The dreaded financial glitch affecting Eredivisie on Football Manager 2024 means this could well be the end to our second attempt at the Wonderkid Factory challenge. It comes at an annoying time, considering Robinho Lazaró was establishing AZ Alkmaar as a dominant force in the Netherlands, with three titles in four years, and taking on Europe’s elite.
AZ again received a mass of bids for its best players in the summer of 2030 but, given the financial issue and the inability to sign players, there seemed very little point in entertaining any of them. Lazaró stuck with the familiar 4-2-4 approach, but pre-season was affected by midfielder Lewis Schouten sidelined for five months with a broken ankle. However, his absence saw the rise of a new midfield talent Patrick Pol.
Targeting 3 Successive Eredivisie Titles
AZ’s success increased their stock with the bookies as their 9/4 odds were only bettered by Ajax’s 11/5. The title defence began in style as Raily Wau and Manuel Piqué braces inspiring a 5-2 thrashing of Go Ahead Eagles and Myron van Brederode repeated the feat in a 5-0 demolition of Cambuur. They went unbeaten through the first 14 games, led by Wau scoring 12 in 12, before Wessel van Dord and van Brederode sealed a tight 2-1 victory over Ajax that took them six points clear.
They began 2031 by selling midfielder Tómas Johannesen to Saudi for £20m. But that didn’t disrupt their form as Wau’s hat trick, which ended an 11-hour goal drought, inspired a 5-0 thrashing of Willem II. Fellow superstar in the making Piqué then inspired a 3-0 win at Sparta by scoring the opener and creating the other two for van Brederode. The unbeaten run finally ended with a 2-0 loss at home to Feyenoord. That kept AZ eight points clear and, despite an iffy conclusion to the campaign that included defeats at Ajax and PSV, they eventually cruised to a third successive title and fourth in five years.
It wasn’t as dominant as last season, winning the title by three points from Ajax. They finished on 81 points after 25 wins, 6 draws and 3 defeats, scoring 89 and conceding 31. van Brederode was the top scorer with 26 in 30, Piqué led the assists with 12 and Wau set a new league record 7.59 average rating.
Tricky Champions League Fixtures
AZ had a tough start to the Champions League, losing 2-1 at PSG and 4-3 at Valencia before beating Qarabag 3-1 and APOEL 3-0. Another tricky away day saw them raise their level as Hartog’s fluke, a brilliant Johanneson 20-yard strike and young striker Gery ten Teije’s late tap-in earned a 3-0 win at Dortmund before losing 2-0 at home to Real Madrid. This match – against a team boasting the likes of Endrick, Bellingham, Kvaratskhelia, Pino, Camavinga, Grealish and Rodrygo – proved the size of the task Lazaró was facing to win the Champions League with a homegrown squad.
However, they finished 12th to set up a playoff against Valencia, in which Wau and van Brederode inspired a 3-1 away win before a 1-1 back at AFAS Stadion. Next was a tough tie with Inter, which AZ started superbly as ten Teije created the opener for Jasper Hartog then scored himself inside five minutes. Inter came back into it but van Dord scored a superb free kick to restore the two lead. However, Inter had far too much for them and earned a draw. That set the scene for the second leg as Inter raced into a 3-0 lead before AZ showed some fight. But the Champions League dream ended at the last 16.
Another Cup Run
AZ again went all the way to the KNVB Beker Final as a team of backup players defeated Emmen, Cambuur, NAC and NEC. After losing to Ajax 12 months ago, this time they faced Feyenoord, so Lazaró put his first 11 back in. They got a flyer as van Brederode drilled home after 70 seconds and Saviola Simons seized on a loose ball to score his 1st of the season. van Brederode laid on the third for Hartog just after the break and Feyenoord offered nothing. So Lazaró won his first cup competition!
AZ Academy Products Update
AZ were establishing themselves as the dominant force in the Netherlands, winning three successive titles to move fifth on the all-time list. van Brederode missed out on the club record for most goals in a season by one as he scored 35 in 44, followed by Wau (20), Piqué (13) and ten Teije and Hartog (11). Piqué led the way with 13 assists followed by Hartog (10), Enoch Mastoras and Wau (9) and the promising Pol (8).
The fully homegrown squad saw some exciting milestones as Mastoras and Aad Scholten made their Netherlands debuts and Federico Guidiño made his Argentina debut towards the end of the season. There was plenty to be excited about with the performances of new squad members Pol and ten Teije. However, the likes of Jayden Addai and Ruben van Bommel had pretty disappointing seasons. The squad played a combined 513 league games, one more than last season, scoring 89 goals with 53 assists, and 255 cup games, scoring 39 with 28 assists.
Jong AZ slipped to 13th in Keuken Kampioen Divisie, but the under 18s came 2nd led by Alain Diampo’s 32 goals and some great performances by Quincy Joosten, Juan Luydens and Jamian Janga. Here are the pick of the young academy products’ performances:
The ongoing promise of AZ’s youth talents was proven by claiming 1st, 2nd and 8th in NxGn 2031. The rapidly improving Pol won it followed by wonderkid ten Teije and right back Federico Gudiño. And there could be even more to come as the latest youth intake delivered two more potential stars in Austrian striker Max Mohr, Belgian/Italian winger Nicola Moscatelli and winger Jeroen Ekkelenkamp.
Pol was certainly an exciting prospect, who gave Lazaró plenty of hope about the future of AZ. But could they push on in Europe? Join us next Monday to find out!
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