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A third division club in Belgium caused a storm when they hired 14 players from the
Egyptian Premier League.
Turnhout FC are owned by businessman Maged Samy - who also owns Wadi Degla in Egypt and
Lierse FC in Belgium's top flight.
Samy opted to transfer 14 playing staff plus coaches to Belgium in the hope of avoiding
relegation.
The influx of the Egyptian players meant that only five players survived from the original
Turnhout squad, with the rest demoted to the reserve team.
Turnhout player Jeffrey Hermans believes it's a good move for the club.
Jeffrey Hermans, Turnhout player. "I think it's an invention for the club because these
are very good players from Egypt, they play in first division and this is third division
so they want to keep Turnhout in third division or maybe go to second. So we don't go to fourth,
so I think its a very good decision to take these players."
Third-tier clubs in Belgium have on average less than three non-EU players and the move
did upset other clubs as well as the FA.
The loan is officially until June - but who knows what will happen if the Egyptian invasion
works wonders with both Turnhout and Lierse?
Turnhout are bottom of the 18 team division with just ten points from twenty three games.