The Godfather of Football

The longer I travel to this world, the faster I forget things.

But there are some things and some people who, when I think of them occasionally, I still feel impressed.

Speaking of defensive midfielders, many people will think of Makelele, Gilberto Silva, Gattuso, and Essien, but there is one person who will definitely be remembered, that is Javier Mascherano.

This is a traditional defensive midfielder who is known as the best after Makelele.

The so-called traditional defensive midfielder is difficult to simply define, but it can be compared with the modern defensive midfielder. For example, Makelele and Mascherano are more traditional defensive midfielders. They all have excellent positional sense, good game vision, and good reading ability. Their defense is usually based on stealing and intercepting in position.

Relatively speaking, players such as Gattuso, Essien, and Mohamed Diarra are more like modern defensive midfielders, that is, the beast-type defensive midfielders in many people's mouths. They may not have the positional sense of traditional defensive midfielders, but they can run and rob. Running without death is their label, and running without death and dragging you to death is their deadly weapon.

It is difficult to say which of these two types of defensive midfielders is better. This depends on the team's tactics. According to the current Ajax tactical system, the trailing defensive midfielder must be a traditional defensive midfielder who can stand in position and cover the area. Moreover, because the defensive midfielder has to protect the defense line, he must have a certain foundation in ball protection. This basically excludes several young and immature beast midfielders. This is why Ye Qiu did not consider Essien and Diarra.

As the last barrier in front of the team's defense line, it is not difficult to intercept the ball. Many defensive midfielders can do it, but intercepting the ball and being able to protect the ball and pass the ball to his teammates under the opponent's tight marking and pressing is the bottleneck of the top defensive midfielder. In Ye Qiu's opinion, there are not many who can do this, or have the potential and talent to do this.

Javier Mascherano is one of them!

But... he is only 18 years old.

The introduction of Max Senna failed, and the latter joined Villarreal. Ye Qiu could only choose Mascherano in the end.

This is definitely not because of the strength of the Argentine defensive midfielder, but because of his age.

In the past, watching Mascherano play football always gave people a very aggressive feeling, but in fact, when you see him in person, you will find that he is actually a polite young man who doesn't talk much, and even looks a little shy.

Yes, shy, this is a better way to say it. To put it bluntly, he lacks confidence.

Of course, Ye Qiu thinks this is not a problem at all. He has observed Mascherano for a while. The latter's performance in the national team makes Ye Qiu believe that his strength can gain a foothold in Ajax, and he can quickly integrate into the team and play at his own level.

"I..." Ye Qiu saw Mascherano sitting down opposite him and pointed to the coach of the River Plate Youth Training Camp next to him, "...They told me that you may need an adult by your side to talk to me, what do you think?"

After hearing Ye Qiu's inquiry, Mascherano looked at him politely, thought for a while, and shook his head: "I can make the decision on many things. I am 18 years old. Of course, if I can't make the decision, I will inform my father."

Ye Qiu nodded and smiled, "Very good, first of all, let me introduce myself. I am the head coach of the Dutch team Ajax, Ye Qiu, a Chinese. I came to Buenos Aires this time just to talk to you in person, and I hope to successfully convince you to go to Amsterdam with me to play for Ajax."

"Ajax?" Mascherano was a little surprised and looked at the coaches around him. They all nodded in agreement.

"Yes, we won the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup last year, and made it to the semi-finals of the European Champions League!" Ye Qiu made a four-fingered gesture when he said this, "We lost to the final champion Real Madrid despite having the upper hand on the field."

After a pause, Ye Qiu showed a confident smile, "But we will make a comeback this year. We hope to build an Ajax that is better than last year, and I hope you can be a part of it."

"Me?" Mascherano was a little surprised. He thought it was impossible. "I haven't even played in the first team of River Plate."

Ye Qiu laughed after hearing this, "Have you heard of Gilberto Silva, Lucio and Douglas Maicon?"

As an Argentine, Mascherano has naturally heard of these three Brazilians. The first two players have already established themselves in the Brazilian national team, and they are also the main contributors to Brazil's World Cup win, while the latter is Mascherano's opponent in the national youth team and is also very strong.

"When I found Gilberto Silva, he was not famous either. He had just established himself in the first team. The same is true for Lucio. As for Douglas Maicon, he has no first-team experience, but look at them now. What do you think of them now?" Ye Qiu asked with a confident smile.

Mascherano had to admit that Ye Qiu was right to use these players he was familiar with as examples.

Especially Douglas Maicon. As his former opponent in the World Youth Championship, Mascherano knew the strength of this player very well. But what he didn't expect was that he was discovered by Ye Qiu. This also deepened Mascherano's feelings. Cerano's image of Ye Qiu was that he was good at discovering and cultivating new people.

