Antwerp firmly denies the chefs’ strike and is counting on a lucrative transfer summer with (among others) the jackpot for George Ilenikhena

Sam Kerkhofs made it somewhat clumsily on Tuesday 90 Minutesthe football podcast of Sporza in Friends of Sports: “You hear stories that the cooks were not paid and stopped working for a while. “A lot is not going well behind the scenes,” said the podcast maker and co-owner of Sporting Hasselt. Inquiries tell us that Kerkhofs had heard the rumor in supporter circles. The story is categorically denied by Antwerp itself. What the club has never denied, however, is that there are occasional problems with cash flow.

“Every year we have some problems with our cash flows in certain periods,” CEO Sven Jaecques said three weeks ago. Gazette of Antwerp. “In short, it comes down to this: the date of payments does not always correspond to the date on which we receive money into the account. That will cause some delays. But to date, everyone has been paid correctly every season. And that will be no different in the future,” he tried to keep the peace.

The story of those chefs seems to fit in perfectly. Many of those people are supporters of Antwerp and can put up with quite a bit out of love for the club. Ultimately, no one has ever sued the club for overdue payments. It is therefore expected that the club will receive its professional license on Monday.

Transferzomer

In the meantime, Antwerp is also trying to look ahead. The Great Old will soon receive around 20 million euros for participating in the group stage of the Champions League. In addition, it is aiming for a lucrative transfer summer. It gradually seems impossible that George Ilenikhena will play for Antwerp next year. Half of Europe is pulling at the sleeve of the 17-year-old attacker, who could leave for a record amount. There is talk of a transfer fee of 30 to 40 million euros.

Mandela Keita, Jean Butez and Michel-Ange Balikwisha could also make millions. A cloth for the bleeding? No, rather a next step in the club’s development. After years of blind investing, it is gradually time to become self-sufficient. This can be done in two ways: either by passing through the cash register every year in the new Champions League, or by training young players who can then be resold at a profit. And the second model may have a better chance of success.