70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Willem II lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Willem II hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The deal with Dordrecht 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leeds United have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Siegert Baartmans 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 Meldin Drešković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Willem II lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Finn Stam 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.
$73.0K 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.
RKC Waalwijk pay $550.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Willem II
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Borges 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.
Willem II asked and Middlesbrough said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Willem II lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Willem II have done the hard part with Den Bosch, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Julian Baas commits to Willem II for another 4 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meldin Drešković 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 words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luuk Koppert will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Willem II the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Willem II have gone to Go Ahead Eagles 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Midtjylland have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meldin Drešković 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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Middlesbrough 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Willem II told Meldin Drešković something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Brondby is saying, and nobody at Willem II is enjoying the guessing.
Thomas Didillon-Hödl was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brondby have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Devin Haen, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Julian Baas 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Willem II are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Willem II will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and RKC Waalwijk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Willem II is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Willem II have gone to Vitesse 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.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Midtjylland is saying, and nobody at Willem II is enjoying the guessing.
Willem II have gone to Go Ahead Eagles 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Julian Baas 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.
Nathan Tjoe-A-On 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.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
Willem II asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Willem II offered $71.0K; Go Ahead Eagles said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meldin Drešković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Willem II can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The offer went to Go Ahead Eagles this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
NEC paid $500.0K and Willem II took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Willem II asked and FC Midtjylland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Julian Baas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Willem II had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Utrecht, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Willem II offered $440.0K; Zwolle said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Baas 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 Willem II know it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$440.0K 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.
$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.
Willem II asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Nathan Tjoe-A-On 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The fee is $3.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Utrecht drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The chase for Helgi Fróði Ingason ended with $690.0K changing hands and Helmond Sport out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The fee is $630.0K, 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.
Go Ahead Eagles wanted more than $71.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Baas 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.
Nathan Tjoe-A-On 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.
Willem II and Helmond Sport have settled on $690.0K. 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.
The offer went to Utrecht this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Willem II heard it as anything else.
Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
Willem II asked and FC Eindhoven said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonçalo Borges, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Julian Baas 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Kris van Heertum has come out of that comparison in the side, and Willem II have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meldin Drešković is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Willem II can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
13 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad22 May 2028
Julian Baas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Julian Baas has written the date down.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Willem II, another week without a signature from Mika de Jonge.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Willem II will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
BoardroomThe Willem II production line keeps running
SquadDevin Haen makes the division’s eleven — 6.86
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Willem II
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 7 on 55 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Willem II can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Antoine Makoumbou 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.
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.
Cambuur made Willem II work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Baas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justin Hoogma, and the manager let it.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meldin Drešković 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 young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Willem II who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad8 May 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Karim Konaté
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Karim Konaté has come out of that comparison in the side, and Willem II have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Willem II, another week without a signature from Thomas Verheydt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Baas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Willem II are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Devin Haen. 2‑0 against Jong Utrecht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Nick Doodeman.
Chances created: 12. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Nick Doodeman
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Rick Wijnaldum could afford to be generous.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Willem II lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Karim Konaté was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meldin Drešković 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.
“I did not go to Sparta Rotterdam to sit and watch. I want to come back to Willem II and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 37 matches say the rest.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Beau Reus
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Baas 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Thomas Verheydt will call it something else in private.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Willem II has been clear about where Nathan Tjoe-A-On stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Willem II man
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
A brace, and Karim Konaté takes the afternoon — 9.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Karim Konaté provided it, and the 9.34 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. Chido Obi provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Willem II, 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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 goals in one match, Chido Obi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Willem II and TOP Oss.
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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Willem II lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
Antoine Makoumbou 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Willem II can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Willem II told Sem Verdonk something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Willem II 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 Willem II can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
0‑1 to Vitesse, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Julian Baas 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.
0‑2 to Almere City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Baas 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rick Wijnaldum after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nathan Tjoe-A-On may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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 Vitesse.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Willem II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutJulian Baas knocks on the manager's door
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Willem II scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chido Obi did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Willem II heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meldin Drešković 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.
