FEYENOORD PARTNER EXCELSIOR REACH EREDIVISE

Chairman Jorien van den Herik and Technical Director Rob Baan congratulated their colleagues at Excelsior personally, after Feyenoord’s Rotterdam neighbours earned promotion to the Eredivisie Sunday by topping their playoff group. Feyenoord has a working partnership with the club, which allows Excelsior to field Feyenoord youngsters, giving them vital experience at a high level. The elevation is unlikely to affect that relationship. ‘The main aim for us continues to be bringing talent through,’ says Rob Baan.

’The rules allow Excelsior to take five Feyenoord players on loan. I assume that that number will be reached next season too,’ continued Baan. ’But which players is not yet known. We’ll work that out by mutual agreement in the next few weeks. At the end of the day the players we consider suitable have to want to too. But now Excelsior have reached the Eredivisie, it won’t be such an effort to convince them. For first division football, in the past I’ve sometimes had to give them an extra push in the right direction. I reckon it will be a lot easier now.’ Besides the loan deals, there is also a chance that Excelsior will bolster their squad in the transfer market, ahead of its first season in the top flight since 1986/87. ‘And within the framework of the cooperation, I don’t rule out Excelsior buying a couple of Feyenoord players. At least, I understand that Excelsior have looked at a few players, but I’ll wait and see what develops in the next few weeks.’