AZ says goodbye to Ferdy Druijf, the Alkmaarders officially announce. The 24-year-old striker already played on a rental basis at Rapid Wien, which is now definitively incorporating AZ’s youth product. In January made The Telegraph announced that the Austrian top club had an option to buy 2.8 million euros. Rapid now reports that agreement on Druijf has only been reached after negotiations with AZ. Presumably the purchase price is therefore slightly lower than the stated amount.
“I am very happy that my switch is now complete,” said Druijf on the Rapid club website. “After my first four months, it was clear to me that I really wanted to come and live here permanently. I feel incredibly comfortable with this club and in this city, and my family felt right at home here. All of that was decisive for me that “I want to continue playing for this special club in the future. I am now happy to be an official SK Rapid player and can’t wait to tackle the upcoming tasks together with my teammates and the support of the fans.”
Druijf was considered a great promise in Alkmaar for years, but was never able to fulfill it in the first team. In the Kitchen Champion Division, the center forward scored continuously for Jong AZ and on a rental basis for NEC, but once back at the first, Myron Boadu kept him from much playing time. When Druijf was tired of his reserve place in 2020, AZ agreed to a rental period at KV Mechelen.
The 1.90 meter long striker played for the Belgian club for a year and a half, but his big breakthrough did not come in Mechelen. After 10 goals in 39 official appearances, it was decided in February of this year to dissolve his rental period at Mechelen, after which Rapid Wien took over immediately. In Austria, Druijf made enough impression with six goals and thirteen games, including one in the Conference League against Vitesse, to persuade Rapid to take the option to buy.
AZ has been active on the transfer market this summer and has already raised transfer fees of around two million euros for Thomas Ouwejan (Schalke 04) and Zakaria Aboukhlal (Toulouse). In addition, Mohamed Taabouni left for Feyenoord on a free transfer. Technical director Max Huiberts is also working on the purchase side. For example, Jens Odgaard was taken over from Sassuolo for more than four million euros and AZ reportedly paid just over two million euros for Mees de Wit (PEC Zwolle). Mayckel Lahdo came over from the Swedish Hammarby for an amount of less than a million euros.