"In my team, there are many others like them. Seydou Keita has just transferred to Barcelona. He once made a splash in the World Youth Championship, but his performance in the club was very poor and he was sold out. No one wanted it, but after coming to Ajax, it took him two years to let himself join Barcelona!”

"We are a young team, with an average age of about 20 years old. We are good at boldly exploring and using new players. My goal for the new season is to lead this reorganized young guard to continue to win the European Championship. Let’s make a big fuss in the cup and let all the big teams remember my name and every player’s name!”

The European Champions League is undoubtedly full of incredible temptations for a rookie who couldn't even play in the league in Argentina.

Mascherano once watched with great envy as Saviola played in the Champions League, and also watched with great envy as D'Alessandro played in the Copa Libertadores. He had dreamed countless times that he would one day be able to play in the Libertadores. Cup, on a football stage like the Champions League, show your strength and shine.

But that was just a fantasy. He never dared to hope that one day, the opportunity would really come to him.

Ye Qiu saw Mascherano's somewhat moved expression and smiled, "Believe me, Javier, in Ajax, you will definitely become one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. I am convinced of this." No doubt, and full of sincerity, it’s up to you to decide!”

Javier Mascherano looked directly at Ye Qiu. He was very unfamiliar with this Chinese, but he had to deny that every word the Chinese said hit home and was very consistent with his current situation. Desperate for a chance.

At 18 years old, he has reached the point where he must rely on more game accumulation to train himself and improve his strength. At River Plate, he didn’t know when he would have the chance, but when he joined Ajax, he seemed to be waiting. Here comes the opportunity.

The premise is, is this Chinese man lying to him?

Thinking of this, Mascherano's eyes became very focused, as if he wanted to read Ye Qiu's thoughts from Ye Qiu's eyes, but the latter did not show any timidity or concession. He came to Mascherano. Nuo was originally looking for a main defensive midfielder. There must be opportunities, but he just needs to suppress De Jong and Maduro in the competition.

This was fair, so Ye Qiu didn't show any timidity at all and looked directly at the Argentinian young man.

"Can I trust you?" Mascherano asked a little helplessly.

Ye Qiu knew about Mascherano's situation at River Plate. He acquired this rookie who had never had a chance in the first team at a very low price. From the transfer fee, it could be seen that River Plate did not attach much importance to this player. player, so even now, he is not given a chance to appear in the first team.

"I don't know if I can gain your trust!" Ye Qiu smiled and shook his head, but he looked confident, "However, I will never let those who believe in me down, never!"

After hearing this, Mascherano lowered his head and hesitated for a moment. When he raised his head again, he obviously had made a decision.

"Give me two days, I need to talk to my father."

Ye Qiu nodded, he felt this was a necessary procedure.

…………

…………

Ye Qiu didn't know what Mascherano and his son had talked about, but when he saw Oscar Mascherano arriving in Buenos Aires in a dusty world the next afternoon, , he clearly saw the surprise in the eyes of the Argentine father, and the latter mentioned Ye Qiu's coaching achievements in the past two years as soon as they met.

A person's name, a tree's shadow.

Ajax is a well-known and respectable team in Europe. Coupled with its outstanding performance in the past two years and the attention it has attracted in the transfer market this summer, Oscar believes that his son Joining Ajax will give you a good environment and future.

Ye Qiu also repeatedly promised that Mascherano would be valued and given opportunities in Ajax, but the premise is that the player must work hard enough and show his strength in the competition within the team and on the playing field. Then That's the key.

The conversation between the two parties ended with a very satisfactory result. Mascherano and his son will go to Amsterdam with Ye Qiu. They will observe and inspect the situation of Ajax up close.

Because the team training was imminent, Ye Qiu still had many things to be busy with in Europe, so after the agreement was reached, the three of them took a flight to Amsterdam that day, and the next day, Ye Qiu took Mascherano and his son there. Detoc Most and Arena Stadium to walk around and have a look.

The training camp is about to begin. Detok Most is getting more and more lively, and the coaching staff is also very busy. There is a pre-season excitement everywhere, and players have even begun to come to the ball in advance. The team is training.

After shopping around Detok Most, Mascherano and his son finally made up their mind to join Ajax.

On the same day, accompanied by his father, Mascherano signed a personal contract with Ajax under the representation of Elisa Moon, an international agent, and the official website of Ajax also announced that the team had introduced an 18-year-old defensive midfielder named Javier Mascherano from the Argentine giants River Plate.

On the official website, Ye Qiu left a few words.

"I am very optimistic about Javier's future in the team. I always believe that his arrival will consolidate and even improve Ajax's midfield strength in the new season, and his competition with our original midfielders will also better promote the team's progress. I have no doubt that he will succeed in Ajax."

