Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Telstar is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.22 on the card, and the Telstar support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Daley Lang chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Tim van der Leij 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 easiest signature of my career.” Tyrese Noslin and Telstar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerald Alders 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.
Groningen next, and one man in the Telstar dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Telstar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Telstar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Tim van der Leij 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Damy Bernardina 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.
A 1‑0 win over Utrecht, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerald Alders 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Fortuna Sittard left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gerald Alders 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.
Jessy Lobbes 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Telstar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Telstar has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 29 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Telstar have a decision that made itself.
Tim van der Leij 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.
0‑1 to NAC Breda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerald Alders 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Daley Lang left the room before anybody could ask which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Telstar, another week without a signature from Driess Saddiki.
That is the business done at Telstar 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dynamo Kyiv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Tim van der Leij 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. Standard Liege have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Telstar ran out of time with Heerenveen. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrone Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Heerenveen, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $5.5M — a club that wants Latrell Aken enough to be asked twice.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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 Gerald Alders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.0K — a club that wants Robin la Scala enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.38 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jordy Bawuah did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
6 goals in one match, Henk Veerman on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of RKC Waalwijk and FC Eindhoven.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Storm Vloemans is living that version at RKC Waalwijk, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and RKC Waalwijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.24 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tim van der Leij has just signed for Telstar, and for once the answer mattered.
The offer went to Utrecht 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.
Driess Saddiki 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Rojendro Oudsten 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.
Tim van der Leij is 20, and Telstar have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Telstar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at RKC Waalwijk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Soufiane Hetli is living that version at RKC Waalwijk, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with PSV 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.
Henk Veerman 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at RKC Waalwijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Hetli 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and RKC Waalwijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Klaassen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cody Clasie is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arnaut Frimpong is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Antoine Lejoly has, at Telstar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with RKC Waalwijk 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: RWDM keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Telstar 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jasper Van de Beek is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Steven Babel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Owen Weghorst has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrick Weghorst has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerald Alders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jean-Paul Boëtius and RKC Waalwijk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RKC Waalwijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Olympic Charleroi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tim van der Leij. The answer from RKC Waalwijk has not changed — yet.
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.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and RKC Waalwijk 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.
FC Copenhagen have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.