Former Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat is in talks to take over at Turkish outfit Fenerbahce. A brief Dutch FA statement said Advocaat had “indicated he is going to work somewhere else”.
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As coach, Dick Advcaat took the Netherlands to the World Cup in 1994 and the European Championship 10 years later.
Blind expressed his surprise at Advocaat’s decision but called for focus ahead of the friendly match with Greece on September 1, before the qualifiers for Russian Federation 2018 against Sweden and Belarus.
Advocaat joined Sunderland in March 2015, guiding the relegation-threatened Black Cats to Premier League safety with a game to spare.
Danny Blind, right, has expressed disappointment at Dick Advocaat’s decision to leave his Netherlands role.
“I really look forward to working at such a big club in Turkey”, Advocaat told NOS ahead of his appointment.
“When I approached Dick a year ago to be assistant, he gave me the impression he wanted to do it for the long term”. From now on we have to apply ourselves only the matches against Greece and Sweden.
Fenerbahce host Swiss side Grasshoppers Zurich in the first leg of their Europa League play-off on Thursday.
Netherlands technical director Hans van Breukelen said he was “unpleasantly surprised” by the news and added: “We now focus on the search for a replacement”.
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His last major job was as manager of Sunderland, where he resigned last October.
