Marked for Myles van Buschbach
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Feb 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sami Bouhoudane is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match26 Feb 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Almere City did not have in the autumn.
Squad28 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almere City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Feb 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arnaut Clasie has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market28 Feb 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Teun Hateboer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market28 Feb 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Robin Xavi Simons has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market28 Feb 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luuk Blind has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Beelen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Junior Kadile will call it something else in private.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Persib
Uilliam Barros 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Federico Barba 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“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 Persib know it.
Match19 Feb 2028
A 1‑0 win over Bhayangkara Presisi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market21 Feb 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Teja Paku Alam has his answer from Persib; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market21 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ahmad Nur Hardianto signs something — a contract at Persib or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Too much change too quickly at Persib
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Bagus Saddil kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Feb 2028
Uilliam Barros damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market7 Feb 2028
Persib make Prince Kallon the dearest name in their history
$360.0K. Fees like that buy a footballer and rent a debate: every touch will be measured against the number for a season at least.
Market7 Feb 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Teja Paku Alam had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market7 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSBS Biak waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persib is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Feb 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ramon Tanque reports back to Persib with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Persib until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Persib
Myles van Buschbach and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Graduation day at Persib
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
In brief
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The terraces
The town asked, and Persib paid $360.0K
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Squad
Words at Persib training over how hard people work
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Transfer targets
Door shut on Dimitar Evtimov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Almere City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The deal with Roda 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Sami Bouhoudane 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 targets17 Jan 2028
Almere City asked and Alverca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Jan 2028
The phone has started ringing about Myles van Buschbach again, and this time the name on the line is Persib. Almere City are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Beelen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Jan 2028
55 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Uilliam Barros
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persib lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Jan 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match17 Jan 2028
Persib refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 68 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market17 Jan 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persib people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market17 Jan 2028
“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 Persib, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Persib
Uilliam Barros and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arema have kept their man, and Persib go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jan 2028
7 new faces, and Persib 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Almere City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Sami Bouhoudane 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 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Almere City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel van de Blaak 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joyce Nsingi and Almere City agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
9 new faces, and Almere City 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan move for Victor Aznar is in the works
Almere City have made the call to Cádiz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Looking ahead9 Aug 2027
The leaders are next for Almere City
ADO Den Haag top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout9 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Almere City can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Almere City had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Udinese, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Thomas Beelen 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaragoza have kept their man, and Almere City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Jamie Jacobs 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to AZ: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A loan move for Filippo Rinaldi is in the works
Almere City have made the call to Parma. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Almere City academy
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.