won many more MVP awards."

“Fuck”

They were originally talking about Dembele's performance this season, but Tang Ye's attention was drawn to something else: "Harry, your English... I almost didn't understand you."

"You get used to it after hearing it a lot. You're just not used to it because you haven't heard it for so long."

Rashford put his hand on Tang Ye's shoulder, and the group walked toward the banquet hall.

"How's the Saudi league? It seems pretty good."

Rashford seems very interested in Saudi Arabia: "You play as an attacking midfielder but score at least three goals every game."

"It's alright. The main thing is that I don't need to track back on defense at Crescent Moon. I just need to pass the ball a few times during the attack and look for opportunities to finish the play."

Tang Ye scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed: "I feel like I haven't run more than 11km in several races."

"You're really going to rest now."

Dembele glanced at Tang Ye.

"That's not quite right. The main reason is that Saudi Arabia's strength is relatively low."

Tang Ye turned his head left and right to make sure there were no unfamiliar reporters nearby before whispering, "If I'm serious, I can score about 5 goals per game, but there's no need to score too many. If I dominate every game, I'll get yelled at by those Saudi fans."

"So your data was manipulated a lot."

Rodri was speechless: "Okay, you're really something."

……

5th in Ballon d'Or: Haaland (Manchester City, Norway).

4th place in the Ballon d'Or: Messi (Paris Saint-Germain/Inter Miami, Argentina).

"..."

With Haaland and Messi ranked 5th and 4th respectively, and Mbappe in 6th, the top three will definitely be an internal battle within Manchester United, namely Tang Ye, Rodri, and Dembele, who will have a final showdown.

Third place: Dembele!

Clap clap clap clap!
Dembele seemed to have already guessed that he would be last among the top three, so when he stood up, he was more helpless than anything else.

He lost again!

Second place: Rodri (Manchester United, Spain)

Bang bang bang bang bang! ! ! !

After Rhodes sat down, the room became completely silent.

Everyone already knows the result, but we're just waiting for the host to say the name himself.

Manchester United legend David Beckham was already on the podium as a presenter of the award.

"2023 FIFA Ballon d'Or winner..."

"TangYe!"

"Congratulations!"

Clap clap clap clap!
Bang bang bang bang bang! ! !
"This is Tang Ye's fifth Ballon d'Or trophy in his career. In the past season, he won the Premier League title, the Champions League title, the FA Cup title, the World Cup third place, the Asian Cup title... and just last month he won the Arab League title."

clap clap clap! !

Tang Ye, dressed in a suit, bowed to express his gratitude for the applause coming from all directions.

"TY, did you know the result beforehand?"

"Well... actually no. The secrecy surrounding this year's Ballon d'Or was better than in any previous season; at least, no one I know knows their ranking."

"But you didn't seem particularly surprised after winning the award, was it because you already guessed the result?"

"Probably, but I wasn't 100% sure. But I still won in the end, which is good news."

"..."

Tang Ye and Beckham held the trophy together, and the two Manchester United legends posed for a photo in front of the camera.

……

Ballon d'Or: Tang Ye (Manchester United, Al-Hilal).

Women's Golden Ball: Bonmati (Barcelona).

Club of the Year: Manchester United (Premier League).

Yashin Award (Best Goalkeeper): Martinez (Aston Villa).

Gerd Müller Award (Top Scorer): Haaland (Manchester City).

Socrates Award (Social Contribution): Tang Ye (Manchester United, Al-Hilal)

France Football official: After winning 5 Ballon d'Or awards, Tyler has now tied Messi (5 Ballon d'Or awards) for the most Ballon d'Or awards in history.

Summary of an interview with 2023 Ballon d'Or winner Tang Ye by France Football:

1. Things are going well in Riyadh Crescent. To some extent, the Saudi league is quite challenging.

2. Manchester United's current poor form is only temporary. United has a strong squad and could win consecutive Premier League and even Champions League titles without him.

3. I am disappointed with the Glazer family's handling of my transfer fee, but as a player, I can't comment too much.

4. He doesn't think he'll be competitive in next year's Ballon d'Or voting and favors Dembélé or Rodri to win.

The newspaper only summarized four points, but if you watch the entire interview video, you will find that at the end of the video, the reporter also asked Tang Ye about the "free transfer right" clause.

Unfortunately, Tang Ye himself did not give a direct answer to this question.

……

……

Time flies, and it's already 2024.

In the first month of 2024, Chinese fans received some very good news.

Two years ago, FIFA officially announced plans to reform the Club World Cup, which the media referred to as "expansion," and this process has now begun to be implemented gradually.

The inaugural revamped World Cup is confirmed to have 32 teams participating, with the tournament scheduled for next summer, in June 2025, and to be held in the United States.

Thescored homepage news: AI calculations show that Manchester United and Al-Hilal have a 65.79% probability of both qualifying for the 2025 Club World Cup, and a 29.33% probability of the two teams meeting in an official match.

"Manchester United will most likely be able to participate in the revamped Club World Cup. The main problem is Al-Hilal, who need to maintain good league and AFC Champions League results."

……

(End of this chapter)