Marked for Dylan Vente
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Heerenveen have done the hard part with Zwolle, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dylan Vente 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 Heerenveen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Heerenveen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Trenskow was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Utrecht will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Noa Dundas has pre-agreed a move to Heerenveen, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets11 Jan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Heerenveen have made the call to Ajax. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Olympiacos: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
AZ come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Heerenveen did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Dylan Vente is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Heerenveen will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Amir Ismaïl: 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.” Heerenveen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marko Farji beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Heerenveen asked and Westerlo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match2 Jan 2027
A 2‑1 win over ADO Den Haag, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market4 Jan 2027
Jacob Trenskow is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Heerenveen has been clear about where Jacob Trenskow stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 8.39 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad4 Jan 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; Heerenveen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Heerenveen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Dylan Vente 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Dirk Proper scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Vitesse, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Heerenveen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Trenskow was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Dirk Proper had Heerenveen level again within 3 minutes, and Vitesse never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Georginio Klaassen to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Imad Riahi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
Cambuur will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Heerenveen were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Dirk Proper takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dirk Proper provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Lasse Nordås takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Jens Mathijsen, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dylan Vente 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 Heerenveen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Heerenveen and Cambuur in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Cambuur. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
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.
In brief
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Player ratings
One of those days for Marcus Linday
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Squad
A row about effort at Heerenveen
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Heerenveen's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Heerenveen has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dylan Vente 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Jacob Trenskow 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathias Delorge, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Dirk Proper was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Twente leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Marko Farji 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
6 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Heerenveen
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Dylan Vente and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Lasse Nordås did the work nobody counts — 6.76
14 combined actions and 6.76. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maas Willemsen, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Imad Riahi 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 Nov 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Georginio Klaassen to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Nov 2026
Groningen ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Dylan Vente beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Heerenveen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Trenskow was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match14 Nov 2026
NEC left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andries Noppert, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Sten Kremers and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at Heerenveen
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Marko Farji 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heerenveen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Heerenveen are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match7 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Heerenveen against Roda
0‑2 to Roda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Oyen 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Luca Oyen
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
The cruellest goal, and it is Marko Farji's
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Heerenveen will not try tonight.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Luca Oyen wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Heerenveen will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Heerenveen man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Dylan Vente was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
2 behind and going nowhere, until Dylan Vente decided otherwise. Heracles had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Dylan Vente takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Heerenveen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match31 Oct 2026
Heracles made Heerenveen work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 9.47 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathias Delorge, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heerenveen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dylan Vente and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Heerenveen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Trenskow was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Willem II, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Heerenveen
Something was said to Massien Ghaddari and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nabil Jaadi, and the manager let it.
Market26 Oct 2026
The Dylan Vente story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dylan Vente signs something — a contract at Heerenveen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 7.66 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Dylan Vente 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 terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Matthew Mparaganda 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Dylan Vente was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Imad Riahi 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Dylan Vente 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
Jacob Trenskow 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
The crowd has taken to Marko Farji
At 22 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dylan Vente. 2‑0 against Groningen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Oct 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Luca Oyen
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Oyen, and the manager let it.
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
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Trenskow 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Luca Oyen 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Dirk Proper was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathias Delorge, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Georginio Klaassen after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Market28 Sep 2026
The Dylan Vente story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dylan Vente signs something — a contract at Heerenveen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Luca Oyen
Nobody at Heerenveen is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tsuyoshi Watanabe
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feyenoord lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Feyenoord, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Feyenoord will try again when the window opens; Heerenveen may not be selling by then.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 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 targets14 Sep 2026
Feyenoord asked and Galatasaray said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Feyenoord
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jerry St. Juste was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Luciano Valente to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Vitesse, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Dylan Vente reports back to Heerenveen with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market14 Sep 2026
Twente come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Heerenveen did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Massien Ghaddari, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Heerenveen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Trenskow was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Heerenveen 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Luca Oyen reaches 100 appearances
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Maxence Rivera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tsuyoshi Watanabe
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feyenoord lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The paperwork begins on Dylan Vente
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Feyenoord have done the hard part with Heerenveen, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Heerenveen; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market7 Sep 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 Feyenoord can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Feyenoord until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Feyenoord
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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and Feyenoord go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Raheem Sterling was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Roda are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Feyenoord will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Feyenoord waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Heerenveen is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Sep 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 Heerenveen can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer from Utrecht for Jacob Trenskow 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
7 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Heerenveen — 7.76
1 for Dirk Proper, marked 7.76, 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Heerenveen until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dylan Vente 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Heerenveen now.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Trenskow 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Vitesse, and it could have been more.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market31 Aug 2026
Ringo Meerveld has left for Twente in a $6.9M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Jens Mathijsen at 19 — 7.98
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jens Mathijsen did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market31 Aug 2026
Vasilis Zagaritis has left for AZ in a $6.1M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market31 Aug 2026
Oliver Braude has left for AZ in a $6.1M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Match29 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Heerenveen and Vitesse, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Heerenveen 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Utrecht for Marcus Linday 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Bernt Klaverboer has left for Feyenoord in a $2.3M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ringo Meerveld and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Heerenveen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Trenskow was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and Heerenveen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: AZ will make the call about Vasilis Zagaritis this week. Heerenveen have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Heerenveen have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match22 Aug 2026
Heerenveen rescue it on 87 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. AZ had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with AZ leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Jacob Trenskow beats them one at a time
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Looking ahead
Mats Egbring faces his old club
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from PSV for Ringo Meerveld 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Heerenveen spend $4.8M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.8M has been paid because Mathias Delorge is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ringo Meerveld 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Heerenveen offered $420.0K; 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Trenskow 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Dylan Vente scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Cambuur, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Feyenoord have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bernt Klaverboer. The answer from Heerenveen has not changed — yet.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Heerenveen have gone to KAA Gent with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Kortrijk have kept their man, and Heerenveen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dirk Proper and Heerenveen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Dylan Vente 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ringo Meerveld 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Heerenveen 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.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Ringo Meerveld knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Heerenveen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.