“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Floris Bos had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and TOP Oss waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jong PSV is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The phone has started ringing about Rivas Manuhutu again, and this time the name on the line is KV Mechelen. Jong PSV are listening politely and promising nothing.
Nicolas Verkooijen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabian Merién was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolas Verkooijen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jong PSV the goodbyes have quietly begun.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
3 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.
Armando Obispo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordy Bawuah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jong PSV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The match ball belongs to Jordy Bawuah, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Sol Sidibé, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 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.
Nicolas Verkooijen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordy Bawuah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Peter Quispel 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.
Armando Obispo 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.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaden de Guzmán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
TOP Oss next, and one man in the Jong PSV dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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 Jong PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Armando Obispo 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.
100 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Jordy Bawuah 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.
Marked 7.37 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Almere City had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.08, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
3‑0 against Jong Ajax, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolas Verkooijen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jong PSV the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Jong PSV support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Nicolas Verkooijen 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
At 21 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Jong PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaden de Guzmán 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.
Jordy Bawuah wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Jordy Bawuah found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Emmen went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
A brace, and Jordy Bawuah takes the afternoon — 8.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jordy Bawuah provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jong PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Jordy Bawuah’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Jong PSV.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Jong PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordy Bawuah 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.
At 22 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.
8 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jong PSV can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Dordrecht for Noah Fernandez 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.
Add another name to the list: TOP Oss have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Floris Bos. The answer from Jong PSV has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jong PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Heerenveen will make the call about Tijn Smolenaars this week. Jong PSV have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Jong PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordy Bawuah 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.
Position 20 and 33 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Seb Huntelaar, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jong PSV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“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.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Fabio Kluit was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Sam Lammers decided nobody was going anywhere. RKC Waalwijk had no time left to answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jong PSV is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jong PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jong PSV can pretend not to have heard.
Jordy Bawuah 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 fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Jong PSV will be judged on one thing only.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Jong PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jim Koller 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong PSV know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jong PSV. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Armando Obispo 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Jong PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordy Bawuah 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tijn Smolenaars 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against De Graafschap? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Jong PSV that is a harder question to answer.
Nobody at Jong PSV is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordy Bawuah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Peter Quispel 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabian Merién trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jong PSV is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
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.
Marked 6.78 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordy Bawuah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A conversation is coming this week. Jong PSV will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Jordy Bawuah 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.
Sol Sidibé 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Jong PSV will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jaden de Guzmán is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.