The Godfather of Football

Frank Arnesen has been in a bad mood recently because he has a feeling that his era of full control over PSV Eindhoven is about to end, and his influence on the club has been weakened and curbed with the dismissal of Gretz.

This is inevitable because his performance in the past few years is indeed unsatisfactory.

Sometimes it is like this. Whether a thing is good or not often does not depend on whether it is practical or whether it has played its due value, but on comparison. Why do so many people like to pursue cost-effectiveness when buying things? This is a kind of comparison in itself.

If it weren't for Ajax's rapid progress in the past two years, Arnesen's PSV Eindhoven would have performed very well. As the general manager of the club, the team he built is second to none in the Eredivisie, but the problem is that with Ajax as a shining example, Arnesen has become a nobody inside and outside.

The Dutch League champion could not suppress the shame of being eliminated by Ajax II led by Ye Qiu, nor could it cover up the embarrassing record of PSV Eindhoven not winning against Ye Qiu, and even more so, it could not cover up the amazing strength of Ajax, the mortal enemy team that was once suppressed by him, which has been in the limelight in the European arena for two consecutive years.

Going against the current, PSV Eindhoven has stagnated somewhat in the past two years, but Ajax has made rapid progress. It is conceivable that it has been left behind, but Arnesen also has his own difficulties, that is, he needs more money.

Only a part of the income from selling Van Nistelrooy was used to strengthen the team's strength, and the increasingly stingy board of directors began to pursue the so-called cost-effectiveness. They always hope that Arnesen can buy those cheap and talented stars. How can this be possible? Where in the world are there so many Ronaldos for you to choose?

But the directors were not happy either, always saying, "Look at the head coach of Ajax. The Chinese spent only a little money to build such a strong team for Ajax, the UEFA Cup champion and the semi-finals of the European Champions League. Look, now the team's value has increased by nearly ten times."

Compared with Ye Qiu's performance in Ajax, Arnesen's two years in PSV Eindhoven were indeed very bad. It is reported that when the board of directors was discussing the head coach for the new season, they once considered poaching Ye Qiu from Ajax, but in the end the matter was left unresolved. It is said that Arnesen fought hard to prevent his mortal enemy from taking charge of PSV Eindhoven.

But one thing has never changed, that is, Arnesen must hand over more power.

After the World Cup, Hiddink became famous and had become the top coach in the Netherlands. The board of directors of PSV Eindhoven regarded him as the first choice for the team's head coach for the new season, so as soon as the World Cup ended, Arnesen was immediately asked to fly to South Korea for face-to-face negotiations with Hiddink.

"No matter what the conditions are, we must sign Hiddink!"

There is no doubt that letting Arnesen negotiate and giving him such an order is already a very obvious hint.

As the most outstanding and successful head coach in the history of PSV Eindhoven, and the godfather-level coach who won the only European Champions League for PSV Eindhoven, Hiddink has more experience than Arnesen, who is a junior in front of Hiddink.

Even if Arnesen has been able to dominate PSV Eindhoven in recent years, he has to keep his tail between his legs in front of Hiddink.

"I heard that a bookmaker recently opened a bet, and the biggest favorite is PSV Eindhoven. What happened to Ajax?" Hiddink just finished his one-week vacation. In the past week, he did not receive any news or intelligence related to football. He was just on vacation.

"Ajax sold two players in this summer's transfer, Seydou Keita and Gilberto Silva, both of whom were the core players in Ajax's midfield in the past two seasons." Arnesen replied, but the Dane was obviously dissatisfied with Hiddink's tone of questioning his subordinates, but he did not get angry, nor did he dare to get angry. "Sell the core player..." Hiddink frowned, "...The Chinese man named...Ye Qiu, did he finalize these two transfers? How much is the transfer fee?"

"He personally supervised it. Arsenal spent 17.5 million euros to get Gilberto Silva, and Barcelona got Seydou Keita by exchanging 10 million plus players."

After hearing this, Hiddink was stunned at first, then smiled, "It's really not cheap!"

17.5 million euros to introduce a defensive midfielder, this can be said to be a big deal, even if this player has proved his strength in Europe, has made a name for himself, and is also the main international player who finally won the championship in the just-concluded World Cup, this is still a high price.

As for 10 million euros to get Seydou Keita, the price is not low, but relatively speaking, Gilberto Silva's price is higher, but it is not incomprehensible, perhaps Wenger is very eager to get this player.

"It's not cheap, but after selling the core players, Ajax is now facing a midfield vacancy." Arnesen sneered with a bit of gloating. The enemy's bad luck is his own luck. He has always been like this.