On the premise of encouraging newcomers, Ye Qiu did not forget to knock on old officials such as De Jong and Maduro. After all, after seeing Gilberto Silva's transfer, De Jong and Maduro saw their chance to occupy a place in the main lineup of the first team, and Ye Qiu naturally could not extinguish their hope.

Encouraging more healthy competition has always been Ye Qiu's strategy for coaching Ajax. After all, the pressure caused by competition is the best motivation to urge players to always maintain self-discipline and keep improving.

Many media have doubted Ajax's signings, because Gilberto Silva's performance in the past two years has fully proved that he is a first-class European midfielder, and his performance in the World Cup has made people see his amazing strength. Many people even think that he is the cornerstone of Ajax's outstanding performance in the past two years.

In this case, is it possible for Ye Qiu to replace Gilberto Silva by introducing Mascherano?

Ye Qiu couldn't object to this kind of thinking, because it was a very extreme judgment in itself, and he didn't intend to put too much pressure on Mascherano. After all, the player was only 18 years old and didn't play as a main player in River Plate. Therefore, Ye Qiu was also mentally prepared for poor performance in the early stages of the league. After all, it takes a period of adaptation.

While Ajax announced the introduction of Mascherano, PSV Eindhoven announced a piece of news that set off the European football world, that is, the Dutch coach Guus Hiddink officially announced that he would coach PSV Eindhoven.

For Hiddink's joining, PSV Eindhoven has invested heavily, and even has the idea of ​​making Hiddink the most important signing of PSV Eindhoven this summer, and specially organized a grand press conference.

At the meeting, PSV Eindhoven's chairman Raj answered questions raised by reporters and expressed his full confidence in Hiddink.

"He is the greatest head coach in the history of PSV Eindhoven. I have always hoped to have the opportunity to work with him. I am full of confidence in him to coach our team. He is the best head coach and the head coach who can bring great success to the team. He has proved himself well in the World Cup."

He led the South Korean team to make history and enter the World Cup semi-finals. Although the South Korean team was accompanied by many controversies during this process, Hiddink's transformation of the South Korean team was very successful. He almost became the most eye-catching head coach in the World Cup.

"I am very grateful for the kindness from the PSV management. They arranged for many people to come to Korea to discuss this matter with me. Raj and I are very good friends. I told him that I could not refuse the invitation from my hometown team. I hope to go home and lead PSV to create glory again!"

For Hiddink's confident remarks, nearly 100 media reporters at the scene gave applause and affirmation.

A world-famous coach is a world-famous coach. His appearance easily killed the popularity accumulated by Ye Qiu in the past two years. The sensation he caused even exceeded the momentum created by Ajax's entry into the semi-finals of the Champions League last year.

In the odds offered by many bookmakers, PSV has been rising steadily and has now surpassed Ajax to rank first in the Dutch Eredivisie. Ajax lost two midfield cores and its strength was questioned by the outside world. The ranking has declined, but it ranks second, and Feyenoord is far behind in third place.

Obviously, everyone feels that the new season of the Dutch Eredivisie will be a contest between PSV Eindhoven and Ajax, Hiddink and Ye Qiu, and has little to do with Feyenoord and Van Marwijk.

At the press conference, Hiddink also mentioned Ajax and Ye Qiu in the reporter's question.

"There is no doubt that Ye Qiu is a talented head coach. He is very young, even younger than the player Van der Sar, but he is full of strength and personal charm. His football is very balanced and charming. I believe he is constantly improving his football philosophy, but his team is too young."

"I am very sure that PSV Eindhoven's biggest opponent in the new season will definitely be Ajax. I have fully felt the threat from this team, and I have also fully felt the difficulties and hardships ahead, but I, the team management, and the players are full of confidence that we will succeed!"

But some media are also worried that Hiddink has only joined the team now. After all, this will not give him enough time to operate in the signing market, because the team training is about to start. Is it too late for Hiddink to sign players?

"We have a strong and balanced lineup. We have Hesselink, Bruggink and Kezman in the front line, Van Bommel and Vogel in the midfield, and excellent players like Rommedal. We are also very solid in the back line. I don't think we need to make too many lineup changes."

"What PSV needs now is to reorganize the team's defense system, make our offense and defense more balanced, make our three lines more reasonable and orderly, and make the team run more smoothly. This is far more important than introducing players."

Hiddink's confident analysis once again received applause from the whole room, and even some PSV media shouted Hiddink's name, as if they regarded him as the savior of the team.

The next day, almost all the media in the Netherlands were discussing Hiddink and PSV. Among them, the PSV Daily used "Arrival" in the front-page headline to describe Hiddink's joining this time.

Ye Qiu and Ajax?

Sorry, please stand aside for a while!