Marcel Brands has explained in a video item on the PSV club channels the departure of director of football affairs John de Jong. As became clear on Friday in the communication about De Jong’s exit, according to the general manager, there was a ‘breach of confidence’ with the supervisory board. Due to the lack of internal support, De Jong decided to resign. That it, like it Eindhovens Dagblad wrote, would have anything to do with not wanting to sell Cody Gakpo, Brands vehemently denies.
During an evaluation of the transfer summer, it turned out that the supervisory board ‘didn’t have the confidence as it should be'”, says Brands. “I talked about it with John. A little later he went on holiday and when he returned he indicated to me that he no longer felt well enough to have a meeting with the supervisory board and wanted to stop. Then we tried to organize and arrange everything as quickly as possible at John’s request.”
According to Brands, this is a mutual contract termination, which meant that the situation could be handled in this way. Formally, the general manager himself is the only one who could have fired De Jong. If it had been that way, Brands himself might have left, he admits. “In the initial phase of the discussions with the supervisory board, I indicated that if I were ordered to fire John, I would also consider my own position, yes. But the supervisory board has in no way expressed to me that that was the intention used to be.”
Brands says that the objections of the supervisory board mainly related to the previous transfer window or the period before his arrival. The rumor that a declined offer for Cody Gakpo – who reportedly could go to both Southampton and Leeds United for more than 40 million euros – was the reason for De Jong’s conge, Brands immediately dismisses it as nonsense. “There has not been a single offer to which neither the board, nor the board, nor the foundation would have said ‘yes’ to. I can say that with hand on my heart,” said the director.