Daley Blind seemed to be on his way to Royal Antwerp FC after his departure from Ajax, but the 32-year-old defender made a surprising move to Bayern Munich yesterday. Antwerp coach Mark van Bommel was quite disappointed about that, he admitted in his press conference today.
Van Bommel looked ahead this afternoon to the home game against number five AA Gent on Saturday evening in a sold-out Bosuil stadium. After an excellent start (first nine league matches won), Royal Antwerp is now third at no less than ten points from leader Racing Genk, although the points achieved after the regular season are still halved before the start of the play-offs.
Last summer, Royal Antwerp already tried to get Daley Blind to de Bosuil and in recent weeks ‘The Great Old’ made new attempts, where the lines were of course short with Marc Overmars as technical director. Blind, however, chose Bayern Munich, the club where Mark van Bommel once played for five years. Van Bommel also received the news that Overmars, director of football affairs at Royal Antwerp, was admitted to hospital with a mild heart attack at the end of 2022. Van Bommel was able to share a positive update a week later. “He is going in the right direction. Marc has to take it easy, but we will keep in touch. His absence does not hinder the transfer process.”
Logical choice
Van Bommel fully understood Blind’s choice. “The fact that Bayern offered Daley a contract means that we wanted to get a very good player,” said Van Bommel, who saw Blind as the ideal man next to Toby Alderweireld in the Antwerp defense. “We had good contact with Daley, but he made a logical choice. When a team like Bayern knocks on your door, you know you can’t compete with that. This is a pity for us, because Daley is someone with many qualities and he is versatile. Whether we continue to scan the market? Yes, although it is very difficult to find the right players in the winter.”
Van Bommel has to make do with the players who were already there for the time being. Moreover, Antwerp currently has one suspended, five injured and four doubtful cases (including Jurgen Ekkelenkamp) and Dinis Almeida is on his way to the Bulgarian top club Ludogorets.
,,The injury wave is extra inconvenient now that we are facing a few serious matches”, Van Bommel remarked. Antwerp will have to face AA Gent, Racing Genk (cup), Union Saint-Gilloise, KV Oostende, Standard Liège, Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Racing Genk again in the coming weeks. ,,But after the matches against Standard and Westerlo at the end of December, we are confident to start this tough series. We made it against Standard with good football and in Westerlo you always have to win.”
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