Surprising line-up: Feyenoord creatively solve Hadj Moussa's absence

Giovanni van Bronckhorst has named his line-up for the away game against NEC. The Feyenoord manager has had to improvise straight away, with Anis Hadj Moussa left out of the matchday squad after the unrest surrounding his possible transfer to Ittihad Club.

Tjark Ernst starts in goal for the Rotterdam side on Saturday afternoon at De Goffert. Givairo Read lines up at right-back, while Jeremiah St. Juste and Tsuyoshi Watanabe make up the centre-back pairing and Mika Mármol starts on the left.

For midfield, Van Bronckhorst has gone with Charles Vanhoutte, Oussama Targhalline and Gjivay Zechiël. Targhalline therefore keeps his place despite his below-par display against ADO Den Haag.

Further forward, the changes stand out most. Nacho Ferri gets his chance through the middle after Ayase Ueda's departure to Lille OSC, with Gaoussou Diarra and Luciano Valente supporting him from the flanks.

Hadj Moussa had originally been expected to start on the right wing, but the Algerian is missing altogether. According to De Telegraaf, he was late for the players' bus to Nijmegen and then went home.

That forced Van Bronckhorst to reshape his attack. Diarra switches to the right wing, Valente starts on the left and, according to Dennis van Eersel, Zechiël takes up an attacking role as number ten.

His absence comes in the middle of the transfer saga surrounding the attacker. On Friday, Ittihad made a bid of €37.5 million and Hadj Moussa is keen on the move to Saudi Arabia, but Feyenoord decided not to cooperate with a transfer.

Kick-off in Nijmegen is at 4.30pm on Saturday.

Feyenoord line-up: Ernst; Read, St. Juste, Watanabe, Mármol; Vanhoutte, Targhalline, Zechiël; Diarra, Ferri, Valente.