Sparta’s search for a new trainer is not going smoothly for the time being. After a series of cancellations, Fred Rutten was also asked to succeed Maurice Steijn, who had left for Ajax, but De Brabander does not see a stay at Het Kasteel.
A few months ago, Rutten, who acted as assistant to Ruud van Nistelrooij at PSV last season, indicated that he would like to work as head coach again. But not at Sparta, Rutten has informed the Castle Club.
At an earlier stage, Greg Berhalter, Ron Jans and Danny Blind were also approached to fill the vacant trainer position in Rotterdam-West. The trio declined for various reasons. For example, Berhalter was reinstated as national coach of the United States, Jans saw no reason to reconsider his decision to distance himself from football for some time and Blind announced that he no longer wanted to lead a club.
Next Monday, Sparta will start preparing for the new season. The main question for now is whether that will happen with or without a new trainer. If Sparta is unable to do that, assistants Jeroen Rijsdijk and Nourdin Boukhari will lead the training sessions.
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