Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vitesse will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
KAA Gent did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $8.5M for Matisse Samoise, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
$150.0K settles it between the clubs for Joey Jacobs
Volendam have accepted the money. What Vitesse do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vitesse hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utrecht have kept their man, and Vitesse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitesse have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Lewis Gibson 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitesse, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Vitesse will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 51 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Vitesse can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Julian Weigl 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vitesse can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Gibson 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.
“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 Vitesse know it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Up for the corner, and Bohdan Budko delivers — 7.72
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Bohdan Budko scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Julian Weigl 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vitesse are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lewis Gibson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Owen De Roon left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Gibson 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.
Something was said to Raheem Sterling and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Gibson 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.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Owen De Roon to a room that had heard them before.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kyan Himpe 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.
Three points for Vitesse, 1‑0 the final word against VVV-Venlo in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Lewis Gibson 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.
Julian Weigl 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wouter Prins 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.
“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 dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Owen De Roon was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Vitesse dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.52 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Vitesse can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Agon Sadiku. 2‑0 against Jong AZ, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lewis Gibson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Agon Sadiku was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vitesse are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.36 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Marked 7.15 on 17 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. VVV-Venlo have kept their man, and Vitesse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lewis Gibson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Owen De Roon after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Raheem Sterling will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Vitesse escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Everything agreed with VVV-Venlo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Julian Weigl 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Sherel Floranus has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Vitesse have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Vitesse asked and Utrecht said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Gibson 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.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Kyan Himpe, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Utrecht paid $2.6M and Vitesse took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The chase for Aaron Seydel ended with $280.0K changing hands and Heracles out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and Vitesse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wouter Prins was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vitesse know it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kyan Himpe did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Vitesse heard it as anything else.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utrecht have kept their man, and Vitesse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every Vitesse game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at RKC Waalwijk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against De Graafschap; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Wouter Prins 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Valon Zumberi
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Romke van de Pol is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“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 Vitesse, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
“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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christiaan Ravych 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Jong AZ will replay every second of the added time for a week.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Vitesse can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
“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 Vitesse know it.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Jong AZ made Vitesse work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christiaan Ravych 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Denso Kasius was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Roda go through and Vitesse go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
“I watch every Vitesse game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at RKC Waalwijk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wouter Prins was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christopher Fafiani and Vitesse agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vitesse can tell you which week it ends in.
Emmen left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christiaan Ravych 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.
“I watch every Vitesse game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at MVV Maastricht runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Bohdan Budko 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matěj Kovář trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Emmen in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Vitesse will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Omar Achouitar has written the date down.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Bohdan Budko 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marco Schikora is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Christiaan Ravych has just signed for Vitesse, and for once the answer mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitesse have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Budko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vitesse, and 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nacional have kept their man, and Vitesse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Budko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put RKC Waalwijk ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Vitesse equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“I watch every Vitesse game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at MVV Maastricht runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Vitesse can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 13 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
Vitesse asked and AGF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Bohdan Budko 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Vitesse close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 19 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vitesse hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matěj Kovář wants continental football; whether Vitesse can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Marco Schikora and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Vitesse will try again when the window opens; De Graafschap may not be selling by then.
“I watch every Vitesse game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at RKC Waalwijk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitesse have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
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.
Vitesse asked and Olympic Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Matěj Kovář
The offer from IFK Mariehamn for Agon Sadiku 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
Vitesse asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jens van Baaren and Vitesse agree another 4 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
7 new faces, and Vitesse are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitesse, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Semen Padang waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitesse is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matěj Kovář wants continental football; whether Vitesse can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitesse have done the hard part with NAC Breda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Helmond Sport have kept their man, and Vitesse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vitesse hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Vitesse will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vitesse can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Agon Sadiku 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.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slovacko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slavia Sofia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Lukáš Vorlický 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.
Slovacko asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gigli Ndefe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from De Graafschap for João Pinto 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Vitesse know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitesse, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Vitesse 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
ADO Den Haag paid $640.0K and PSV took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lutsharel Geertruida is on it.
3 goals in 33 games at RKC Waalwijk — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at PSV updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lishairo Brudet 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.
The chase for Agon Sadiku ended with $400.0K changing hands and Emmen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Tsuyoshi Watanabe 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.
Vitesse asked and Helmond Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Budko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSV can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Twente for Matěj Kovář 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at PSV hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
49 goals in 38 games at Den Bosch — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at PSV updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSV can pretend not to have heard.
Lutsharel Geertruida 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Perišić is on it.
Squad24 May 2027
Seb Huntelaar 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until João Félix signs something — a contract at PSV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jerdy Schouten 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.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
Niek Schiks’s loan is measured in nothing happening
17 clean sheets from 32 appearances at RKC Waalwijk. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at PSV pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Perišić is on it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Wout Weghorst 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.
31 appearances at Cheltenham Town and the goals keep coming. PSV are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
Niek Schiks’s loan is measured in nothing happening
14 clean sheets from 28 appearances at RKC Waalwijk. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“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 PSV know it.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
22 goals in 26 games at Dordrecht — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at PSV updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSV can pretend not to have heard.
Dmytro Riznyk 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at PSV can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSV lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jerdy Schouten 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at PSV can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Something was said to Jerdy Schouten and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Perišić is on it.
“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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. PSV will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. PSV told Dmytro Riznyk something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Seb Huntelaar 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matěj Kovář, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ruben van Bommel'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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSV know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sven Mijnans’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and PSV needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sami Bouhoudane is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Something was said to Sergiño Dest and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yarek Gąsiorowski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and PSV have no good answer.