The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Matteo Waem 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.
“I watch every ADO Den Haag game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Willem II runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Milan Hokke has his answer from ADO Den Haag; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ADO Den Haag, another week without a signature from Luuk Wouters.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Wiebe Kooistra did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Thijs van Leeuwen 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Wiebe Kooistra. 3‑2 against Jong Utrecht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Fabiano Rust 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.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ADO Den Haag lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Thijs van Leeuwen 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. ADO Den Haag will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Matteo Waem
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ADO Den Haag lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ADO Den Haag will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ADO Den Haag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Simon Graves, marked 7.77, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nigel Thomas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jong PSV in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at ADO Den Haag would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matteo Waem signs something — a contract at ADO Den Haag or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ADO Den Haag lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Wiebe Kooistra did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mylian Jimenez scored, was marked 7.30, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
7 goals in one match, Mylian Jimenez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of ADO Den Haag and RKC Waalwijk.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 3‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 92% of the ADO Den Haag income
Luuk Wouters damages knee ligaments — 100 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
Matteo Waem 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.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ADO Den Haag, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mylian Jimenez has his answer from ADO Den Haag; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Luuk Wouters damages knee ligaments — 107 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 107 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. TOP Oss kept coming because nothing stopped them, and ADO Den Haag will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Wiebe Kooistra, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Matteo Waem 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.
“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; ADO Den Haag are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at ADO Den Haag, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The deal that would have taken Jonas Jensen-Abbew to Ajax has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to ADO Den Haag with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
He is 22 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation ADO Den Haag are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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.” Memphis Klaassen, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ADO Den Haag people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Jesse Bal reports back to ADO Den Haag with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hicham Acheffay is living that version at ADO Den Haag, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 18 gone
That is the business done at ADO Den Haag 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.
Simon Graves 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at ADO Den Haag now.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabiano Rust 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Excelsior for Jesse Bal 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.
Matteo Waem 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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Palermo is saying, and nobody at ADO Den Haag is enjoying the guessing.
Matteo Waem 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at ADO Den Haag, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
Squad6 new faces, and ADO Den Haag are still learning each other
7.80, 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.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AZ keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The chase for Fabiano Rust ended with $5.4M changing hands and Feyenoord out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer from Etar for Gal Peled 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PAOK is saying, and nobody at ADO Den Haag is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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: Fabiano Rust from Feyenoord for $5.4M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
ADO Den Haag asked and Erzurumspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ADO Den Haag has been clear about where Sekou Sylla stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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; ADO Den Haag are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
ADO Den Haag offered $570.0K; Zwolle 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jermaine Rijssel and ADO Den Haag agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jesse Bal has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ADO Den Haag, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The chase for Jermaine Rijssel ended with $650.0K changing hands and Heerenveen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
ADO Den Haag 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $609.5K — a club that wants Corean Drost enough to be asked twice.
Matteo Waem 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.
$200.0K was the most the club would pay and Heerenveen 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.
The name of Gal Peled has come up in conversations ADO Den Haag were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Heerenveen 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.
ADO Den Haag offered $70.0K; Willem II 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.
ADO Den Haag asked and Heerenveen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at ADO Den Haag 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 fee is $5.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Den Bosch drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
Illaijh de Ruijter has gone, the accounts have $5.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
NEC paid $5.1M and ADO Den Haag took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The deal with AZ 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at ADO Den Haag is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Willem II 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.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
ADO Den Haag spend $5.5M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $5.5M for Thijs van Leeuwen, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Den Bosch 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.
Add another name to the list: NEC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Illaijh de Ruijter. The answer from ADO Den Haag has not changed — yet.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $6.0M — a club that wants Thijs van Leeuwen enough to be asked twice.
Matteo Waem 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Twente have kept their man, and ADO Den Haag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Evan Rottier 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.
Juho Kilo 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ADO Den Haag know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Luka Reischl 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juho Kilo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Cameron Peupion has written the date down.
The offer from Persija for Luka Reischl 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.
Matteo Waem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Šín 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.
A loan enquiry to West Bromwich Albion: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ADO Den Haag people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lugano keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Matěj Šín 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.
Add another name to the list: Catania have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jesse Bal. The answer from ADO Den Haag has not changed — yet.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax is saying, and nobody at ADO Den Haag is enjoying the guessing.
Matteo Waem 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Luka Reischl 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and ADO Den Haag know it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one ADO Den Haag will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Jan Žambůrek
Matteo Waem 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matěj Šín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ADO Den Haag know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Matteo Waem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Reischl 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ADO Den Haag, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 9 on 64 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Othniël Raterink, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ADO Den Haag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
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 7.59, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
SquadLuka Reischl falls out with a teammate over standards
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
Juho Kilo 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.
“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 dugout10 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Memphis Klaassen chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at ADO Den Haag 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.
Matteo Waem 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.04, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
At 21 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 May 2027
Luka Reischl 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.
In brief
Player ratingsDonát Bárány was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonas Jensen-Abbew and ADO Den Haag agree another 4 years.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Guus Berghuis 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Donny Strootman is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cody Simons 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Quincy Dumfries 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.
0‑1 to De Graafschap, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Reischl 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at ADO Den Haag pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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 0‑1 Memphis Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
De Graafschap next, and one man in the ADO Den Haag dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juho Kilo signs something — a contract at ADO Den Haag or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Matěj Šín could not do
The terracesThe stands have heard the Donát Bárány talk too
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ADO Den Haag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Illaijh de Ruijter did not need any: 8.37, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Matteo Waem 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.
At 20 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.
Three points for ADO Den Haag, 1‑0 the final word against FC Eindhoven in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Reischl 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.