0‑3 against De Graafschap, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Baas 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Thomas Didillon-Hödl.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Willem II can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Rick Wijnaldum to a room that had heard them before.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
Willem II 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Baas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Rick Wijnaldum left the room before anybody could ask which.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Gonçalo Borges will want back
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 Feb 2028
Maxim Dekker 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.23, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Willem II 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. VVV-Venlo have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Devin Haen 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 Julian Baas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Manuel Lazzari was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. De Graafschap have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
0‑1 to Roda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Baas 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karim Konaté signs something — a contract at Willem II or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
6 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.
Manuel Lazzari 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 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and VVV-Venlo were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Karim Konaté 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 Meldin Drešković 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 Willem II know it.
The chase for Gonçalo Borges ended with $3.7M changing hands and Feyenoord out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Julian Baas has, at Willem II, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Willem II had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palermo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
12 combined actions and 6.89. 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.
$3.7M on the table at Feyenoord. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Willem II can tell you which week it ends in.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Willem II can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Willem II have done the hard part with Palermo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II 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 Meldin Drešković 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.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Willem II can tell you which week it ends in.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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 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.
7 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.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Dordrecht? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Jayden Spier 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 3, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Chido Obi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.04
A mark of 8.04 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.
At 20 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.
Manuel Lazzari 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 Meldin Drešković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsNick Doodeman was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Beau Reus, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jens Mathijsen 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.
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Willem II.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Karim Konaté was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chido Obi did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Karim Konaté. 2‑1 against TOP Oss, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Willem II had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.” Rick Wijnaldum, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
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.
“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.
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.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Willem II would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“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 Willem II will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Karim Konaté wants continental football; whether Willem II can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, 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 Willem II 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 Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thomas Didillon-Hödl trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rick Wijnaldum after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Karim Konaté scored in the 87th minute, Jong Ajax had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Willem II took the lot.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Uriël Van Aalst, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Karim Konaté 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.
Manuel Lazzari 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 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Willem II told Finn Stam something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Uriël Van Aalst was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Willem II 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Willem II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
13 combined actions and 7.28. 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.
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.
Something was said to Beau Reus and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Rick Wijnaldum was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Willem II dressing room was either.
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 De Graafschap.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. 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 Willem II 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 Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Junior Poortvliet and Willem II agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
7 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Willem II told Jens Mathijsen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jayden Spier's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Willem II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amir Bryson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Willem II needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Thomas Verheydt is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rick Wijnaldum after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Karim Konaté
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Manuel Lazzari 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 Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Willem II will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Chido Obi is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Justin Hoogma
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chido Obi did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Karim Konaté. 2‑1 against Jong PSV, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 19 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Rick Wijnaldum left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uriël Van Aalst 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 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.
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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Willem II may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Willem II close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 22 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.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Twente have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Willem II, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Devin Haen is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
Willem II asked and Aduana Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Karim Konaté 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 Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Willem II will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Willem II have paid $8.9M for Karim Konaté, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Chido Obi, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.03
A mark of 8.03 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.
The offer from FF Jaro for Armin Ćulum 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.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Willem II had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Albacete, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Manuel Lazzari 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 offer went to Blau-Weiß Linz this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: FF Jaro have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Armin Ćulum. The answer from Willem II has not changed — yet.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Mechelen have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mika de Jonge and Willem II agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Armin Ćulum 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.
10 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Derby County is saying, and nobody at Willem II is enjoying the guessing.
Manuel Lazzari 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Willem II can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Willem II will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Willem II 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.
Willem II have made the call to Derby County. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Zwolle paid $740.0K and Willem II took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Willem II asked and Bohemians 1905 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Filip Bednarek 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.
Willem II have made the call to Derby County. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Willem II have made the call to Galatasaray. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Armin Ćulum is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Willem II are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Willem II will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Armin Ćulum 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Dekker signs something — a contract at Willem II or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
Go Ahead Eagles pay $1.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Finn de Bruin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Willem II will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Willem II will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Willem II has been clear about where George Younan stands, which is more than many ever get.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Willem II have done the hard part with ADO Den Haag, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
Willem II asked and Cagliari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
RAAL La Louviere 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
6 new faces, and Willem II 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. PSM moved on, Nathan Tjoe-A-On reports back to Willem II, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The fee is $500.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Groningen drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
$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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kasper Boogaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Twente have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Manuel Lazzari 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.
