Marked for Michael Brouwer
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
“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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $400.0K — a club that wants Bart Kemmeren enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to Den Bosch this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Kaj Sierhuis 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 Emmen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Emmen asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jetro Willems commits to Emmen for another 2 years.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Alaa Bakir 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan move for Jelle Duin is in the works
Emmen have made the call to Vejle. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan move for Dani Silva is in the works
Emmen have made the call to FC Midtjylland. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Heracles offered $6.0M; Feyenoord 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Rhys Bozinovski again, and this time the name on the line is Newcastle Jets. Heracles are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market21 Jun 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Koen Bucker gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Koen Bucker has just signed for Heracles, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Heracles
Arthur Zagré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
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.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to RWDM: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Heracles, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Loan watch31 May 2027
27 goals on loan for Matěj Šín
37 appearances at ADO Den Haag and the goals keep coming. AZ are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad31 May 2027
At 18 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.
Squad31 May 2027
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.
Squad31 May 2027
The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Jasper Hartog, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market31 May 2027
Mees de Wit comes back from a loan that worked
13 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Latrell Aken 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 dugout31 May 2027
Mees de Wit gets picked when it counts
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 Mees de Wit is on it.
The dugout31 May 2027
Mees de Wit knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mees de Wit trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Brouwer, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Mar 2027
AZ up to position 3
57 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZ can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Feb 2027
AZ cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market1 Mar 2027
Nikola Vlašić wants to know where this is going
“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 AZ hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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; AZ are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at AZ
Calvin Stengs 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Three points for AZ, 1‑0 the final word against Fortuna Sittard in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
The big one: Feyenoord come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. AZ will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A mark of 7.93, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
The chase for Ibrahim Sadiq ended with $3.0M changing hands and AZ out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market25 Jan 2027
Anorthosis come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Utrecht did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Utrecht
Jerry St. Juste 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Utrecht asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market25 Jan 2027
AZ pay $250.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Utrecht
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wessel Kooy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andile Furman. 2‑1 against Volendam, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
He is 22 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.81, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Lommel wanted more than $36.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
AZ asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Willem II had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market18 Jan 2027
Ibrahim Sadiq hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZ can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Jan 2027
AZ get their man
The chase for Alonzo Engwanda ended with $6.8M changing hands and Utrecht out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
20 appearances away from home and 22 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
$250.0K settles it between the clubs for Michael Brouwer
Utrecht have accepted the money. What AZ do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad18 Jan 2027
19 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with AZ, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market18 Jan 2027
AZ pay $6.8M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
The goals keep arriving from Zidane Iqbal’s exile
21 goals in 20 games at TOP Oss — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Utrecht updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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 Utrecht, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jan 2027
NEC pay $2.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market18 Jan 2027
Utrecht say no — this time
The offer from AZ for Michael Brouwer 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Utrecht
Jerry St. Juste and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Utrecht
Vasilis Barkas 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Alarcón 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Michael Brouwer is still being punished for one mistake
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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Victor Jensen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Utrecht 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Utrecht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
The goals keep arriving from Jesse van de Haar’s exile
5 goals in 11 games at Waasland-Beveren — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Utrecht updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
11 appearances at Emmen and the goals have stopped going in. Utrecht lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Utrecht can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jerry St. Juste 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Artem Stepanov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ángel Alarcón and Utrecht agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Go Ahead Eagles to sit and watch. I want to come back to Utrecht and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Heracles in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes Andile Furman a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Utrecht. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
6 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
5 shut-outs in 7 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Kevin Gadellaa has been having a lot of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.87, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gjivai Zechiël is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Utrecht
Jerry St. Juste 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
100 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Belts tighten at Utrecht
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tobias Lauritsen. 2‑0 against Telstar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ángel Alarcón 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Abderahmane Soussi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Utrecht can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
NEC paid $1.2M and Utrecht took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Utrecht
Gjivai Zechiël 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Bryan De Jongh has left for Wisła Płock in a $460.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Utrecht asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andile Furman, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Utrecht
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Match
Utrecht share the spoils with Feyenoord
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict