Abdou Harroui will report back to training with Sparta Rotterdam on Monday. The midfielder is aiming for a step up and was given a week more holiday after his participation in the European Championship with the Dutch Juniors, to study the possibilities for a transfer. As yet, however, no bid has been received.
The rumour mill has been running at full speed for a while. Galatasaray, Lille, Rangers FC: it is only a few clubs that have been linked with Harroui in recent times. Technical director Henk van Stee also knows the rumours, but is still waiting for a bid for the youth international who still has a one-year contract. "I have to stay sober," Van Stee says. 'My phone is red hot and every day I speak to people who are informing. They're middlemen, that's the way it is these days. But there's still no bid.'
Van Stee knows this may be only a matter of time. 'I expect that the market will get going after the European Championship and that everything will be focused on the national competitions again', says the driver. 'Appie wants to move up, we know that. He had a good time at Sparta, but now wants to make a nice transfer. We therefore also gave him permission to take a little longer holidays so that he could go through a few things with his agent. But for me it only becomes interesting when a good offer actually comes in.'
At the start of the preparation, Van Stee estimated the probability that Harroui would stay with Sparta at only ten percent. Now he comes up with a noticeably higher percentage. 'It's premature to say we're not counting on Appie for next season. If you'd asked me that two months ago, I would have said so. Now I think it's fifty-fifty whether he stays or not. But again: I don't expect the market to really get going until now.'
On Monday, Harroui is expected back on the training field at Sparta. 'And then we expect him to focus fully on Sparta again', says Van Stee. 'He's got to let all the rumours go by.'