Marked for Sergiño Dest
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Loan watch10 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Sami Bouhoudane’s exile
47 goals in 34 games at Helmond Sport — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at PSV updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at PSV
Jerdy Schouten and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Retegui 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 dugout10 May 2027
Ivan Perišić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at PSV 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.
Market10 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at PSV, another week without a signature from Sergiño Dest.
Loan watch10 May 2027
17 appearances at Esbjerg and the goals keep coming. PSV are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout10 May 2027
Sergiño Dest 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 Sergiño Dest trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad10 May 2027
Manuel Bahaty, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where PSV would like this to lead.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Sami Bouhoudane’s exile
45 goals in 32 games at Helmond Sport — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at PSV updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Match24 Apr 2027
15 unbeaten for PSV
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation PSV did not have in the autumn.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at PSV
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Retegui 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.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Jordy Bawuah’s exile
13 goals in 29 games at TOP Oss — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at PSV updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Ivan Perišić ran the middle of the pitch — 6.89
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.89, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
No place for Sergiño Dest on the big day
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Armando Obispo
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
The goals keep arriving from Sami Bouhoudane’s exile
33 goals in 26 games at Helmond Sport — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at PSV updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
At 38 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.38, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Perišić commits to PSV for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at PSV
Jerdy Schouten and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Mar 2027
Whatever happens, PSV do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
17 shut-outs in 29 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Niek Schiks has been having a lot of them.
Market8 Mar 2027
Bart van Rooij 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 PSV hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mateo Retegui 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
20 goals and a season average of 7.29. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match26 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for PSV
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around PSV are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at PSV
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Perišić 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Sergiño Dest
“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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Dec 2026
The half-term report on PSV
Position 5, 29 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
A promise honoured at PSV
Something was said to Kiliann Sildillia and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Nov 2026
Derby day misery for PSV
Losing 0‑1 is one thing; losing to Ajax in a derby is a wound that takes months to close.
Match5 Nov 2026
A statement in Europe from PSV
5‑0 against Gomel, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Mateo Retegui, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.12, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market9 Nov 2026
Guus Til 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 PSV hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at PSV
Ivan Perišić 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at PSV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Retegui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Dennis Man was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. 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.
In brief
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Squad
A quiet fortnight at PSV
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The dugout
Sergiño Dest left out for the big one
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, PSV do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ruben van Bommel is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at PSV
Jerdy Schouten and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Retegui 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ruben van Bommel 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Zwolle made PSV work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Guus Til at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at PSV.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Rick Clasie kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.