The deal with Sparta Rotterdam 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.
Kodai Sano 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 Iván Márquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Moussa Gbemou and Fortuna Sittard agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Fortuna Sittard will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
7 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
Edouard Michut 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.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Stoke City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Márquez 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Sittard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Samuel Bastien has written the date down.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Everything agreed with Den Bosch, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Barcelona 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 Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Noah Bout is 18, and Fortuna Sittard have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Fortuna Sittard have made the call to Zwolle. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
6 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Fortuna Sittard are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Hamza Ammi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutYassin Oukili knocks on the manager’s door
Jasper Dahlhaus has left for Ajax in a $8.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$430.0K settles it between the clubs for Noah Bout
Feyenoord have accepted the money. What Fortuna Sittard do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Sittard have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Sittard have done the hard part with Dordrecht, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Guus 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Calvin Lang 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Fortuna Sittard people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mattijs Branderhorst and Fortuna Sittard agree another 2 years.
Edouard Michut 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 at Fortuna Sittard 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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Edouard Michut 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 Tristan Schenkhuizen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Fortuna Sittard. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matt Grimes 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Hamza Ammi'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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Sittard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadMatt Grimes is training like a man with a point to make
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Fortuna Sittard had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Matt Grimes 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 had been thinking. Samuel Bastien 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Fortuna Sittard. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jari Teunisse will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Sittard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Fortuna Sittard 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Fortuna Sittard. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Fortuna Sittard will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
SquadNick Marsman has seen what the next man earns
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Sittard is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matt Grimes 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.
Edouard Michut 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.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Marked 9.71 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matt Grimes 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 Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
1‑4 to Heerenveen, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The 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 1‑4 Jasper Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
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
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Matt Grimes
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jari Teunisse will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Paul Gladon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matt Grimes 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.
Edouard Michut 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Noë Misumi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Fortuna Sittard have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Justin Lonwijk. 2‑1 against Sparta Rotterdam, 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. Lequincio Zeefuik 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.
“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 Fortuna Sittard, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Matt Grimes 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.
Edouard Michut 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.
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, 6.83, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Matt Grimes 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.
Everybody at Fortuna Sittard saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Gladon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Fortuna Sittard told Chiel Olde Keizer something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Hamza Ammi'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.
Ajax next, and one man in the Fortuna Sittard dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Matt Grimes 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Utrecht spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 18 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrick Strootman has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Donny Bergwijn 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marten Dost 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bas Simons is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Yassin Oukili 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lequincio Zeefuik 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.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matt Grimes 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 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 Fortuna Sittard know 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 Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jasper Dijks after 0‑2, 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.” Fortuna Sittard have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Matt Grimes 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.
Jasper Dahlhaus 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑1 to NAC Breda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 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 0‑1 Jasper Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout15 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 0‑1 Jasper Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Paul Gladon 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Hamza Ammi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The deal that would have taken Luuk Koopmans to NEC has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Fortuna Sittard with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jari Teunisse will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Matt Grimes 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.
Matthew Mparaganda 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Justin Lonwijk provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Fortuna Sittard, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Sittard have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Fortuna Sittard 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.
Matt Grimes 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. Club Brugge have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Fortuna Sittard have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Iván Márquez 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Edouard Michut scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Jasper Dahlhaus 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. Heracles have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
8.10. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chiel Olde Keizer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jasper Dijks on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 7.15 for the rest of it.
The offer from Persik for Justin Hubner 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.
Yassin Oukili 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 had been thinking. Iván Márquez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Fortuna Sittard, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 22 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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Sittard have done the hard part with Lazio, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Iván Márquez and Fortuna Sittard agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Crystal Palace 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lequincio Zeefuik 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Justin Lonwijk. 1‑0 against Volendam, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
1‑4 to Feyenoord, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Jasper Dahlhaus 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. Manchester City have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Fortuna Sittard have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The dugout4 Jan 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 1‑4 Jasper Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Go Ahead Eagles will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Fortuna Sittard were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Jasper Dahlhaus 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.
Position 14, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jasper Dijks, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Gladon 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.
NEC left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 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 Jasper Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
Matthew Mparaganda 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 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 Dec 2026
Hamza Ammi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nick Marsman’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Fortuna Sittard needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at Fortuna Sittard 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 did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Fortuna Sittard will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jari Teunisse will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Matthew Mparaganda 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jasper Dijks could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Gladon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 16 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Jasper Dahlhaus 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Matthew Mparaganda has come out of that comparison in the side, and Fortuna Sittard have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Paul Gladon 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
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Amin Laoukili's mistake
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Sparta Rotterdam next, and one man in the Fortuna Sittard dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
8.03. 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.” Jasper Dijks on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Gladon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ajax in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jari Teunisse will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard 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 Paul Gladon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Neraysho Kasanwirjo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Fortuna Sittard needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Fortuna Sittard have no good answer.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lequincio Zeefuik did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Edouard Michut and Fortuna Sittard agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jasper Dahlhaus 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.
Minute 90, against Utrecht, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutAmin Laoukili is still being punished for one mistake
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Owen Johnson, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.95
A mark of 7.95 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Gladon 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jasper Dijks after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Edouard Michut's mistake
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Fortuna Sittard can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassin Oukili 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.
Matthew Mparaganda 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Jasper Dijks chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against AZ? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Sittard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fortuna Sittard will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Yassin Oukili 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 Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jasper Dijks after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AZ in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Gladon 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Owen Johnson a promise
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fortuna Sittard will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassin Oukili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jasper Dahlhaus 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.” Jasper Dijks after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Fortuna Sittard 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.
A mark of 8.38 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lequincio Zeefuik is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Yassin Oukili 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 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Sittard is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Yassin Oukili 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.
Telstar held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Fortuna Sittard answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Gladon 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
6 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Gladon 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.
Chances created: 9. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Fortuna Sittard people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Fortuna Sittard until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The offer from Groningen for Jasper Dahlhaus 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Fortuna Sittard than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Sittard have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Fortuna Sittard and Twente, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Add another name to the list: MVV Maastricht have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jari Teunisse. The answer from Fortuna Sittard has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Helmond Sport have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Matthew Mparaganda 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 words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
“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 Fortuna Sittard, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Yassin Oukili 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.” Jasper Dijks after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Persik will make the call about Justin Hubner this week. Fortuna Sittard have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Paul Gladon 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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fortuna Sittard lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Jasper Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Fortuna Sittard 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.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Fortuna Sittard lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Sittard have done the hard part with Utrecht, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Den Bosch have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Quincy Simons 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. Marco Xavi 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yassin Oukili and Fortuna Sittard agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Yassin Oukili 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. Antwerp have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jari Teunisse and Fortuna Sittard agree another 5 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Márquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fortuna Sittard has been clear about where Luuk Koopmans stands, which is more than many ever get.