Dani Mathieu

Central Midfielder - Heracles
26 Sep 2026
Saturday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 16 Awards Matches History

Marked for Dani Mathieu

7 Edition

The Heracles Sentinel

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets14 Sep 2026

No deal for Niklas Vesterlund at that price

Heracles offered $2.4M; Utrecht 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.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Erik Ahlstrand runs at them all day

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.

Transfer targets14 Sep 2026

KV Mechelen tell Heracles: Benito Raman is not for sale

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.

Market14 Sep 2026

Wout Aké steps up from the Heracles academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Wout Aké has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Squad14 Sep 2026

Erik Ahlstrand 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 dugout14 Sep 2026

The manager makes an example of Sam Hendriks

“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.

Squad14 Sep 2026

A falling-out at Heracles

Dani Mathieu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings14 Sep 2026

Nobody on the pitch touched Djevencio van der Kust

7.45, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Heracles had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout14 Sep 2026

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ryan Clasie was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Heracles dressing room was either.

In brief

Back issues
5 Edition

The Heracles Sentinel

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings31 Aug 2026

Naci Ünüvar scores twice — 9.09

Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad31 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Heracles

Branco van den Boomen 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.

Squad31 Aug 2026

A move Dani Mathieu would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dani Mathieu is living that version at Heracles, and it tends to show in the first month.

Transfer targets31 Aug 2026

Door shut on Nicolás Franco

Heracles asked and Basaksehir 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

Naci Ünüvar the difference as Heracles beat ADO Den Haag

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Naci Ünüvar. 2‑1 against ADO Den Haag, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The terraces31 Aug 2026

Heracles supporters have found a favourite in Mimeirhel Benita

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mimeirhel Benita 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 ratings31 Aug 2026

Mimeirhel Benita runs at them all day

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.

Squad31 Aug 2026

Dani Mathieu signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dani Mathieu and Heracles agree another 3 years.

Transfer targets31 Aug 2026

Heracles try to borrow Bogdan Popov

Empoli have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

1 Edition

The Willem II Courier

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad3 Aug 2026

Thomas Didillon-Hödl stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Didillon-Hödl and Willem II agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Willem II

Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Willem II rebuffed over Gustavo Varela

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market3 Aug 2026

36 months and counting on Vito van Crooij

Still no offer on the table, and Vito van Crooij’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.

Market3 Aug 2026

Talks stall between Willem II and Thomas Verheydt

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Alessandro Ciranni 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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Willem II are still strangers to each other

10 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.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Willem II try to borrow Jay Enem

Bologna have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout3 Aug 2026

Maxim Dekker 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 Maxim Dekker trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief