Footballing overachievement is seemingly always accompanied by the threat of your best players being poached by bigger clubs. And Robinho Lazaró found that out in the summer of 2025 as his AZ Alkmaar’s 2nd place finish in Eredivisie saw big teams across Europe raise interest in his top performers.
That included the likes of Myron von Brederode, who wanted to move to a bigger club and Lazaró agreed to sell if they received an offer of £88m in the wake of a rejected bid from Spurs, and Lewis Schouten attracting Aston Villa and Fulham. But they managed to hold onto the academy players, only selling midfielder Sven Mijnans to Nottm Forest for £8.5m then, in January, Mayckel Lahdo to Ipswich for £11.25m to take the bank balance over £100m for the first time.
He stuck with the 4-3-3 approach, with the only real change from last season being homegrown talent Jayden Addai stepping up as first-choice on the right wing.
AZ’s First Taste of the Champions League
AZ’s performances last season saw them go straight into the Champions League league phase. And they realistically faced little chance with games against Inter, Arsenal and Madrid, while the bookies put AZ at 5000/1 to win the competition.
The step-up in quality began with a trip to San Siro and a 3-1 loss despite midfielder Wessel van Dord’s second-half strike before losing 2-0 at Arsenal. But they got on the board at home to Athletic as winger Ruben van Bommel and von Brederode earned a 2-1 victory before the latter nicked an impressive point at Galatasaray and bagged a brace in a 2-2 at Rennes.
The best performance of the Lazaró reign by a country mile saw them hammer Real Madrid 3-0. van Bommel got things started, van Dord scored a 25-yard screamer and Schouten’s smart finish killed the game off. The same scoreline saw AZ defeat 10-man Benfica before concluding with a 1-0 defeat to Monaco to finish in 17th place. But any hope of progression was dashed by drawing Liverpool in the playoff round and losing 4-1 on aggregate.
Taking The Title Fight To The Dutch Big Boys
AZ remained 4th favourites for Eredivisie with title odds shortened to 11/1 behind Ajax (evens), Feyenoord (10/3) and PSV (5/1). They began the season well as van Bommel, who should become homegrown at the club next summer, and van Brederode inspired a 2-1 win at Heerenveen. But they again faced the big 3 early in the season, losing 1-0 to PSV and Feyenoord before getting thumped 5-1 at Ajax.
An easier run of games saw AZ enjoy a good run, going 13 games unbeaten before a 2-0 loss at Feyenoord then a draw with PSV saw them slide six points off the pace. An injury to key player van Brederode saw Lazaró throw star youth product Raily Wau into the side. And he was rewarded as the 16-year-old scored five in five, including the opener and winning the ball back to set up the third goal as newly-monikered wonderkid Addai bagged a brace in a 3-1 win at Fortuna Sittard.
A favourable run of games began with winger Jasper Hartog scoring the only goal at PEC before van Dord and van Brederode’s late penalty downed ADO 2-1. But a 1-1 at Sparta Rotterdam probably ended any outside title hopes, leaving them eight points back from Ajax. Next up was a huge game as AZ hosted 15 games unbeaten Ajax. Both teams had early goals disallowed before midfielder Enoch Mastoras’ superb low 25-yard drive proved to be the game-winning moment.
That massive win moved AZ just five points behind Ajax with four games to go. But a poor performance to draw 0-0 at home to Utrecht, giving up 20 shots to six, saw them relinquish any of the pressure that win had created. And Ajax did walk away with the title, winning it by four points despite losing on the final day.
AZ tied the club record for most points in an Eredivisie season as their 80 points tied the tally of their title-winning campaign in 2008/09. That saw them finish 2nd again after they won 25 games, drew five and lost four – away to Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV and at home to Feyenoord – scored 66 goals but only conceded an impressive league-low of 20. van Brederode was the third-top scorer with 14 in 31, only three behind Brobbey’s 17 in 32, but had the highest xG (16.36) and the most shots (82). While van Bommel got the most player of the match awards (7), Schouten created the most chances (21) and left back Mees de Wit completed the most key passes (69).
AZ Academy Products Update
Another academy graduate earned international recognition as Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro made his Netherlands debut in September. And three of his fellow graduates were named in NxGn 2026, with Wau 12th, van Dord 13th and Icelandic midfielder Tómas Johannessen 42nd. Less good news was this year’s youth intake, of which the only half-decent talent was 4-star potential midfielder Christian Moestrup.
van Broderode led the AZ goalscoring chart again with 20 in 40 followed by van Bommel (13), Addai (12), Schouten (9), Wau and Hartog (7) and van Dord (6). van Broderode was also the lead creative force with nine assists along with Schouten followed by Denso Kasius (8), van Dord and de Wit (7) and Addai (6). But Owusu-Oduro was arguably their star player as he kept 19 clean sheets and only conceded 18 goals in the league. He also kept 21 clean sheets in all competitions, only conceding 32 in 43.
AZ’s academy products again set a new record tally of appearances, playing a combined 329 league games and 106 cup games. They also contributed 48 goals and 32 assists in the league and 17 goals and 9 assists in the cups. Here’s how the academy products fared in the first team:
Jong AZ improved this season to finish 8th in Keuken Kampioen Divisie led by the division’s top scorer Yoël van den Ban, who scored 26 goals. The under 18s won their league, defeating leaders Groningen 5-1 to leap from 3rd to 1st on the final day, led by Wau bagging an impressive 29 in 34 and good performances from the likes of midfielder Dawid Imiela and winger Manuel Piqué. Here’s the pick of the youth players:
Lazaró was pretty close to having a fully homegrown AZ squad, with only the full backs, one centre back, a midfielder and a winger having been developed outside of Alkmaar. And he was really excited about the performances he was seeing both in the first team and the youth sides.
Could AZ continue to challenge Ajax in Eredivisie in Lazaró’s fourth season? Join us next Monday to find out!
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