The NEC Chronicle
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$3.3M settles it between the clubs for Luka Kulenović
Heracles have accepted the money. What NEC do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market10 Aug 2026
NEC turn down VVV-Venlo for Gonzalo Crettaz
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
An offer of $1.0M for Tim van der Leij
NEC have gone to RKC Waalwijk with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
NEC go back to the board over Luka Kulenović
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.8M — a club that wants Luka Kulenović enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Hossni Soye Ndime is a medical away from NEC
The deal with Francs Borains 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tjaronn Chery signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tjaronn Chery commits to NEC for another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Gonzalo Crettaz 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 NEC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Graduation day at NEC
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
NEC promote Guus Babel from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Guus Babel 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.
In brief
- Market NEC promote Quincy Promes from within
- Market Joel Malen steps up from the NEC academy
- Squad NEC are still strangers to each other