Wouter Vandenhaute fears that Rayane Bounida ‘slipped out of the fingers’ at Anderlecht. The chairman of the Belgian top club tells in MID MID, a podcast by Play Sports, that he does not expect the fifteen-year-old attacking midfielder to sign another contract with Purple-White. Vandenhaute hints at the same time that Bounida could make the switch to Ajax.
The newspapaer wrote last week that Bounida’s financial demands are ‘much too high’, so that he does not seem to be able to reach an agreement with Anderlecht about a professional contract. The attacking midfielder turned 15 in March and has since been signed up, but was initially held back to ‘focus on his education and school’. Anderlecht then entered into talks with Bounida’s entourage. Both parties are still on speaking terms, but there is a significant difference between supply and demand.
“He could sign a contract with us from the age of 15, but he didn’t. From the age of sixteen, he can also sign a contract abroad,” says Vandenhaute. In that case, only a training fee has to be paid to Anderlecht. “I think he slipped out of our fingers. But hey, people make choices. I personally find that very unfortunate. I am convinced that for Rayane and his family, who are embedded in Vilvoorde (a suburb of Brussels, ed.), it would be much nicer to break through in Anderlecht.”
“It is much nicer when you have been trained at a club and they do all that effort for you, that you break through there. Anderlecht is a beautiful club and if Rayan breaks through there, the sky still the limit are”, continues the chairman of Anderlecht. “Our door remains wide open. Should the end of the year change the mind of the Bounida family, I will be the first to embrace it. But I fear there will be very little that can be done about it.”
“Maybe our supporters should organize a march on Vilvoorde”, says Vandenhaute with a wink. “There must be massive initiatives. I think we should do everything we can to keep Rayan at Anderlecht. He wears the number 14, which may indicate what his new club will be. We are playing without supporters for the time being, but otherwise we would have to call for clapping for Rayan Bounida in minute fourteen.”
Bounida was given a tour of De Toekomst and the Johan Cruijff ArenA in March of this year. The family of the Belgian Moroccan and Mo Nouri, the brother of Abdelhak Nouri, were present during the tour. Ajax tried to convince Bounida that the Amsterdam club is the ideal intermediate step, instead of immediately making the switch to the European top. Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are also said to be interested in Bounida. Mike Verweij, Ajax watcher on behalf of The Telegraph, writes on Twitter that there is no agreement yet, but that Ajax does have ‘promising’.