Vitesse Arnhem’s hopes of survival have been boosted by two serious offers to take over the club and relieve its debts.

Interim director Edwin Reijntjes said last week that the club was considering a number of “serious bids” without going into detail.

Local broadcaster Omroep Gelderland said it understood from sources that one of the offers was from a local investor, while the other came from a foreign company.

The club and its fans would strongly prefer a Dutch investor to avoid a repeat of the problems under its current Russian owner, Valery Oyf, which brought the club to the brink of extinction.

Vitesse were relegated last season and docked 18 league points by the KNVB for failing to submit accurate accounts or clarify its relationship with Russian billionaire and former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who is said to have poured €100 million into the club.

Deadline for accounts

The club is set to miss Monday’s deadline to submit its budget for next season to the Dutch football association KNVB, which is one of the conditions for obtaining a professional licence.

However, the KNVB is expected to give Vitesse extra time to hold talks with prospective new owners before deciding whether the club can play in next season’s Keuken Kampioen Divisie. The hard deadline is mid-July, when the football association draws up its fixture list for the 2024/25 season.

The main stumbling block is the debt of €14.3 million that the club owes to American investor Coley Parry, head of a consortium that tried to buy the club from Oyf in 2022.

The KNVB blocked the takeover in February because of doubts about the group’s finances. Since then Parry has threatened to trigger heavy penalty clauses if the club does not repay the loans.

Vitesse has the option of initiating a Dutch legal procedure, the WHOA, which would limit the amount Parry can reclaim to 30% of his investment. However, the club is understood to see this as a last resort because of the time pressure to reach an agreement.