Tolu Arokodare causes rift between Genk and Anderlecht

KRc Genk’s Director of Football Dimitri De Condé insists the club did absolutely nothing wrong in the transfer of Toluwalase Arokodare.

The Limburgers won the race to sign Arokodare from on transfer deadline day after Paul Onuachu joined Southampton.

However, Genk have been accused of foul play in the process as they snatched the 22 year-old, who was on the verge of joining their rivals, Anderlecht.

The striker had a medical with Anderlecht and was only moments away from signing his contract before driving to Genk after a call from Dimitri De Condé.

The situation has created animosity between both clubs in the media, but De Condé insists his club conducted itself properly during the whole process.

“We have been following Tolu Arokodare for three years, since he started to cause a stir in Latvia. Then we thought he was an interesting player, but still a ‘too raw’ talent.

“After he continued to develop strongly, especially in the French second division at Amiens, he topped our list of possible successors to Onuachu,” the Genk director explained in HBvL.

“Because he has the right profile, is young, but has also been participating in a strong competition for a while. That’s why I talked to Vrancken about Tolu on Monday evening. When it turned out on Tuesday that Onuachu’s departure was still difficult to prevent, we went full for the transfer. Who was still negotiating with him at that time was irrelevant to us.”

“They didn’t like it at Anderlecht, and I wouldn’t know why. We contacted the player and he was immediately very enthusiastic. That is not illogical, the current situation played in our favor.

“Tolu not only knows our club through our ex-player Stephen Odey. He could also go to the leader to replace the top scorer. A compatriot, whom he also knew and whose profile is very similar to his own.

“For me it is simple: the moment the player shows that he is convinced that he wants to come, we will do everything we can to close the deal,” He concluded.