Anderlecht sporting director Olivier Renard has defended his decision to sign Yasin Özcan, who arrived on loan from Aston Villa in the summer.
Renard has spoken to La Dernière Heure about the 19-year-old’s poor start at Anderlecht and Walfoot have relayed his comments.
Back in February, Aston Villa agreed a deal with Turkish side Kasımpaşa SK for Özcan to arrive at Villa Park last summer.
He was part of Unai Emery’s pre-season squad before being sent on loan to the Belgian club in August. Later that month, Anderlecht manager Besnik Hasi confirmed his integration was delayed due to paperwork issues.
The centre-back has been restricted to 64 minutes from two matches. These were in UEFA Conference League qualifiers in August and he hasn’t featured for the Belgian club since then.
Özcan has had three more appearances with RSCA Futures, which is Anderlecht’s reserve team. Mihajlo Ilić, who is on loan from Bologna, has also struggled for minutes in Belgium.
Despite Hasi not taking the duo into account for the Jupiler Pro League, the director now justified his decision to sign the Aston Villa owned player and Ilić. He also revealed their purchase option amount.
“We’re paying zero euros for their loans,” he said.
“The purchase option for Özcan is reasonable: €8m. If he becomes a regular starter at Anderlecht, his value would rise to €15m. We saw what happened with Simic.
“Özcan is on a global list of 100 players under 20 with the highest market value. He played over 100 matches in Turkey.”
Reading between the lines, Anderlecht appear to have taking a punt on the Aston Villa youngster. If the loan fails, they can simply send him back at no loss.
