NEC loses club icon, United decides Carrick’s fate in Monaco
The transfer market in the Netherlands has been closed since Wednesday evening, September 2, while the markets in the foreign top leagues closed a day earlier. At the same time, club icon Wilfried Brookhuis, 65, is leaving after more than 41 years at NEC, the club from Nijmegen, and the Manchester United board will decide on Wednesday in Monaco whether head coach Michael Carrick stays or is dismissed.
End of an era at NEC
The 65‑year‑old former goalkeeper, who after his playing career served as head of youth development, assistant coach and goalkeeping coach, left the club by mutual agreement. He said on the club’s website: ‘I am grateful to NEC for the opportunities and the trust I have received over all these years.’ Brookhuis played a total of 430 matches for NEC between 1985 and 1999.
Manchester United considers Carrick’s future
The Manchester United board will decide on Wednesday during a meeting in Monaco whether head coach Michael Carrick will be dismissed or remain in charge. United are experiencing the worst start to a season ever and have won only one of the ten Premier League matches played. Carrick’s position has been under pressure for weeks, and chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox are traveling to Monaco for a meeting with influential shareholder Jim Ratcliffe. Berrada and Wilcox are reportedly set to push for Carrick’s dismissal.
Carrick, a former United player, succeeded the dismissed Ruben Amorim in January and managed to guide Manchester United to third place thereafter. He signed a two‑year contract in May. Amorim was the successor of Erik ten Hag, who was dismissed in October 2024.
Other transfer developments in Europe
The names Karim Benzema, Luuk de Jong and Jadon Sancho were mentioned in the transfer overview. Racing Genk have dismissed the 56‑year‑old Danish coach Jess Thorup after four months due to disappointing results. Genk sit in seventh place after eleven rounds, fourteen points behind league leaders Union. Thorup was appointed head coach of Genk for the second time in July, signed a three‑year contract and succeeded Nicky Hayen, who moved to Burnley.
The club has not yet appointed a replacement. Olympique Lyon have appointed the 43‑year‑old Spaniard Carlos Vicens as the new coach, as announced on Monday. Vicens replaces the Portuguese Paulo Fonseca, who unexpectedly left for Sporting Lisbon on 4 November. At Lyon, Vicens will be the coach of Ruben Kluivert, who is going through his second season in France.
Vicens was for a long time an assistant coach at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola and was on the bench when the club won the Champions League in 2023. In October he was dismissed by SC Braga, which finished fourth in the Portuguese league that season and reached the Europa League semi‑final. Lyon sit in fifth place in Ligue 1 after ten rounds with seventeen points. In the Europa League the club are thirteenth with seven points from four matches.
Raúl González Blanco has been appointed as the new head coach of Real Oviedo, currently ninth in the Segunda División. The former Real Madrid striker, who scored 323 goals in 741 matches, was the coach of Real Madrid Castilla from July 2019 to June 2025. Real Oviedo returned to La Liga in 2025 after twenty‑four years, but finished the previous season at the bottom of the top Spanish division.
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) dismissed national team coach Hossam Hassan, 60, on Saturday via a statement on its website. Hassan led the national team last summer at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico to the round of 16, where it lost in a turbulent closing stage to Argentina, the eventual finalist. According to the association, recent events, including a conflict with his ex‑wife, have had a negative impact on the squad’s stability. Ali Maher, 52, has been appointed as his successor and comes from the Egyptian club Ceramica Cleopatra FC in Giza.