Heracles Almelo has said goodbye to Brian De Keersmaecker on Tuesday. The Belgian captain is transferring to Oxford United. Fortuna Sittard has made a deal with FC Utrecht and has definitively signed Mattijs Branderhorst.
De Keersmaecker will play for Oxford United in the Championship, the second tier of England. He was still under contract with Heracles until the summer of 2028 and will therefore also provide the club with a transfer fee. The amount of that is unknown.
The 25-year-old De Keersmaecker played for Heracles for two years, who took him over from FC Eindhoven. In Almelo, he grew into a key player and captain. The Belgian played a total of seventy official matches for the club.
According to Heracles, the club proves itself with the transfer “once again as a stepping stone club”. “Brian has precisely met the expectations and the path that we envision with players,” says technical director Nico-Jan Hoogma on the club site.
It is not yet known who will take over the captain’s armband at Heracles from De Keersmaecker.
Branderhorst now definitively a Fortuna player
There was also transfer news in Sittard. There, Fortuna announced the arrival of Branderhorst. He already played for the club on loan last season and is now definitively transferring from FC Utrecht. Branderhorst signs a contract in Sittard until the summer of 2029.
“I am happy to be back again,” says the goalkeeper on the club’s website. “I have had an excellent time here over the past year. It is essential for me to continue playing, and I get that opportunity at Fortuna.”
Branderhorst kept a clean sheet no fewer than ten times in 28 league matches last season. Only Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer and FC Twente goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall did that more often (both eleven times).