Winston De Vries

Centre Forward - Canterbury United
16 Jan 2027
Saturday
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Marked for Winston De Vries

24 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market11 Jan 2027

Ryan Wood agrees terms with WaiBOP United

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Canterbury United people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market11 Jan 2027

Canterbury United turn down Auckland City for Winston De Vries

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets11 Jan 2027

The paperwork begins on Clayton Van Hattum

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Canterbury United have done the hard part with Southern United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Player ratings11 Jan 2027

Liberato Garbett beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad11 Jan 2027

A falling-out at Canterbury United

Liberato Garbett and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets11 Jan 2027

Canterbury United rebuffed over Paris Domfeh

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Auckland City have kept their man, and Canterbury United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market11 Jan 2027

Southern United watching Noah Garbett

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

Match9 Jan 2027

Canterbury United refuse to lose to Team Wellington

A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.

Market11 Jan 2027

Michael Barbarouses is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Canterbury United has been clear about where Michael Barbarouses stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

Back issues
23 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings4 Jan 2027

Nobody could get near Ryan Hughes

Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market4 Jan 2027

Waitakere United come back empty-handed

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

Market4 Jan 2027

Dane Tuiloma 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 Canterbury United can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout4 Jan 2027

Liberato Rufer says Canterbury United went back on their word

“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.

Player ratings4 Jan 2027

No sign of nerves from Winston De Vries at 19 — 8.36

The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Winston De Vries did not need any: 8.36, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad4 Jan 2027

Marko Tomić wants to go home

“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 Canterbury United know it.

Squad4 Jan 2027

Words exchanged at Canterbury United

Liberato Garbett 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.

Match2 Jan 2027

Canterbury United get the job done against Waitakere United

A 3‑2 win over Waitakere United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Market4 Jan 2027

Ryan Wood attracts admirers

The name of Ryan Wood has come up in conversations Canterbury United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

In brief

15 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout9 Nov 2026

Ryan Hughes says Canterbury United went back on their word

“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.

Player ratings9 Nov 2026

Nobody could get near Liberato Garbett

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings9 Nov 2026

Winston De Vries, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94

A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Words exchanged at Canterbury United

Liberato Garbett 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.

The terraces9 Nov 2026

One of their own: Ryan Wood

He is 20 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.

Match7 Nov 2026

Canterbury United find a way past Waitakere United

Waitakere United made Canterbury United work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The dugout9 Nov 2026

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.” Deklan Reid, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout9 Nov 2026

Marko Tomić 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.

Squad9 Nov 2026

A Canterbury United teenager takes the young player award

Ryan Wood is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.

In brief

13 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings26 Oct 2026

A debut Ryan Hughes will not forget — 7.84

There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.84 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.

Squad26 Oct 2026

Tempers go at Canterbury United

Bill Cacace 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 terraces26 Oct 2026

The crowd has taken to Ryan Hughes

At 19 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.

Match24 Oct 2026

Canterbury United caught on 85 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then WaiBOP United scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Squad26 Oct 2026

Tommy Bell signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tommy Bell and Canterbury United agree another 3 years.

Match24 Oct 2026

Honours even between Canterbury United and WaiBOP United

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout26 Oct 2026

Half-satisfied: Deklan Reid on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Squad26 Oct 2026

Francis Sutton 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 dugout26 Oct 2026

Canterbury United pick somebody else ahead of Liberato Rufer

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

In brief