The Heracles Sentinel
Market24 Aug 2026
Mimeirhel Benita hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Heracles can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Erik Ahlstrand beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Door shut on Divock Origi
Heracles asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
Willem II take the points off Heracles
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Heracles
Daan Visser 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 dugout24 Aug 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 Rick De Jong to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Heracles try to borrow Bruno Ogbus
SC Freiburg 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Heracles try to borrow Wassim Bouziane
AZ 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
No place for Daan Visser in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Heracles are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
- Market Robin Mantel told to find a new club
- Player ratings The chances came and went for Naci Ünüvar
- The dugout The plan did not have a place for Thomas Bruns