Marked for Alexander Büttner
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Gaoussou Diarra 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Vitesse
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rokas Pukstas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Solomon Bonnah
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Vitesse told Bart Schenkeveld something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Cody Van de Beek after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Vitesse will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Vitesse
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bart Schenkeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Elias Huth’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Vitesse.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Gaoussou Diarra at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Vitesse.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Connor van den Berg is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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
Crisis
Market31 Aug 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 Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jan Bürger arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jan Bürger has, at Vitesse, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with De Graafschap, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Alexander Büttner 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Vitesse asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Kay Otakan 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bart Schenkeveld 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Cody Van de Beek left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by ADO Den Haag, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Vitesse
Alexander Büttner 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Vitesse asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Munir Mohand 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 ratings24 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Munir Mohand 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Doors closed at Vitesse
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Ajax is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Vitesse
Alexander Büttner and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mouscron have kept their man, and Vitesse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match15 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Vitesse against AZ
0‑2 to AZ, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vitesse are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad17 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Vitesse 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Vitesse spend $5.7M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $5.7M has been paid because Gaoussou Diarra is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kay Otakan commits to Vitesse for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alexander Büttner 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 terraces10 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Gaoussou Diarra from Feyenoord for $5.7M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Vitesse asked and Cruz Azul 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Jeroen De Jong has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Justin Strootman has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Frenkie Gravenberch is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bart Schenkeveld 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to Feyenoord 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.
Market3 Aug 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 Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexander Büttner and Vitesse agree another 2 years.
Squad3 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 Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vitesse, another week without a signature from Alexander Büttner.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Vitesse
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chiel Olde Keizer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Rokas Pukstas is in the works
Vitesse have made the call to Middlesbrough. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Márcio Machado is in the works
Vitesse have made the call to Astra. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Naoufal Bannis’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.