Utrecht's debts prompt clear-out
Thursday, January 16, 2003
Article summary
Cash-strapped FC Utrecht will release six players in the summer in a bid to ease their financial problems.
Article body
All aged over 30
Utrecht, eighth in the Dutch first division, are some €5m in debt and so have decided not to renew the contracts of the six - all aged over 30 - when their current deals expire in the summer. Goalkeeper Harald Wapenaar and striker Igor Gluscevic head the list of players leaving the club, along with Arno Arts, Marinus Dijkhuizen, Arco Jochemsen and Robert Roest.
UEFA Cup exit
Wapenaar, a key figure in the side which secured UEFA Cup qualification in each of the last two seasons, said: "The club told me several times they wouldn't let me go, but with the recent financial problems there is no chance they will offer me a new contract." Utrecht exited the 2002/03 UEFA Cup in the first round, beaten 7-2 on aggregate by Poland's Legia Warszawa.
'I will give my best'
Gluscevic, meanwhile, who joined Utrecht in 2000 after spells in Spain and Greece, said: "I expected it after all the messages we were getting. But I came here a gentleman and I will give the club my best and leave like a gentleman at the end of the season." The Yugoslavian has scored 35 goals in 73 league games for the Galgenwaard club.
Focus on youth
The fact all six players are over 30 underlines the club's policy of concentrating on developing young talent. This winter Utrecht have rejected Feyenoord's attempts to sign the promising duo of Pascal Bosschaart and Dirk Kuijt.