"Oh?" Hiddink was stunned.

"I heard that Ye Qiu gave Ajax a list of six players. Gerard decided to stay in Barcelona, ​​De La Pena transferred to Espanyol, Cambiasso returned to Real Madrid, Deco renewed his contract with Porto, Rafael Marquez publicly expressed that he had no interest in Ajax, and the last candidate was Max Senna, who went to Villarreal. Now Ajax is having a headache and trouble for its midfielder recruitment."

After the introduction, Arnesen did not forget to bring a gloating smile. He obviously wanted to see Ajax and Ye Qiu in a miserable state. He believed that it would make him feel extremely happy and comfortable.

Hiddink felt a little strange after listening to Arnesen's words. He had heard of some of the players that Ajax was interested in, such as Gerard and De La Pena, both from La Liga. Hiddink had been in La Liga for many years and was familiar with them, but there were also some that he had never heard of, such as Deco, Max Senna and Rafael Marquez.

He always felt that among these people, Ye Qiu's signings did not seem to be targeted to fill the vacancies of Seydou Keita and Gilberto Silva, because these players basically had different characteristics from the two players who left the team.

But he had no idea what was going on.

After thinking for a while, Hiddink decided to put aside all his thoughts and not think about anything.

"Let's go, I'll go to Eindhoven tomorrow and sign a contract with the club!" Hiddink finally made up his mind.

Returning to the Eredivisie is undoubtedly a risk to Hiddink's reputation, but PSV Eindhoven has shown enough sincerity, and it is difficult for Hiddink to refuse this invitation.

However, the current Eredivisie is not completely without challenges for Hiddink. At least he is very interested in competing with the Ajax coach named Ye Qiu.

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"Father, was my decision... wrong?"

In the dormitory of the River Plate youth team training base in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, an 18-year-old boy was on the microphone, telling his father about his uneasiness.

Because today, River Plate announced the training list of the first team this summer, and his name was not seen in it again, which made this boy, who was full of confidence in his strength and once thought that he would soon get a chance in this capital's wealthy club, have to deeply reflect on whether the decision he made that year was correct.

"Everyone makes different choices all the time in their life. No one can guarantee that every decision they make in their life is correct, because that may not even be something that God can do. What we can guarantee is that before making every major decision, we have carefully considered and made the decision that best suits the current environment and our own needs."

On the other side of the phone, the father of a professional player who was once a well-known Argentine player was comforting his son. He knew very well the loss and disappointment in his son's heart at this moment, and he could understand his son's hesitation and worry about the future.

Now that Argentina's economy is getting worse and worse, living by playing football has become the expectation and dream of more and more parents or young people, just like they regard Maradona as their idol, but no one can guarantee that they can become a professional player.

It's like your own child, after more than ten years of professional training, his academic performance can only be considered average. If he can't continue to play football, he can only become a hard-working worker, because his academic performance makes it difficult for him to apply for a better university.

"Son, be patient, believe me, the opportunity will come!" The father on the other end of the phone persuaded patiently.

The boy's mature sigh was clearly audible, full of a maturity that was completely inconsistent with his youth, and at the same time with a helpless fatigue towards reality and confusion about his future, "I have been waiting for two years, father."

Since he came to the River Plate Youth Training Camp, he has been patiently waiting for opportunities. He did not play in the first team, but was constantly selected for Argentina's national team. From the earliest U15 to the later U17, he has always been the main midfielder of these national teams, and his performance has been very outstanding.

In the 2001 World Youth Championship held in Argentina, the Argentine National Youth Team finally laughed to the end and won the championship, and he was the core of this team. In the same team, there were Saviola, Alessandro, Maxi Rodriguez, Burdisso and Coloccini.

Unlike these players who played in the first team early, or were promoted after returning to the club after performing well in the World Youth Championship, the boy could only stay in the youth team. He watched his teammate Saviola join Barcelona after becoming famous in River Plate, and watched his teammate Alessandro being highly expected by the team and becoming an absolute main player in the first team.

Watching more and more teammates successfully get the step into the mainstream European leagues with their outstanding performance in the Argentine League, the boy felt like a lonely person who had been completely forgotten by the world. He could not figure out why.

"Don't lose confidence in yourself, kid. Didn't they all say that you played very well in the national team? Sooner or later, you will definitely get a chance. Believe me, don't give up easily." The father on the other end of the phone kept persuading his son.

This was a child who had brought him countless pride and high hopes, because he entered the hall-level football school of Argentina's youth training, Renato Cesarini.

