Marked for Myron van Brederode
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Apr 2027
Still nobody has beaten Twente
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Twente
Givairo Read 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Ramiz Zerrouki 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Stav Lemkin
“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 dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Virgil Weghorst was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Twente dressing room was either.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
A promise honoured at Twente
Something was said to Myron van Brederode and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market12 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Givairo Read’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Match10 Apr 2027
Point won or two lost for Twente?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against AZ? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
7.92, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match13 Mar 2027
Twente make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Twente have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Twente
Daley Blind 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.
Squad15 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; Twente are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match13 Mar 2027
ADO Den Haag made Twente work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Myron van Brederode 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 ratings15 Mar 2027
Marked 8.13 — 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 ratings15 Mar 2027
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Twente training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Bruns 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
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Divock Origi out for 31 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Mechelen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jan 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 KV Mechelen can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jan 2027
Twente pay $9.1M, 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.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
He is going to Twente, the club has $9.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Kashima Antlers, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 Jan 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 KV Mechelen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gora Diouf and KV Mechelen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Twente people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Jan 2027
KV Mechelen did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $9.1M for Myron van Brederode, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Wout Weghorst
21 goals and a season average of 7.40 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.28, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market11 Jan 2027
Twente get their man
The chase for Tobias Sommer ended with $760.0K changing hands and Zwolle out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$770.0K was the most the club would pay and Zwolle were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Twente
Daley Blind 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Filip Thorvaldsen is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Bart van Rooij ran the middle of the pitch — 7.63
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Daan Rots at his very best
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Squad
A row about effort at Twente
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The offer went to KV Mechelen 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Max Bruns puts it in writing
“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 Twente, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Twente have had the benefit of it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Twente have gone to Zwolle 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 targets4 Jan 2027
$640.0K on the table at Zwolle. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Daley Blind 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 Twente this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ramiz Zerrouki 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Bart van Rooij is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Twente has been clear about where Bart van Rooij stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Divock Origi breaks a bone — 56 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Rayane Bounida, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.98 on the card, and the KV Mechelen support went home talking about one name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Lovro Golič and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Bilal Bafdili 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.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Excelsior to sit and watch. I want to come back to KV Mechelen and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Anderlecht leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Half-satisfied: Adnan Onana on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Divock Origi breaks a bone — 64 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Dec 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 KV Mechelen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Mechelen.
Match12 Dec 2026
Level with 85 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon KV Mechelen had all but put away. Charleroi will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 3‑3 draw with Charleroi leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Half-satisfied: Adnan Onana on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 3‑3, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Divock Origi out for 71 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Mechelen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mike Eerdhuijzen 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Myron van Brederode. 2‑1 against Sint-Truiden, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.44. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Mechelen.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Bill Antonio beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Bafdili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for José Marsà
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. José Marsà has come out of that comparison in the side, and KV Mechelen have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Dec 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.” Adnan Onana kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout7 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
Divock Origi breaks a bone — 88 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rayane Bounida and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
He is 23 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Waasland-Beveren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Fredrik Hammar ran the middle of the pitch — 6.95
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad23 Nov 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Adnan Onana could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
105 days out for Divock Origi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KV Mechelen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mike Eerdhuijzen 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 ratings9 Nov 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Bafdili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dirk Asare, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Adnan Onana after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
Divock Origi breaks a bone — 120 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Rayane Bounida at 20 — 8.16
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rayane Bounida did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tommy St. Jago and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Benito Raman at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Mechelen.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilal Bafdili 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Adnan Onana, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad26 Oct 2026
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and KV Mechelen will feel it on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
128 days out for Divock Origi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KV Mechelen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for KV Mechelen
A 1‑5 beating by Racing Genk was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match17 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KV Mechelen and Racing Genk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
He is 23 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Mechelen.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the KV Mechelen dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Bafdili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 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 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Adnan Onana to a room that had heard them before.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Beaten 5 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mike Eerdhuijzen 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Something was said to Rayane Bounida and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad12 Oct 2026
KV Mechelen are still strangers to each other
9 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jesús Espinosa and KV Mechelen agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
No place for Jesús Espinosa in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation KV Mechelen are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Myron van Brederode’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 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 dugout12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
No fee and no drama: Jesús Espinosa has signed at KV Mechelen, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 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 KV Mechelen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
1‑2 to OH Leuven, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bilal Bafdili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ortwin De Wolf
“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 Sep 2026
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Tommy St. Jago 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
Mory Konaté is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at KV Mechelen has been clear about where Mory Konaté stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mike Eerdhuijzen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Zulte Waregem, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market21 Sep 2026
The shop window has Benito Raman in it
KV Mechelen have let the market know Benito Raman can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
When it matters, Dirk Asare plays
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 25 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at KV Mechelen are won quietly and lost loudly.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
No deal for Isaac Mbenza at that price
KV Mechelen offered $4.7M; Charleroi 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
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maksim Kireev and KV Mechelen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Myron van Brederode was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.83. 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for KV Mechelen, 2‑0 the final word against Mouscron in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Lovro Golič 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.
In brief
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Squad
Bilal Bafdili falls out with a teammate over standards
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Squad
8 new faces, and KV Mechelen are still learning each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer from Anderlecht for Maksim Kireev 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$4.7M on the table at Charleroi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
KV Mechelen asked and Zulte Waregem said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at KV Mechelen 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Rayane Bounida has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KV Mechelen 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at KV Mechelen than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout7 Sep 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KV Mechelen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Myron van Brederode was at the centre of it, Charleroi were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Trabzonspor wanted more than $6.9M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
KV Mechelen asked and Mouscron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from KAA Gent for Massimo Decoene 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Keano Vanrafelghem again, and this time the name on the line is NEC. KV Mechelen are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mike Eerdhuijzen commits to KV Mechelen for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 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 KV Mechelen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
Charleroi made KV Mechelen work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑3 at the end and the table does not ask how.