Chapter 1 When the Team Finished Training and Returned to the Netherlands, Adriaanse Finally Received Some Good News.
He had been watching the young Dutch attacking midfielder Robin van Persie for some time, and he was officially loaned to Volendam until the end of the season.

This deal was actually secured by Adriaanse using his personal connections, but for Feyenoord, they were eager to get rid of this burden, this troublemaker.

Rice's assessment of Van Persie was only one sentence: "A talent full of variables." This meant that this unruly player, because of his personality, had the potential to become a world-class genius like Cruyff, or he could simply sink into obscurity.

Because he once declared: "Here (at Feyenoord), they have never treated me as a player. I should have a lot of fun playing here, but I never have!" expressing his dissatisfaction with head coach Van Marwijk, he was listed by the Dutch media as "extremely difficult to deal with". Van Persie no longer cared what others thought of him. He just wanted to play football happily, but this request could not be satisfied at Feyenoord. Because his relationship with coach Van Marwijk was irreconcilable, he basically lost the opportunity to play in the first team, and could only play for Feyenoord's reserve team and youth team more often. This was unacceptable for someone wearing the number 10 jersey for the Dutch Olympic team, not to mention that he had been named the Dutch Super League's Best Newcomer at the end of 2002.

However, for Adriaanse, who was good at discovering and cultivating young players, the talent Van Persie showed was obviously more attractive than his personality. Moreover, being criticized by everyone at Feyenoord did not mean the same at Volendam. Adriaanse knew the key to the problem and how to solve it. Although some Volendam fans protested the arrival of the "notorious" Van Persie outside the club gate, Adriaanse only trusted his own vision.

※※※

In the first training session back in the Netherlands, Adriaanse introduced Van Persie to all the players, but when everyone saw that cold, expressionless face, they frowned one by one. Only Zhang Jun showed a sincere smile when he heard the head coach say that Van Persie was the main attacking midfielder for the Dutch Olympic team, because the team now lacked an organizer in the frontcourt, so Adriaanse often asked Kozel and Salden, two defensive midfielders, to take turns pushing forward.

Now that the Dutch Olympic team's number 10 had arrived, all the problems were solved. Zhang Jun breathed a sigh of relief, but did not notice the bitter faces of his teammates around him.

Van Persie, standing next to the smiling Adriaanse, naturally saw the expressions of his "teammates". He just snorted softly and turned his face away. It was the same everywhere, whether it was Feyenoord or Volendam.

※※※

After the training, Van Persie took a shower and changed clothes alone, and left early. He still had to drive back to his home in Feyenoord. Watching Van Persie close the door and leave, the people in the locker room breathed a sigh of relief, and the atmosphere was much more lively than before.

"Hey! Gijs, any plans for tonight?"

"Tonight? I'm going to be with Roline."

"Ooh!" someone jeered.

Zhang Jun looked at his teammates who were making a fuss and felt that something was wrong. He nudged Kozel next to him: "Sess, why is everyone so active?"

"Isn't Volendam's locker room always like this?" Kozel was a little strange instead.

"Oh, yes, it is." Zhang Jun reacted, "So, everyone's performance must have been a little abnormal just now. Why is that..." Zhang Jun couldn't figure it out.

"It's all because of this kid," Kozel said.

"Robin?"

"Yes, Robin van Persie." Kozel nodded, "He's a famous bad boy in the Netherlands. If there's the most hated person in football, it's him."

"You seem to know him well."

Kozel looked up at the locker room air conditioner. "Zhang, there's a story that I personally experienced. Do you want to hear it?"

Zhang Jun nodded, "Tell me."

"It was when I was in the Ajax youth team, in the first half of 2002, our Ajax youth team and the Feyenoord youth team met in the semi-finals of the Dutch Youth Cup..."

...

This was just a Youth Cup match, but because the Ajax youth team never lacked talent, many Ajax die-hard fans rushed to the scene to cheer for the team. Because of these people, coupled with two heavyweight teams in Dutch football, the atmosphere at the scene was tense and suffocating.

In the end, Kozel's Ajax youth team defeated the Feyenoord youth team and entered the final. It was a very intense match, with scenes of people falling everywhere. Coupled with the loud scolding of fans outside the stadium, the referee became the busiest person. After showing thirteen yellow cards, the match finally ended.

