Everton’s proposed friendly with Groningen has been scrapped.
Ronald Koeman was due to face his former club on July 22 despite the Blues continuing to insist that no pre-season games in the country was finalised.
That did not stop the Eredivisie club from both announcing the fixture and selling tickets in their official outlets in anticipation of Koeman’s return.
But the game at the Noordlease Stadion has been shelved by the city’s mayor due to conflicts with previous European club visits to Groningen.
Local authorities anticipated as many as 800 Everton fans making the trip to Holland next month, meaning additional police officers would need to be deployed.
Mayor Peter den Oudsten had cited previous clashes with Marseille and PSV Eindhoven supporters in his reasons for the shelving of the proposed friendly fixture.
Everton have publicly confirmed that the game will not be going ahead.
“Contrary to previous reports and speculation, Everton can once again confirm that no game will take place vs FC Groningen on 22 July 2017,” read a club statement.
“The two clubs had discussed the possibility of a fixture, but an agreement could not be reached with Groningen’s city mayor over hosting the game.”