The second half of the 2013-14 Eredivisie League season was about to begin.
Ajax would first face Eindhoven in the 19th League round.
Then, they would play Feyenoord in the Dutch Cup quarter-finals.
With the three giants of the Eredivisie facing off consecutively, fans were certainly in for a treat.
However, Ajax, continuously facing strong opponents, was in a precarious situation.
Especially since Ajax's current League ranking was not very optimistic.
Because in the first half of the season, their main efforts were focused on the Champions League, and they only ranked second in the League due to goal difference.
If they made any mistake this time, Eindhoven would further widen the points gap.
These were actually not too bad.
Pressure, professional football is always accompanied by pressure, and even more so for a head coach.
Let the schedule be difficult; he had led the team to three consecutive championships, so why would he be afraid?
However,
When it rains, it pours.
During the pre-match training camp these past few days, players actually got injured!
Not just one, but two.
Not substitutes, but starters.
Number 9, Sigthórsson.
Number 10, De Jong.
Just from their numbers, one could see how important they were to the team.
But now, they were both injured.
It wasn't serious; one had an ankle sprain, and the other a thigh strain.
They only needed to be out for two or three weeks.
But why at this particular time?
If, after being eliminated from the Champions League, they also fell further behind in the League, and then were eliminated from the Dutch Cup...
God, that would be a disaster!
Frank de Boer could only brew a large cup of strong coffee to sustain himself while immersed in documents.
When Bergkamp reported Sean's situation to him, Frank de Boer spewed out a mouthful of coffee.
Ignoring the documents and his clothes, Frank de Boer looked eagerly at Bergkamp, "How many?!"
Although Bergkamp was the famous Ice Prince, he understood Frank de Boer's feelings very well.
A few minutes ago, when he first received the news, his expression was no better than Frank de Boer's; the demeanor of the Ice Prince from back then was completely gone. He only believed it after personally watching the match highlights, and then he immediately reported it to his superior!
Although the Eerste Divisie League's intensity was limited—the Eredivisie was already a second-tier League, let alone the Eerste Divisie—was a four-goal haul so easily achieved?
Not to mention it was a youth player's professional debut!
Bergkamp opened his mouth to speak, but Frank de Boer was already impatient. He snatched the tablet from him and started watching it himself. The more he watched, the wider his eyes grew. After a long time, he murmured:
"Dimensionality reduction strike, this kid is simply a dimensionality reduction strike in the Eerste Divisie!"
Bergkamp nodded, agreeing with his superior's view, "From the match content, Sean is indeed significantly stronger than other players!"
Frank de Boer suddenly looked up, staring at Bergkamp, his face contorted, and he roared angrily, "We have such a super rookie in the youth team, why didn't you tell me earlier?!"
If he had told him earlier, would he be so short-handed?
Bergkamp was slightly stunned, then spread his hands and said, "Actually, this kid trained with the first team before. At that time, no one thought he had anything special. We didn't expect him to suddenly explode now."
"I'm sorry, I got a bit too emotional," Frank de Boer calmed down and first apologized to Bergkamp.
Bergkamp was a club legend, renowned worldwide during his playing days, and had a very wide influence throughout the team. He was not like other assistants who could be easily used as a punching bag.
Frank de Boer took a deep breath—since Bergkamp waved his hand to indicate he didn't mind, there was no need to dwell on it. He said solemnly:
"Many players are like this; once they understand a certain knack, their strength will immediately make significant progress.
There's nothing strange about that.
In any case, Sean's emergence is a good thing. Inform Van der Gaag and have Sean report to the first team tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow?" Bergkamp frowned slightly. "Isn't that too rushed?"
The match against Eindhoven was in two days. Sean reporting to the first team tomorrow wouldn't give him enough time, would it?
It might also disrupt the first team's training rhythm. Given that, it seemed more appropriate to promote him to the first team after the Eindhoven match.
Frank de Boer shook his head with a bitter smile, "Indeed, before the Eindhoven match, he won't even have much time to train with the team.
However, we cannot just look at one match.
For a talent of Sean's level, letting him experience the Eredivisie atmosphere in advance is also good.
Besides, if he's talented enough, maybe a flash of inspiration could help us?"
"Oh~" Bergkamp nodded.
As a fellow prodigy, no one knew better than Bergkamp what a prodigy could achieve.
Many times, it defied logic, and even the prodigy himself couldn't predict the extent of his abilities.
So, Bergkamp shrugged, "All right, you're the boss, you call the shots. I'll go inform them."
...With the help of club staff, Sean finally bid farewell to the enthusiastic fans and, not without some difficulty, evaded the pursuing reporters.
Fortunately, it was only an Eerste Divisie match, and there weren't too many reporters present. The main contingent of reporters rushing to Emmen from other places hadn't arrived yet; otherwise, it wouldn't have been just 'not without some difficulty'.
'Seriously, I've already answered so many questions. 'I'm very excited, I thought I would score, but I never expected to score four' and similar answers aren't enough? Why are they still hounding me?'
Sean complained silently for a bit, then sincerely thanked the staff for their help, and finally took the opportunity of showering to open the system.
270 rapport points were a lot, but they couldn't be used to draw star players, only ordinary players.
Ordinary players are ordinary players, but he couldn't just waste these rapport points, could he?
Sean still proceeded directly with the draw.
Ordinary players were actually quite skilled; at the very least, they were genuine professional players, and only those at the level of a substitute in the top five Leagues could be rated as ordinary players by the system.
It was truly not easy to draw a full twenty-seven ordinary players from Emmen's history.
Players he had never heard of appeared one after another, and later even ancient players born in the 1930s appeared. This was truly... indescribable!
Even more unbelievable was that these player traits were of no help to the current Sean.
The vast majority were rated as B-level or C-level by the system, not exceeding Sean's current level, making them impossible to integrate.
Only one, Albert Emmen's Left Foot Mastery, reached A-level.
Sean immediately chose to install it.
Thus, Sean's player trait bar gained another 'Left Foot Mastery (A-level)', with 100% integration.
Sean grinned, then his face fell:
Although this 'Left Foot Mastery' alone was completely worth it, were the traits of the other twenty-six professional players just going to be wasted like this?
Wouldn't Emmen have been plundered for nothing?!
"Ding, do you want to consume the excess player traits to enhance the integration level of your currently not fully integrated player traits?"
The system timely issued a reminder, and Sean immediately breathed a sigh of relief, decisively clicking "Yes"...
...
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