AZ also won in-house against the Bulgarian top club (4-1), a game that had already been decided after five minutes by two fast Alkmaar goals. The makers: Ibrahim Sadiq and Mexx Meerdink. Not entirely coincidental, you would almost think.
With his goal, the 1-0, the Ghanaian flash flash scored for the third game in a row. Sadiq saw how record purchase Weslley Patati was presented to the Alkmaar public during the warm-up and that kept the African on, even sharper than he was already in the last few weeks.
Patati, taken from Maccabi Tel Aviv, is said to cost AZ seven million euros.
AZ matches record transfer
With that, the club from Alkmaar equaled the record transfer from Mounir El Hamdaoui, which was taken from Willem II at the time. But Sadiq, after a season full of injuries, seems to have finally ignited in Alkmaar and will not voluntarily give up the Brazilian clown.
AZ confirms arrival of Brazilian Wesley Patati (21)
Because ‘fries’ is not his own name. That is because Pinto Batista. But at the age of eight the winger gained his nickname. Because he had no money to buy kicking, he played on a far too big, borrowed football boots from a boyfriend. It looked clownesk and his nickname Patati, ‘Clown’ in Portuguese, was born.
Perhaps Sadiq finds the arrival of the Maranhão clown less amusing, but whatever it is: AZ coach Maarten Martens has two above-modal right winger after the departure of Ernest Poku. In other words: a luxury problem.
Ibrahim Sadiq or AZ Alkmaar (C) gets the congratulations after scoring 1-0. © ANP/HH
Luxury problem number 2 that is, since Martens has two equivalent center strikers, with the potential of Mexx Meerdink perhaps even greater than that of the first striker Troy Parrott. But no matter how big the promise of Meerdink is, the Irishman shot in the first seven duels with ten hits.
Meerdink, who was only in the base once this season, has been screaming for a series of base places for ages and this week had the knee injury of Parrott Mazzel. In the coming weeks, the ‘Wizzard from Winterswijk’ will be the male in the rush and AZ did not harm Levski: after six minutes, public favorite Meerdink also had one.
And Meerdink and Sadiq also appear to be able to play together, given the assist of the striker at Stiet for the second of Sadiq (3-0). The competition in Alkmaar has flown in the hands and not so economical too.
Substitute Lequincio Zeefuik, the replacement of Meerdink, took care of the last goal.