AZ Alkmaar – 2025-26 Season Preview: Building Blocks with Youthful Promise

AZ Alkmaar – 2025–26 Season Preview: Building Blocks with Youthful Promise

AZ Alkmaar approaches the 2025–26 season in transition, maintaining their commitment to youth development while trying to stabilise after a cycle of personnel changes. The squad is built around high-potential talents and supported by a core of tactically intelligent midfielders. While the team lacks high-volume contributors in some areas, the structure and promise are unmistakably present.

Squad Age Profile

Main Players' Average Age: 23.1 years

Substitute Bench Average Age: 21.2 years

Several of the substitutes have already begun logging senior appearances, indicating a club pushing for internal growth over external buying.

Core Contributors & Tactical Foundations

Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro (11 apps, 990 mins) is trusted in goal at just 20, showing maturity and agility across key fixtures, Alexandre Penetra and Seiya Maikuma (combined 22 apps) provide balance in defense Penetra centrally and Maikuma more mobile and progressive on the right, Peer Koopmeiners (945 mins) is a versatile holding midfielder, anchoring transition phases and offering line-breaking passes, David Møller Wolfe and Wouter Goes are steady, if unspectacular, contributors across the back line, helping to form a compact defensive unit. In midfield, Troy Parrott (859 mins) and Jordy Clasie (785 mins) offer contrast—Parrott more attacking and vertical, Clasie more measured and composed. Ernest Poku, a left-right attacking midfielder, logged 699 minutes and is poised to be a breakout creative outlet this season.

Substitute Depth & Future Integration

AZ's bench includes a promising group of 20–22-year-olds: Zico Buurmeester and Kristijan Beljo are central options; the former creative, the latter more defensively stable. Mayckel Lahdo and Ruben van Bommel (combined 747 minutes) offer wing depth with pace and trickery. Denso Kasius and Maxim Dekker rotate in defense, both comfortable in modern build-up play from the back. Mexx Meerdink, a natural striker, and Isak Jensen, a left-winger, are on the cusp of breakout seasons.

Their minutes remain relatively low, but the quality and trust from the coaching staff are growing. The substitutes’ 2024–25 contributions (especially Lahdo and Buurmeester) suggest they’ll push closer to regular status this year.

Tactical Identity: Possession-Secure, Midfield-Focused

AZ will likely line up in a flexible 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system, favoring midfield density and short passing triangles. The double pivot (Clasie + Koopmeiners or Goes) controls the rhythm, while Parrott and Poku offer forward motion between lines.The fullbacks—Maikuma and Wolfe—will stretch wide and create crossing opportunities, with Ernest Poku drifting inside as a cutback option. Pressing is applied selectively, favoring a mid-block shape and recovery traps through the center.

AZ Alkmaar steps into 2025–26 with a structurally coherent but youthful squad, emphasizing technical growth and internal development. While not favorites for the title, they remain strong contenders for European qualification and domestic consistency. The success of this campaign hinges on Poku’s end-product development, midfield control from Clasie, and whether bench talent like Lahdo, Beljo, and Meerdink can step up under pressure.