Dutch anger at City deal

Feyenoord have asked the Dutch Football Association KNVB to look into Manchester City’s signing of their prospect Karim Rekik.

The Dutch youth international is believed to have agreed a deal with the Premier League club, deciding to quit De Kuip before he could sign a professional deal with them.

The Rotterdam club have lost a host of players in recent years to foreign raiders with the likes of Kyle Ebicilio (Arsenal), Nathan Ake (Chelsea), Jeffrey Bruma (Chelsea) and Rajiv de la Parra (Caen) all departing.

Inter Milan concluded a deal for their prized asset Luc Castaignos last week and now Feyenoord seem to be becoming exasperated by their lack of ability to hang onto their top talent.

Frustration

“This is unfortunate for Feyenoord and the supporters,” said general manager Eric Gudde.

“But in most cases these moves do not work out, especially for the boy himself – when they go abroad they are just 16 and it all seems great but if you look at the statistics the majority end in huge disappointment for the player.

“He can get a big foreign club, but he never gets in the first-team and is then released and returns, several years later to the Netherlands.

“Even players who leave Holland when they’ve built a career here and even played for Oranje national side sometimes have it difficult abroad. Babel, Rigter, Drenthe, Maduro, De Ridder, Musampa, Stam…we all know the examples.

“It’s hard and it’s not just about being a good player. These lads are so young, though and the stats are clear: most of these adventures fail. Most of these kids are badly developed and then they’re out on loan and then they come back here, to actually have lost progress.

“The fact that Holland develops better than England should be a reason for the English Clubs to leave them here too. I can imagine deals between Dutch and English clubs on a development level, but signing 15 year olds is a simply stupid. For all involved.”

No issues

As part of Feyenoord’s complaint they are also taking action against the agent involved in Rekik’s move to City, Soren Lerby.

But the former Danish international insists he has done nothing wrong and is more than happy with how things have progressed.

“I am an experienced professional, I have been a player and a coach for many years and I well aquatinted with Fifa rules,” he told De Telegraaf.

“I respect those rules and nothing has been broken.

“If a player who does not have a contract with them wants to go abroad, I cannot stop him. You cannot blame Manchester City or the young player for a contract he gets.”

Lerby explains that Dutch clubs do not complain when they raid his own country Denmark for talent, as Ajax did with prospect Christian Eriksen.

“At his Danish club they wanted to keep him, but Eriksen wanted to go Ajax,” he said.

“I am going to be having discussions with Feyenoord and the KNVB.”

Rekik is understood to have agreed a four-year deal at City, shunning interest from Juventus and Inter Milan, and he will move in the summer.

Feyenoord are claiming that both City and Lerby agreed the deal, prior to his 16th birthday in February.