By Sulayman Bah
Hamza Barry chances of joining Eredivisie club Vitesse could be wrecked by work permit issues.
The Gambia international last week trialed with Vitesse SBV, featuring in the side’s pre-season campaign including appearing against English Premier League side Chelsea’s U-23s.
The 21-year-old who’d had spells in Malta and Israel impressed but according to Vitesse gaffer Henk Fraser, who’s looking for extra spark in midfield, the Nusrat graduate’s performance wasn’t any better than the rest of current stock of players at his disposal.
Fraser’s remarks are subject to numerous interpretations. What’s clear though is that if Hamza gets offered contract papers to sign on, the red-tape involved with securing work permit could prove as stumbling block.
The midfielder is a non-EU player and thus needs to be given the go-ahead by the Royal Dutch Football Association, a laborious paper documentation process which could take weeks on end or months to finalise.
Clubs looking to bolster their squad with foreign player additions prefer to begin the bureaucratic paper works at least during pre-season when deals are done or before start of the league.
As it looks, Vitesse appears unprepared to take that lane with the Eredivisie league already on, beginning last Friday, effectively meaning closure of the transfer window.
Hamza had looked destined to move to Turkey amid raft of interest from club there. However nothing came of the rumours
The ex-Gambia Ports Authority man is a free agent after running down his 10-month deal with Cyprus’s First Division side Apollon Limassol. Meaning he could well sign for Vitesse giving player’s without contract obligations could sign for other clubs at any time of the season on condition they’ve been released by their previous club.
