Heracles

Dutch Eredivisie
18 Aug 2026
Tuesday
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3 Edition

The Heracles Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad17 Aug 2026

A knee injury of the worst kind for Alec Van Hoorenbeeck

37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Heracles lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match15 Aug 2026

A hiding for Heracles

Beaten 0‑4 by Ajax, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market17 Aug 2026

NEC come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Heracles did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Fabian de Keijzer keeps Heracles in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

Heracles baulk at the price for Rion Ichihara

AZ wanted more than $710.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Words exchanged at Heracles

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.

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

Empoli tell Heracles: Bogdan Popov is not for sale

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.

Boardroom17 Aug 2026

Nobody left the Heracles dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

Squad17 Aug 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.

In brief

Back issues
2 Edition

The Heracles Sentinel

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad10 Aug 2026

The knee: Alec Van Hoorenbeeck out for 45 days

45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Heracles lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market10 Aug 2026

Luka Kulenović attracts admirers

The name of Luka Kulenović has come up in conversations Heracles were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Djevencio van der Kust signs on for more

“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.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Luka Kulenović in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heracles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets10 Aug 2026

Door shut on Carlos Eduardo

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.

Market10 Aug 2026

One of our own: Memphis Brobbey joins the Heracles first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Memphis Brobbey is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market10 Aug 2026

Steven Clasie steps up from the Heracles academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Steven Clasie 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.

Market10 Aug 2026

Heracles promote Cody Aké from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cody 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.

Transfer targets10 Aug 2026

Heracles try to borrow Denys Tvardovskyi

Shakhtar 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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Heracles Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad3 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Heracles

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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Mario Engels stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Mario Engels and Heracles agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

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.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Heracles try to borrow Jay Enem

Bologna 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.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Heracles ask about Jens Mathijsen

A loan enquiry to Willem II: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Heracles try to borrow Bogdan Popov

Empoli 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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Sam Hendriks is a square peg at Heracles

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

Market3 Aug 2026

Heracles and Mike te Wierik are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

The dugout3 Aug 2026

Djevencio van der Kust asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief