New Twente boss Van den Brom clear amidst contract quandary: “I’m not allowed to field Mees Hilgers” | OneFootball

The arrival of John van den Brom at Twente hasn’t changed Mees Hilgers’ prospects amidst his contract scenario.

The Indonesian international’s contract expires after this season, and both the club and player aimed for a transfer this summer, yet that didn’t materialise. As per VI’s Geert-Jan Jakobs’ report, Hilgers is still not in the squad and that will remain the case. “At this moment, I’m not allowed to field Mees Hilgers.”

“We’ve made good internal agreements about that. I’m adhering to them. The moment I hear from Jan (Streuer, technical director) that I can field him, he’s an option for me.”

Streuer previously stated that Hilgers will no longer be eligible for playing time at FC Twente until he’s willing to sign a new contract. “Mees’ intention was that he might want to leave after so many years at the club,” the technical director explained. “I can certainly imagine that you have that ambition. We said: We’re not going to wait until he’s gone, we’re going to bring in two central defenders.”

“Robin Pröpper and Stav Lemkin have arrived. Hilgers hasn’t left. We’re currently in talks with him, and we hope to have clarity soon. We don’t want to shortchange players we’ve invested in by not letting them play. And we do want to let a player whose contract is expiring and who might want to leave play. That’s a clear choice, and we’ve communicated that to the players.”

“(Although this is the situation) If Hilgers extends his contract, he’ll be part of the team again. If not, we’ll give preference to players we’ve invested in and who still have longer contracts.”

GBeNeFN | Max Bradfield