MONDAY 24 JANUARY
Cambuur says goodbye to Bulgarian mercenary Krastev
12:11 pm SC Cambuur has said goodbye to Filip Krastev. The Bulgarian midfielder hardly got any playing minutes at the club from Leeuwarden.
Cambuur rented Krastev last summer for a whole season from the Belgian club Lommel. However, the current number 8 of the Eredivisie lets the Bulgarian leave earlier than planned, because he barely played.
The 20-year-old Krastev only got playing time in three league matches from trainer Henk de Jong, always as a substitute. He played in two cup matches. Krastev scored his only goal for Cambuur against the amateurs of Young Ajax.
Justin Hoogma returns to Heracles Almelo after 4.5 years
11:15 am Justin Hoogma returns to Heracles Almelo after 4.5 years. The 23-year-old defender comes immediately from the German TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, which has rented him out to Greuther Fürth for the past six months. He has agreed on a contract that expires in mid-2026.
Hoogma left Heracles in 2017 for Hoffenheim, where he got few playing minutes. He was also loaned out to FC St. Pauli and FC Utrecht. “I no longer wanted to be rented out and sign somewhere for a long time,” he reports on the Heracles website. “I’m glad I can do that at this great club that I have great memories of. It feels like nothing has changed. It’s great to be here again.”
SATURDAY 22 JANUARY
Xavi stands firm and wants Dembélé to make a decision
4:03 PM: FC Barcelona coach Xavi maintains his position on the contract situation of Ousmane Dembélé. The 24-year-old Frenchman was angry after Xavi kept him out of the match selection for the cup match with Athletic Club on Thursday. Dembele’s contract expires after this season. Barcelona want to extend the contract or else sell the attacker this transfer window.
“Dembele’s situation has not changed. He knows what the options are and he has to decide. There is no alternative,” Xavi said at a press conference on Saturday before Sunday’s game against Deportivo Alavés. Dembélé wrote on social media on Thursday that he “would not give in to blackmail.”
Barcelona lost Ansu Fati in the game with Athletic, which was lost by the Catalans 3-2, with a hamstring injury. The 19-year-old attacker had only just returned from injury. “He is very upset, it is a difficult situation,” said Xavi on Saturday.
FRIDAY 21 JANUARY
Willem II takes over Hornkamp from FC Den Bosch
8:25 PM Willem II adds a new striker to the selection. The Tilburg club reached an agreement with FC Den Bosch about the takeover of 23-year-old Jizz Hornkamp. His contract with the first divisionist would expire at the end of the season.
Hornkamp was trained with the youth of Ajax. He ended up at Heerenveen via AZ. In 2019 he transferred to FC Den Bosch. He has scored five goals in eighteen games this season. The striker from De Rijp scored a total of 25 times in 54 games for the Bossche team.
Hornkamp is already the second player to move from FC Den Bosch to Willem II. Earlier, the Tilburg club took over the talented Ringo Meerveld.
Van der Werff returns to PEC Zwolle
4.08 pm: PEC Zwolle has strengthened itself in the fight against relegation from the Eredivisie with Maikel van der Werff. The 32-year-old former player of the Zwollenaren has been training with the selection of trainer Dick Schreuder for a week and has signed a contract until the end of the season.
The central defender already spent two and a half seasons for PEC Zwolle between January 2013 and the summer of 2015, after which he made a transfer to Vitesse. Van der Werff then moved to America, where he played for FC Cincinnati, including under former trainers Ron Jans and Jaap Stam. Van der Werff has been clubless since the beginning of 2022.
THURSDAY 20 JANUARY
Sevilla leases Idrissi to Cadiz
Oussama Idrissi is leased by Sevilla until the end of the season to Cádiz, the number 19 of La Liga. Cadiz has no option to buy the 25-year-old winger.
Cadiz is alone above Levante in the Spanish league and must fear relegation. After 21 matches, the club only has 15 points.
Idrissi, who was taken over by Sevilla from AZ in 2020, was also rented out to Ajax last season. He only played eight league games for Sevilla and did not score.
FC Groningen takes over Emmanuel Matuta from PSV
7:19 PM: FC Groningen has taken over the 19-year-old midfielder Emmanuel Matuta from PSV with immediate effect. The Belgian youth international, who played 47 times for Jong PSV in the Kitchen Champion Division, signs an agreement for four and a half years in Groningen.
Matuta, who also has Congolese nationality in addition to Belgian, went through a large part of the youth academy of the Eindhoven residents and made his debut for Jong PSV at the end of August 2020. The defensive midfielder once belonged to the PSV match selection, in the Europa League against the Spanish Granada.
“We see Emmanuel as a very talented midfielder, who has already made a considerable number of playing minutes in the Kitchen Champion Division at a young age,” says technical director Mark-Jan Fledderus of the Groningers. “In our view, Emmanuel has a lot of potential and good physical conditions: he is quite fast, strong and athletic. We are therefore happy that we managed to convince Emmanuel to choose FC Groningen.”
AZ rewards Yusuf Barasi with new contract
5:40 PM AZ has broken up and extended Yusuf Barasi’s contract. The 18-year-old attacker signed a new contract until mid-2025. Barasi is now also definitively part of the first team of the Alkmaarders.
