The AZ Gazette
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Mateo Chávez says AZ 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Kees Smit 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 AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Apr 2028
AZ may not be able to give Mihai Nita what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mihai Nita wants continental football; whether AZ can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ayoub Oufkir 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Isak Jensen
“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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
When it matters, Ayoub Oufkir plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Marcos Leonardo 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
The Ayoub Oufkir question follows AZ around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ayoub Oufkir’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Loan watch24 Apr 2028
DC United cannot leave Hessel de Wit out
6 starts and an average of 6.62. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
In brief
- Squad Word from the training ground: Mexx Meerdink
- Loan watch The clock runs down on Bendegúz Kovács at Heracles
- Squad Kenneth Aké back in training