The Excelsior Gazette
Squad11 Aug 2031
Gijs van den Berg damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Anass Moumane is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Aug 2031
George Reid gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. George Reid has just signed for Excelsior, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom11 Aug 2031
Graduation day at Excelsior
17 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.
The terraces11 Aug 2031
Excelsior supporters have found a favourite in Anass Moumane
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Anass Moumane has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad11 Aug 2031
A late step up for Bradley Moonan
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match9 Aug 2031
Excelsior get the job done against PSV
A 2‑0 win over PSV, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market11 Aug 2031
Denzel De Roon steps up from the Excelsior academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Denzel De Roon 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.
Market11 Aug 2031
One of our own: Quincy Clasie joins the Excelsior first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Quincy Clasie is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market One of our own: Kenneth De Ligt joins the Excelsior first team
- Market One of our own: Wesley Lang joins the Excelsior first team
- Player ratings Anass Moumane was on a different afternoon to everybody else