A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Dylan Tevreden: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
A 0‑0 win over VVV-Venlo, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Paul Wanner, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A 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 7.74 for the rest of it.
Mitchel Bakker 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.
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. Vitesse have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levent Mercan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solomon Bonnah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody 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.
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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Nordin Bakker
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Paul Wanner, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mitchel Bakker scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
7.87, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mitchel Bakker. 2‑1 against Emmen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Vitesse can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Remco Balk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Levent Mercan 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Vitesse know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dylan Tevreden has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mitchel Bakker provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitesse have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Anselmo García Mac Nulty 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 Solomon Bonnah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitesse have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Remco Balk 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It needed Kévin Monzialo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against MVV Maastricht, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcus Steffen 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.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 2‑1, Denzel De Roon could afford to be generous.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitesse lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Cambuur for Marcus Steffen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vitesse hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Mitchel Bakker 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.
$71.0K was the most the club would pay and Go Ahead Eagles were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Solomon Bonnah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The paperwork is done: Paul Wanner joins from PSV in a deal worth $9.8M. Now comes the harder part.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 29 gone
That is the business done at Vitesse 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitesse have done the hard part with FC Midtjylland, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Vitesse 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 Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$71.0K on the table at Go Ahead Eagles. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Vitesse and PSV have settled on $1.0M. 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jort van de Glind is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Remco Balk 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 terraces30 Aug 2027
Vitesse spend $10.5M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $10.5M for Sven Mijnans, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
In brief
SquadSolomon Bonnah falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Fortuna Sittard paid $240.0K and Vitesse took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitesse lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Jong Ajax the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Vitesse will enjoy reviewing.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitesse people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Brondby is saying, and nobody at Vitesse is enjoying the guessing.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Francs Borains had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vitesse hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse 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 Solomon Bonnah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vitesse have made the call to Club Brugge. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Remco Balk 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valon Zumberi 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.
Vitesse have made the call to AS Saint-Etienne. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mitchel Bakker wants continental football; whether Vitesse can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Remco Balk 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vitesse has been clear about where Valon Zumberi stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I watch every Vitesse game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Almere City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The chase for Agon Sadiku ended with $1.4M changing hands and Emmen out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The deal with Cambuur 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 offer from Telstar for Hylke van der Mast 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.
Vitesse had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Parma, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Agon Sadiku from Emmen for $1.4M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vitesse can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
SquadWords at Vitesse training over how hard people work
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
$610.0K on the table at Zwolle. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse 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.
Add another name to the list: Telstar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hylke van der Mast. The answer from Vitesse has not changed — yet.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vitesse can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at VfL Bochum is saying, and nobody at Vitesse is enjoying the guessing.
“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; Vitesse are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Remco Balk 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Vitesse will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Marco Schikora 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vitesse, another week without a signature from Kévin Monzialo.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with VfL Bochum, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Abdellah is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Remco Balk 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 fee is $120.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. VVV-Venlo drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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.
AIK 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
5 new faces, and Vitesse 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.
$120.0K settles it between the clubs for Tijn Joosten
VVV-Venlo have accepted the money. What Vitesse do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Vitesse have gone to Sparta Rotterdam with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitchel Bakker 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.
Vitesse asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Vitesse asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Maximilian Brüll again, and this time the name on the line is Emmen. Vitesse are listening politely and promising nothing.
Holstein Kiel 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitesse, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Noah Tamsamani
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Radomiak Radom for João Pinto was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Vitesse heard it as anything else.
Remco Balk 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.
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.
Remco Balk 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitchel Bakker 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.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Vitesse 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and João Pinto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Vitesse can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Vitesse game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Telstar runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vitesse know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
67 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 67 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Vitesse, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Kay Otakan 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vitesse can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Two goals and a mark of 8.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nino Zonneveld did not need any: 8.14, 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 Vitesse can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Jozhua Vertrouwd and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitchel Bakker is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 21 he 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.
Pontus Dahbo, 21, 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 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Jozhua Vertrouwd 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solomon Bonnah 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Helmond Sport scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“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 Vitesse know it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nino Zonneveld did not need any: 8.30, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Jozhua Vertrouwd 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. 14 goals between Vitesse and Jong PSV, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jozhua Vertrouwd and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valon Zumberi 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Roda had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jozhua Vertrouwd is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Remco Balk 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. Pontus Dahbo 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 8.28 — 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solomon Bonnah 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 Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kay Otakan is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitchel Bakker 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Vitesse is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Vitesse told Alen Dizdarević something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vitesse, and both men came out saying it was fine.
