When Van Oss said the name of the club's Player of the Season, Qin Xiong was stunned, as if he had misheard.
He did not expect the fans to vote for him to beat players like Van Der Vaart, Ibrahimovic, and even Galasek to become the club's Player of the Season.
Especially since he had only entered the First Team in the first half of the season.
Sylvia gently nudged Qin Xiong, indicating that he should go on stage to receive the award.
Qin Xiong sorted out his emotions, got up, and patted Snede and Ibrahimovic's outstretched hands. Dressed in a suit and leather shoes, he went on stage and received the Ajax Player of the Season award from Van Oss.
It was not a personal achievement worth showing off, but even if he had become the MVP of the Champions League final, he still felt that the award was extremely heavy at this moment.
It represented the proof that he was recognized, loved, and respected by the Ajax fans.
He did not know that there was going to be an award ceremony before he came. He thought it would be like a gathering for a meal. He did not expect such a thing to happen in the banquet hall. There was also a live band playing light music, making the atmosphere at the scene sometimes elegant and sometimes feverish.
He cleared his throat and whispered into the microphone, "Before I came to the Netherlands, I didn't know much about Ajax. I mean, like many ordinary fans, I had heard of Ajax's name and roughly understood the club's past achievements and the great players it had produced. But I didn't know what the club was like inside.
I came from China. As a Chinese player, I wanted to start my football career in European football and pursue my football dream. This is an extremely difficult thing in the hearts of Chinese fans.
Ajax accepted me, cultivated me, and helped me succeed here.
I am grateful to Ajax from the bottom of my heart. I don't know how to express it in words.
At the same time, I learned a lot here. Ajax makes me proud!
There is only one Ajax in the world!
Only a great team like Jax would accept me, who came from a football desert in China!
Only such a great Ajax would give me support and help, and trust that I can contribute to the team!
Only such a great Ajax could create such a miraculous achievement in the eyes of outsiders this season!
Thank you to Ajax, thank you to every Ajax fan. You let me enjoy football and enjoy every minute here.
Finally, I can proudly tell the world that I am an Ajax fan, and that Ajax will always be here. "
He placed his hand on the left side of his chest and walked off the stage.
Thunderous applause rang out from the audience as well.
Sylvia also applauded for Qin Xiong, but her eyes suddenly became gloomy.
Knowing Qin Xiong well, she could tell that Qin Xiong's speech was actually a farewell.
Thinking of this, her heart hurt, as if it had fallen into a bottomless abyss.
Qin Xiong's teammates also heard the meaning of Qin Xiong's farewell. After all, the transfer scandal that had been circulating for months had not been settled. Earlier in the day, Ajax Club had already received offers from other clubs for Qin Xiong. This news had not been able to make the headlines of the Dutch football media due to time constraints. Perhaps the TV stations had already broken the news, but they were attending a banquet.
Qin Xiong returned to his seat and sat down. He did not put the individual award on the table, but held it in his hand. He closed his eyes for a long time, not wanting the tears in his eyes to gather and fall.
Tonight was probably the last time he would be with Jax Club.
Goodbye, he could not say it out loud.
He did not know if it was because of reluctance, or because Qin Xiong could not directly hurt the fans who loved him so cruelly.
.....
Ajax's entire journey in the 2003-2004 season came to an end, and the club officially entered the holidays.
On the last day of May, Qin Xiong and Freddy met in a hotel suite.
Until he left the Netherlands, he decided to stay in the hotel, not wanting to be harassed by the outside world, especially now that the news of his transfer was in full swing.
He sat by the window in the suite all morning, quietly admiring the city of Amsterdam.
Before lunch, Freddy arrived.
"What's wrong with you?"
Seeing that Qin Xiong's mood was a little off, Freddy could not help but ask with concern.
Qin Xiong still looked out of the window and said lightly, "When I woke up in the morning, I almost made up my mind to call the club chairman and renew the contract with Ajax. For a moment, I felt that everything here was beautiful. What's wrong with staying here? I don't have to adapt to a new environment, I don't have to be re-examined. Staying here, there are so many people who like me. I'm sure I'll be happy, and I can live without worry … "
Freddy sat down and did not say a word.
After a while, Qin Xiong laughed at himself, then turned around and sat upright. He put away his melancholy expression and asked seriously, "How's the transfer going?"
