Heerenveen remain hopeful they can resist interest from Manchester City for their star striker Afonso Alves.

Heerenveen director Yme Kuiper is not resigned to losing the 26-year-old, who this week was handed a five-match ban for hitting out at Vitesse Arnhem midfielder Remco van der Schaaf in Sunday's fixture.

He said: "The chances of Alves staying with us at the moment are still quite good.

"The situation of Alves has changed again of course now that he can't play games because of his suspension."

Kuiper claimed that no substantial bid had been received, saying: "We can only wait and see what happens in the near future, but so far we don't have any signals that something will become concrete."

Kuiper freely admits that Alves is unsettled, however.

He said: "In the summer he said that he wanted to play abroad and especially England was his preference."