Bouy back in business

By tdf, January 18, 2014

Former Ajax Academy star Ouasim Bouy has moved on loan to bundesliga side Hamburger SV. After impressing greatly in Holland, we snapped up the Dutch U19 international attacking midfielder in late January of 2012. Involved with the primavera for the remainder of the season, he scored several goals and impressed with his creativity and maturity. During the Summer, he found a loan move to Serie B side Brescia. The then 19 year old quickly forced his way into contention, and went on to make an impressive 17 first team appearances, assisting 5 goals and netting one for himself. And then…disaster struck when during a friendly match in early February of 2013, the dutch flair merchant ruptured his cruciate ligament (similar injury to the woe Quagliarella suffered a year before).

His season was over. A long road of rehabilitation awaited him. As the Summer of 2013 began to draw to a close, Ouasim was back on the grass, training with the first team squad. The decision was made to keep him at the club until Christmas, allow him to continue his recovery under the steely gaze of probably a better quality of medical staff than could be found back in Serie B, where it was expected he would return, once fully fit. Some fans concluded that he may even be able to earn a few outings in the league and be seen and used as a back-up as the season progressed. To me, this seemed lunatic optimism as I had concluded that far from been a part of Conte’s plans, they were simply keeping him wrapped up in cotton wool until the Winter mercato window opened. Whilst he did manage a few minutes against Avellino in the coppa italia, it was clearly a gesture of faith and respect for the player, a chance to stretch his legs briefly, get a few touches of the ball in a competitive match for the first time in many moons and taste the action in the safest possible fixture we will have all season.

Brescia were interested in bringing him back to their ranks to add to their promotion push. Novara were also eager to roll the Bouy dice…but his agent, Mino Raiola and the club had other plans. namely, a move to the German top flight, to play under his countryman Bert van Marwijk at Hamburger SV. The side currently sit in 14th spot, and will be aiming to push up the table away from relegation concerns, when their season re-opens towards the end of January with the visit of Schalke. van Marwijk is of good pedigree, having won the UEFA and domestic cups with Feyenoord, and taken the Netherlands to a World Cup Final in 2010. Commenting on the transfer, the experienced coach has this to say…
“Ouasim Bouy was a super talent back at Ajax. I have never seen him play, still I am aware of him.

“He will strengthen us in midfield. He had a bad injury but now he is back fit and is longing to play.”

Also on the move is former primavera front-man, Stefano Padovan. Who has joined Vicenza (Lega Pro) on loan after finding minutes on the field too hard to come by at Pescara, where he made 5 appearances from the bench after his summer move. Whilst it is a shame to see him drop down to the third tier of Italian football, if he gets games, and gets goals, the transfer is certainly better for his development than rotting on the bench elsewhere. At his age, he needs matches at senior level. Let us hope that Vicenza can give him the opportunity his talents displayed last term in our primavera suggest he strongly deserves. Vicenza are currently 7th, 2 points away from the play-off zone.

We remain in contact with german defender Marc-Oliver Kempf, and after agreeing a fee with his club Eintract Frankfurt, it is now up to the player to decide. Borussia Dortmund may well have joined the chase. It seems to be the same problem we encountered when trying to grab him in the last transfer window. The lad wants to play, and is wary of moving to Italy only to be placed in the primavera. One possible outcome is for us to seal the deal, with an agreement for Kempf to move on loan to Werder Bremen, whose representatives we have met with again recently, in regard to a possible co-operation between the clubs leading to several of our youngsters heading to their ranks.

Various sources reported late this week that we have ‘helped’ our good friends at Sassuolo to finance the deal to purchase Empoli’s half of star in the making defender, Daniele Rugani. As we already own the other half, the suggestion is that we have moved to stave off  the interest of other clubs and hedge our bets in terms of giving the Italy U21 international the best chance of playing Serie A football next term. There is the suggestion that Empoli needed the money…

Romanian Goalkeeper Laurentiu Branescu is edging ever closer to a move to Lanciano, requested by former primavera manager Marco Baroni who coached the player last season. Talks are set to continue over the coming days.

Rumours are surfacing regarding a bid for Hungarian attacking midfielder, Bálint Vécsei. The 20 year old already has 52 appearances at senior level in the hungarian league along with two europa league appearances for his club, Budapest Honved FC. He is also a regular for Hungary U21 side.

We are set to sign Grigoris Kastanos at the end of this month, when the player turns 16 on the 30th January. Whilst Man City and Arsenal were coveting the player, Beppe and Paratici swooped in December, with a bid thought to be around 100k, to secure the services of the Enosis Neon Paralimni FC youngster. Already part of the Cyprus U17 squad at 15 years old, Grigoris found himself in the spotlight when scoring a wonderful free-kick against Germany in November, when turning out for his country’s U16 team. Comfortable as a striker or winger, the up and coming forward is good with both feet and talked off in his homeland as one of the most promising talents ever to emerge from Cyprus.