Seb Huntelaar, the son of 76-time international Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, is one of the players who enjoys a lot of interest. The talented 16-year-old striker is in the interest of Ajax, PSV and FC Utrecht, who would like to include the youth international in their academy.
Also the 19-year-old Senna Westerveld, a talented striker, who played in the 19-team last season, has not complained about interest. The attacker from Zeist in Utrecht can work at ADO Den Haag and FC Twente.
Last Thursday, after consultation with the VVCS, Vitesse promised that contract players can submit a request to terminate their contract if they want to make the switch to another club. This applies, for example, to the 18-year-old midfielder Jim Koller. The top talent, which already has 23 games in the first behind his name, already enjoyed PSV’s concrete interest this summer.
Jim Koller
The Eindhoven club made a bid of half a million euros on Koller, but general director Timo Braasch and Sterkhouders chairman Michel Schaay laid down in the expectation of being able to drag out a higher amount.
Vitesse players are going to arbitrate to get rid of their contract
PSV wanted to do business until shortly before the license troubles, but because Vitesse continued to put the heels in the sand, there was no agreement. Koller can now request dissolution of his contract and make the switch to PSV transfer free, something that is expected to take his seizure next week.
Jim Koller in action for Vitesse © Pro Shots
For players who are part of the youth academy and have not yet signed a professional contract, the situation is different. They cannot switch to another club at the moment, because the transfer period is closed. The KNVB should provide dispensation to make the switch from youth players possible to other clubs, but the union wants to wait with a decision about this until more is clear about the plans for a restart of Vitesse at the amateurs.
A delegation from the Arnhem club had a meeting last week with the KNVB in which the options were discussed. Vitesse has indicated that it wants to maintain the academy, but many parents of youth footballers want to place their offspring after the recent developments as quickly as possible to another club.
For example, a fire letter was sent from parents to the KNVB to draw attention to the situation of youth football players, who are in danger of falling between the shore and the ship. The parents fear, among other things, to encounter problems with the placement at top sports schools, if they have to wait longer.
Vitesse sends a letter to parents youth players
Vitesse tried to remove the worries with a letter to the parents. In writing, the Arnhem club states: “We are of course aware of the current situation, but together we make the best of it. A big compliment goes to all players who continue to look forward to the reconstruction of Vitesse despite everything.” The training courses of the Academy were restarted last week, but quite a number of talents did not show themselves on the training field pending the desired transfer.
This week it was also known that Michael Jansen’s head of training is no longer in office. That is independent of the withdrawal of the license. Jansen, a former first-team player, was negotiating a new commitment with the then general manager Braasch at the time, but no agreement could be reached, after which Jansen decided to leave at the end of the current contract.