PSV director Earnest Stewart has provided the clearest explanation yet for why Couhaib Driouech's proposed £7 million move to Rangers collapsed, revealing a dispute over whether the winger would be available within a week or could miss six weeks.
Driouech's move to Ibrox went from effectively completed to abandoned in the space of 24 hours.
The Moroccan winger travelled to the UK earlier this week, underwent his Rangers medical over two days and was understood to have successfully completed the examination.
As Inside Ibrox reported on Wednesday, there was a minor knock picked up during his pre-season with PSV, and that the injury was already known to Rangers before the medical.
Our information was that Rangers were satisfied with the status of the injury following the medical, while Driouech was then present at Ibrox for Thursday night's Europa League second leg against Jagiellonia Bialystok.
He appeared to be on the verge of completing his £7 million transfer. Instead, Rangers' European elimination was followed by the dramatic collapse of the deal.
Rangers' official position, subsequently reported by The Rangers Review, was that the transfer would not proceed because of the injury.
However, Dutch reports have now provided considerably more detail about what happened behind the scenes and the disagreement was over how long Driouech would be unavailable
PSV director Earnest Stewart has confirmed that the issue was not simply that Rangers discovered an injury during the medical.
Instead, the two clubs had fundamentally different assessments of the winger's short-term availability.
Speaking to Eindhovens Dagblad, Stewart said PSV believed Driouech would be ready to play again within a week.
“In short, we thought Couhaib would be fit again very quickly,” Stewart said.
“He had had a minor injury and, according to us, would be able to play matches again within a week or at least very quickly.”
Rangers apparently reached a very different conclusion.
“They thought differently at Rangers, and they came up with a period of six weeks,” Stewart said. “As I understood it, six weeks. We therefore think it is considerably shorter.”
That explains the apparent contradiction surrounding the transfer.
Rangers could be satisfied with the medical examination while simultaneously deciding that the player's projected absence was unacceptable.
Inside Ibrox reported the known knock
The development also confirms the significance of what we reported before the deal collapsed.
Driouech had sustained a minor knock during pre-season with PSV, and that was the reason he was not expected to be immediately available to Derek McInnes.
At the time, however, the expectation was that the 24-year-old would recover relatively quickly.
That was why the subsequent decision to abandon the transfer raised questions.
If the injury was known before the medical and Rangers were satisfied with the medical status, why did the club subsequently decide that the issue was serious enough to end a deal worth around £7million?
Stewart's comments now provide part of the answer: It appears the disagreement was not necessarily whether Driouech was injured, but how long he would be unavailable for.
PSV believed approximately a week, while Rangers believed potentially six weeks.
Driouech was at Ibrox as the deal appeared complete
Driouech had already travelled to Scotland and completed his medical.
He then attended Rangers' crucial Europa League meeting with Jagiellonia at Ibrox.
The winger had previously spoken about his excitement at joining Rangers and his anticipation of experiencing the Ibrox atmosphere.
“I am really looking forward to undergoing the medical,” Driouech had said before travelling.
“I hope everything works out and that I get to put my signature on the dotted line.”
He had also indicated that he planned to return to the Netherlands to say goodbye to PSV before beginning his new chapter in Scotland.
“The Rangers fans? I've heard very good stories, so I'm looking forward to experiencing that in the stadium.”
Everything therefore pointed towards a transfer announcement.
Instead, Rangers lost 1-1 on the night and exited the Europa League 3-2 on aggregate and within hours, the Driouech deal was off.
Did the Europa League exit change the situation?
Rangers' official position is that the European defeat did not cause the transfer to collapse. The club's explanation remains the injury.
It would therefore be wrong to state as fact that the defeat to Jagiellonia killed the transfer. However, the timing inevitably raised questions as Driouech had completed his medical and he was at Ibrox.
Then Rangers' European circumstances changed dramatically.
The club went from pursuing Europa League qualification to dropping into the Conference League, a situation that has obvious financial and sporting implications.
The sequence therefore naturally led to speculation over whether the European exit influenced the decision-making around the transfer.
The latest PSV information suggests there was a genuine disagreement over availability, which provides a substantive explanation for the collapse.
But it does not completely eliminate the question of whether Rangers' changed circumstances influenced how important that six-week absence suddenly became.
PSV say there was no attempt to renegotiate the fee
Stewart has also clarified that Rangers did not attempt to negotiate a reduced transfer fee because of the injury.
“There was no question of a discount for Rangers,” he said.
“This was going to be a permanent transfer and that was not an issue.”
The proposed transfer was worth around €8 million (£7 million).
The issue became whether Rangers were prepared to proceed with a player they believed could be unavailable for approximately six weeks.
Driouech left ‘disillusioned’
The failed transfer has also left Driouech in a difficult position.
Stewart revealed that the player is extremely disappointed after spending several days in limbo.
“Couhaib is very upset,” he said.
“Very unfortunate. He was in uncertainty for 48 hours. Everything was also delayed by a day, and he could hardly do anything. We now get a disillusioned player back. That's not nice.”
The PSV director questioned whether it was proportionate for a four-year transfer to collapse over a potential four-to-six-week absence.
“For the four to six weeks in which they believe he is unavailable, suddenly the whole deal collapses,” Stewart said.
“This concerned a period of more than 200 weeks in which he would have been under contract. It was a four-year contract.”
A remarkable turnaround
The Driouech saga therefore looks very different depending on where the timeline begins.
On Tuesday, the winger travelled to the UK expecting to complete his move, and underwent his Rangers medical.
Derek McInnes had already confirmed Rangers were “quite far down the line” with the deal. Then the transfer collapsed with the Gers claiming injury.
PSV's explanation is more specific: the two clubs disagreed over whether Driouech would be available again within approximately one week or whether he would miss around six weeks.
That distinction is now central to understanding why a deal which appeared to be complete ultimately fell apart.
The collapse leaves another gap to fill for the Gers after the club had identified Driouech as a major attacking addition.
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