Everton’s on-loan midfielder Steven Pienaar says he may be forced to look for other clubs if a permanent move to the Merseyside club cannot be nailed down soon.
South African midfielder Steven Pienaar has impressed Everton manager David Moyes and others during his season-long loan spell at Goodison Park, having joined from Borussia Dortmund on a one-year deal last summer.
The 26-year-old would like to stay with Everton, but he has to await developments off the field and is concerned that things are taking too long. He has made it clear that he can’t afford for negotiations to drag on much longer.
Pienaar told KickOff’s official website: “At this stage I’m in the dark. I’m still under contract to Borussia Dortmund until June 2009 and only when they give me the go-ahead can I start to negotiate with any possible club.
“Obviously they will only give me this permission when they have reached an agreement with a club that wishes to buy me, but so far I have not been informed by Dortmund that they have reached agreement with Everton.”
Media reports have linked Pienaar with possible interest from Arsenal, Newcastle and Valencia in recent weeks, but at the moment he is not looking to leave Goodison.
“At this stage, no,” he added. “I have enjoyed my time here, as I said.
“But the clock is ticking for me because I have a maximum transfer fee of 3million euros [£2.2million] in my contract with Dortmund that is only valid until April 30.
“I cannot allow this deadline to expire because this is a transfer fee that is affordable to a number of clubs, particularly in the Premiership.
“So reasonably speaking, I can only wait for a few more days for Everton to reach agreement with Dortmund.
“If that’s not going to be forthcoming, then I will then need to pursue the other options that I may have and finalise everything by the end of April.”
Mark Hinton, Goal.com
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