© IMAGO/FootballTransfers
Feyenoord appears to be saying goodbye to head coach Brian Priske in the short term. Despite the 3-0 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday evening, the fate of the Danish manager seems to have already been sealed in De Kuip. Valentijn Driessen writes in his column The Telegraph that Dennis te Kloese cannot afford another mistake after Priske’s dismissal.
Marino Pusic is mentioned as a potential successor to Priske at Feyenoord. The current head coach of Shakhtar Donetsk is no stranger to De Kuip and worked for several years as assistant to Arne Slot at Feyenoord. “Always to the full satisfaction of the commissioners, management, Slot and the players of Feyenoord,” Driessen writes.
“Apart from the time Pusic grabbed a Slavia Prague striker by the throat in the Conference League quarter-final, there was only one wrinkle during the assistant’s tenure,” the journalist continues. “When he negotiated with Tottenham Hotspur behind Feyenoord’s back in the spring of 2023, together with Slot and Sipke Hulshoff. When the transition to the Premier League failed, the clocks in De Kuip were quickly reset.”
Feyenoord’s choice for Pusic is logical, according to Driessen: “Because many players from that time are still under contract, the choice for Pusic is understandable; At the same time, being a head coach is very different from the assistant role.” Driessen gives an example: “For example, Slot handled this well at AZ, but Alfred Schreuder fell through the ice at Ajax when he was brought back as the first man as a former assistant.”
-© IMAGO – Marino Pusic should become Brian Priske’s successor at Feyenoord.
Driessen is therefore of the opinion that general manager Te Kloese can no longer afford a mistake: “He was the great advocate for Priske at Feyenoord last summer. He had followed the Dane for years and his data impressed Te Kloese. However, from the very first moment it has been a mismatch between Feyenoord and the Dane, and it was strange that Priske van Te Kloese was allowed to simply throw Slot’s successful philosophy over the fence. Te Kloese had not done his homework sufficiently.”
“A wrong choice is possible, but the general manager – previously also technical director – cannot afford a second mistake in the coaching field,” is the stark conclusion. “Pusic must be right. If the coaching coin falls wrong again with Pusic, then Te Kloese’s role at Feyenoord is over and he will be the next to leave the field at De Kuip.”
Morocco
