This feeling is truly exhilarating

Stereotypes are truly terrifying.

If Ye Chen were a newly arrived trial player and performed like this, everyone would think he was incredible—a genius shooter!

But Ye Chen had been here for over a year, now in his second year.

In everyone's impression, he was just a player with decent speed, average technique, and terrible shooting.

Now that he was suddenly playing so well, people would only think it was luck!

Just as Solskjær had said.

Previously, how should one describe Ye Chen? More like a sparring partner.

The club signed him for a simple reason. The manager had even privately spoken to Solskjær about this, making it clear that signing Ye Chen was just to tap into the Chinese market.

So no matter how he performed, it didn't really matter.

Originally, Dong Fangzhuo's failure had made Manchester United lose interest in Chinese players. However, Real Madrid, Juventus, and other clubs' several tours in Asia made them feel a sense of crisis.

How could they maintain their influence in Asia, particularly in a massive market like China?

The simplest solution was to sign Chinese players. But work permits were a huge hurdle, so they turned to the youth academy system.

After all, for a player to play in England, a work permit was required, but youth academy players were exempt.

At least until the age of 21, even if he wasn't officially registered, he could still play for Manchester United.

Of course, the club kept Ye Chen because he did show some potential. In terms of speed and explosiveness, even European youth players might not be better than him.

This led to another consideration—if United didn't need Ye Chen in the future, selling him back to a Chinese club could still make a profit!

No matter what, they wouldn't lose money.

After all, the owners were Americans—calculations like these were second nature to them.

In recent years, the influence of Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs had been growing, especially Guangzhou Evergrande, where boss Xu Jiayin had heavily invested!

And in the coming years, not only Evergrande but other teams would also be waving their checkbooks to attract top global players.

Particularly in 2017, when Oscar transferred to Shanghai SIPG for €60 million and received an annual salary of €24 million!

That transfer shocked the world, showing other nations China's economic power!

Of course, right now, it was still just 2011…

Back at the Carrington training base.

After scoring, Ye Chen raised three fingers and ran towards the corner flag, embracing Januzaj in celebration!

All three goals had come from the perfect partnership between Ye Chen and Januzaj.

Januzaj had a hat-trick of assists, while Ye Chen had scored three goals, completing the first hat-trick of his life!

"You were amazing today! If you keep playing like this, you'll definitely get a professional contract with Manchester United!" Januzaj praised as he hugged Ye Chen.

Ye Chen smiled. "It's fine. Even if I don't play for United, there will be other places that want me!"

In fact, Ye Chen already had a plan.

Playing for Manchester United, a world-class club, was extremely difficult. Just look at the current first team—they already had five strikers.

Besides Rooney, there were Owen, Berbatov, Hernández, and Welbeck. And in the reserves, there were players like Bébé. Too many players, but only two spots on the field.

That was assuming Ferguson continued using a two-striker system. If he switched to a single-striker formation, even more players would be benched.

Ye Chen couldn't exactly compete with the legendary Michael Owen for a spot, right?

As a 17-year-old youngster, Ye Chen would most likely be loaned out...

Just like how De Bruyne was in his early career.

And this year, Manchester United would lose the league title on goal difference. Ferguson's immediate response would be to buy Van Persie from Arsenal.

Under those circumstances, could Ye Chen realistically compete with world-class forwards for playing time?

Not likely!

Unless the system suddenly rewarded him with a prime Ronaldo (R9) template…

So Ye Chen was already mentally prepared to leave!

Moreover, there was another crucial reason—Ye Chen felt his body still wasn't ready for the Premier League.

Don't forget, in his previous life, his career was ruined by injuries. That fear was still in his heart.

As a transmigrator, Ye Chen believed he should level up first before considering stepping into a top-tier league like the Premier League…

Following a path like Pogba or De Bruyne would be much wiser.

After all, the Premier League encouraged physical confrontation, whereas other leagues, especially La Liga, were much less aggressive.

Back to the training match.

When the game restarted, Team B's players defended even harder.

After all, they had never led Team A by two goals before.

On the other hand, Team A's players were getting anxious.

The next match was against Liverpool. If they didn't perform well here, they might not even make the squad for that game!

Yet time kept ticking, and Team A still couldn't find an opportunity.

Solskjær, however, kept watching Ye Chen closely, noticing that every time Ye Chen moved, it was "smart."

Especially his ability to predict where the ball would land—it was incredibly accurate.

Could it be that this wasn't just luck?

Had he… unlocked his potential?

Solskjær furrowed his brows. Finally, Chris, acting as the temporary referee, blew the full-time whistle.

"Yeah!!! We won!!!!"

"We actually won!"

"Incredible, we beat Team A!!"

"Ye, you were amazing!!!"

Team B's players cheered excitedly.

Ye Chen immediately went over to Januzaj, his assist provider. "Adnan, see? I wasn't lying to you this time, was I?"

Januzaj grinned and glanced at Solskjær on the coach's bench. "Do you think he'll put us in the squad for the Liverpool match?"

"Huh?"

That's when Ye Chen realized—three days later, Manchester United's U18 team would play against Liverpool U18 at Old Trafford!

That was a major event!

Manchester United was the most influential Premier League club, and even their U18 matches were broadcast live.

Some games even had thousands of fans buying tickets to watch.

That was the power of Manchester United!

But there was no rush—Ye Chen pushed that thought aside for now and walked over to Byrne. "So, do you admit defeat?"

"That was just luck!" Byrne gritted his teeth.

He was furious.

But all he could do was rage helplessly!

"Yeah, long-range shots always have an element of luck," Pearson chimed in to back Byrne up.

Ye Chen smirked. "Don't give me those excuses. Did you lose? Are you going to honor your bet?"

Byrne suddenly stood up, glaring at Ye Chen. "You're pushing it too far!"

"Yeah, you're being too much!"

"Let it go, we're all teammates!"

Hearing these words, Ye Chen's eyes turned icy cold.

Previously, when he had lost to Byrne, what had these same teammates done?

They had either mocked him or stood by watching.

And now they wanted him to let Byrne off the hook?

"You all shut up! When Ye lost before, you weren't saying this!" Januzaj roared.

Now, this was a real friend—someone who stood up when it mattered!

Byrne clenched his fists. He was struggling to hold back.

But Manchester United had strict rules!

Betting and teasing were one thing, but fighting was a serious offense.

Ye Chen smirked and taunted, "So this is what Irishmen are like?"

Return fire with fire!

Byrne had bullied him so many times before, thinking it was a habit.

But today, the tables had turned!

"Irishmen… are all Chinese people's dads…"

"What did you say?" Ye Chen sneered at Byrne.

"Irishmen are all Chinese people's dads!"

"Say it again, I didn't hear you."

"Irishmen are all Chinese people's dads!"

He didn't want to disgrace Ireland.

So… he admitted defeat!

Ye Chen's smile widened. "Good boy."

This feeling was absolutely exhilarating!