Mike Verweij and Valentijn Driessen think it's strange that Feyenoord didn't choose to let Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion bid against each other for Mats Wieffer. The 24-year-old midfielder is well on his way to the Seagullsbut the The Telegraph reported on Thursday that also the Reds showed interest at the last minute. However, Feyenoord and Wieffer already had a (verbal) agreement with Brighton.

“At the last moment, via Wieffer's camp itself, and not via Feyenoord, Liverpool came into the corner,” Feyenoord watcher Marcel van der Kraan wrote on Thursday. “Arne Slot has been a big fan of the player for the past two years. However, Wieffer has already verbally agreed to the conditions for the coming years for the Seagulls to come out.”

Feyenoord and Brighton have also reached an agreement on a transfer fee of thirty million euros excluding 'significant bonuses'. Dennis te Kloese has also negotiated a resale percentage. Verweij and Driessen think that Feyenoord could have gotten more out of it if it had waited a little longer, as is said in the podcast Kick-off by The Telegraph.

“Why didn’t Feyenoord wait?” Verweij wonders out loud. “Didn’t Wieffer want to go there, to his old coach Slot? The advantage Ajax had with Lisandro Martínez was that both Arsenal and Manchester United came forward for him. Then that price shot up to sixty million euros. That is generally not an amount that is paid for Feyenoord players, because that is ‘the Ajax bonus’.”

“If two Premier League clubs are going to bid against each other, then all you have to do as a Dutch club is sit back and hold out your hand. I am surprised that Feyenoord did not participate.” Driessen agrees. However, the football chief thinks that it may also have to do with Wieffer’s preference. “It will also have been that boy, of course.”

“That he still wants to go to Brighton and maybe sees that as an intermediate step for a later transfer to Liverpool. Just like Georginio Wijnaldum and Virgil van Dijk did. Maybe he doesn't feel good enough for that top in England yet,” says Driessen.

The journalist puts himself in Wieffer's shoes for a moment. “I would have waited longer and wanted to go one level higher than Brighton. They finished eleventh in the Premier League last season. On the other hand, it might be a challenge to move up with that club, but I think that will be a difficult story.” Wieffer will sign a five-year contract with Brighton on Friday, according to Van der Kraan.

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