St. Juste joins FSV Mainz

Feyenoord signed St. Juste in the summer of 2017 from sc Heerenveen, where he had come through the youth system and made his Eredivisie debut. In his first year in Rotterdam the defender made 23 appearances, including three in the KNVB Cup, which Feyenoord won. A shoulder injury ruled him out in the second half of that season. In total St. Juste pulled on the Feyenoord jersey in an official match 50 times in two seasons. He scored six times and claimed three assists.

Speaking about the transfer, technical director Sjaak Troost said: ‘St. Juste is a player who has qualities we would have liked to keep at the club. However, Feyenoord received an offer we just could not refuse. We never talk about amounts, but the size of the transfer fee we will receive for him is significantly more than we expected to receive for him in the future. You just have to do this as a club, especially when the player himself says he wants to make the move.

‘Furthermore, this creates space to bring in at least two more additions, hopefully very soon, after the arrival of Liam Kelly, Leroy Fer and Luciano Narsingh and Nick Marsman and the important extensions of Steven Berghuis, Jens Toornstra and Nicolai Jørgensen,’ said Troost. ‘The club’s policy now and in the future is oriented to focusing more heavily on our own youth. We think we will create more balance in the team in terms of age and experience with new signings, which will help the development of the youth.’

The timing of St. Juste’s departure, just ahead of the first European fixture, is not ideal for coach Jaap Stam, as Troost realises. ‘We do not take this lightly. At the moment, the staff are having to do a lot of puzzling out and trying out. Also because we have to deal with key players who are injured. For those reasons, we are working as hard as we can to strengthen the first team in several positions by buying or loaning players who can come quickly, start immediately and that our youth can learn from.’