FC Volendam comes home from a rude awakening with a stripped-down selection: “Too often just not”

The entire village is preparing for the fair that takes place this weekend in Volendam. Played last weekend The New Orange still in the special fair outfit. As festive as it looked, the summer months at De Dijk were just as unpleasant, as the club failed to make an impact on the transfer market.

And yet the financial situation of FC Volendam is described as ‘healthy’. “That has to do with the outgoing transfers. We are much healthier than four years ago,” says Van Leeuwen. “From a sporting point of view, the current situation is a bit mixed. There is quality, but in terms of width it is thin. It is not very bad, but it is vulnerable, we realize that.”

Record transfer

The record transfer of Micky van de Ven has earned Volendam a lot of money. The central defender was sold to VfL Wolfsburg two years ago for 3.5 million and sold to Tottenham Hotspur for 40 million euros this summer. FC Volendam is entitled to a resale percentage of fifteen percent. However, it is not the case that Volendam can invest everything again immediately. Of that fifteen percent (5.475 million), so-called participants are entitled to forty percent. So there remains just over 3 million euros. If you add the money from the transfer of Carel Eiting (a few thousand euros) and Derry John Murkin (800,000 euros), Volendam has had a ‘record summer’.

Text continues under the photo.

But in that transfer summer at Volendam there is the phase before the transfer of Van de Ven and the phase after. Only after the switch to Tottenham Hotspur on August 8 did Volendam suddenly have a budget to sign players. “We only receive that money in installments spread over a number of years. This also applies to the other transfers,” says Van Leeuwen, who cannot invest all the money immediately.

The consequence for Van Leeuwen was that he was only able to enter the market late to make purchases. Towards the closing of the transfer market he was busy with a number of last-minute transfers, but astonishingly enough, Volendam received no appeal every time when push came to shove. “There are different reasons,” says Van Leeuwen. “A club that turned around because another player was injured, but also because the asking price was increased.”

“Jasper shows your cents”

The big question is why Volendam has hardly spent any money, while so much has been sold. Supporters chanted ‘Jasper show your money’ en masse during matches. to indicate that they were only too happy to see new players come. “We are not yet at the point where we can spend a million on a player. Unless it really has to be a top talent that we know will be worth five million in a few years. That is just too early for us.”

Text continues below the video.

“Too often it was just not there. That is frustrating,” Van Leeuwen continues about missing out on direct reinforcements. He would have liked to add three to four more players to create a squad that is ready for the second consecutive Premier League season.

The best example of a transfer that ultimately failed took place a few days ago with the transfer-free Niko Giesselmann. Last weekend the German left back was announced by everyone and everything at FC Volendam, but in the end the transfer fell through and he signed with Greuther Fürth. “I don’t think we set our sights too high.”

Text continues below the video.

While Volendam has difficulty attracting reinforcements, a large number of strong players left. Derry John Murkin and Carel Eiting were sold and the loanees Filip Stankovic and Gaetano Oristanio returned to Internazionale. In addition, Daryl van Mieghem and Henk Veerman moved from FC Volendam to ADO Den Haag. That could all be taken into account. “That’s not the problem. The problem is how we wanted to solve it didn’t work out.”

Skeptical fans

The supporters are disappointed with the exodus at the club and criticize the lack of new signings. “I think too much quality has gone away,” says a supporter. “I had hoped that perhaps more players would join, but we have to make do with this,” says another supporter at the match against FC Twente (0-2 loss).

Text continues below the video.

According to Van Leeuwen, it was not that easy to strike on the transfer market. Garang Kuol (on loan from Newcastle United), Zach Booth (on loan from Leicester City) and Mio Backhaus (on loan from Werder Bremen) came to Volendam on loan. Only for Luke Le Roux was a ‘mini-transfer fee’ paid to free him from Varbergs in Sweden. In Van Leeuwen’s eyes, Le Roux is a player of ‘immediate reinforcement’ caliber.

Strike the transfer market

Let’s go back to the Volendam fair. The entire village is in commotion, but Van Leeuwen lets the festivities pass him by. The work continues for the technical director. After the transfer market closed, he is now trying to fish in a different pond: that of transfer-free players. The supply is scarce, but the advantage is that no transfer fee has to be paid. In addition, Van Leeuwen still sees the prospect of striking again later this season. The transfer market will open again in January and Volendam will immediately have the money to trade. “I’m not going to say what we are doing now,” says Van Leeuwen, who is anyway looking for a left back and a midfielder.

Text continues below the video.

Volendam’s objective is to maintain its position in the Premier League again, but with an extra dimension. “Confirming Volendam as a premier league club” is now the motto. “We shouldn’t get lost in the number of points.” Normally the second Premier League season is a bigger challenge for clubs. “I also believe in that theory. You will have a larger group that leaves. Expectations will increase and the resources will not increase. The second year is more challenging than the first year. But there is no fear of things going wrong here. “I think the challenge is great.”

Next weekend, FC Volendam will resume the competition on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. with the away match against Fortuna Sittard. The team of coach Matthias Kohler hopes to win the first points of the new season.