Len Bakker

Goalkeeper - Excelsior
6 Nov 2028
Monday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 4 Transfers 1 Relations Events 112 Awards Matches History

Marked for Len Bakker

107 Edition

The Excelsior Gazette

14 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad14 Aug 2028

Len Bakker keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Excelsior may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad14 Aug 2028

Noah Naujoks in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market14 Aug 2028

As if he never left: Tim Dumfries returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Tim Dumfries is a Excelsior player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Market14 Aug 2028

Wesley Dijks comes home

The shirt still fits. Wesley Dijks is back at Excelsior, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Market14 Aug 2028

Kenneth Bergwijn comes home

The shirt still fits. Kenneth Bergwijn is back at Excelsior, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Market14 Aug 2028

Owen Berghuis comes home

The shirt still fits. Owen Berghuis is back at Excelsior, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Player ratings14 Aug 2028

Derensili Sanches Fernandes in the eights

A performance of 9.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings14 Aug 2028

One of those days for Yacqub Finey

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings14 Aug 2028

A masterclass from Irakli Yegoian

Marked 8.16 — 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.

In brief

Back issues
50 Edition

The Excelsior Gazette

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market12 Jul 2027

Groningen come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Excelsior did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad12 Jul 2027

Stijn van Gassel in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market12 Jul 2027

ADO Den Haag watching Nesto Groen

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Excelsior have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad12 Jul 2027

The manager makes an example of Noah Naujoks

“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.

Market12 Jul 2027

The Jerolldino Bergraaf conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Lecco will make the call about Jerolldino Bergraaf this week. Excelsior have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

Squad12 Jul 2027

Casper Widell knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Casper Widell trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

47 Edition

The Excelsior Gazette

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad21 Jun 2027

Tempers go at Excelsior

Stijn van Gassel 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.

Market21 Jun 2027

Excelsior sign Len Bakker for $82.0K

The paperwork is done: Len Bakker joins from Zwolle in a deal worth $82.0K. Now comes the harder part.

Market21 Jun 2027

Niels Kuppen moves on

Cambuur pay $84.0K, 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.

Squad21 Jun 2027

The manager makes an example of Iman Griffith

“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.

Market21 Jun 2027

A long bet from Excelsior on Aymane Benkibbou

He is 18, and nobody at Excelsior signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Squad21 Jun 2027

Menno Koch 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 Excelsior that is a harder question to answer.

In brief

47 Edition

The Zwolle Herald

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom21 Jun 2027

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zwolle

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market21 Jun 2027

Jhonier Blanco puts it in writing

“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 Zwolle, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market21 Jun 2027

Dylan Ruward is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zwolle is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad21 Jun 2027

Younes Namli in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zwolle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market21 Jun 2027

Seth Annink moves on

Roda pay $120.0K, 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.

Market21 Jun 2027

Business is business: Len Bakker goes

Excelsior paid $82.0K and Zwolle took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

In brief