Immanuel Pherai made his minutes with Borussia Dortmund in preparation for this season and was also good for a number of goals. However, the nineteen-year-old playmaker will not be in the league in the just started soccer season for BVB as Pherai made the switch to PEC Zwolle earlier this week on a rental basis. The talent hopes to play a lot in the Eredivisie.

Pherai talked to big names like Marco Reus and Axel Witsel about his plan to play at PEC, so he tells Saturday in conversation with the NOS. He was told by Reus that in the Eredivisie he can do what he’s good at, while Witsel emphasized making a lot of playing minutes at the highest level. The Red Devil Pherai finally complimented Pherai on his choice of PEC: “I’ve talked to him a lot about it,” says the talent.

For Pherai, his first match at PEC immediately becomes a special one, as his old club AZ is the opponent. The youngster played for four years in the youth of the Alkmaar club, before Dortmund was on the sidewalk in 2017: “I have been able to develop very well there, maybe I made the biggest steps as a football player. AZ’s youth training is one of the best in the Netherlands, you can see that now”. In those days Pherai was on the field with players such as Teun Koopmeiners, Owen Wijndal and Myron Boadu: “With Myron I have played together the longest.

“At practice it was always a nice fight between him and me, in the races he and I formed a strong duo. We kept in touch after my departure, he already sent me a message about Saturday’s race”, he continues. The attacking midfielder knows that his operations against AZ and for the rest of the season will be closely monitored from Germany: “I had to sign up before I could be let”, he concludes. Pherai starts Saturday afternoon against AZ on the bench in the first instance.