Tycho de Wit, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.10
A mark of 8.10 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.
Jasper Hartog 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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 Robin Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jasper Hartog is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Andrea Natali 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Jong AZ and Jong Ajax, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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 terraces1 Mar 2027
Jong AZ's travelling support get something back at another club
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 9-0 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
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.
Andrea Natali was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I 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 Jong AZ know it.
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 De Graafschap, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Latrell Aken 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robin Dijks after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Nick Homan
MarketA year in the wrong dressing room for Nick Homan
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Jong AZ and FC Eindhoven, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rion Ichihara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robin Dijks after 0‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Latrell Aken 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Nick Homan returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
0 appearances, 0 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 Jong AZ will have this month.
0‑7 to Den Bosch, 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Tycho de Wit, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 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.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Jong AZ and Den Bosch, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A point taken on 91 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.
Marked 7.69 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Up for the corner, and Rion Ichihara delivers — 7.49
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rion Ichihara scored, was marked 7.49, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Jong PSV were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jong AZ can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bram van Driel 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Rion Ichihara falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong AZ and Roda in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Rion Ichihara 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 offer from Qarabag for Calvin Carrilho 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Marked 7.09 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Jong AZ have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Jong AZ know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
At 19 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.
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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.
0‑9 to ADO Den Haag, 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.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Jong AZ and ADO Den Haag, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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.
Position 11, 27 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The offer from Aguilas Doradas for Kevin Toppenberg 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 Jong AZ 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.” Robin Dijks after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Dordrecht the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Jong AZ will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Saviola Simons, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrea Natali is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Jong AZ know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The name of Kevin Toppenberg has come up in conversations Jong AZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Dordrecht left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rion Ichihara 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tycho de Wit did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 18 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.
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.
Three points for Jong AZ, 1‑0 the final word against Emmen in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Latrell Aken 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 dugout14 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.” Robin Dijks, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
11 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Latrell Aken, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.91
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Latrell Aken 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Andrea Natali is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 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.” Robin Dijks, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kiani Inge did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jong AZ can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Toppenberg 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.
RKC Waalwijk made Jong AZ work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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 dugout30 Nov 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.” Robin Dijks kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jong AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jong AZ can tell you which week it ends in.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rion Ichihara 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Robin Dijks was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Jong AZ dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against TOP Oss? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Chances created: 7. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Andrea Natali has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Marked 6.92 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Calvin Carrilho 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 Jong AZ 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.
Almere City left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Rion Ichihara 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mathijs Menu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Jong AZ than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
In brief
SquadA Jong AZ teenager takes the young player award
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
11 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong AZ and Jong Ajax in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Rion Ichihara 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bram van Driel 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.
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.
0‑1 to De Graafschap, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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: 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 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.
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 Jong AZ that is a harder question to answer.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rion Ichihara 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.
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 Jong AZ that is a harder question to answer.
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.
Andrea Natali 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.
FC Eindhoven left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Robin Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Rion Ichihara is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Den Bosch had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Jong AZ did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Saviola Simons, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.32
A mark of 8.32 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jong AZ can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Toppenberg 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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: 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.
The dugout28 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.” Robin Dijks kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
At 18 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.
Rion Ichihara 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.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Helmond Sport defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
At 19 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Jong AZ have a decision that made itself.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.26, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Kiani Inge takes the afternoon — 8.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kiani Inge provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tycho de Wit did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.35, 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.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong AZ and Jong PSV in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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 terraces14 Sep 2026
Jong AZ's travelling support get something back at another club
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 9-0 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Latrell Aken had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
At 18 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.
Andrea Natali 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 Sep 2026
Rion Ichihara falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I 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 Jong AZ will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Julian Oerip again, and this time the name on the line is Sparta Rotterdam. Jong AZ are listening politely and promising nothing.
Marked 7.77 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Jong AZ had the best player on the pitch.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Latrell Aken falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Robin Dijks could afford to be generous.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
In brief
SquadThe selectors could not leave Julian Oerip out
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vitesse waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jong AZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kevin Toppenberg provided it, and the 7.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Saviola Simons, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Add another name to the list: NEC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Latrell Aken. The answer from Jong AZ has not changed — yet.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Jong AZ have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Persita waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jong AZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.66 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Julian Oerip, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.22
A mark of 8.22 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The offer from TOP Oss for Julian Oerip 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.
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.
Andrea Natali 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
“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 name of Rion Ichihara has come up in conversations Jong AZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jong AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Latrell Aken 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jong AZ, another week without a signature from Andrea Natali.
Latrell Aken has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kevin Toppenberg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A side in position 19 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
The offer from Alanyaspor 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.
Add another name to the list: FC Eindhoven have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bohdan Budko. The answer from Jong AZ has not changed — yet.
Elijah Dijkstra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I 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 Jong AZ know it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Hessel de Wit 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 dugoutKiyani Zeggen knocks on the manager's door