Sparta Rotterdam 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.
Go Ahead Eagles wanted more than $71.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Copenhagen have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jayden Spier's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Willem II have gone to Go Ahead Eagles 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Boogaard 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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Willem II asked and Helmond Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Willem II know it.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Willem II have made the call to FC Copenhagen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
32 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Willem II will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Willem II. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kasper Boogaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jayden Spier's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Dekker signs something — a contract at Willem II or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Eser Gürbüz did not need any: 8.05, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Willem II can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
Damy Bernardina 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.
Thomas Verheydt 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Nobody at Willem II 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chido Obi provided it, and the 9.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kasper Boogaard is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Calvin Twigt 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.
At 19 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.
3‑0, and Sven Mijnans took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Willem II tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Kasper Boogaard, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.21
A mark of 8.21 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Sven Mijnans was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
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 Willem II know it.
“I did not go to Utrecht to sit and watch. I want to come back to Willem II and fight for my place.” 8 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Apr 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Rick Wijnaldum to a room that had heard them before.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Calvin Twigt.
MVV Maastricht next, and one man in the Willem II dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Willem II have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
6 goals in one match, Sven Mijnans on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Willem II and TOP Oss.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sven Mijnans. 4‑2 against TOP Oss, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Sven Mijnans and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jari Schuurman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
TOP Oss next, and one man in the Willem II dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Willem II have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Boogaard is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Willem II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A season average of 7.45 with 43 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Kasper Boogaard, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.16
A mark of 8.16 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.
The offer from IA for Amine Lachkar 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.
Thomas Verheydt 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.
Almere City made Willem II work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Boogaard 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Vito van Crooij was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chido Obi did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
22 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Willem II and Jong Ajax in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Willem II lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Willem II will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thomas Verheydt. 2‑0 against De Graafschap, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rick Wijnaldum on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Willem II will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Amine Lachkar had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
Calvin Twigt 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. Finn Stam 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Willem II will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
A cup hiding at Ajax leaves Willem II explaining themselves
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Georginio Bergwijn is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chido Obi provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
At 19 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
SquadKasper Boogaard falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsSven Mijnans was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Willem II will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Union SG is saying, and nobody at Willem II is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union SG have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Gijs Besselink 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Maxim Dekker
SquadWords at Willem II training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Willem II will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Ahly keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Willem II will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Willem II asked and ADO Den Haag said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Willem II will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Damy Bernardina, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 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.
The offer from Go Ahead Eagles for Amine Lachkar 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.
1‑6 to Cambuur, 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Willem II will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Willem II will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The offer from Persik for Nathan Tjoe-A-On 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Willem II have done the hard part with AZ, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Willem II and Cambuur, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Willem II will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Calvin Twigt 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Rick Wijnaldum was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Willem II dressing room was either.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The 3-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Daan Maas was at the centre of it, Heerenveen were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Devin Haen 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Willem II will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Amine Et-Taïbi 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 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.
28 goals and a season average of 7.35. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Kasper Boogaard, 20, 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 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kasper Boogaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Willem II are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II 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.
Jaden Slory 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.
“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; Willem II are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Eser Gürbüz
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against TOP Oss in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gijs Besselink trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Eser Gürbüz is on it.
Vitesse next, and one man in the Willem II dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Calvin Twigt 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 first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Almere City; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
A point taken on 86 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Devin Haen, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Armin Ćulum 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.60 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Gijs Besselink, marked 7.57, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gijs Besselink 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.
Nathan Tjoe-A-On 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 no crueller way to lose a football match. Willem II scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mika de Jonge is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jaden Slory 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lasse Abildgaard and Willem II agree another 5 years.
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.
Jaden Slory 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.
9 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Amine Lachkar has his answer from Willem II; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Finn Stam 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kasper Boogaard is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Willem II are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Eser Gürbüz
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.