But some fanatic Ajax fans rushed into the stadium to provoke the Feyenoord players. And some Feyenoord players were also very uncalm. They were holding back a stomach full of fire after losing the match. The two sides started fighting, and Chilean international Acuna was sent to the hospital by ambulance. And in this brawl, one young man was the most active. Like a fighting dog, he attacked anyone he saw, and he didn't back down even when facing several opponents. His head was hit by a beer can, and his face was covered in blood. Finally, he left the stadium under the "protection" of several Ajax players. Even so, his face was covered in blood, and he still turned around and frantically shouted incomprehensible languages at the fans who were trying to catch up. He really looked like a mad dog.

...

"That person was Van Persie." Kozel brought his gaze back, "I was also among them. Saying that we were protecting him from leaving, it should actually be said that we were forcibly dragging him away. Looking at his posture, he didn't want to leave the 'battlefield' yet. He cursed and jumped, trying to break free from us. I was also kicked by him. To be honest, that kick was really hard..."

I never thought he had such an experience. Zhang Jun was stunned for a moment before asking: "Then he should recognize you, right?"

Kozel shook his head: "I don't know. In such a crazy situation, he might only have anger, right? How could he remember those unimportant things around him."

As soon as he finished speaking, the locker room door was pushed open, and Van Persie hurriedly returned. Everyone immediately quieted down, and everyone fell silent unnaturally, doing irrelevant things.

Van Persie came to his locker, opened it, and took out a small bag. It turned out that he had forgotten something. Zhang Jun and Kozel watched him lock the door again and then turn to leave. But when he passed by the two of them, he stopped unexpectedly, looking at Kozel with cold eyes, and Kozel also looked at him.

Lu Linke quietly stood up. He was ready. Once the two of them started fighting, he would rush up and pull them apart. Captain Horvijn was also nervous. He was about to reprimand Van Persie, but the other party had already spoken first.

"I was wondering why you looked so familiar. So it's you, the nosy guy." His tone was very unfriendly.

But Kozel smiled: "I'm just afraid that they'll beat you into a normal person. That would be very unfavorable to Ajax."

Everyone could tell that this was sarcasm, actually mocking Van Persie for being abnormal. Sure enough, Van Persie's expression changed, and the expressions of several people behind him also changed. But unexpectedly, Van Persie did not pounce on Kozel and wrestle with him as rumored. He just glared at Kozel fiercely, "Don't expect me to thank you and your nosy teammates, Sess Kozel." Then he turned around and left again, leaving a room full of people breathing a sigh of relief.

"Nosy?" Kozel muttered to himself, looking at the closed door.

Zhang Jun didn't quite understand. Since Van Persie was a legendary bad boy, then... "Why did you deliberately provoke him just now?"

Kozel lowered his head and put his t-shirt on: "I just wanted to let you know that rumors are sometimes not credible." He stood up and said to Zhang Jun, "Want to go to dinner? My treat."

"Your treat? Is there something to celebrate?" Zhang Jun also stood up.

"Celebrate the arrival of a powerful guy to the team." Kozel smiled.

※※※

During dinner, Zhang Jun learned about Van Persie from Kozel.

He was a child from a single-parent family, and had been living with his father. No wonder he had a strange temper. He also learned the reason why he had conflicts with the Feyenoord coach, which was the position problem. Van Persie's favorite and best position was attacking midfielder, but Van Marwijk, out of tactical considerations, put him on the left wing. Even so, he was not the first choice, and often had to compete with Dutch international Ruhrling for a spot. The young Van Persie naturally didn't think so much. He only knew that he wasn't a starter and couldn't play in matches. Therefore, he expressed his dissatisfaction by violating team rules and the coach's tactical intentions. The more he went against the coach, the fewer opportunities he had to play.

In May 2002, Feyenoord won the UEFA Cup. In the following season, the team went to Turkey for a large amount of training. But Van Persie was not used to living in a different place, and avoided the hard training many times. So, when competing with Real Madrid for the European Super Cup, Van Persie was sent back to the Netherlands by Van Marwijk. In this way, he lost the opportunity to compete with world superstars at the age of 18. And Van Persie's fate at Feyenoord took a turn for the worse. Many times, he was relegated to the reserve team and youth team to play matches. Even though he was named the Dutch Super League's Best Newcomer at the end of 2002, his situation did not improve completely.

In fact, since Van Persie debuted, he has always been a reckless youth. In the second half of 2002, in a match between Feyenoord and Willem II at Feyenoord's home stadium, Feyenoord won a free kick when the first half was about to end. According to the rules, the free kick should be taken by captain Van Hooijdonk, a free kick expert, but at this time, Van Persie suddenly snatched the ball from Van Hooijdonk and placed it on the penalty spot, indicating that he wanted to complete the free kick. Fortunately, Van Hooijdonk was a nice guy and showed the demeanor of a general at this time, and did not care too much about Van Persie, who was inexperienced. However, the fans outside the stadium could not tolerate it. They were extremely disgusted with Van Persie's disrespect for his elders at such a young age.

