Justin Bijlow will return between the sticks as Feyenoord take on AZ Alkmaar on Saturday night. Manager Brian Priske and his staff have decided to bench Timon Wellenreuther in recent days, the Dane said in his Friday press conference.
Wellenreuther’s first-team status at Feyenoord has been under scrutiny for some time now, with some social media users even going as far to make a video catalogue of the German’s mistakes in recent months.
Issues surrounding the goalkeeper only grew after De Klassieker on Wednesday, as the former Willem II and Anderlecht stopper was at fault for both of Kenneth Taylor and Jorel Hato’s goals at De Kuip. Priske did not want to say too much about it at the time, but made his thought process very clear on Friday afternoon:
“Justin will be in goal tomorrow. For the same reason as with all the other players. We have evaluated the performances of Timon and Justin, Justin has been pushing hard the last few weeks. We have two strong goalkeepers, but I think Saturday is the moment to let Justin keep. Fresh energy, just after Ajax.”
Priske then briefly explained how Wellenreuther handled the announcement and was quick to praise the 28-year-old, although he didn’t want to tell the true ins and outs of the conversation.
“(He was) Very professional. (The conversation) has to stay between us. But as I expected, he handled it very professionally.”
