Pyry Mentu

Defensive Midfielder - VPS
26 Sep 2026
Saturday
Process

Marked for Pyry Mentu

7 Edition

The VPS Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan

25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. VPS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Words exchanged at VPS

Henri Salomaa 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.

Market

Lassi Hakola steps up from the VPS academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lassi Hakola has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Squad

Words at VPS training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miika Niemi 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.

Loan watch

Olavi Keturi wants to come home

“I did not go to KTP to sit and watch. I want to come back to VPS and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Vilmer Rönnberg's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

The dugout

Josep Nuorela gets it from the manager

“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.

The dugout

Will Wilson 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 VPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Simon van Duivenbooden talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. VPS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The HJK Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Mads Borchers runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Ville Tikkanen has said yes to IFK Mariehamn

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. HJK have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

HJK say no — this time

The offer from KTP for Mihailo Bogićević 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.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone

That is the business done at HJK 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.

Boardroom

HJK to lose Emmanuel Boateng for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Emmanuel Boateng 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.

Transfer targets

HJK make their move for Goudouss Bamba

$190.0K on the table at Ilves. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Tempers go at HJK

Marcus Danielson 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.

Transfer targets

Too dear: HJK walk away from Adam Vidjeskog

$99.0K was the most the club would pay and FF Jaro 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.

Transfer targets

KTP tell HJK: Petteri Forsell is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief

2 Edition

The VPS Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from VPS

FF Jaro will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. VPS were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

A brace, and Simon van Duivenbooden takes the afternoon — 8.78

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simon van Duivenbooden provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Transfer targets

Pyry Mentu due for a VPS medical

Everything agreed with HJK, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Tempers go at VPS

Martti Haukioja 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.

Transfer targets

An offer of $12.0K for Eemil Tanninen

VPS have gone to KuPS 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.

Boardroom

Wille Nuñez will join VPS for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Wille Nuñez has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means VPS have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Brooklyn Lyons-Foster

VPS asked and HJK 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 terraces

VPS supporters have found a favourite in Wilson Samaké

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Wilson Samaké 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.

Market

One of our own: Amos Karjalainen joins the VPS first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Amos Karjalainen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief