COLLEN IN NAC BREDA LOAN SWITCH

Pieter Collen has gone on loan to fellow Eredivisie outfit NAC Breda for the rest of the season. Collen will report for training in Breda on Friday, bolstering NAC’s skinny defensive options. The Belgian defender secured a similar loan deal last season, but banked only 40 minutes of pitch time for NAC before succumbing to an ankle injury that kept him out of the reckoning for almost the whole of the 2002-3 campaign.

‘For me it’s important to play football after so long doing nothing,’ said Collen Thursday. ‘I need to get match fit and there’s little chance of me doing that at Feyenoord. I will play frequently at NAC, which will allow me to return next summer as a fully-fledged competitor.’