Genk Director Defends Transfer of 13-Year-Old Soccer Prodigy Amid Controversy

"The problem was in the entourage... The parents criticized the other players, the other parents, the club, the coaches," explained Dimitri De Condé to Nieuwsblad, who says he summoned all the parties to try to calm the tension. Without success.

Faced with this situation that was becoming untenable, the Limburg club had to take its responsibilities. "In consultation with the young people and the supervisors, we unplugged the plug," regrets De Condé. "The values and standards that our club defends and our way of working were unfortunately no longer reconcilable with the expectations of Ilyes’ entourage."

And to continue: "There are few players for whom our club has invested so much time and energy as Ilyes, but in the end, at KRC Genk, no one is above the club. At some point, you have to know how to put things in perspective and say stop."

"Ilyes is very talented, but he has the physique of a child his age. When he arrived at 9 years old at Genk, his double promotion did not pose a problem. But there, by playing with the U15s, he began to face very powerful guys, sometimes like adults. It was becoming dangerous for Ilyes’ health," explained Samir, the father of the Moroccan prodigy, to La Dernière Heure.