The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Utrecht have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Vasilis Barkas 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 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.
8 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.
The dugout23 Aug 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 1‑2 Joel Janssen left the room before anybody could ask which.
Utrecht asked and TSG Hoffenheim said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bright van Dijk is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
7 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Wesley Stengs is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kiyani Zeggen is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Vitesse will make the call about Joris van Overeem this week. Utrecht have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“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 Utrecht, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Vasilis Barkas is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zwolle in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Alonzo Engwanda has written the date down.
Vasilis Barkas 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 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.
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 Yoann Cathline is on it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Utrecht have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Alonzo Engwanda 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matisse Didden and Utrecht agree another 4 years.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
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 Mats Seuntjens is on 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 Utrecht 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 Aschraf El Mahdioui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Utrecht 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yoann Cathline signs something — a contract at Utrecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Utrecht that is a harder question to answer.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Utrecht people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Excelsior for Matyáš Havelka 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Niklas Vesterlund and Utrecht agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
9 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 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 Utrecht, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
Vasilis Barkas 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 Aschraf El Mahdioui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Geronimo Venloo has come up in conversations Utrecht were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Utrecht will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Utrecht people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Utrecht, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Hany Mukhtar is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
At 23 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Utrecht have done the hard part with Cruz Azul, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marius Broholm is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aschraf El Mahdioui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Vitesse will make the call about Joris van Overeem this week. Utrecht have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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 Kasper Dolberg is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Utrecht people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Cardiff City for Kiyani Zeggen 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gjivai Zechiël is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mats Seuntjens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Utrecht 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tijn den Boggende had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Utrecht, and it is not being withdrawn.
Utrecht have gone to AZ 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.
Vasilis Barkas 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bright van Dijk is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alonzo Engwanda and Utrecht agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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 at Utrecht 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Utrecht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Vasilis Barkas 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 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 at Utrecht 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.
2 appearances, 1 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Utrecht will have this month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht 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 Mats Seuntjens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Utrecht 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yoann Cathline signs something — a contract at Utrecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Alonzo Engwanda has written the date down.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Marius Broholm was at the centre of it, NEC were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
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 Utrecht have had the benefit of it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Adrian Blake did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.67, 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.
Vasilis Barkas 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 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 watch every Utrecht game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Diosgyor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Gjivai Zechiël is on it.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Utrecht could ask drops and the wages Mats Seuntjens can ask rise.
Alonzo Engwanda 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mats Seuntjens 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.
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 Yoann Cathline is on it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Utrecht may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Utrecht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
In brief
SquadSem van Duijn is the talk of the training ground
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 at Utrecht 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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Utrecht would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
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 Mats Seuntjens has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dani de Wit signs something — a contract at Utrecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ajax watched Yoann Cathline again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Marius Broholm’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Vasilis Barkas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mats Seuntjens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Position 7 on 53 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Vasilis Barkas 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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 straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Utrecht has been clear about where Aschraf El Mahdioui stands, which is more than many ever get.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mees Eppink is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A season average of 7.55 with 25 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marius Broholm has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Marius Broholm was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Utrecht had all but put away. Roda will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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: Sem van Duijn. 1‑0 against Heracles, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mats Seuntjens 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Sem van Duijn was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Utrecht has been clear about where Joris van Overeem stands, which is more than many ever get.
Vasilis Barkas 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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 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.
Kasper Dolberg had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Ajax were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aschraf El Mahdioui and Utrecht agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Alonzo Engwanda 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.16, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Aschraf El Mahdioui 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 warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gjivai Zechiël 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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.” Joel Janssen kept it short after the 5‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Wessel Kooy 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 Utrecht 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 Aschraf El Mahdioui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yoann Cathline signs something — a contract at Utrecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kasper Dolberg provided it, and the 9.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Kasper Dolberg decided nobody was going anywhere. ADO Den Haag had no time left to answer.
Vasilis Barkas 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 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kasper Dolberg. 3‑2 against ADO Den Haag, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marius Broholm was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alonzo Engwanda, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 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.” Joel Janssen, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Utrecht ran out of time with Spartak Moscow. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mats Seuntjens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luca Oyen 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 board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The dugout8 Feb 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 1‑3 Joel Janssen left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clubs have shaken hands with Spartak Moscow; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from PSV for Dani de Wit 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tijn den Boggende had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$2.9M was the most the club would pay and NEC 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Utrecht 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.
