On February 3rd, deadline day in the Netherlands, Fulham allowed Steven Benda to join Feyenoord on loan until the end of the season, after Middlesbrough blocked a move.
The Eredivisie side were in the market for a new goalkeeper, after selling Justin Bijlow to Genoa in January.
Prior to the Fulham owned player’s arrival, Feyenoord showed interest in Middlesbrough’s Seny Dieng.
Earlier this month, Sport Witness covered claims from the Dutch press that Middlesbrough pulled the plug despite advanced negotiations. This forced Robin van Persie’s side to look for options late in the window and they ended up signing Benda.
Digital platform used to sign Fulham player
Algemeen Dagblad now provide an insight into how Feyenoord signed the goalkeeper from Marco Silva’s side.
The German joined the Premier League side from Swansea City in 2023 and has made four appearances in cup competitions.
Last summer, the London club let him join Millwall FC on a season-long loan deal, but the move didn’t work out . To put it in context, the stopper started in the first nine Championship matches and then suffered an injury.
He lost his place in Millwall’s starting lineup since regaining full fitness, convincing Fulham to cut short his loan stay.
AD report Feyenoord found the 27-year-old on TransferRoom, an online platform used to ‘speed up transfers’.
The newspaper further state: ‘It functions as a kind of ‘Tinder’ for football transfers, where technical directors communicate about the rental, purchase and sale of players.’
Mulder pleased Fulham player’s winter decision
The Fulham man trained under goalkeeper coach Erwin Mulder at Swansea City. The latter is now a youth coach at Vitesse, and he has given his take on Benda’s loan move to the Dutch club.
Benda made his Feyenoord debut in their 1-0 win over Go Ahead Eagles last weekend.
“Arriving and then making your debut straight away is quite quick. A transfer like this always involves moving house and, of course, getting used to a new environment,” he said,
‘But Steven came to Feyenoord for thirteen matches; he’s only on loan. So, of course, it’s nice when you can show what you can do right away in an official match. De Kuip is quite something. I trained at Feyenoord and I always found that stadium magical. You really have to get used to that. But Benda is a calm lad, so it’ll be fine.”