AZ considers it ‘not likely’ that Joey Veerman can join the A-selection from Wednesday. As is known, the Alkmaarders have made an offer for the 22-year-old midfielder, but are far from an agreement with sc Heerenveen. “We have indicated how much financial rack there is still in it,” says football affairs director Max Huiberts Football International.
Veerman himself declared on Sunday after the game against AZ (1-3 for the Alkmaarders) that the club has made an offer of 4 to 4.5 million euros. “Heerenveen apparently has higher amounts in mind,” says Huiberts without confirming Veerman’s bid. “We thought we had a reasonable chance of taking over Joey. But in the current situation it will be difficult, unless Heerenveen changes its mind.”
Veerman is in the picture as a replacement for Teun Koopmeiners, who was sold to Atalanta for fourteen million euros. AZ is not looking at alternatives for the Heerenveen midfielder. “We still have Fredrik Midtsjö on board, and Jordy Clasie and Tijjani Reijnders have also proven that they can play in Teun’s place,” explains Huiberts.
AZ raised more than fifty million euros on this transfer window, but only spent seven million euros themselves. According to Huiberts, this fits within the policy of the Alkmaarders. “We are not going to suddenly throw our working method overboard. We are prepared to go far for Veerman, but there are limits. Our purchasing policy remains mainly focused on players who can continue to grow here. Guys like Jesper Karlsson, Sam Beukema, Hakon Evjen, Yukinari Sugawara , Thijs Oosting. And when necessary an experienced force like Bruno Martins Indi.”
“We have brought in new players in the positions of Myron Boadu, Jonas Svensson and Marco Bizot”, Huiberts refers to the recruitment of Vangelis Pavlidis, Aslak Fonn Witry and Peter Vindahl. “We already had replacements in house for Stengs and Koopmeiners. We would like to add Veerman to that, but that is not likely at the moment.”