Antwerp took Mandela Keita away from the OHL on a lease basis last winter. To sign the midfielder permanently, the cup winner must reportedly put €10m on the table. “The option is too high. We’re not going to do that,” Antwerp CEO Sven Jakes told Extra Time.
It was one of the winter’s most striking acts and also one of the most successful: Mandela Keita went to Antwerp on a loan from the OHL.
At Bosuil, the 20-year-old defensive midfielder was immediately shown to be an established value.
“It was strange in itself that OH Löfven would go with us to hire Keita,” says Sven Jaekes in Extra Time. “We never thought it would work.”
“Keita was very frustrated with OHL. I understood their CEO’s reasoning that a change of air would benefit him and that Antwerp could create some value.”
In Antwerp, they were very happy with Keita’s arrival. “Imagine if he wasn’t with us. At that time we didn’t know when Joseph would come back.”
The option to buy is simply too high.
The only question that remains is: will Antwerp definitively take over Keita from the OHL?
The purchase option will amount to 10 million euros. “The choice is just too high.”
“It’s impossible,” Jack says firmly. “We won’t. Mandela will play in Leuven again next year.”
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