Marked for Avanesh Satheskumar
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
Reuven Niemeijer 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Billy van Duijl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Casper Widell gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Casper Widell is on it.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Helmond Sport next, and one man in the De Graafschap dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market27 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. De Graafschap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market27 Mar 2028
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs De Graafschap money.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Loan watch27 Mar 2028
24 starts and a season average of 6.73. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Aug 2027
Persik come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and De Graafschap did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
De Graafschap had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Heracles, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Reuven Niemeijer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Persik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Raoef Assady. The answer from De Graafschap has not changed — yet.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jannes Wieckhoff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan move for Yorbe Vertessen is in the works
De Graafschap have made the call to Heerenveen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad9 Aug 2027
De Graafschap are still strangers to each other
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
“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 VVV-Venlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VVV-Venlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Aug 2027
De Graafschap pay $850.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Mohammad Mahmoud 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 dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniël Deen, and the manager let it.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at VVV-Venlo, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Naïm Matoug 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 VVV-Venlo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“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 VVV-Venlo will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Aug 2027
71 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
De Graafschap and VVV-Venlo have settled on $850.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Reuven Niemeijer 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to Heracles: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Louka Vanderbruggen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. De Graafschap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
Mohammad Mahmoud 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
VVV-Venlo asked and CFR Cluj said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Market2 Aug 2027
De Graafschap are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. VVV-Venlo will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Björn van Zijl
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at VVV-Venlo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Dailoski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Nassim Aït Mouhou has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at VVV-Venlo 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.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Naïm Matoug asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Avanesh Satheskumar, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match24 Apr 2027
4 matches without a win for VVV-Venlo
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around VVV-Venlo are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Hobie Verhulst and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Jorg Schreuders 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
MVV Maastricht left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Dailoski, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VVV-Venlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at VVV-Venlo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lasse Wehmeyer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑2 to Almere City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luuk Verheij, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Hobie Verhulst is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Cody Dijks after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VVV-Venlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Lasse Wehmeyer 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and VVV-Venlo 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Lasse Wehmeyer has seen what the next man earns
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 VVV-Venlo that is a harder question to answer.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hobie Verhulst and VVV-Venlo agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at VVV-Venlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lasse Wehmeyer 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Helmond Sport left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mohammed Odriss
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 110% of everything VVV-Venlo earn
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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Cody Dijks to a room that had heard them before.