Dutch club urged to decide Vietnamese defender's future

By Lam Thoa, Hoang Nguyen   July 8, 2020 | 01:41 am PT
Dutch club urged to decide Vietnamese defender's future
Doan Van Hau trains with SC Heerenveen, December 2019. Photo courtesy of SC Heerenveen.
Doan Van Hau remains in the Netherlands awaiting SC Heerenveen's final call on his future.

It has been over a week since Hau’s contract with Heerenveen expired, but the Dutch club hasn’t made a decision on whether to keep him on or not. Previously on July 2, they sent an email to Hanoi FC, Hau's club in Vietnam, but only to ask the capital club to pay a part of his salary should they extend his stay.

Vo Le Trung, general director of T&T Sports Joint Stock Company, owner of Hanoi FC, said Hanoi will provide financial support, but Heerenveen need to prove they want to keep Hau for technical reasons and not merely commercial purposes. "We have sent a reply to the Dutch club, requesting it to sort this matter out quickly."

A Thanh Nien report said Hanoi has given Heerenveen until July 15 to make a final decision, and if it fails to come up with a sufficient plan, the 21-year-old left-back would have to return to Vietnam.

"Hau is a young and talented player. He wants to continue playing football in Europe so the club will support him. But if this deal is off for some reason, I hope he knows Hanoi has tried its best," Trung said.

Hau has yet to appear in the top-flight Eredivisie this season after arriving at Heerenveen on loan from Hanoi FC last year. He has only played four minutes during the Dutch National Cup.

The left-back has spent most of his time playing for the club’s youth team, Jong Heerenveen, contributing to many of its victories.

Despite not using Hau in its first team, Heerenveen informed Hanoi FC they wanted to extend his loan another year, though neither side has found common ground regarding financial settlement.

Hau’s salary at Heerenveen was €450,000 ($507,000), the minimum wage for players from outside Europe that clubs in the Netherlands have to pay.

In February, top-flight Dutch league Eredivisie was forced to suspend fixtures without a champion, relegation or promotion because of Covid-19.

At the moment, Hanoi FC is facing a crisis in defense with most of its key players sidelined due to injury.

 
 
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