"Why did you suddenly think of looking for them?"
On the plane from Manchester to Eindhoven, Cassell stared curiously at Ethan, who was sitting opposite him.
Just yesterday, Ethan had suddenly called him and asked whether he knew René Meulensteen and Ricardo Moniz.
Cassell naturally knew them.
When he was assisting Eric Harrison at Manchester United's youth academy, he had visited the Netherlands many times to see Wiel Coerver, and Moniz and Meulensteen often learned from and discussed things with Coerver, so they met often.
Speaking of Coerver, Ethan recalled a piece of history.
In the Netherlands, training methods for young players had once been divided into two schools. One, led by Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff, who pioneered Total Football, stubbornly insisted that players' skills were innate and that young players should therefore be trained from an early age in positioning, formations, tactics, awareness, and team spirit.
Because of the success of Total Football, coupled with Cruyff and Michels' status in Dutch football, their system was highly regarded and revered in the Netherlands.
However, there was another man in the Netherlands who created a player training system focused on technique. He believed that the most important task for young players should be to master skills first, unearth their technical potential, and only after their technique was established should tactical concepts be instilled.
This person was Wiel Coerver.
Because his philosophy was completely different from Cruyff and Michels, Coerver's training method was considered unorthodox in the Netherlands and was even prohibited from running a football school there.
But with the rapid development of football, Coerver's technical philosophy began to be accepted.
Now, almost all club and national youth academies primarily focused on unearthing technical potential, with tactical concepts and physical training generally introduced around the ages of fifteen to eighteen.
This was an evolution of Coerver's training system.
And Ricardo Moniz was one of Coerver's two most outstanding students. The other was Meulensteen.
Supporters familiar with Manchester United in Ethan's previous life knew that Meulensteen would join Old Trafford this summer to help Ferguson coach the youth team.
Moniz was a little more low-key than Meulensteen. He successively worked for teams such as Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven, Tottenham, and Hamburg.
During his time in the Netherlands, he developed future famous stars such as Boudewijn Zenden, Arjen Robben, and Robin van Persie.
Later, he went to Tottenham, where many coaches followed him to learn his training methods and theories.
However, he never had the experience of working for a major club like Meulensteen.
Instead, another admirer of Coerver, Henk ten Cate, when assisting Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona, publicly praised Coerver multiple times and was also considered a catalyst for Barcelona's technical style.
When Ethan used to play Football Manager, Moniz and Meulensteen were the two coaches he remembered as being the best at technical training.
Because of this, he had specifically looked up their information and discovered this history.
He had originally only thought that since Meulensteen was valued by Ferguson and introduced into Manchester United's youth academy, Cassell might know him.
Who knew that upon asking, he found out that not only did Cassell know him, but their relationship seemed quite good.
Moniz was currently a coach at PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands, while Meulensteen was a youth team coach at NEC in the Netherlands.
Currently, Ferguson apparently had not yet thought about finding a youth academy assistant, so he had not noticed Meulensteen yet.
"Why aren't you speaking? Why did you suddenly want to look for them?" Cassell urged.
Ethan smiled. "I want to find two assistants for you. I know they have a lot of experience in youth training and also have a unique training method. I hope to bring them into New Manchester United's youth academy to help you with youth training, so you can have more time to do other things. You are our Head of Youth Development. You can't do everything yourself!"
Cassell was stunned after hearing this and looked at Ethan with some emotion.
The latter, unaware, turned his head to look to the side.
He was now thinking that Frank Arnesen, who would later be poached by Chelsea for a huge sum and was known as the number one scout, was currently at PSV Eindhoven.
If possible, he should meet with him.
However, as soon as this thought appeared, Ethan quickly suppressed it.
He felt that Arnesen undoubtedly had some ability, but his ambition was too great, and he always interfered with the head coach, which Ethan would not allow.
Moreover, in Ethan's opinion, the scouting network Arnesen was most famous for was not that great.
Arsenal, without Arnesen, had still spread their scouting network across the world, and the young stars they unearthed were found one after another with remarkable accuracy.
This showed that while the person in charge of the scouting network was important, the establishment of the scouting network itself was equally important.
Cassell's eye for talent was quite good, and he was also very familiar with New Manchester United's current tactical system.
With him in charge of New Manchester United's scouting network, it was not to say he could pick out a Ronaldo, but at least he could select players suitable for New Manchester United's tactics, and that was already enough.
As Ethan had said before, no club could gather all the football talents in the world!
Thinking of this, Ethan completely dismissed the idea of visiting Arnesen.