“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; ADO Den Haag are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Matteo Waem 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.04, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Matěj Šín 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon ADO Den Haag had all but put away. Emmen will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ADO Den Haag know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mylian Jimenez and ADO Den Haag agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Emmen in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Illaijh de Ruijter signs something — a contract at ADO Den Haag or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
Jong Utrecht will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. ADO Den Haag were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Matteo Waem 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Donát Bárány in the middle of it, and Jong Utrecht unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Reischl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Yannick Eduardo will call it something else in private.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ADO Den Haag know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“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; ADO Den Haag are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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 0‑1 Memphis Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Matěj Šín is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Waem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ADO Den Haag know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and ADO Den Haag know it.
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Luka Reischl 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Othniël Raterink did not need any: 8.51, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.68 for the rest of it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Matteo Waem 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitesse have kept their man, and ADO Den Haag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lennart Mertens. 2‑0 against RKC Waalwijk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. RKC Waalwijk tried to reorganise, ADO Den Haag did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Roda will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. ADO Den Haag were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Donát Bárány takes the afternoon — 9.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Donát Bárány provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Magnus Bech Riisnæs 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about ADO Den Haag and Roda in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesse Bal 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.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
ADO Den Haag close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ADO Den Haag know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesse Bal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlas have kept their man, and ADO Den Haag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 20 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jesse Bal. 1‑0 against VVV-Venlo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The offer from KV Kortrijk for Jesse Bal 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.
A mark of 7.82 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Helmond Sport have kept their man, and ADO Den Haag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Othniël Raterink, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.36
A mark of 8.36 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at ADO Den Haag is enjoying the guessing.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Evan Rottier has agreed terms with Groningen for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Šín 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bodo/Glimt have kept their man, and ADO Den Haag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 20 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.
ADO Den Haag have made the call to Racing Genk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
ADO Den Haag have made the call to Cambuur. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ADO Den Haag lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ADO Den Haag people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Illaijh de Ruijter did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Utrecht keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Matteo Waem 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.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The name of Evan Rottier has come up in conversations ADO Den Haag were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ADO Den Haag lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yannick Eduardo did not need any: 8.39, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 ADO Den Haag have had the benefit of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ADO Den Haag have done the hard part with Utrecht, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlas have kept their man, and ADO Den Haag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Pascal Mulder 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juho Kilo provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Othniël Raterink is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.06, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 15 goals between ADO Den Haag and Jong Ajax, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Matteo Waem 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matěj Šín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at ADO Den Haag can tell you which week it ends in.
A mark of 7.19, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Memphis Klaassen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the ADO Den Haag dressing room was either.
Nobody at ADO Den Haag is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Matteo Waem 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cambuur in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ADO Den Haag know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two goals and a mark of 8.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Šín 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.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jan Žambůrek has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Memphis Klaassen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ADO Den Haag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Matteo Waem, marked 7.97, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matěj Šín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and ADO Den Haag know it.
In brief
The dugoutJuho Kilo is still being punished for one mistake
Matteo Waem 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Memphis Klaassen after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Emmen.
Matteo Waem 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Šín 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ADO Den Haag has been clear about where Daryl van Mieghem stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at ADO Den Haag 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ADO Den Haag, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ADO Den Haag know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Yannick Eduardo, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.44
A mark of 8.44 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 6.64 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 12 goals between ADO Den Haag and Jong Utrecht, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Matěj Šín 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.
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.
Helmond Sport left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 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 0‑1 Memphis Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
A mark of 7.95 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.
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.
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.
Matteo Waem 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Šín 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.
He is 21 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.
A 2‑0 win over MVV Maastricht, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ADO Den Haag has been clear about where Diogo Tomás stands, which is more than many ever get.
9‑0, and Yannick Eduardo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything ADO Den Haag tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Donát Bárány takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Donát Bárány provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yannick Eduardo did not need any: 9.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.70, 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.
Matteo Waem 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.
9 goals in one match, Yannick Eduardo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of ADO Den Haag and Jong PSV.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“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; ADO Den Haag are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ADO Den Haag lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Othniël Raterink is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Matteo Waem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Matěj Šín 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Memphis Klaassen could afford to be generous.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ADO Den Haag lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Matteo Waem 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matěj Šín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Memphis Klaassen was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the ADO Den Haag dressing room was either.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Illaijh de Ruijter did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Matteo Waem 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.
He is 22 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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
“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.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” Memphis Klaassen kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. ADO Den Haag have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Šín 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nigel Thomas, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Pascal Mulder's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at ADO Den Haag 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matěj Šín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and ADO Den Haag 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jalen Hawkins is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ADO Den Haag, another week without a signature from Evan Rottier.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ADO Den Haag. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luuk Wouters has, at ADO Den Haag, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
ADO Den Haag asked and Union SG said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Matteo Waem 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Memphis Klaassen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Illaijh de Ruijter did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ADO Den Haag have done the hard part with Volendam, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matěj Šín 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PAOK have kept their man, and ADO Den Haag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 19 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.
ADO Den Haag asked and Brann said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matěj Šín 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Nobody at ADO Den Haag is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
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.
ADO Den Haag asked and Heerenveen 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 easiest signature of my career.” Jonas Jensen-Abbew and ADO Den Haag agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
2 academy players handed senior numbers at ADO Den Haag
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Matteo Waem 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Bas Aké 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bas Van Dijk 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kenneth Berghuis 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marten Dumfries 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.
In brief
SquadLuka Reischl falls out with a teammate over standards
Squad7 new faces, and ADO Den Haag are still learning each other
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Matěj Šín 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and ADO Den Haag know it.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.