Al-Diriyah unwilling to allow head coach to leave to join Anderlecht | OneFootball

Anderlecht’s head coach search is not going well. After being rejected by Jon Dahl Tomasson and Paul Simonis, the third name on their shot list may also be staying where he is. According to HLN, Saudi-Arabian second tier side Al-Diriyah are unwilling to allow former Club Brugge and Ajax head coach Alfred Schreuder to leave the club. While Anderlecht had been hoping to not have to pay to take a head coach from another club, it had been understood that they would be willing to do so for Schreuder.

While it appears that Schreuder is willing to make the move, Anderlecht and Al-Diriyah have not been able to reach an agreement to release the Dutch manager from his current position. Al-Diriyah are currently involved in a promotion battle for the Saudi Pro League and it is understandable that they would rather not lose their head coach under these circumstances.

In the meantime, Jeremy Taravel will continue as interim head coach at Anderlecht. He got off to the best possible start, with Anderlecht beating Antwerp 3-0 in the cup semi-final to return to the cup final. The side looked much improved on recent weeks, playing with an energy that had not been there under Besnik Hasi. The small sample size has led some to call on the club to stick with Taravel until the end of the season.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson