Jasper Hartog, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peer Koopmeiners 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AZ, and 1 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The terracesAZ supporters have found a favourite in Kees Smit
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.7M has been paid because Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
AZ close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Kees Smit 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.11 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. AZ know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Peer Koopmeiners was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsAyoub Oufkir beats them one at a time
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. PSV kept coming because nothing stopped them, and AZ will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Mao Hosoya takes the afternoon — 8.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mao Hosoya provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 14 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Elijah Dijkstra, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Calvin Stengs 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.
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Kees Smit 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 unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Mao Hosoya takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mao Hosoya provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Ayoub Oufkir, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 AZ know it.
1‑0 against Dynamo Kyiv, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Kees Smit 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Jasper Hartog 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.
In brief
SquadWords at AZ training over how hard people work
“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 AZ know 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.
Marked 6.62 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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 AZ, and 3 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
De Graafschap will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AZ were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Mao Hosoya takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mao Hosoya provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Valdemar Byskov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00
A mark of 8.00 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Valdemar Byskov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peer Koopmeiners 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AZ, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at AZ 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AZ heard it as anything else.
Kees Smit 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.
Add another name to the list: Blackpool have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Julian Oerip. The answer from AZ has not changed — yet.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Stije Resink 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.
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.