Bendegúz Kovács, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.95
A mark of 7.95 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
De Graafschap close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I watch every De Graafschap game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dewa United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dewa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$86.0K was the most the club would pay and Persik 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Dewa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Sadaoui 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.
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 Alexis Messidoro is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around De Graafschap people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Boyd Reith has just signed for De Graafschap, and for once the answer mattered.
Everything agreed with Dordrecht, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Twente paid $930.0K and De Graafschap took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at De Graafschap can tell you which week it ends in.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yorbe Vertessen provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Casper Staring 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.
“I watch every De Graafschap game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dewa United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
50 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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Fedde de Jong was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nic Hartgers and De Graafschap agree another 4 years.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 85% of the De Graafschap income
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Casper Staring was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19 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.
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.
Jermain Fernandes 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 watch every De Graafschap game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dewa United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Kelvin Neijenhuis 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.
7 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 dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Georginio Weghorst, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The offer from Utrecht for Daley Sinkgraven 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 22 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ibrahim El Kadiri and De Graafschap agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
De Graafschap asked and Heracles said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at De Graafschap, another week without a signature from Daley Sinkgraven.
8 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 offer from Aris for Raoef Assady 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.
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.
De Graafschap offered $180.0K; Groningen said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
De Graafschap asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fedde de Jong, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannes Wieckhoff 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Antoine Lejoly has written the date down.
Everything agreed with Rapid Wien, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ivar Jenner 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.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Alexis Messidoro’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Dewa United.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Noah Sadaoui 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.
At 23 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Persita were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
8.33. 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $200.2K — a club that wants Sven Bouland enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Go Ahead Eagles 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.
$170.0K on the table at Groningen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and De Graafschap go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Reuven Niemeijer signs something — a contract at De Graafschap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at De Graafschap. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
In brief
The dugoutIsaac Compaore has become a man the manager trusts
Levi Schoppema has gone, the accounts have $3.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Go Ahead Eagles paid $3.9M and De Graafschap took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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.
Add another name to the list: Kayserispor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Isaac Compaore. The answer from De Graafschap has not changed — yet.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and De Graafschap know it.
The offer from Fortuna Sittard for Isaac Compaore 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fedde de Jong and De Graafschap agree another 4 years.
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nathan Kaninda has his answer from De Graafschap; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
VVV-Venlo have accepted the money. What De Graafschap do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what De Graafschap can pretend not to have heard.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
De Graafschap asked and Heerenveen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Fortuna Sittard have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Isaac Compaore. The answer from De Graafschap has not changed — yet.
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.
Position 3 on 71 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what De Graafschap can pretend not to have heard.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Georginio Weghorst was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the De Graafschap dressing room was either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kelvin Neijenhuis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” De Graafschap have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 18 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at De Graafschap can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at De Graafschap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Reuven Niemeijer signs something — a contract at De Graafschap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for De Graafschap
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason De Graafschap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kelvin Neijenhuis. 3‑2 against MVV Maastricht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Fedde de Jong 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.
“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 De Graafschap, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Heerenveen 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.
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
At 21, Jevon Simons is already the best thing here
An average of 7.06 in a first team he is several years too young for. De Graafschap have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. De Graafschap will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Georginio Weghorst was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the De Graafschap dressing room was either.
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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 Reuven Niemeijer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jong PSV in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kyano Kwint trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one De Graafschap will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Feyenoord go through and De Graafschap go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Louka Vanderbruggen 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.