The takeover of football club Vitesse is almost complete. General director Pascal van Wijk reports this in a message on the website of the Arnhemmers.
At the end of June, the Russian owner Valeri Oyf announced that he wanted to sell Vitesse because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He transferred all his shares to the Dutch Paid Football Foundation “Vitesse-Arnhem”. With the transfer, the debt of an estimated 150 million euros from the Arnhem Eredivisie club was also forgiven.
Since then, it has remained quiet from Vitesse’s side, until Wednesday. “The most important thing at the moment is that the club has almost agreed with a takeover party on a definitive purchase contract,” Van Wijk reports, who asks for patience. “It is understandable that everyone is becoming increasingly curious about the next developments. For many people, the current situation will feel as if we are playing one of the most important matches in club history, but that the standings are not known. Like our supporters, we would still would rather have the transfer arranged today than tomorrow. However, a process of negotiation and meeting many legal conditions, in particular, cannot be forced.”
Van Wijk does not mention the name of the takeover party. “After many positive discussions, we are getting closer. It requires a lot of legal work in particular, but we are also ironing out the last folds in this area,” he says. “We hope to be able to finalize the agreement as soon as possible, so that the KNVB’s licensing committee can be asked for approval. Until this step is taken, the name and background of the acquisition candidate cannot be made public.”
Vitesse hopes to be able to further strengthen the selection once the takeover has been completed. The transfer window runs until the end of August. Van Wijk: “It is no secret that we are still actively looking for reinforcements. We are counting on our possibilities in this area to be expanded soon, but first we need a number of signatures on paper. we will have to continue to act creatively and smartly.”
Vitesse starts the new season on Sunday with a home game against Feyenoord.