Derek Boateng's loan deal from relegated AIK to new-comers Assyriska FF is off. AIK and Assyriska had agreed to loan Derek for the season and he has trainded with Assyriska for over a week. He played for 60 minutes in a friendly last week and was supposed to play in another friendly against his former club AIK on Saturday but Derek refused at the last minute citing fears for the AIK fans.

According to the Portuguese coach of Assyriska, Jose Morais, though Derek has the qualities he is at the moment not in a good physical shape and would not be of much help at the moment. He lacks the stamina to work hard for 90 minutes and for a newly promoted team, they need players in top physical condition who can work hard in 90 minutes. Assyriska have signed Ibrahim Atiku and Charles Sampson for this season.

The Swedish league starts in less than 3 weeks and the local transfer window closes on April 1 and the coach does not believe Derek can get in shape before the season starts. The option now is for Derek to go back to relegated AIK reluctantly and wait until the summer for a transfer since the European transfer market is closed.

Derek changed agents at the end of the season to an England-based agent and spent the best part of the winter on trials in England (Brentford, Southhampton, Charlton etc etc.) as well as Dubai as Ghanaweb has reported earlier. He has therefore mostly trained on his own and missed the tough pre-season training that most players go through. Now he seems to have lost a chance because he is not in good physical shape. He is meeting representatives of AIK today to discuss his future.

What next for Derek?