Just a few weeks ago, Deinze were supposedly saved by AAD Invest. The Crypto backed metaverse pursuing group were meant to come in and save the club and finally pay the players wages that have been due for two months now. However, it is clear now that the group never had any money. Wages have not been paid, and now the side have been deducted points for a second time in a matter of weeks. They have lost their last two games as well, fielding a side mainly made up of U21 players because senior players have quite rightly refused to play. AAD promised the players they would be paid the week that the takeover took place, yet nothing materialised.
Back on the 22nd of November, the club released a statement that said;
It was explained that the club’s acquirer, AAD Invest Group, will make available an amount of 75 million euros for various investments in the coming period. Of this amount, a significant portion of at least 6 million euros will be invested in the club. However, this amount will only be available once the stock exchange listing has been completed, which is not yet the case today and is taking longer than expected.
Pending the release of the aforementioned funds, AAD Invest Group requested a credit of 3 million euros to bridge the coming period and to pay the club’s debts in the short term. This amount would be made available in the very short term in order to avoid the club’s bankruptcy.
It is regrettable that the acquirer was confronted with several debts that were not disclosed by the seller at the time of the acquisition.
This created the need to find additional resources, which obviously caused delays.
It is clear now that their plan was to buy the club and then work on bringing in money from other sources. They claimed to have financial backing from groups linked to the oil industry in the Middle-East. However, it looks now that none of these friends have decided to help them out. Bankruptcy and the end of Deinze in its current form feels inevitable. While AAD were evidently not the sides saving grace, nor should they be held responsible for what has happened. The problems at Deinze are the making of the previous owners, and with or without AAD the club was going under anyway.
What may frustrate Deinze fans, and should concern the rest of the footballing world, is that AAD are reportedly in talks to sign other clubs in Europe. Yet to be named clubs in Ligue 2 and Serie C are on the clubs radar. One only hopes that the football authorities in these nations do their due diligence before allowing a sale to go through.
GBeNeFNÂ |Â Ben Jackson
