did everything he could to get away from Ajax in 2021. At that time, the attacker had to make do with a reserve role, and did not agree with this himself. In the four-part docuseries Noa Lang: Lastpak the PSV player shows old conversations he had with Erik ten Hag on WhatsApp.
Lang was in the interest of Club Brugge at the time, and was eager to make a transfer. The attacker decided to send a message to Ten Hag. “Look, I even have it here. I sent him a whole Bible verse, saying ‘you just have to let me go, stop demotivating me’. He also never wished me luck or anything. Not even an app, nothing at all,” Lang looks back.
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The winger was hit after his coach did not respond. “That’s something I thought… okay, not even good luck against your player. “I just grabbed a bag, put all my shoes in it and said: ‘I’m not coming anymore, man’,” says the 24-year-old PSV player. “In my heart I wanted to stay at Ajax, but my mind told me I had to leave.”
Lang is aware that he is ‘a type who draws blood from under his nails’. Ten Hag was scolded by the attacker in the 2019/20 season, when Ajax took on Telstar in the cup. “That’s something like that, that’s where my stamp started. Dusan Tadic had the ball, he plays the ball way too hard, the ball goes out of bounds and he says: ‘You have to run earlier, then you keep it in.’ I tell him: ‘You just have to play that ball well.’ Who gets hit on the head where the microphone is next to? Me,” says the attacker.
© Noa Lang: Lastpak © Noa Lang: Lastpack
