VVCS response: ‘You have to look at each case individually’
Besides Youness Mokhtar, there are a lot of players with Moroccan roots without a club with boys like Anouar Kali, Ali Messaoud, Hilal Ben Moussa, Khalid Karami and Nasser El Khayati. All football players in their thirties with a decent track record at the highest level.
President Evgeniy Levchenko of the players’ union VVCS thinks it is too premature to speak of a trend. “You have to look at each case individually.”
“The fact is that clubs now work with smaller selections,” he continues. “But I have never heard any noises about discrimination myself. As far as I know, Mokhtar is also not known as a difficult boy. You would indeed think that someone with his qualities would have to work. Especially if he convinces a club of it want to invest in his career and not ask for the top prize.”
Response PEC Zwolle: ‘Prevent unrest’
“It’s true that he offered to join us. The story was that he could make younger guys better, but we have enough experienced players in the group with Kostas Lamprou, Ryan Koolwijk and Bram van Polen. We don’t want bigger (training) players now. ) group to prevent unrest in the selection. We do not agree with the discrimination allegations.”
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