{"id":1061,"date":"2026-09-04T08:27:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T08:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2026-09-04T08:27:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T08:27:44","slug":"we-had-a-conversation-real-madrid-target-kees-smit-reveals-why-he-rejected-a-blockbuster-summer-transfer-to-stay-at-az-alkmaar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/?p=1061","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We had a conversation&#8217; &#8211; Real Madrid target Kees Smit reveals why he REJECTED a blockbuster summer transfer to stay at AZ Alkmaar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"article-body\">\n<div>\n<p><span>Speaking to AZ Alkmaar\u2019s official media channels, Smit admitted he originally expected to depart during the summer. The midfielder explained that an intervention from AZ head coach Lee-Roy Echteld ultimately shifted his perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cTo be honest, at first I had the feeling that I was going to leave, but then it turned out that the coach really wanted me to stay,\u201d he said, as quoted by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/as.com\/futbol\/internacional\/kees-smit-tenia-la-sensacion-de-que-me-iria-f202609-n\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-affiliate-type=\"NONE\"><i><em>AS<\/em><\/i><\/a><span>. \u201cI feel good here, surrounded by friends and family. That\u2019s why I stayed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The youngster also disclosed that the Eredivisie outfit firmly closed the door on a potential exit late in the window.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cTen days ago I had a conversation and then AZ didn\u2019t want to let me go anymore,&#8221; Smit added. &#8220;I took it positively, because I feel like I\u2019m not done here yet.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Speaking to AZ Alkmaar\u2019s official media channels, Smit admitted he originally expected to depart during&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-laliga"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2272116225-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportbulletin.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}