Freddy understood Qin Xiong. He knew that although this "child" was not good at expressing his feelings to the outside world, his inner world was soft and emotional.
There was nothing wrong with him having such emotions, and it was normal.
But when he calmed down and thought about it seriously, he would know what he really wanted.
The ambition hidden in his heart would occasionally reveal itself, and it would not let him be satisfied with the current situation!
In particular, the world was changing, and everything around him was changing. He was satisfied now, only compared to the life he had when he was adopted.
He would ask for more!
That was human nature.
Freddy pulled out a piece of paper from his briefcase and handed it to Qin Xiong, saying, "Here are the clubs that I have roughly selected for you to choose from. These clubs have all made offers for you and have been approved by the Ajax club. I haven't talked about individual treatment yet. I hope that before entering the next stage, I will first listen to your views and see if there are any clubs that can be directly rejected without a meeting."
Qin Xiong looked at the list of clubs on the paper.
He saw Paris Saint-Germain, Lyon, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and Valencia.
They were all clubs from the five major leagues. Among them, the champion teams of the five major leagues, except for Serie A, all hoped to get Qin Xiong.
Qin Xiong thought seriously.
Freddy said next to him, "Based on the competitiveness of the league, the style of the league, and the characteristics of your individual play, I have divided the five major leagues into different levels of difficulty: France Ligue 1, Bundesliga, La Liga, English Premier League, and Serie A. I think that before you consider where to transfer, you should first consider the pros and cons of your playing style combined with the characteristics of the league. "
It was undeniable that a transfer was a risk.
Especially for Qin Xiong after such great success at Ajax.
Countless players, many great players, had already proved that a player's own strength was not enough to perfectly adapt to all the leagues.
Freddy's classification was very good, allowing Qin Xiong to have a clearer mind when choosing his next club.
Qin Xiong pondered for half an hour before saying to Freddy, "Tell me about Inter Milan in Serie A."
Freddy introduced the recent situation of Inter Milan to him.
His mind was clear as he listened to Freddy's explanation.
The reason he wanted to leave Ajax was to welcome a new challenge. He needed to make a leap in his career.
The 2004 Champions League champion would soon be forgotten, especially if he stayed in the Eredivisie, which would cause him to lose motivation and have less room for improvement.
Therefore, places like France Ligue 1 and Bundesliga were not in his consideration for a transfer. He wanted the leap to be as big as possible, but it did not mean that he would completely lose his mind and run to Italy.
In particular, the reason why Freddy thought Italy was the most difficult, in addition to the conservative style of the league, was that the influence of Serie A had been declining in recent years. The star players had fled, and many well-known star players had been destroyed in Italy!
Inter Milan's recent situation was not optimistic. Qin Xiong had been frowning.
In addition to the title of a black hole of star players, the management had become nervous because the team had not been able to win the championship for a long time. As long as there was a slight fluctuation in the results, they would immediately fire the coach in panic. The new manager had been appointed, and his name was Mancini.
As for whether Mancini wanted to bring in Qin Xiong, it was hard to say. After all, the manager of the Italian team had very little power, and the recruitment work might not be controlled by the manager.
After Qin Xiong listened, he immediately rejected the possibility of a transfer to Inter Milan.
After inquiring about the situation of the other clubs, Qin Xiong was hesitant about whether to negotiate with Real Madrid and Chelsea, other than confirming that Freddy could inform Manchester United and Arsenal that they could start negotiations.
Valencia did not even have a manager because their manager, Benítez, was poached by Liverpool. How could Qin Xiong make up his mind to negotiate with the other side? He rejected Valencia.
Chelsea's situation was similar to Valencia's, but in the end, the other boss was sincere, which made Qin Xiong willing to listen to Chelsea's plan before making the next decision.
He could not guess Real Madrid's situation, and Freddy did not know much because Real Madrid did not seem to be particularly interested. They only made an offer. Perhaps it was because Qin Xiong was not the most important recruitment target in Galactica's summer transfer operation.
However, Galactica was famous all over the world. Even if the management was very complicated, the gold-plated signboard still had a certain attraction. It meant that Qin Xiong's commercial value would increase rapidly, provided that if he transferred to Madrid, he would not be looking at water coolers.
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