Feyenoord director Robert Eenhoorn says the club rejected a €42.5m offer from Al Ittihad for Anis Hadj Moussa after concerns were raised about the proposed payment terms.
The Saudi Pro League club’s approach for the Algeria winger was reportedly a club-record bid and came on deadline day, with Hadj Moussa wanting to leave Feyenoord.
However, the Rotterdam club asked Al Ittihad to provide a bank guarantee before agreeing to the transfer. That guarantee was never delivered, leading Feyenoord to reject the offer.
“In the first offer we received, the first term payment was 10 per cent of the total fee. That raised red flags,” general manager Eenhoorn told ESPN.
“That’s why we asked for the bank guarantee, which never came. So that was never serious, if you asked me.”
According to Saudi media reports, Al Ittihad considered it “impossible” to freeze the money required for the guarantee after reaching the maximum amount it could offer for Hadj Moussa.
The 23-year-old had been set to move to the Saudi club, but the deal collapsed before the deadline. Feyenoord have since retained one of their most important attacking players this season.
Eenhoorn also discussed the club’s decision to keep right-back Givairo Read, who was reportedly attracting interest from Roma.
While Read was also close to leaving, Feyenoord wanted to retain the youngster for the long term. The club believes the defender has benefited from playing regularly again.
“We felt that Read needed to play more matches again, that he still had more to give,” Eenhoorn said.
“You can see now that he’s playing a lot of matches and is a key player. He’s putting himself back in the spotlight. Ultimately, we simply couldn’t reach an agreement with the clubs.”
Using two famous Dutch painters as an analogy, Eenhoorn said Feyenoord could afford to wait rather than sell players below their valuation.
“If you have a Rembrandt and a Van Gogh hanging on your wall and you don’t sell them, they’ll still be hanging there,” he added.
“Their value on the market speaks for itself; I wouldn’t make too much of a fuss about it.”
Hadj Moussa and Read have both played key roles in Feyenoord’s campaign. The club sit top of the Eredivisie table, with Hadj Moussa having scored 5 goals and provided an assist.
Read has contributed 5 league assists in nine appearances.