Anis Hadj Moussa was set to leave Feyenoord for Saudi side Al Ittihad, with a club-record bid of €42.5 million reportedly offered for the Algerian winger, who wanted to leave the club.
However, Feyenoord rejected the bid on deadline day after reportedly demanding a bank guarantee from Al Ittihad. General manager Robert Eenhoorn confirmed this in an interview with ESPN.
"In the first offer we received, the first term payment was 10 per cent of the total fee. That raised red flags," Eenhoorn said.
"That's why we asked for the bank guarantee, which never came. So that was never serious, if you asked me."
According to Saudi media, Al Ittihad believed that freezing the money for the bank guarantee was "impossible" after reaching the maximum they could offer for Hadj Moussa.
'If you have a Rembrandt and a Van Gogh...'
Besides Hadj Moussa, right-back Givairo Read was also close to leaving the club, with Roma reportedly interested. However, Feyenoord wanted to keep the youngster long term.
"We felt that Read needed to play more matches again, that he still had more to give. You can see now that he’s playing a lot of matches and is a key player. He’s putting himself back in the spotlight. Ultimately, we simply couldn’t reach an agreement with the clubs," Eenhoorn continued.
"If you have a Rembrandt and a Van Gogh hanging on your wall and you don’t sell them, they’ll still be hanging there. Their value on the market speaks for itself; I wouldn’t make too much of a fuss about it."
Hadj Moussa and Read have been crucial for Feyenoord this season - the Rotterdam giants sit top of the Eredivisie table, with Hadj Moussa contributing 5 goals and an assist, while Read has already assisted 5 league goals in nine appearances.