Marked for Robin Pröpper
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Fee done, terms next for Yuri Alberto
Borussia Dortmund and Köln have settled on $32.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Borussia Dortmund asked and SC Freiburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match3 Feb 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Borussia Dortmund did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Robin Pröpper breaks a bone — 96 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Borussia Dortmund heard it as anything else.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Borussia Dortmund until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Felix Nmecha and Borussia Dortmund agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad15 Jan 2029
Roman Schoonhoven damages knee ligaments — 84 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 84 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match10 Jan 2029
Twente march on in the cup
AZ are out and Twente go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Robin Pröpper breaks a bone — 113 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Jan 2029
Naci Ünüvar hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Twente can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Twente offered $7.2M; Excelsior said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Twente asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Twente have gone to Heerenveen with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Twente
Wout Weghorst and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Twente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramiz Zerrouki is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Jan 2029
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Twente lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A fracture rules Robin Pröpper out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Twente will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Jan 2029
Ajax come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Twente did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Nick Olij: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Twente have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market8 Jan 2029
Taylor Booth has left for Ajax in a $4.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market8 Jan 2029
Amine Talal hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Twente can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Twente
Wout Weghorst was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Twente
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and Twente go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Jan 2029
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Twente lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad1 Jan 2029
129 days out for Robin Pröpper after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Twente will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Twente can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Twente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Jan 2029
Naci Ünüvar wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Twente hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market1 Jan 2029
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Twente can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Twente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stav Lemkin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match30 Dec 2028
De Graafschap left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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The dugout
Diber Cambindo gets it from the manager
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Boardroom
Inquest at Twente
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jun 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Twente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Jun 2028
PSV pay $5.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Twente
Wout Weghorst and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market26 Jun 2028
Twente may not be able to give Naci Ünüvar what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Naci Ünüvar wants continental football; whether Twente can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Market26 Jun 2028
The phone has started ringing about Pim Bruggink again, and this time the name on the line is Lokomotiv. Twente are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Twente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stav Lemkin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Robin Pröpper, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brian van den Boogaard and Twente agree another 4 years.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Myron Boadu knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Twente, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jun 2028
PSV come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Twente did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market12 Jun 2028
Robin Pröpper hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Twente can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cambuur have kept their man, and Twente go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market12 Jun 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson wants continental football; whether Twente can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The deal with Cambuur is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Twente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
$74.0K was the most the club would pay and Groningen were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Twente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Twente asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Twente may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Twente close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Twente heard it as anything else.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kamohelo Hoala has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Twente
Lars Unnerstall and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Thomas van den Belt has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Twente
Lars Unnerstall was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Twente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diber Cambindo, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market19 Jul 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Twente know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Daan Rots has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Daan Rots keeps the shirt for now, at Twente's convenience rather than his own.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Marko Pjaca knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Twente, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom17 May 2027
Twente are in Europe
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad17 May 2027
Myron Boadu honoured for the season
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Twente had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Twente
Ramiz Zerrouki and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Twente
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas van den Belt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sondre Ørjasæter’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 May 2027
Robin Pröpper asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Twente. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout17 May 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Sondre Ørjasæter has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Squad17 May 2027
Questions about Tarik Hamamioglu on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Twente
Lars Unnerstall was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Twente
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Myron Boadu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market19 Apr 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Twente signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market19 Apr 2027
The Daan Rots story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daan Rots signs something — a contract at Twente or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Mar 2027
Still nobody has beaten Twente
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Pim Bruggink, 18, steals the show — 7.76
Marked 7.76 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Daan Rots beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Getting past Lars Unnerstall has become the hardest job in the division
15 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Myron Boadu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Robin Pröpper
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Twente
Sam Ringeling was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Twente are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.