Max Huiberts, director of football affairs at AZ, looks back with satisfaction on the past transfer period. According to him, the Alkmaarders have strengthened themselves where necessary and the club can therefore score highly in the remainder of the season.
AZ saw Albert Gudmundsson (Genoa) and Thijs Oosting (Willem II) leave last month. On the other hand, Milos Kerkez (AC Milan) and Kamal Sowah (Club Brugge) to the AFAS Stadium. Huiberts is happy that AZ has managed to secure the latter. “We were looking for an attacker who could immediately strengthen us and who has a different profile than the attackers we already have in the selection,” he says on the club channels. “I think it worked out well. We were able to get Kamal and get rid of Albert. That was a good solution.”
Huiberts only wanted to sell Gudmundsson if an attacker came and stood there immediately. “We know from Kamal that he is good enough to take over Albert’s position and make an immediate impact when he has to play.” AZ is currently fifth in the Eredivisie, but is not satisfied with that. “The player group is convinced that they can achieve something beautiful on all three fronts on which we are still active: the Eredivisie, the KNVB Cup and the Conference League. You see trust, there is hard work and I also see a very positive energy. That bodes well.”
The top four is therefore the minimum requirement. “That is our goal. We always want to finish in the first four.” The next hurdle that AZ has to overcome is a difficult one: Pascal Jansen’s team will play the away game against PSV on Saturday.
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