Arsenal originally planned to buy him during this winter break, but Feyenoord's bottom price of eight million euros made Arsenal retreat, and they are still in the wait-and-see stage. Van Persie was even more completely disappointed with the club because of this. He believed that the club was deliberately making things difficult in terms of price to prevent him from going abroad. Therefore, he accepted Volendam's loan contract, because he just wanted to leave Feyenoord now. The treatment he received at Feyenoord was even the same as his first professional contract he signed at the age of 16.

Zhang Jun looked at Kozel in surprise, "How do you know so much?"

"This is no secret, it's all on the newspapers! Now the whole of Netherlands knows that there is a super troublemaker called Robin van Persie, and he has come to Volendam. Many people are waiting to see our good show. They believe that after a crazy first half of the season, the team will be full of variables because of his arrival."

"Then why did the coach still loan him?"

"Because no one has ever doubted his talent." Kozel replied.

When the two returned to their residence, they found that workers were busy at Ochs's former house.

Kozel walked over to greet them: "What are you guys busy with?"

"Checking the lines, tidying up the room. Van Persie is moving in here tomorrow morning. So we must get it done tonight. The club only notified us in the evening. We're very busy!" The worker said a few words in a hurry, and then went back to his work.

"Maybe we will have a very interesting neighbor." Kozel said to Zhang Jun, looking at the busy figures.

※※※

When the morning training ended the next day, Van Persie really drove his car to the apartment door from the parking lot. The way he opened the door was also different. After twisting the lock with the key, he put his hands in his pockets and kicked the door open with his foot. Then he returned to the car to retrieve two bags and entered the room. But it wasn't over yet. After a while, he came out again. This time, he took out a mini stereo from the trunk of the car.

Zhang Jun and Kozel were watching him busy in and out from their own door. Zhang Jun wanted to help, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he saw the other party turn his head and stare at him, and the remaining words were immediately retracted into his stomach.

"What do you want to say? Chink." The tone was still very unfriendly.

"Chink?" Zhang Jun was stunned for a moment. It was the first time someone had called him that. "Just wanted to express a welcome, Dutchman!" He retorted without politeness.

Unexpectedly, Van Persie smiled unexpectedly. His handsome face was indeed more suitable for smiles. "Not bad, Chink. We will be neighbors in the future, but don't expect us to get along peacefully. If you are not satisfied, you can go to the old guy and complain about me at any time."

"Why should I complain about you?" Zhang Jun asked in confusion.

"Whatever." Van Persie left a sentence, and then entered the house and closed the door.

Kozel shrugged at Zhang Jun from afar, smiled helplessly, and then the two planned to go back to their respective homes. At this moment, a very loud and explosive rock music came from Van Persie's room, scaring the two of them.

※※※

Kozel understood and shook his head with a wry smile, while Zhang Jun stared blankly at the apartment.

"It's BLur's 'Song 2'." he murmured.

※※※

Van Persie was indeed a genius. Adriaanse specially changed the team's 442 parallel formation that had been played for half a season for him, adding an attacking midfielder, removing a defender, and changing to a 352 formation. Kozel and Salden returned to their familiar defensive midfielder positions, Van Persie played as an attacking midfielder alone, and Hevel and Wien continued to play on the left and right sides.

In normal training, because Van Persie took the ball too much, the effect was not obvious. As an attacking midfielder, not only must he be able to dribble, but more importantly, he must be able to create opportunities for his teammates, but Van Persie would always rush into the penalty area and score goals by himself when he got the ball, ignoring Zhang Jun and Hena, who were in the open.

Zhang Jun had a good temper and didn't say much. But Hena couldn't stand it anymore. He shouted at Van Persie: "Hey, kid, are you blind? Zhang Jun and I are both running into the open, why don't you pass the ball!"

Van Persie disdainfully picked his ears: "Wait until you have the ability to catch my pass before saying anything."

"What did you say?! Kid!" Hena was a black player, and he had a hot temper, just like a piece of coal that would burn when it encountered fire.

But Van Persie ignored him and turned and left.

"Damn it, stop right there, don't look down on people! I scored 8 goals in the first half of the season, where were you, kid? Reserve team? Haha!" Hena mocked Van Persie loudly, and he seemed to deliberately poke at the other party's sore spot.

