Excelsior winger Couhaib Driouech has revealed he turned down a move to Swansea City in the January transfer window as he didn’t believe the move was right for him.
The 21-year-old has been speaking on Kick ‘t met on Ziggo Sport, relayed by Voetbal International, regarding his decision in the winter window.
He joined Excelsior from Heerenveen’s U21’s in August 2021 and has been establishing himself at the Dutch club ever since, with 12 goals and 12 assists in 92 games in all competitions for the club so far.
This season in particular has been a fruitful one for him given his age, with four goals and four assists in 21 games in the Eredivisie to date.
Those numbers seemingly led to interest in his services and Swansea were one of four options for the player in the January transfer window.
That’s at least according to Driouech, who has revealed Swansea and the other clubs that were interested in signing him.
He, though, turned down the interest from clubs outside of the Netherlands as he didn’t believe that would be the best option for him at this point in his career.
“We rejected foreign clubs because we preferred to stay in the Netherlands,” he said when asked about the interest in him earlier this year.
“The clubs came from England, France and Italy. It involved four clubs: Lorient, Swansea City, Como and Lecce. I didn’t see that as the right next step.
‘That (a call from PSV) was great, because we assumed we would stay at Excelsior. When a club like that comes, you can’t say no. Feyenoord also joined afterwards, which suddenly turned into a soap opera.
“Excelsior did not reach an agreement with PSV, because the club could not get a replacement. Fortunately, I have faith that it will happen next summer. Maybe not PSV, but other clubs.”
