Ibrahim Afellay is stepping down as assistant coach at PSV 1 after this season. The 40-year-old club icon joined as André Ooijer's replacement earlier this year and chooses to take a different path from next summer.
"Up front, this is not a goodbye, but a goodbye," Afellay begins. "After a number of good talks with the management and Peter Bosz , I took up this challenge at the beginning of this year with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but practice has turned out differently than what I had imagined. For example, I would have liked to lead parts of training forms more often and leave my mark more. We have had conversations about that. We differed in that and that's totally fine, things like that happen in life. Nothing more, nothing less. The club also tried to change my mind several times and I appreciate that very much, but I still stuck to my initial choice. I want to emphasize that we parted in good harmony and that I also learned a lot from Peter's way of working. For now I want to thank everyone for the past months. PSV is and remains my club."
PSV thanks Afellay for his commitment and valuable contribution in recent months, and wishes him well. Meanwhile, the club is working to bring in a new assistant coach.