Dennis te Kloese has denied agreeing last season that Givairo Read would be allowed to leave for €25 million. The former Feyenoord director said as much in an interview with De Telegraaf.
Nottingham Forest are prepared to go as high as €25 million because they believe Read can leave Feyenoord for that fee. Te Kloese, who has returned to Mexico, insists that is not the case.
"During my time at Feyenoord, I did not make a price agreement with anyone. Besides, Feyenoord do not have any clauses in contracts at all," Te Kloese stressed on Monday in an initial response.
Last season, Te Kloese held talks with clubs over a possible move for Read. "Before the winter break last year, I was actively working on a transfer for Read to Bayern Munich. Then even more clubs entered the frame. They were all roughly around that price level of €25 million, and even slightly higher."
That sort of fee appealed to Feyenoord. "Last winter, the intention was to complete a transfer, let Givairo play for Feyenoord for another six months and have him make the move in the summer. But what happened then was that Givairo got injured twice. That put a spanner in the works at the time."
A year ago, Te Kloese felt a move to an elite club was well within reach. "I think that a year ago it was quite realistic that he would have gone to a big club like Bayern Munich or a top club in England," Te Kloese said. "But those clubs simply became a bit more cautious because he got injured and wanted to see whether he would get fit again, return at the highest level and be able to play many matches in a row."
Without those setbacks, Bayern would have moved for Read, according to the former Feyenoord director. "I think Nottingham Forest now want to get ahead of the market and snatch Read away right under the nose of a big club."