6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Esteban Espinosa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Edouard Michut 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.
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.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Ignacio Rodríguez 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.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Fortuna Sittard, another week without a signature from Djenahro Nunumete.
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Sittard is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mayka Okuka has agreed terms with ADO Den Haag for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Twente said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Nils Rossen 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.
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Fortuna Sittard lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Esteban Espinosa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Fortuna Sittard can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Edouard Michut 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordan Zirkzee 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Fortuna Sittard know it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kaya Symons will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nils Rossen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kaya Symons trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fortuna Sittard has been clear about where Junior Ambassa stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Fortuna Sittard will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lutz Böhme will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Edouard Michut 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dani Voigt is living that version at Fortuna Sittard, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Nils Rossen 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Neal Viereck has agreed terms with Almere City for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nils Rossen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Fortuna Sittard, another week without a signature from Néstor Trejo.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against AZ.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lutz Böhme will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ignacio Rodríguez 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 Oct 2035
Nils Rossen 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Fortuna Sittard will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fortuna Sittard know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Fortuna Sittard will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against NAC Breda in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutMayka Okuka knocks on the manager’s door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Edouard Michut scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Ignacio Rodríguez 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordan Zirkzee was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and De Graafschap waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Fortuna Sittard is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Virgil De Ligt has just signed for Fortuna Sittard, and for once the answer mattered.
1 for Edouard Michut, marked 7.29, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 29 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vitesse is saying, and nobody at Fortuna Sittard is enjoying the guessing.
The deal with Vitesse 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Uroz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Sittard have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Lens have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Fortuna Sittard know it.
20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vitesse have accepted the money. What Fortuna Sittard do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
Fortuna Sittard have gone to Groningen 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.
Edouard Michut 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
In brief
SquadWords at Fortuna Sittard training over how hard people work
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Fortuna Sittard people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fortuna Sittard offered $2.8M; AZ 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.
Fortuna Sittard had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sparta Rotterdam, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ignacio Rodríguez 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.
Add another name to the list: Helmond Sport have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Esteban Espinosa. The answer from Fortuna Sittard has not changed — yet.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Fortuna Sittard are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
SquadHamza Ammi falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Sittard is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Sittard have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to AZ this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: De Graafschap have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lutz Böhme. The answer from Fortuna Sittard has not changed — yet.
Ignacio Rodríguez 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.
Fortuna Sittard asked and PSV 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 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
Fortuna Sittard had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Vitesse, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Sittard is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to PSV this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza Ammi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Fortuna Sittard is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lukas Pihlblad
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Eindhoven waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Fortuna Sittard is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Almere City for Liam De Smet was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Sittard have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fortuna Sittard had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Vitesse, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Uroz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Joaquín Uroz has agreed terms with Cambuur for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fortuna Sittard asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadWords at Fortuna Sittard training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rareş Ilie 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Waasland-Beveren, another week without a signature from Isaac Holland.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Waasland-Beveren could ask drops and the wages Andrea Natali can ask rise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Arvelo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Genk have kept their man, and Waasland-Beveren go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ignacio Rodríguez 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Waasland-Beveren have done the hard part with Club Brugge, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Aug 2034
Adam Arvelo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Charleroi have kept their man, and Waasland-Beveren go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Kiyan Achahbar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Pjotr Kestens
“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 Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Waasland-Beveren have done the hard part with Anderlecht, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$410.0K was the most the club would pay and KV Kortrijk 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
11 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad31 Jul 2034
Adam Arvelo 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.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Waasland-Beveren lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waasland-Beveren can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Natali 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.
Ignacio Rodríguez 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Waasland-Beveren, another week without a signature from Isaac Holland.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Waasland-Beveren lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Waasland-Beveren can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Waasland-Beveren have done the hard part with Union SG, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rouven Tarnutzer 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.
Ignacio Rodríguez 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
“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 Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Waasland-Beveren they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Natali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Waasland-Beveren could ask drops and the wages Ignacio Rodríguez can ask rise.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Waasland-Beveren. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutJoakim Lavia knocks on the manager's door
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Waasland-Beveren lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Waasland-Beveren is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rouven Tarnutzer 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Waasland-Beveren know it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Waasland-Beveren, another week without a signature from Eric N'Jo.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.