VVV-Venlo next, and one man in the Vitesse dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
At 21 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Vitesse can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Vitesse know it.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Kévin Monzialo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
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.
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.
Jong AZ will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Vitesse were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Jens van Baaren, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 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.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
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.
He is 20 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Elias Huth in the middle of it, and Jong AZ unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first 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 Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitchel Bakker is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody 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.
“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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Up for the corner, and Fedde Leysen delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fedde Leysen scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Vitesse heard it as anything else.
“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; Vitesse are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Jozhua Vertrouwd 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 Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mitchel Bakker 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.
“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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Emmen defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Remco Balk 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. 8 goals between Vitesse and Jong Utrecht, 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 Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitesse have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Remco Balk 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 Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 combined actions and 6.98. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
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.” Denzel De Roon chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Vitesse close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 6 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.
Mitchel Bakker 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Solomon Bonnah 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 Alen Dizdarević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Vitesse know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Jozhua Vertrouwd 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 Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
4 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.
The offer from Sanjoanense for João Pinto 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Remco Balk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I 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 Vitesse know it.
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Pontus Dahbo, 21, 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 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitesse have done the hard part with Randers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
The offer from Utrecht for Elias Huth 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Vitesse have had the benefit of it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Jens van Baaren, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jozhua Vertrouwd is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitesse have done the hard part with Helmond Sport, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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; Vitesse are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The name of Chiel Olde Keizer has come up in conversations Vitesse were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mitchel Bakker 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.” Denzel De Roon on a 4‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
De Graafschap next, and one man in the Vitesse dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Geronimo Londar is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Remco Balk 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 Vitesse know it.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Elias Huth. 1‑0 against Helmond Sport, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Denzel De Roon could afford to be generous.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Mathijs Marschalk's mistake
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nathan Markelo provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jens van Baaren provided it, and the 8.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vitesse hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 14 goals between Vitesse and Jong PSV, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadWords at Vitesse training over how hard people work
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valon Zumberi, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 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 Denzel De Roon to a room that had heard them before.
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 Vitesse will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nathan Markelo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vitesse needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Mehdi Bouhekan, 21 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vitesse have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Vitesse can give him that is a question about the club, not 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 Vitesse 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 Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Willem II made Vitesse work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Elias Huth was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Vitesse.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Kévin Monzialo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
“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; Vitesse are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Dundas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Vitesse man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Elias Huth was the best thing in any of them.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mitchel Bakker signs something — a contract at Vitesse or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Willem II next, and one man in the Vitesse dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pontus Dahbo did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Vitesse and Jong AZ, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Remco Balk at his very best
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.39, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Maximilian Brüll commits to Vitesse for another 3 years.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Dundas 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.” Denzel De Roon after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutYuval Ranon dropped after a run of poor form
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Dundas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Solomon Bonnah is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mitchel Bakker 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 Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Jozhua Vertrouwd and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
11 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vitesse has been clear about where Nino Zonneveld stands, which is more than many ever get.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Emmen.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
Fedde Leysen 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.
8 goals in one match, Elias Huth on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Vitesse and Jong Utrecht.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nino Zonneveld is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.83, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
9 combined actions and 6.90. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Valon Zumberi 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.
“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 Sep 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 Denzel De Roon to a room that had heard them before.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mitchel Bakker signs something — a contract at Vitesse or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Vitesse 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.
“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 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 Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“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.
13 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Vitesse close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 4 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.
Mitchel Bakker 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.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alexander Büttner has come out of that comparison in the side, and Vitesse have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jayden Siecker 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.
In brief
The dugoutValon Zumberi knocks on the manager's door
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitesse have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Almere City for Solomon Bonnah 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pontus Dahbo did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Naoufal Bannis was one of the reasons people came, and $1.7M does not replace that by itself.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Remco Balk 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitchel Bakker 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.
Vitesse asked and New England Revolution said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Remco Balk 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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Chances created: 20. 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jozhua Vertrouwd scored, was marked 7.68, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Remco Balk is living that version at Vitesse, and it tends to show in the first month.
Marco Schikora 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.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mitchel Bakker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vitesse asked and BK Hacken said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Frenkie Timber 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. Ryan Wijnaldum 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cody 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Memphis De Vrij is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Vitesse asked and NEC 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 Solomon Bonnah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vitesse, another week without a signature from Alexander Büttner.
A loan enquiry to Charlotte Football Club: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A loan enquiry to Rayo Vallecano: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Vitesse 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.