Feyenoord saw its offer of eight million euros for Ramiz Zerrouki rejected by FC Twente on the last day of January, but according to Leon ten Voorde a winter transfer would have been possible. “If Feyenoord had offered 8 million euros on January 1, Zerrouki would have been in De Kuip now,” the journalist writes. Tubantia.
Twente had already had enough of Feyenoord’s negotiating tactics when the last bid for Zerrouki came in on Tuesday. Normally, an offer of eight million euros would have been negotiable, but the Tukkers decided not to sit down with Feyenoord because of the previous experience with the team from Rotterdam. Moreover, Twente would no longer be able to attract a replacement on the last day.
Jan Streuer made it public on January 10 that Zerrouki would no longer be sold in the winter. Twente’s technical director eventually held his own when Feyenoord came back on the very last day. “Feyenoord was too late, ready”, Ten Voorde describes the feeling that lived in Enschede. “Had plenty of time, kept the player’s head spinning, but never turned the flirting into a steady courtship.” Zerrouki is fixed until mid-2024 and FC Twente expects to do good business next summer, the journalist adds.
Streuer already expressed his annoyance about Feyenoord’s actions on Tuesday. “I am disappointed that they turned that boy’s head around until the last day,” said Streuer, who also indicated that Feyenoord had several opportunities to continue. “In the summer, but also in November, for example, when the winter break came. If an offer had been made that we could not have refused, a completely different situation might have arisen. Now it has been dormant all this time.”