※※※

Sure enough, Van Persie stopped, but he only paused for a few seconds before walking forward again, ignoring Hena's provocation.

Zhang Jun looked at Van Persie's back. Recalling those past events that Kozel had told him the night before, he suddenly felt that as a 20-year-old back, it was so lonely.

"He has no friends, only three people are closest to him. Besides that..." Kozel said beside Zhang Jun, "Besides that, he has no friends."

"Aren't you guys friends?" Zhang Jun was surprised that Kozel was so interested in Van Persie.

"Me?" Kozel couldn't help laughing. "I'm just a nosy guy."

Because of the conflict between Van Persie and Hena, the training was terminated early. Adriaanse called everyone together, but he didn't criticize anyone. He just told everyone that the round of 16 of the Dutch Cup was the day after tomorrow, and Volendam's biggest hope for a trophy this season was this one. He asked the players to go all out and be sure to win it.

"For those who hinder the team's tactics, I will not hesitate to replace them!" Finally, he added this unnecessarily.

※※※

In the round of 16 of the Dutch Cup, Volendam challenged the super team Breda on the road. As the defending champion, and with excellent performance on all three fronts this season, many people naturally listed Volendam as a favorite to win the Dutch Cup, with a ratio of eight to one, second only to the three traditional strong teams Ajax, Feyenoord, and Eindhoven.

As the event with the most hope of winning the trophy, the club does not allow them to give up easily, and the players are also very confident, but...

The Breda home stadium was filled with cheers, and the home commentator was shouting in a very sensational tone: "There are only twenty minutes left in the round of 16 of the Dutch Cup. Breda leads Volendam 2:0 at home! Volendam's performance is surprisingly bad. The newly joined Van Persie and the other players have no cooperation at all! It's only a matter of time before Breda enters the top eight of the cup!"

The fans at the scene responded to him with cheers.

"Hold on! We'll be in the top eight in twenty minutes!" The home team captain shouted loudly to cheer on his teammates. During this period, Volendam launched continuous attacks, and Breda's defense was tight.

Hevel got the ball on the left wing. He looked at the heavily defended penalty area and then at Van Persie, who was reaching out for the ball. That bastard, if it weren't for him, we would have been leading a long time ago. He still has the nerve to reach out for the ball? Hevel gritted his teeth and dribbled the ball towards the opponent's defense.

The sea water fearlessly rushed towards the rocky coast, but was smashed to pieces by the force of the two sides. Volendam's attack was just like this tide.

"Volendam's cross was once again headed out of the baseline by the defender! Breda's morale is high!"

Hevel ran to take the corner kick. Why isn't the coach still making substitutions? Didn't he say that if anyone hindered the team, he would replace them without hesitation? But who were the two substitutes who were replaced? Why is that kid Van Persie still on the field?

The corner kick was sent into the penalty area, but was directly caught by the goalkeeper. "Send a tactical corner next time!" Hena shouted to Hevel, while the other players quickly ran back to their own half to defend.

Zhang Jun grabbed Van Persie, who was running back: "Do you still want to win the ball? Dutchman!"

Van Persie tried to break free from Zhang Jun, but found that the other party was unusually strong. "Damn it! Still so strong after running for seventy minutes!" He muttered, "What are you talking about? Chink. I'm a professional player, of course I want to win."

"Then you should play the role of an attacking midfielder!"

"I'm trying hard. But the opponent's defense is too tight, I can't break through..." Van Persie was still trying to break free from Zhang Jun.

"Passing, crossing, through balls, long passes... You are an attacking midfielder, and I am a striker. Isn't it your responsibility to pass the ball to my feet and let me score?" Zhang Jun interrupted the other party's "excuses".

"You..."

"Don't say things like I can't catch your ball. You just pass the ball, and it's my responsibility if I can't catch it. You just need to pass the ball! Don't care where I am, pass the ball to where you can score!" Zhang Jun said in a tough tone.

Suddenly, he noticed that Kozel had successfully intercepted the ball in the backcourt. He let go of Van Persie, "I don't care what you were like in the past, but you are now a Volendam player, and we are teammates!" He turned and ran away.

"Ah! Volendam's Zhang Jun and Van Persie seem to have some dispute. The two of them don't know what they are talking about in the frontcourt... Well, Volendam intercepts the ball and launches a counterattack! Breda is retreating, and their speed is very fast!"

