Melle Meulensteen is going to leave RKC. The captain of the Waalwijkers will sign a 4-year contract with Vitesse. The medical examination will take place on Thursday afternoon.
Meulensteen played for RKC for 4.5 years. When he came, the club was still in the First Division. The defender managed to promote with the club and then maintain several seasons.
A step to Vitesse does not come as a surprise. After the first training, exactly one week ago, the captain of RKC already indicated that there was concrete interest. “There is now concrete interest from the Eredivisie. It will take a while to see how long it will take, but it can be a nice step in our own country,” Meulensteen said at the time.
It soon became clear that Vitesse was the club that had concrete interest. Only something had to change with the Arnhemmers, given the debt of 155 million. This was ‘waived’ last week, allowing the club to enter the transfer market.
RKC receives a transfer fee, according to RKCNU, it concerns an amount of approximately one million euros, for the defender who played 129 matches for RKC. Last winter there was still interest from Willem II, but then the Waalwijkers did not let him go. RKC eventually finished tenth.
Another defender gone
RKC also lost its other central defender on Thursday afternoon. Ahmed Touba moves to Istanbul Basaksehir. The Algerian would reportedly earn RKC 2 million euros.
General director Frank van Mosselveld sees the transfer as confirmation of the good policy. “He is going to a top 4 club from Turkey, which for us as RKC is also confirmation that we are able to develop players to such an extent that we can sell them to big clubs.”