In Argentina, when it comes to Renato Cesarini, it can be said that everyone knows it.

This football school has two founders, Jorge Solari and Eder Solari. They are brothers. The former is the father-in-law of Redondo, the former world-class defensive midfielder of Real Madrid, and the latter is the father of Santiago Solari, who currently plays for Real Madrid.

The football youth training school founded by these two people almost brings together the most outstanding football talents under the age of 15 in Argentina. Almost every year, it sends a lot of outstanding rookies to various professional teams in Argentina, and many of these rookies have achieved admirable achievements, so Renato Cesarini has also become the hall of Argentina's youth training.

Oscar was once a well-known striker in Argentina. He helped Newell's Old Boys win the 1974 league championship. Although he was not famous, he played very well in the year when the team won the championship and made great contributions to the team.

Because of this experience, Oscar has been cultivating his son to play football since he was a child, but he hopes that his son can become a striker like himself. In fact, his son Javier has played the role of a striker since he was a child and performed very well.

But just as more and more people recognized Javier and thought that this child would be an excellent striker in the future, Oscar was very sure, and even directly concluded that his son would not achieve even a little success on the front line in the future.

"His position should be No. 5, the position of Redondo!" Oscar said very confidently.

Since then, Oscar brought Javier to the team he coached and began to forcefully change his position, letting him retreat from the striker to the midfield, because he always felt that his son had a very broad vision and was very aggressive, especially he seemed to be born with an instinct to grab the ball from the opponent's feet.

It is difficult to say whether this is a talent, but Oscar has always believed that his decision was not wrong. Even now, he feels that his son is more like Redondo than Maradona.

Oscar's judgment was affirmed by Eder Solari. When he first saw Javier, he said to Oscar very affirmatively, "Although I have always believed that young players should not be overly praised, this time I have to say that your judgment is correct. Your son is very good at the No. 5 position. He is a genius at the No. 5 position."

The No. 5 position is equivalent to the midfielder position with a heavier defensive task, which is the position of Redondo.

Javier only stayed in Renato Cesarini for one year, and his performance was very good and his progress was very obvious. He quickly stood out among the outstanding rookies, not only attracting the attention of professional teams in Argentina, but also attracted the attention of some scouts.

The Solari brothers made a suggestion to Oscar and his son at that time, that is, through their connections in Europe, they could arrange for Javier to go to the second-tier European leagues. After receiving the cultivation and training of the European leagues, he would definitely be able to enter the mainstream leagues in the future.

Oscar had no doubt about the connections of the Solari brothers in Europe and around the world, but he finally rejected such an attractive invitation because he felt that his son was still very young, and the most important thing at present was to stay in Argentina and slowly accumulate game experience before going to Europe.

In the end, the Solari brothers supported their choice and arranged for them to enter the youth training camp of River Plate.

After that, things went very smoothly. Javier soon emerged in the River Plate youth team and was invited by Pekerman to join the national youth team, ushering in his national team resume. Then from U15 to U17, and then to the 2001 World Youth Championship, Javier's performance has always been very stable and outstanding.

But sometimes, as a defensive player, it is easy to be ignored by the camera if you are too stable, and it is easy to be covered by the starlight of teammates, especially offensive teammates. Javier is also the same.

Now, watching his teammates surpass him one by one, and starting to gain a foothold in the Argentine League and even in the European League, while he can only spend his days in the youth training camp even so far, Javier's mood is so depressed and bad, you can imagine.

Oscar can understand his son's mood at this moment, but he himself doesn't know what to do. Sometimes he thinks back and has to regret that he did not accept the advice of the Solari brothers, because Argentina has never valued defensive midfielders like his son.

If he could go to Europe, even if he could only gain a foothold in the second-tier league, train for a few years, and accumulate more and richer game experience, I believe his son should have made a name for himself in the European league by now, right?

But in this world, there is no if, no regret medicine to take.

The father and son didn't talk much, especially in this situation. Oscar didn't know what to say. He hung up the phone soon and sighed.

After Javier hung up the phone, he gritted his teeth, endured the pain in his heart, and walked out of the telephone booth in the dormitory. He didn't know what his future would be like, and he didn't know if he still had a future?

Just like the coach of the River Plate youth team said, in Argentina, there are countless rookies like you, or even better than you, waiting for opportunities every day. If you don't perform well, others will immediately replace you.

The young Javier walked out of the phone booth and slowly walked towards his dormitory, feeling depressed all the way.

"Javier, you are finally back. The coach asked you to go to his office quickly, immediately, right away!" As soon as he arrived at the door, he heard his roommate shouting anxiously.