Kozel passed the ball to Salden, who had better skills. Salden dribbled the ball through the midfield and then passed it to Hena. Hena then passed the ball to Zhang Jun, turned around and ran forward, wanting to play a one-two with Zhang Jun.

But Zhang Jun directly passed the ball to Van Persie behind him! When Hena saw the ball passed to that kid's feet, he didn't even bother to run. He knew that another chance to launch a counterattack was gone.

After passing the ball, Zhang Jun quickly turned around and ran forward. Van Persie received the ball and looked up at the front. Pass it to where he can score? The corner of Van Persie's mouth moved, and he lightly rubbed his foot. The football flew over the top of the defense and fell straight to the back. The goalkeeper just wanted to go out, but found that neither Zhang Jun nor Hena could catch the ball, so he let it go out of the baseline.

"Van Persie makes another mistake. His over-the-top ball goes straight out of the baseline!"

"What the hell!" Hena cursed, "Is that kid deliberately making trouble?"

Zhang Jun patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry about so much. He is responsible for passing the ball, and we are responsible for running and responding, shooting and scoring."

"There are fifteen minutes left, but Van Persie, who is playing for Volendam for the first time, is still wasting every precious opportunity! Maybe Adriaanse made a big mistake by loaning him! Everyone knows what kind of person Robin van Persie is!" Because the situation was favorable, the home commentator even had the leisure to care about Volendam's buying policy.

Zhang Jun passed the ball to Van Persie again. A striker taking the ball with his back to the goal, with a defense line of ten people behind him, even the top scorer in the previous cup had no way to do anything. But what puzzled the fans who came with the team was why Zhang Jun had to pass the ball to that "opportunity wasting master" Robin van Persie? Kozel and Salden took turns organizing the attack in the first half of the season, and the effect was pretty good, right?

This time, Van Persie did not pass the ball, but moved horizontally to the left side of the field, blocking Hevel's path. Van Persie pretended to break through, and the opponent's defender immediately moved backward, but he was just making space for passing the ball. A curved ball was rubbed into the penalty area and fell straight to the back post!

The goalkeeper wanted to attack, but the ball had an outside spin, making it very uncomfortable for him. He chose the safest way. Because there were no Volendam players on the ball's passing route, and the back post was even more the territory of Breda players, so let the defenders solve it!

"Van Persie crosses, but it's harmless... Hmm, wait! Who is this?"

Orange jersey, eye-catching number 11, like a fluttering flag. Zhang Jun stomped his left foot and shot his body forward. His right foot was like the tip of an unparalleled divine sword, piercing in the front. In a very unconventional posture, he was suspended in the air, with his left foot down and his right foot stretched forward as much as possible to reach the terrible cross that seemed unreachable.

"Wait until you can catch my pass before saying anything." Van Persie's words were mocking Zhang Jun just like this ball. Because Zhang Jun's right toe was still a bit away from the ball's intended landing point, he gritted his teeth, straightened his waist, and his body even rushed forward a little more in the air!

"It just looks like I can't catch it!" Zhang Jun roared in his heart.

The long sword was unsheathed, and blood was shed.

"The ball... the ball is in! The ball is actually in! The poor goalkeeper had no reaction! Oh my god! Zhang Jun scored an incredible goal with Chinese Kung Fu! His right toe stabbed the ball, and Van Persie's cross that seemed harmless actually changed direction and went into the net! But this is just a goal to save face!"

The Volendam fans didn't care so much. They sang "Zhang Jun Bless Volendam" and cheered for this amazing goal.

Zhang Jun didn't care so much either. He rushed into the net, snatched the football from the opponent's feet, and ran towards the center circle while holding it. On the way, he didn't forget to give Van Persie a thumbs up in the distance: "Nice pass!"

Van Persie looked at Zhang Jun's thumbs up and didn't know what to do. He deliberately passed the ball like that, because only in this way could he avoid the opponent's goalkeeper and defenders, but he didn't expect any Volendam player to be able to catch his pass. It was too tricky. But, Zhang Jun actually used... used Chinese Kung Fu to score the ball! It was too exaggerated, right? Even more terrifying was that he saw Zhang Jun still moving his body forward in the air!

Was it faith, or was his body structure different from ordinary people?! That guy! Van Persie spat on the ground. There are still ten minutes left. Let me see your power again, Chink!

※※※

Scoring a goal at a critical moment can greatly demoralize the opponent. Especially when the opponent finds that they are only leading by one goal and the opponent's attack is very strong, now no one will believe what the commentator said.

What a goal to save face? Bullshit!