Barasi joined the AZ youth academy in 2014. This season Barasi started with the promises, but struggled more and more towards the A-selection. At the end of October 2020, he made his official return in the Europa League match with HNK Rijeka. He made his Eredivisie debut on 2 December 2021.
PEC Zwolle lets Mark Pabai leave for Serie B
16:24 o’clock PEC Zwolle has Mark Pabai leave immediately for SPAL, which plays at the second level (Serie B) of Italy. The 21-year-old wing defender will initially join the second team there. He has signed a contract with the club until mid-2024.
Pabai has trained with the youth team under 21 at PEC Zwolle since the winter break. The technical staff decided to put him back after several discussions about “the required discipline and the focus on PEC Zwolle”, as the club describes it.
Sparta hires Yuri de Kamps from Slovan Bratislava
4:10 p.m. Sparta Rotterdam hires midfielder Joeri de Kamps until the end of the season from Slovakian Slovan Bratislava. The Rotterdam Eredivisionist has also negotiated an option to buy. The 29-year-old De Kamps has played for the Slovak national champion since 2016. Before that he played for NAC Breda and sc Heerenveen, 41 games in total.
“Joeri is a player with a lot of experience,” said technical director Gerard Nijkamp. “In Bratislava, he was a permanent fixture in a team that played annually for prizes and was also active in more than thirty European matches.”
Sparta strengthened itself earlier this winter with striker Adrián Dalmau and midfielders Arno Verschueren and Younes Namli. Sparta is sixteenth in the Eredivisie after nineteen games.
Willem II striker Otschi Wriedt back to Germany
13:56 o’clock Willem II let Otschi Wriedt leave after 1.5 years. The 27-year-old striker, who was taken over from Bayern Munich II, will return to Germany where he will play for Holstein Kiel, a club from the Second Bundesliga.
Willem II reached an agreement with the Germans about the surrender of the 1.5-year contract. Wriedt has signed a contract signed contract until the summer of 2025.
Wriedt was top scorer of the third Bundesliga a few times at Bayern Munich before he left for Willem II. He made three appearances in the first team and played thirteen minutes against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 13 June 2020 in the game in which Bayern became champions.
His stay with Willem II was not such a success. Wriedt already broke a metatarsal bone in the practice campaign shortly after he arrived in Tilburg and was sidelined for six months. He made 42 games in the Eredivisie, scoring twelve times. He scored his last goal for Willem II on 31 October in a 5-1 loss against FC Utrecht.
Peter den Otter moves from RKC to Willem II
Goalkeeper coach Peter den Otter moves from RKC Waalwijk to Willem II. Both clubs reached an agreement on Wednesday evening about the transfer of the 51-year-old coach from Dordrecht, who still had a contract in Waalwijk until the end of the season.
Den Otter was no longer on the training field at RKC on Thursday. Both clubs are expected to announce the transition during the day. Den Otter is a good acquaintance of Fred Grim, the head coach of Willem II. They have worked together a few times in the past. Den Otter previously trained the keepers of Ajax, Almere City and now RKC, among others.
WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY
Sparta takes over Arno Verschueren from Lommel
11:26 am: Sparta Rotterdam takes over midfielder Arno Verschueren from the Belgian Lommel. The 24-year-old Belgian will finish the season on a rental basis at Het Kasteel and will be definitively taken over by Sparta at the end of the season. He will sign a contract until the summer of 2025.
Technical director Gerard Nijkamp of Sparta indicated that the club did not only want to rent Verschueren for the rest of the season, but wanted to commit longer. “With Arno we are strengthening ourselves with a multifunctional player,” said Nijkamp. “He can be used in several positions in midfield and with his walking ability can be an important link between defense and attack. At NAC Breda he has already proven himself at Eredivisie level in the past, we believe that he will also show this in Rotterdam.”
TUESDAY 18 JANUARY
Ajax player Giovanni on loan to Telstar
8.37 pm: Giovanni Manson Ribeiro will finish the season on loan at Telstar. The 19-year-old attacker, who plays football under the name Giovanni, still has a contract with Ajax until mid-2024.
Giovanni was born on January 31, 2002 in Bauru, Brazil. He came over from Santos FC at the beginning of 2020 and has been part of the selection of Jong Ajax ever since. The South American made his professional football debut on August 30, 2020 in the Ajax Reserves – Roda JC (0-4) match. He has since played 31 official games for the Amsterdam U23 and scored twice.
MONDAY 17 JANUARY
Midfielder Vilhena on loan to Espanyol
9.58 pm: Midfielder Tonny Vilhena (27) finishes the season on a rental basis with Espanyol. The Spanish middle engine can then definitively take over from the Russian club FC Krasnodar. He will be presented to his new employer on Thursday.
Vilhena won the national title with Feyenoord in 2017, the KNVB Cup in 2016 and 2018 and the Johan Cruijff Scale in 2017 and 2018. In the summer of 2019, he moved to FC Krasnodar.
Clubless Mokotjo is training at FC Twente
10.44 am: Former FC Twente player Kamohelo Mokotjo (30) will train with the club from Enschede to see if he can be a reinforcement. Mokotjo is without a club after his departure from FC Cincinnati in America.
FC Twente is currently thin in the defensive midfielders due to injury problems at Wout Brama, the Africa Cup obligations of Ramiz Zerrouki and the suspension of Michal Sadilek. But the last two can be used again in the short term.