Marked for Patrick Van de Beek
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The clock did what Monaco would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Match31 Jan 2029
Ajax march on in the cup
Go Ahead Eagles are out and Ajax go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market5 Feb 2029
“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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Ajax offered $6.4M; Sparta Rotterdam said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RKC Waalwijk have kept their man, and Ajax go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
A defender's goal wins it for Ajax — 7.75
1 for Mandela Keita, marked 7.75, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Ajax close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 12 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ajax heard it as anything else.
Match3 Feb 2029
Ajax make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Feb 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Feb 2029
Add another name to the list: Hebar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Arthur. The answer from Lokomotiv Plovdiv has not changed — yet.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Up for the corner, and Berk Beyhan delivers — 7.60
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Berk Beyhan scored, was marked 7.60, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market5 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Georgi Karakashev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiv Plovdiv the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrei Chindriş and Lokomotiv Plovdiv agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Stipe Vulikić 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 Feb 2029
Lokomotiv Plovdiv asked and Spartak 1918 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Ruskov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Jan 2029
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market29 Jan 2029
“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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market29 Jan 2029
Arthur has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv Plovdiv they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market29 Jan 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lokomotiv Plovdiv have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Ivaylo Ivanov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Lokomotiv Plovdiv is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Plovdiv this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Lokomotiv Plovdiv asked and Vihren said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces29 Jan 2029
The crowd has taken to Martim Dias
At 21 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Jan 2029
0‑4 to CSKA Sofia, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match3 Jan 2029
Pirin Blagoevgrad go through and Lokomotiv Plovdiv go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.00 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Georgi Karakashev has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ryan Leijten commits to Lokomotiv Plovdiv for another 3 years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv know it.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Stipe Vulikić 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Dec 2028
Ajax come up short in Europe
0‑2 away to the standard of Bayern Munich. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Gastón Ávila: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ajax have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market18 Dec 2028
Only the photograph left for Josip Šutalo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josip Šutalo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ajax the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market18 Dec 2028
Colo-Colo come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ajax did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Marked 7.67 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Josip Šutalo 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 Ajax this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bendegúz Kovács. 1‑0 against Dordrecht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Looking ahead18 Dec 2028
Top-of-the-table clash for Ajax
AZ next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Nov 2028
Josip Šutalo 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 Ajax this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Oscar Gloukh gets it from the manager
“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.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Derby week at Ajax
Feyenoord next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
Loan watch20 Nov 2028
“I watch every Ajax game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lokomotiv Plovdiv runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Tijjani Reijnders has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ajax will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Calvin Stengs's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Feyenoord next, and one man in the Ajax dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Loan watch20 Nov 2028
5 clean sheets on loan for Paul Reverson
16 appearances at Swansea City and the goals have stopped going in. Ajax lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Anton Gaaei’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Oct 2028
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv Plovdiv lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Oct 2028
A 2‑1 win over Etar, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Martim Dias breaks a bone — 19 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
No sign of nerves from Djiby Diouf at 20 — 7.90
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Djiby Diouf did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 Oct 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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv know it.
Match28 Oct 2028
3‑5 to Beroe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Stipe Vulikić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Oct 2028
Ryan Leijten among the goals in a wild afternoon
8 goals in one match, Ryan Leijten on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Beroe.
The terraces30 Oct 2028
At 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Ajax
Castello Lukeba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Youri Baas
“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.
Loan watch23 Oct 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Ajax, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.46 on the card, and the Ajax support went home talking about one name.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Castello Lukeba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ajax will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ajax told Memphis Depay something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match21 Oct 2028
Point won or two lost for Ajax?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sparta Rotterdam? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead23 Oct 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Oscar Gloukh’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ajax needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Oct 2028
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Plovdiv lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A fracture rules Martim Dias out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokomotiv Plovdiv will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotiv Plovdiv may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Stipe Vulikić 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Todor Pavlov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Lokomotiv Plovdiv is pretending otherwise.
Match21 Oct 2028
A 1‑0 win over Montana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ivaylo Ivanov 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
“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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.79 on the card, and the Lokomotiv Plovdiv support went home talking about one name.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Looking ahead
Arthur faces his old club
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Player ratings
A defender's afternoon for Berk Beyhan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2028
A statement in Europe from Ajax
3‑0 against Karpaty, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Marked 9.73 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad25 Sep 2028
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Calvin Stengs: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ajax have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Sep 2028
Nobody wins at Ajax
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Ajax
Anton Gaaei 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.
Match24 Sep 2028
After 4 games, Ajax finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Twente; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The team sheet said everything about Josip Šutalo
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Josip Šutalo.
Loan watch25 Sep 2028
“I watch every Ajax game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lokomotiv Plovdiv runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Aug 2028
Sesynijo Tilborg damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
4‑0, and Bendegúz Kovács took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ajax tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match12 Aug 2028
Whatever happens, Ajax do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
“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.
Market14 Aug 2028
Ajax say no — this time
The offer from Paksi for Patrick Van de Beek was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aaron Bouwman is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match12 Aug 2028
Ajax are at home on the road
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Ajax
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Aug 2028
Parvizjon Umarbaev damages knee ligaments — 119 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
Market14 Aug 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 Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Ivaylo Ivanov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Lokomotiv Plovdiv is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sturm Graz keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lokomotiv Plovdiv can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Bernard Tekpetey 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 targets14 Aug 2028
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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Lokomotiv Plovdiv training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martim Dias 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.