Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tomás Aristizábal has just signed for Heracles, and for once the answer mattered.
Add another name to the list: AZ have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thomas Bruns. The answer from Heracles has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djevencio van der Kust was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Los Angeles Football Club have kept their man, and Heracles go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Dumfries is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
0‑3 to Excelsior, 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Heracles may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Heracles close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Grasshopper is saying, and nobody at Heracles is enjoying the guessing.
Luka Kulenović 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.
NEC will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Noë Misumi has pre-agreed a move to Heracles, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club Brugge have kept their man, and Heracles go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Luka Kulenović 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wesley Lang after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Los Angeles Football Club have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Ajax go through and Heracles go home, 1‑7 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
A cup hiding at Ajax leaves Heracles explaining themselves
1-7, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Heracles have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heracles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
8 goals in one match, Luka Kulenović on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Heracles and Ajax.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Joe Bauress is living that version at Heracles, and it tends to show in the first month.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gustavo Varela did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Luka Kulenović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Heracles training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djevencio van der Kust 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 offer from AZ for Tristan van Gilst 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.
Branco van den Boomen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Heracles training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djevencio van der Kust 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 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.37 — 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Naci Ünüvar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Leyton Orient have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Luka Kulenović 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 Djevencio van der Kust was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
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 Gustavo Varela is on it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gustavo Varela did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Heracles know it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Naci Ünüvar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
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.
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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Guus Frimpong 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. Robin Brobbey 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The 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.
Position 12, 19 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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Dec 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.” Wesley Lang chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other 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 Heracles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Thomas Bruns falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Wesley Lang left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Branco van den Boomen 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Naci Ünüvar 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.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Naci Ünüvar had Heracles level again within 4 minutes, and Utrecht never got to play with a lead at all.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rhys Bozinovski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Heracles 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 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Gustavo Varela obliged against Twente. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Heracles.
0‑3 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.
Branco van den Boomen 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. Yvandro Borges Sanches 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 Erik Ahlstrand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Luka Kulenović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Georginio Janssen 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. Nathan Janssen 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.
Heerenveen will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Heracles were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sem Scheperman scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heracles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Djevencio van der Kust has come out of that comparison in the side, and Heracles have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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 dugout2 Nov 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.” Wesley Lang, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mohamed Boujad
13Edition
The Heracles Sentinel
26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Gustavo Varela, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 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.
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.
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 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Heracles are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Maxence Rivera 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 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.” Wesley Lang kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jeroen Houwen
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.
Branco van den Boomen 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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Bruns was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Wesley Lang could afford to be generous.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marten Brobbey is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Patrick Promes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
12 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.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heracles 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alec Van Hoorenbeeck has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout5 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 Wesley Lang to a room that had heard them before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutMike te Wierik asks for a word with the manager
Branco van den Boomen 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 Thomas Bruns was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Jeroen Houwen
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Excelsior next, and one man in the Heracles dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Heracles 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.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
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.
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Wesley Lang kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Heracles, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutJeroen Houwen dropped after a run of poor form
Heracles offered $1.5M; 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Spartak Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nathan Weghorst 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. Quincy 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The offer went to Groningen this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with Spartak Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Feyenoord is saying, and nobody at Heracles is enjoying the guessing.
Heracles asked and Gil Vicente 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Ahlstrand 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 Heracles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chase for Maxence Rivera ended with $5.0M changing hands and Heerenveen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Heracles can pretend not to have heard.
Branco van den Boomen 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
Heracles spend $5.0M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $5.0M for Maxence Rivera, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Columbus Crew have kept their man, and Heracles go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout31 Aug 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Wesley Lang to a room that had heard them before.
Heracles have made the call to Spartak Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Heracles and Heerenveen have settled on $5.0M. 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and Heracles go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Branco van den Boomen 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.
0‑3 to Ajax, 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Angers SCO is saying, and nobody at Heracles is enjoying the guessing.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Heracles training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Ahlstrand 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The offer from NEC for Luka Kulenović 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.
The deal with Monza 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Leyton Orient keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Djevencio van der Kust and Heracles agree another 3 years.
Branco van den Boomen 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. Willem II have kept their man, and Heracles go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Frenkie Simons 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. Steven Dijks 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.
Luka Kulenović 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Heracles training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Ahlstrand 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.
Leyton Orient have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Still no offer on the table, and Mario Engels’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.