Vasilis Barkas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Utrecht have paid $24.0M for Kasper Dolberg, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Utrecht people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Zidane Iqbal was one of the reasons people came, and $9.9M does not replace that by itself.
The chase for Luca Oyen ended with $3.2M changing hands and Heerenveen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Utrecht have gone to NEC 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.
A mark of 9.77 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.
Utrecht offered $4.7M; Heracles 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Utrecht scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Utrecht offered $2.6M; Groningen 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.
Utrecht have gone to Heerenveen 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 offer from Feyenoord for Adrian Blake 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.
Vasilis Barkas 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 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aschraf El Mahdioui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gjivai Zechiël 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.
In brief
Player ratingsGjivai Zechiël was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Utrecht have gone to Heracles 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Utrecht will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heracles have kept their man, and Utrecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$1.2M on the table at Groningen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marius Broholm provided it, and the 9.39 beside his name is if anything generous to 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 Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.24, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Dani de Wit was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.58. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gjivai Zechiël scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
16 goals and a season average of 7.39 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Joel Janssen after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
0‑2 against HNK Rijeka. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marius Broholm, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.40
A mark of 8.40 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.
A season average of 7.41 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Utrecht know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Vasilis Barkas 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: Dani de Wit. 2‑0 against Zwolle, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siebe Horemans 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.
Aschraf El Mahdioui 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 Dec 2026
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Broholm 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Utrecht will try not to make too much of it.
Half the programme played, position 8, 25 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
0‑2 away to the standard of Club Brugge. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marius Broholm, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.16
A mark of 8.16 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Broholm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marius Broholm did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siebe Horemans was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Yoann Cathline was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Joel Janssen on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutGjivai Zechiël has become a man the manager trusts
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Shedrach Ebite obliged against Heracles. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Utrecht.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marius Broholm did not need any: 9.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Heracles had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Utrecht did not stop to explain themselves.
1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Utrecht came through the finding-out well against Polissia.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marius Broholm, 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.” Utrecht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ajax scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
1 for Aschraf El Mahdioui, marked 7.76, 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Marius Broholm has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Sem van Duijn was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
2‑0 against Polissia, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
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.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Yoann Cathline will call it something else in private.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Utrecht 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.
An average of 7.16 in a first team he is several years too young for. Utrecht have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
Shots: 20, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Joel Janssen to a room that had heard them before.
Chances created: 11. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mats Seuntjens
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marius Broholm did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 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.
Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
1‑3 to Feyenoord, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siebe Horemans 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 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Yoann Cathline'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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Joel Janssen to a room that had heard them before.
1‑1 against HNK Rijeka, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 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.
Aschraf El Mahdioui 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kevin Gadellaa is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alonzo Engwanda provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Vasilis Barkas 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.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Utrecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aschraf El Mahdioui 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 goal that put Heerenveen ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Utrecht equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
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.
“I watch every Utrecht game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zwolle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
1‑1 against Club Brugge, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Vitesse will want this one forgotten quickly: 7‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Utrecht were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marius Broholm, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 10.00
A mark of 10.00 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Vasilis Barkas 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.
8 goals in one match, Marius Broholm on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Utrecht and Vitesse.
Marius Broholm, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29
A mark of 8.29 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.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Willem II moved on, Oualid Agougil reports back to Utrecht, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Marius Broholm 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Niklas Vesterlund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Niklas Vesterlund has come up in conversations Utrecht were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aschraf El Mahdioui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marius Broholm is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Utrecht will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The offer from PSV for Alonzo Engwanda 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.
7.76, 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.
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.
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.
9 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Levi Smans is in the works
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marius Broholm did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Utrecht had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Heerenveen, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
ADO Den Haag pay $320.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Utrecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Utrecht 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Utrecht have paid $14.1M for Aschraf El Mahdioui, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Aschraf El Mahdioui has just signed for Utrecht, and for once the answer mattered.
Feyenoord paid $4.9M and Utrecht took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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: Aschraf El Mahdioui from Al-Taawoun for $14.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Utrecht and Groningen have settled on $540.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Vasilis Barkas 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 name of Victor Jensen has come up in conversations Utrecht were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoann Cathline was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kenneth Aké has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marco De Ligt 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Victor Jensen
The dugoutVasilis Barkas asks for a word with the manager
Utrecht have gone to Al-Taawoun 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Utrecht 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.