Mark van Bommel and Marc Overmars may be facing a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia. According to De Telegraaf and AD, Al-Shabab has plans to bring the trainer and director of football affairs of Royal Antwerp to the Middle East.
Al-Shabab fired trainer Marcel Keizer a week ago, but would like to continue following a Dutch course by recruiting Van Bommel and Overmars. Remarkably, Van Bommel recently extended his contract with Antwerp by a year until the summer of 2025.
It is therefore still uncertain whether the pair will actually leave for Saudi Arabia. Van Bommel qualified for the main tournament of the Champions League with Antwerp last week by beating the Greek AEK over two matches. This marks the Belgian club’s debut in the European million-dollar competition.
In his first season at Antwerp, Van Bommel led his team to the national title and the national cup. At the beginning of this year, ‘The Great Old’ also won the Belgian Super Cup.
Overmars has been director of football affairs at Antwerp since March 2022. Less than two months earlier, he had to leave Ajax due to inappropriate behavior. The appointment of Van Bommel as trainer was one of Overmars’ first acts at the Belgian club.
Fifty-year-old Overmars suffered a heart attack in December last year and was admitted to hospital. The former winger suffered irreparable damage to his heart, but he has been back to work at his club since January.
