Marked for Florian Müller
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Aug 2031
Carlos Forbs takes the match ball home
6 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad25 Aug 2031
The knee: Victor Aznar out for 86 days
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match23 Aug 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 9‑1 against Mouscron, and it could have been more.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Neal Maupay breaks a bone — 25 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Aug 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Genk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.54, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout25 Aug 2031
Denis Lefebvre: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Genk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Aug 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Racing Genk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Aug 2031
AS Nancy come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jul 2031
The knee: Victor Aznar out for 128 days
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Racing Genk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and OH Leuven waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Racing Genk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Jul 2031
Saël Kumbedi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Racing Genk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market14 Jul 2031
“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.
Market14 Jul 2031
FC Metz come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Racing Genk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Orkun Kökçü 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 Racing Genk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 Jul 2031
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thibaut Vargas has agreed terms with Anderlecht for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Jerdy Schouten 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 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Derry Scherhant, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Oct 2030
Nobody wins at PSV
50 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match22 Oct 2030
A statement in Europe from PSV
5‑0 against St. Gallen, 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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Brajan Gruda takes the match ball home
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match26 Oct 2030
3‑0, and Mateo Retegui took the headlines on an afternoon when everything PSV tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match26 Oct 2030
Nobody wants to play PSV right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market28 Oct 2030
Elis Bishesari has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market28 Oct 2030
“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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Oct 2030
15 goals and a season average of 7.55. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Sep 2030
Only the photograph left for Elis Bishesari
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elis Bishesari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around PSV the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Ruben van Bommel: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Sep 2030
“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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Sep 2030
A falling-out at PSV
Luciano Valente and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Denzel Dumfries 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
A move Jamil Siebert 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. Jamil Siebert is living that version at PSV, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad30 Sep 2030
“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.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saïd El Mala, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Aug 2030
The run at home goes on for PSV
44 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market19 Aug 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around PSV people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match17 Aug 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Cambuur, and it could have been more.
Match17 Aug 2030
PSV cannot stop winning
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market19 Aug 2030
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sam van de Camp had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market19 Aug 2030
“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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Aug 2030
Matteo Ruggeri 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.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Ilyas Ansah 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. Ilyas Ansah has, at PSV, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Tempers go at PSV
Luciano Valente 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Jul 2030
The view from the top for PSV
100 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market29 Jul 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. PSV have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market29 Jul 2030
“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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Iñaki Peña 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. Iñaki Peña has, at PSV, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market29 Jul 2030
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at PSV heard it as anything else.
Squad29 Jul 2030
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.
Market29 Jul 2030
The bid was some way short and PSV did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad29 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 125% of everything PSV earn
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Squad
A last season at home is what Florian Müller is after
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The dugout
Mateo Retegui has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Jul 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vitesse waiting with a shirt. Nobody at PSV is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market22 Jul 2030
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Rayane Bounida reports back to PSV with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market22 Jul 2030
“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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Jul 2030
Jay Stansfield has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Tempers go at PSV
Luciano Valente 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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denzel Dumfries 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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
A move Jorge Cabello 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. Jorge Cabello is living that version at PSV, and it tends to show in the first month.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolas Nartey, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matteo Ruggeri is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Jun 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around PSV people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market24 Jun 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Jun 2030
“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.
Market24 Jun 2030
Rayane Bounida 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Elías Rafn Ólafsson has, at PSV, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad24 Jun 2030
A falling-out at PSV
Rayane Bounida and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Jay Stansfield has agreed terms with Ajax for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Jun 2030
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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sam van de Camp is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Marcos Leonardo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market29 Apr 2030
“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.
Market29 Apr 2030
Donny Aké 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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Apr 2030
A falling-out at PSV
Rayane Bounida and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denzel Dumfries 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marten de Roon, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Rayane Bounida asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
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.
Market29 Apr 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSV know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Apr 2030
“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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Apr 2030
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at PSV heard it as anything else.
Market22 Apr 2030
Josip Šutalo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at PSV
Rayane Bounida 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
A row about effort at PSV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Ruggeri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Apr 2030
The numbers do not look good at PSV
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
Rayane Bounida knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PSV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
Luciano Valente 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.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Florian Müller, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market25 Mar 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSV can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Daan Hulleman: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Mar 2030
Matteo Ruggeri 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.
Market25 Mar 2030
PSV say no — this time
The offer from Bodo/Glimt for Oliver Braude 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.
Market25 Mar 2030
Only the photograph left for Josip Šutalo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josip Šutalo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around PSV the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Mar 2030
Nobody wants to play PSV right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denzel Dumfries 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
10 PSV players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 10 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
In brief
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Loan watch
Nobody is scoring past Owen Stengs at Siracusa
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Boardroom
The numbers do not look good at PSV
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Squad
Defences have started doubling up on Patati
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match16 Feb 2030
PSV make home a hard place to visit
37 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Mateo Retegui is in the form of his life
A season average of 8.01 with 38 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match16 Feb 2030
Nobody wants to play PSV right now
15 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match16 Feb 2030
The derby belongs to PSV
3‑1 against Ajax, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Market18 Feb 2030
“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 PSV, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
“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.
Match16 Feb 2030
PSV are at home on the road
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for PSV and a story that will outlast his contract.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words exchanged at PSV
Denzel Dumfries 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.
In brief
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Market
Lovro Štubljar is on his way
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Squad
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
PSV counting the cost
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Jan 2030
Bragging rights belong to PSV for another year after a 1‑0 win over Feyenoord in front of a full house.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Mateo Retegui
28 goals and a season average of 7.86 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match19 Jan 2030
PSV cannot stop winning
10 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Obama Appiah damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market21 Jan 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around PSV people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSV can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jan 2030
Luciano Valente 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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
A move Florian Müller 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. Florian Müller is living that version at PSV, and it tends to show in the first month.