Image via @Feyenoord on Twitter
Just the other week I was writing about how Sebastian Szymański was on the verge of completing a move to Hertha Berlin. Now, two weeks later, he is officially a Feyenoord player, joining the Rotterdam club on a year-long loan with a reported €10 million option to buy, which would be a record fee for Feyenoord.
So, how did we get from being in serious discussions to join Hertha to joining last season’s Conference League finalists? If you’d like more on Szymański’s background and the Hertha offer, you can read my earlier article here.
The first inclination that things in Szymański’s transfer to Hertha were not progressing at the required rate was his return to Warszawa to train with Legia’s reserves. This was around a week after the move to Hertha was first reported to be the closest, as Szymański had plenty of interest from clubs around Europe. In the intervening period, the move had clearly stalled.
During this period, it was reported by Interia Sport that Galatasaray and Besiktas also tabled offers for the 23 year-old Polish international, and it was first reported by Sebastian Staszewski on Twitter that Szymański would be headed to Feyenoord. The player flew out to the Netherlands on Thursday with his agent Mariusz Piekarski and he was announced yesterday afternoon.
So how come Hertha missed out? One theory is that the wages might have been an issue in confirming the personal terms, although it is difficult to believe this given that two weeks ago they had no qualms about the reported €2.5 million for the first year of his deal. Another is that Dynamo Moscow would prefer €10 million in transfer fees one year down the line as opposed to the €9 million that Hertha were offering this summer. More likely in my opinion, Szymański simply chose a club on the up (Feyenoord) as to one that has been struggling in recent seasons (Hertha).
It’s also worth remembering that Feyenoord has been good breeding ground for Polish players, with Jerzy Dudek, Ebi Smolarek (now youth manager at Feyenoord) and Tomasz Rząsa playing at De Kuip in the past.
It will be interesting to see how Szymański gets on in the Eredivisie given it is one of the best leagues for developing talent, and he may be able to secure a future transfer to a top team in England if he performs well at Feyenoord, as they have a history of selling their best players to Premier League clubs, something we have already seen this summer.
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