Giovanni van Bronckhorst has named his line-up for the away game against NEC. The Feyenoord boss has had to improvise straight away, with Anis Hadj Moussa left out of the matchday squad after the unrest surrounding his possible transfer to Ittihad Club.
Tjark Ernst starts in goal for the Rotterdam side on Saturday afternoon at De Goffert. Givairo Read lines up at right-back, with Jeremiah St. Juste and Tsuyoshi Watanabe in the middle and Mika Mármol on the left.
For midfield, Van Bronckhorst has gone with Charles Vanhoutte, Oussama Targhalline and Gjivay Zechiël. Targhalline therefore keeps his place despite his weaker display against ADO Den Haag.
Further forward, the changes stand out most. Nacho Ferri gets his chance through the middle after Ayase Ueda's departure to Lille OSC, with Gaoussou Diarra and Luciano Valente on either flank.
Hadj Moussa had originally been expected to start on the right wing, but the Algerian is missing altogether. According to De Telegraaf, he arrived too late for the team bus to Nijmegen and then went home.
Van Bronckhorst has therefore had to reshape his attack. Diarra switches to the right wing, Valente starts on the left and, according to Dennis van Eersel, Zechiël takes up an attacking role as a number 10.
That absence comes in the middle of the transfer saga surrounding the forward. Ittihad submitted a bid of €37.5 million on Friday and Hadj Moussa is keen on the move to Saudi Arabia, but Feyenoord decided not to cooperate with a transfer.
Feyenoord's away match against NEC kicks off on Saturday at 4.30pm.
Feyenoord line-up: Ernst; Read, St. Juste, Watanabe, Mármol; Vanhoutte, Targhalline, Zechiël; Diarra, Ferri, Valente.