AZ Alkmaar opened the Dutch season by taking PSV apart 4-0 in the Johan Cruijff Schaal on Sunday, and the club's record signing put his name on the scoresheet in front of a Philips Stadion crowd that had come to watch the champions start their title defence.
PSV's afternoon unravelled early. Joey Veerman was sent off in the ninth minute, and AZ spent the rest of the match turning a numbers advantage into a rout, with Mexx Meerdink, Weslley Patati, Elijah Dijkstra and Ro-Zangelo Daal all getting on the scoresheet.
Patati's goal, AZ's second of the afternoon, arrived in the 51st minute. Peer Koopmeiners picked him out and the Brazilian finished first time into the top corner - the kind of moment that has followed him around since he first turned heads at Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Dutch football accounts and newspapers were quick to talk him up afterwards. One widely followed Dutch football account wrote that Patati "has crazy potential with the ball, and could develop into an incredible player," adding that he was one "we'll need to follow for years ahead, at bigger clubs," Sport5 reported.
AD, the Dutch newspaper, wrote that Patati "showed again why AZ believes in him so much," adding that "he's dangerous every time he has the ball, and finished with an amazing goal." De Telegraaf struck a more cautious note, suggesting that once Patati "improves his decision-making and becomes stable without the ball, he'll be a great player" - while adding that reaching that level is "a tough task."
The goal comes at a useful moment for the 22-year-old. Under coach Lee-Roy Echteld, Patati had lost his automatic starting spot this year as Ro-Zangelo Daal broke into the side and Isak Jensen shifted onto the right flank, pushing the Brazilian into more substitute appearances than he would like. He had responded with a strong pre-season, finishing as AZ's top scorer in the warm-up friendlies.
Patati arrived at Maccabi Tel Aviv from Santos in September 2024 and quickly became one of the Israeli champions' most important attacking players, contributing 13 goals and 10 assists in 39 appearances in his final season in yellow and blue as the club won the league title and Toto Cup.
AZ signed him from Maccabi in August 2025 for a fee reported at roughly 7.3-7.5 million euros - a club-record incoming transfer for the Eredivisie side - with Maccabi said to have retained a sell-on percentage on any future move.
For AZ, the win was only its second Johan Cruijff Schaal, the traditional Dutch curtain-raiser between the reigning league champions and cup winners, following an earlier triumph in 2009. For Patati, it was a reminder to Dutch football that the price tag Maccabi commanded for him last summer was not accidental.
