Football Presse

Nordsjaelland reject big bids for Ghana World Cup hero Yirenkyi

ยทBy Junior Yekini
Share

Caleb Yirenkyi is red-hot right now.

The midfielder has been delivering fine performances for FC Nordsjaelland for some time, and overnight he showed what he can do on the biggest stage of all.

Yirenkyi was Ghana's matchwinner at the World Cup, scoring a stoppage-time goal to beat Panama 1-0 in the Black Stars' opening group game, and in Farum they already know they have a special player on their hands.

Porto have been linked with Yirenkyi this summer, while English clubs were said to be interested back in the winter.

Academy director Alexander Riget has now revealed that Nordsjaelland have already turned down bids for the World Cup-bound midfielder this summer.

"We've already rejected big bids for him this summer. Some that were even flirting with the Superliga record, which we hold ourselves, as far as I understand. So we need a bit more than that," Riget told Bold.

That record currently stands at around 187m kroner, which Nordsjaelland received for the sale of Nuamah to Lyon's sister club Molenbeek.

The club presented record financial results in May, posting a surplus of more than 200m kroner.

"It's a product of many years of hard work, where we're in a situation where we can say no to some fairly large sums," Riget said. "We can do that because a lot of work has been put in over many years, and that means that if you want a good price for players, it's an advantage that we're not forced to do anything."

Riget acknowledged that Yirenkyi's World Cup performance would do his value no harm, even if it was not the decisive factor.

"There's no doubt the World Cup is a good shop window," he said. "We're very proud to have him and Adel there, and when he plays a match like that and becomes the matchwinner, I think it raises his profile further. But we've had a lot of clubs through the door this spring, including some big names, so clubs already knew he was a good player."

Yirenkyi is under contract at Nordsjaelland until the summer of 2030.

His rise has been rapid since arriving in Denmark from the Right to Dream academy, and this week's stoppage-time winner against Panama has only intensified the attention on a player Nordsjaelland clearly intend to sell on their own terms rather than anyone else's.