From this week's Flying Kiwis.
"Michael Woud: “It is good for my development to arrive at Almere City FC and play some more minutes. I need that experience to grow. I'm excited to show what I can do in Almere.”
Interesting move, this. Willem II did brilliantly to hang on to qualify for the early Europa League stages by virtue of their fifth placing at the time the Dutch league was abandoned for pandemic related reasons. Their top choice keeper, German Timon Wellenreuther, had long since been rumoured to leave though and sure enough he’s since signed with Anderlecht in Belgium leaving that number one gloveman role vacant.
Woud was the backup keeper for the entirety of last season (after an injury break at the start, at least) and a good chunk of the season before but has only made five first team appearances for Willem II so far. The club never lied about the fact that they preferred to sign an imported keeper to fill Wellenreuther’s boots but with the state of travel in Europe what it is at the moment that wasn’t necessarily a simple task. Which might have been a fortuitous fall of the dice for Woudy but nah turns out he’s going out on loan instead. Pretty much the standard plan for a player in Woud’s position. He’s spent two years learning as a backup but he’s 21 years old and will learn more from playing regular first team footy.
Thus Willem II won’t have their top two keepers next season, while Greek third-stringer Giorgios Strezos (who is coming off contract) and 19-year-old academy grad Connor van den Berg have never played for the senior team. Safe to say they must be confident they’ve got a transfer or two lined up if Woud’s being allowed to leave on loan. It’ll be a full season loan, by the way, with reports suggesting they considered loaning him out in January too.
https://t.co/W501pcHlvy
Almere City were ninth in the second tier when that all got canned... that’s one spot outside the promotion playoff spots. Their regular goalie was 27 year old Joshua Smits but he’s just left, confirmed literally a couple days before Woud’s arrival was announced, to have signed in Norway with 2019 runners-up FK Bodø / Glimt. Crazy thing is you’ll hear a little bit more about that club in a second. So that leaves the gloves free for Woudy to swoop in, although he will have competition for that spot.
More from Michael Woud: “This is a good step in my career. My goal is to become the first goalkeeper at Almere City FC and play many games. I want to get better here and fight with the team for promotion. That is the goal of Almere City FC and I would like to contribute to that.”
Almere City Technical Director Teun Jacobs: “Michael is a talented goalkeeper who has enjoyed part of his career at Sunderland and has already made his debut as an international. He is a physically strong boy, who therefore dominates in the penalty area and can also play well with his feet. We're glad we were able to capture him.”