“Ajax sold Antony for €95m” – Gent CEO angry Fulham-target Gift Orban is tagged overpriced

KAA Gent CEO Michel Louwagie is convinced that Gift Orban is already worth more than ten times the amount the club paid to secure his services in January.

Stabæk received €3.30 million from Gent nine months ago before allowing Orban to leave Norway for Belgium.

The Nigerian striker hit the ground running, scoring goals with incredible regularity in the Belgian Pro League and European competitions.

Orban was the target of several clubs in the summer, with Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham reportedly among his admirers.

Gent, unwilling to let Orban leave on the cheap, slammed a transfer fee of €30 million on the 21-year-old.

Eventually, no club met Gent’s financial demands for Orban, and with the transfer window closed, he will be with the Belgian side at least until the winter.

There are talks that Orban did not leave because Gent wanted €30 million for a striker that cost only a fraction of that.

But Gent CEO Louwagie is not impressed with such talks as he suggests Orban would have been priced higher if a Dutch side were looking to cash in on him.

In an interview with Nieuwsblad on whether €30 million is a lot of money for Orban, Louwagie said, “No, that has already made me angry. Why do Ajax and PSV sell players like Antony for 95 million and others for easily 40 to 50 million?

“And why should we think that 30 million is too much, even though the competition here is at least as good? Just look at how Dutch clubs are doing in Europe.

“But we are Flemish who look at each other’s plates and are jealous. Instead of all demanding higher prices and helping Belgian football progress. No, rather capital injections – 500 million in the last five years in Belgium – and then complaining.

“We really need to stop doing that. Dutch clubs only had a deficit of 1 million in the 2021-2022 season, while we had a deficit of 150 million. They close their gaps by selling at higher prices.”

Orban has 26 goals and two assists in only 31 games in all competitions for Gent.