After getting off the plane, he and Cassell went directly to Moniz's house.
Since they had called beforehand, Moniz was waiting at home when Ethan and his companion arrived.
The curly-haired Dutchman's first impression on Ethan was one of deep melancholy. His brows were always deeply furrowed, as if he had troubles he could not resolve.
"Haha, Jim, what brings you here?" Moniz chuckled and came out of his house to greet them when he saw Ethan and Cassell.
Even when welcoming guests, he still gave off an impression of sadness.
"I came specifically to visit you, Ricardo," Cassell said with a polite smile, then introduced Ethan. "This is the owner of New Manchester United, Mr. Yu!"
"New Manchester United?" Moniz's brows furrowed even deeper.
"I've heard of your team. A very good team. By the way, Jim, are you working for New Manchester United now?"
Cassell shrugged and nodded helplessly. "It's been two years, Ricardo. I don't really like the atmosphere at Manchester United now, so I chose to leave."
Moniz seemed to empathize. He patted Cassell's shoulder consolingly, and the three walked side by side into his house.
It was a three-story house in a residential area, with a small courtyard outside where an old car was parked.
Clearly, Moniz's salary in Eindhoven was not high. He could barely be considered middle-class.
Both Moniz and Cassell were pure football men.
Although Moniz was not yet forty, he had been involved in football for more than a decade, especially in the field of football training.
In addition to inheriting the essence of Coerver's training system, he had also continuously improved and strengthened it through years of practice.
As soon as the three entered the living room, Moniz first brought up a few casual topics, but soon shifted to football.
The topics Moniz and Cassell discussed were nothing more than football training, which was their strong suit.
And from these conversations, Ethan could clearly understand Moniz's training philosophy.
He believed that when training young players, it was more important to cultivate their interest, encourage them to play freely, and then train their dribbling, ball control, ball sense, and individual ability.
Among these specialized training items, he considered ball control and ball sense to be the most important.
This reminded Ethan of Ronaldinho. The Brazilian superstar played with the ball like a circus performer, and everyone's evaluation of him was simple: his ball sense was incredibly strong.
And precisely because of his strong ball sense, Ronaldinho's technical ability was outstanding.
It was somewhat like how people in later generations learned English.
Some only relied on rote memorization of words and dialogues, while others focused on cultivating a sense of the language.
This had proven that the latter was more conducive to mastering a foreign language.
Clearly, the same principle applied in football.
Moniz believed that from the ages of five to eighteen, there should be a complete plan for technical training.
Of course, he did not deny that geniuses did indeed exist in football, such as Cruyff, but he believed that professional training was the key to unleashing a genius's potential.
Without training, a genius could not become a genius.
At this point, Moniz brought up Beckham.
He believed that Beckham's football talent was not actually very high, but he was able to become one of the top midfielders in football today by relying on continuous training.
And what he admired most was Beckham's ball sense. Those long passes and switches over thirty-five meters could not be made without an incredibly strong feel for the ball.
And Beckham's ball sense was undoubtedly not innate. It had been honed through his continuous hard work and rigorous training.
The same was true of his free kicks!
The two long-lost friends could not stop once they started talking about football.
Ethan also listened with great interest from the side.
He felt that through their conversation, he had gained a deeper understanding of youth academy training.
He even thought that Moniz's training method should not only be limited to the youth academy. The senior team could also participate, just with different proportions.
Moniz had been immersed in this training system for many years, so his insights were naturally far beyond those of an amateur like Ethan.
This greatly broadened Ethan's horizons, and it was worth noting that this person in front of him was one of the staff members Ethan always signed in his previous Football Manager saves.
By the time they finished chatting, almost an hour had passed.
"It seems you must also be someone who loves football very much!" Moniz said with a smile, seeing Ethan listening with such interest.
Ethan humbly shook his head.
He felt that his understanding of football truly could not compare to that of professionals.
Cassell, on the other hand, kept nodding, telling Moniz about Ethan's past deeds, while also talking about the reasons behind New Manchester United's establishment and its development process.
In fact, as someone in the football world, Moniz naturally knew about these things, but seeing Ethan so highly praised by Cassell immediately made him look at Ethan with new respect.
There were many rich owners in football, and there were also some rich owners willing to invest in football, but rich owners who were willing to invest in football, had a deep affection for football, and understood football very well were extremely rare.
And Ethan's background as a supporter made Moniz identify with him even more deeply.
"Mr. Moniz, I would like to know, are you interested in coming to our club to serve as Technical Director?" Ethan said with a smile, extending an invitation.
(To be continued.)