PSV director Earnest Stewart has expressed his frustration after Couhaib Driouech’s proposed move to Rangers collapsed. The failed deal is the fourth outgoing transfer to fall through for the Eindhoven club in five months.
PSV’s expected sale of Couhaib Driouech to Rangers has collapsed, leaving director of football Earnest Stewart deeply disappointed by another transfer that appeared close to completion.
Driouech had travelled to Scotland earlier this week with the expectation of finalising his move, but the deal broke down following a disagreement over his short-term availability after a medical assessment.
As reported by PSV watcher Rik Elfrink, this is the fourth PSV transfer to collapse in five months, following the situations involving Ricardo Pepi, Armando Obispo and Adamo Nagalo.
Stewart stressed that the four cases were different but believes there is an increasingly common issue in modern transfer dealings.
Disagreement Over Driouech’s Fitness
Stewart was reluctant to discuss the medical details at length but explained PSV's position.
“In short, we believed Couhaib would be fit again very quickly. He had sustained a minor injury, and in our view, he would be able to play matches again within a week—or at the very least, very soon.”
Rangers reportedly assessed the recovery period differently, believing Driouech could be unavailable for around six weeks.
“It’s all very unfortunate. Couhaib traveled to Scotland on Tuesday and spent three days there. He made the trip with what we considered a minor injury. They estimated his time on the sidelines to be much longer than we did—six weeks, as I understand it. We, however, believe it will be considerably shorter.”
Stewart added that the disagreement did not lead to discussions about reducing the transfer fee.
“This was intended to be a permanent transfer, and that wasn't an option.”
‘You’ll Always Find Something’
The PSV director believes disagreements over medical assessments are becoming increasingly common, particularly as clubs have access to more detailed physical data.
“You could almost call it a regular occurrence. In this case, I wouldn't call it a ‘failed’ medical; because that’s not what it is. There is a dispute regarding his availability, and I see that happening much more often now than it used to.”
“Modern equipment reveals far more than it used to, thanks to all the available data. But if you really want to find something? You’ll always find something. You’ll spot something in any body that undergoes an MRI scan.”
Driouech ‘Deeply Upset’
The collapse has also left Driouech in a difficult position after he spent several days waiting for the transfer to complete.
“Couhaib is deeply upset. It’s a very unpleasant situation. He spent 48 hours in limbo. Everything was delayed by a day, and he was barely able to do anything. We’re getting back a disillusioned player. That’s not ideal.”
Stewart also questioned whether such a dispute should derail a four-year agreement.
“The whole deal suddenly collapses over a period of four to six weeks during which he’s deemed unavailable. Yet we’re talking about a contract spanning more than 200 weeks; it was a four-year deal.”
PSV now intends to put the wider issue of medical examinations on the agenda, both internally and externally. The club has missed out on around €55 million in potential transfer income from four deals that ultimately failed to materialise.
“But again, these are four very different stories,” Stewart said.
