Mohamed Ihattaren will not be present at PSV training on Sunday, reports journalist Rik Elfrink of the Eindhovens Dagblad. The attacking midfielder has called in sick. Pablo Rosario is ‘just’ present on the field, despite being spotted on a flight to Nice on Thursday and would be in the interest of OGC Nice. Everton’s coveted Denzel Dumfries has also returned to De Herdgang. Donyell Malen is missing due to an upcoming transfer to Borussia Dortmund.
Ihattaren is certainly not sick for the first time. In May, for the same reason, he missed the last three league games of the season. He already missed the Europa League match with Olympiacos and the meeting with Vitesse in the Eredivisie in February due to illness. At the end of November, he was also sidelined for two games for that reason. “Yes, that he is sick more often is strange, but also part of football,” said trainer Roger Schmidt in the run-up to the Europa League match against Olympiacos, which was lost 4-2.
PSV supporters seem to be in despair after the news about Ihattaren’s sick leave. Fans reacted massively to a tweet from Elfrink. “How often is Ihattaren sick?”, a supporter wonders, for example. Another: “And many supporters who keep nagging at Schmidt… If that boy is not intrinsically motivated to play for PSV, he should go ball somewhere else. Or sit down.” Ihattaren was still on the bench on Wednesday in the duel with Galatasaray (5-1 win) in the second qualifying round of the Champions League and it is therefore questionable whether he can be used during next Wednesday’s return.
In early March, when it Eindhovens Dagblad reported that Ihattaren does not want to extend his contract, the regional newspaper wrote that there are internal doubts at PSV about Ihattaren’s reports of illness. Those doubts were fed by another incident: Ihattaren is said to have once indicated that he was going to work with an individual trainer, but when the club inquired, it turned out that the trainer involved had not seen him for a month.
In February, Björn van der Doelen, active for PSV between 1994 and 2001, strongly criticized Ihattaren’s continued absences. “It has happened zero times that I was not at a game because I was sick,” he said in the in Skiete Willy Podcast by Football International. “Sometimes you can also think: man the fuck up, paracetamol in it and go with that banana. Sick three times in one winter?!”