Chapter 18

In the next few days, Song Zhicheng did not let Jiang Xiaolin go to work, but asked him to concentrate on preparing for the trial training of Alkmaar.

On January 1, 2008, New Year's Day, Jiang Xiaolin called his mother.

In the previous calls, Jiang Xiaolin did not tell his mother about being cheated, fearing that his mother would be sad and angry to hear that tens of thousands of hard-earned money was cheated, and he was far away abroad and could not take care of her.

Jiang Xiaolin only said that his level was a little poor, and he failed the trial training of several professional teams. Then he temporarily signed with an amateur team and played in the amateur league. The income was enough for his life, so his mother should not worry.

And this time he called home, he could finally report the good news.

After asking her a happy new year, Jiang Xiaolin happily told his mother on the phone: "Mom, I performed well in several games in December, and I scored 5 goals in the most recent game. A scout from a Dutch Eredivisie team watched my five-goal game and invited me to try out for their team. This time I feel that I have improved a lot, and I should be able to pass the tryout and stay in that Dutch Eredivisie team."

On the other end of the phone, Jiang Liantao heard her son's happy tone and was relieved.

In fact, she has been worried about her son.

Every time she called before, her son just called back from a public phone to report safety and hung up after a few words. When she called back, no one answered, so she couldn't know more about her son's situation.

The scout's mobile phone was always turned off. When she asked her son, he always said that the scout was helping him contact other teams, running around, busy, and had no time.

Although Jiang Liantao didn't realize that she was deceived, she always felt a sense of fear.

Her son is her spiritual support. If something happens to him abroad, she doesn't know how to live.

Now, hearing her son's happy tone, she finally feels relieved.

She doesn't know anything about playing football, but just reminds him: "Since the opportunity has come, you must seize it, try to pass the trial, enter the professional team, and make a name for yourself, so that those who look down on us in the village can see that my son Jiang Liantao is capable."

This is Jiang Liantao's resentment about the discrimination and rumors that she and her son suffered in the village!

Jiang Xiaolin also felt a lump in his throat when he heard it, and remembered the history of being laughed at by the children in the same village as "bastard", "fool", "monkey" and despised by relatives, elders and neighbors when he was young.

Jiang Xiaolin said, "Don't worry, Mom. I will definitely pass the trial this time and play in the Eredivisie! Then, you may see me on TV."

Then, the mother and son cared about each other again. When Jiang Liantao asked Jiang Xiaolin if he needed money and whether he should send him money, Jiang Xiaolin said no, saying that his mother had prepared a lot of money when he came out.

He didn't dare to say that the money had been swindled away by the swindlers.

This was the longest phone call Jiang Xiaolin had with his mother after going abroad.

After New Year's Day, on January 5, the first training day after the winter break, the Alkmaar first team training base became lively.

The players drove their private cars into the training base one after another, preparing to start the recovery training on the first training day after the winter break.

Although they had a holiday, everyone was not in a very good mood because Alkmaar's performance this season was really bad.

In the first two seasons, Alkmaar was among the top three championship teams.

This season, after the 18th round of matches before the winter break, Alkmaar was only ranked 8th in the standings, and was eliminated in the group stage of the UEFA Cup, failing to advance to the knockout stage.

In view of this, the team's head coach Van Gaal took the initiative to resign, and it was the players and the club's efforts to retain him that allowed Van Gaal to stay.

Although he stayed, everyone was unsure whether Van Gaal's heart was still in the team, and whether he could lead the players to fight in the Eredivisie wholeheartedly in the second half of the season.

It's no wonder that the players were not in a good mood.

As for the two yellow people at the gate of the base, although everyone was a little curious, no one stopped to ask.

These two yellow people were naturally Jiang Xiaolin and Song Zhicheng.

Without Philip's guidance, the two could not enter the base and could only stand outside the gate and wait.

Near 9 o'clock, Philip finally arrived. After everyone greeted each other for the New Year, Philip took Jiang Xiaolin and Song Zhicheng to register in the guard room, and then led the two into the first-team training base.

The traditional giants in Dutch football are Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, while Alkmaar is a small club. The last time it won the Eredivisie title was in 1981, 27 years ago.

Therefore, the scale of Alkmaar's training base is, facilities are not as good as Ajax, which Jiang Xiaolin and Song Zhicheng had been to.

However, despite this, it is still countless times more upscale than Pulmes, which has no training ground of its own and can only train in a public stadium.

When Philip brought Jiang Xiaolin and Song Zhicheng into the training ground, Van Gaal was introducing new teammates to everyone.

Because of the poor results in the first half of the season, Alkmaar introduced two defenders during the winter break to strengthen defense, and they were introducing them to everyone at this time.

Since the club sold the team's top scorer, Georgian striker Avilas, last summer, the team's offensive power has dropped sharply, which is also the reason why Alkmaar suffered a double defeat in the league and the UEFA Cup this season and performed poorly.

Therefore, Van Gaal wanted to introduce forwards during the winter break.

But Van Gaal doesn't like ordinary forwards. Excellent forwards are expensive, Alkmaar can't afford them, and other clubs will not sell them easily. In the end, the training after the winter break has begun, and Van Gaal has not found an excellent forward to introduce during the winter break, so he can only buy two defenders to supplement the lineup.

As for the super striker recommended by scout Philip before New Year's Day, he was just a 16-year-old kid from an amateur league!

Maybe he can be trained as a potential new star for the team, but Van Gaal doesn't think it will have any effect on changing the team's current situation.

Seeing Philip walking into the training ground with two yellow people, Van Gaal knew that the young man was the super striker that Philip said could score five goals in a single game.

"The physique looks good, but I don't know if the goal-scoring ability is as strong as Philip said." Van Gaal muttered to himself.

Sure enough, Philip walked up to Van Gaal and smiled, "Coach, I brought Jiang here, and the other one is his agent Song."

Van Gaal nodded and said, "Bring him here, let him train with the team for a few days."

Philip waved to Jiang Xiaolin and Song Zhicheng, and both of them walked over with some excitement.

After Philip introduced both sides, Jiang Xiaolin stayed to train with the team, and he and Song Zhicheng left.

The next time Song Zhicheng shows up, it should be to discuss the contract.