Mathijs Menu

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11 Apr 2027
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Marked for Mathijs Menu

34 Edition

The AZ Gazette

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout22 Mar 2027

Jordy Clasie: 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.” AZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings22 Mar 2027

Jorthy Mokio, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99

A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad22 Mar 2027

Words exchanged at AZ

Patati 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.

Market22 Mar 2027

Mathijs Menu has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad22 Mar 2027

At 21, Ayoub Oufkir is already the best thing here

An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. AZ have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.

Squad22 Mar 2027

Words at AZ training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kees Smit 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.

Player ratings22 Mar 2027

Delé Thomas was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. 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.

The terraces22 Mar 2027

The crowd has taken to Dean IJssel de Schepper

At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match20 Mar 2027

AZ see off Excelsior

Three points for AZ, 2‑0 the final word against Excelsior in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

Back issues
30 Edition

The AZ Gazette

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match18 Feb 2027

A European night to remember for AZ

2‑0 against Banik Ostrava, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.

Player ratings22 Feb 2027

Ayoub Oufkir, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.32

A mark of 8.32 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Match20 Feb 2027

Nobody wants to play AZ right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

The dugout22 Feb 2027

Sydney Osazuwa: 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.” AZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad22 Feb 2027

Tempers go at AZ

Kees Smit 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.

Market22 Feb 2027

Mathijs Menu has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad22 Feb 2027

At 21, Ayoub Oufkir is already the best thing here

An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. AZ have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.

Squad22 Feb 2027

Peer Koopmeiners 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 terraces22 Feb 2027

AZ supporters have found a favourite in Patati

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Patati has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

In brief

26 Edition

The AZ Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market25 Jan 2027

Samed Baždar arrives at AZ in a $14.4M statement of intent

There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. AZ have paid $14.4M for Samed Baždar, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.

Market25 Jan 2027

Business is business: Denso Kasius goes

Twente paid $6.7M and AZ took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Transfer targets25 Jan 2027

An offer of $3.0M for Isak Hansen-Aarøen

AZ have gone to NEC 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.

Transfer targets25 Jan 2027

AZ make their move for Casper Widell

$2.7M on the table at Excelsior. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

The dugout25 Jan 2027

Calvin Carrilho says AZ went back on their word

“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.

Transfer targets25 Jan 2027

Door shut on Noé Lebreton

AZ asked and NEC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad25 Jan 2027

Kees Smit signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kees Smit and AZ agree another 5 years.

Boardroom25 Jan 2027

Mathijs Menu signs for Heracles while still at AZ

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mathijs Menu has agreed terms with Heracles for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad25 Jan 2027

Tempers go at AZ

Kees Smit 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.

In brief

  • Market Mathijs Menu has one foot out of the door
  • Player ratings Jorthy Mokio did the work nobody counts — 7.20
  • Squad A row about effort at AZ