Patrick Van Dijk

Defensive Midfielder - Willem II U18
11 Oct 2029
Thursday
Process

Marked for Patrick Van Dijk

107 Edition

The Willem II Courier

14 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Willem II's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Willem II has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Kiliann Sildillia stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Kiliann Sildillia and Willem II agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Willem II

Kiliann Sildillia 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.

Squad

Jayden Spier is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.

Match

Willem II cannot find the net

4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Market

As if he never left: Emiliano del Pino returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Emiliano del Pino is a Willem II player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Squad

Kiliann Sildillia has improved at 26, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Willem II

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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Willem II against ADO Den Haag

0‑2 to ADO Den Haag, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief