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It's football time

28 August 2010 / 11:08:29  GRReporter
8578 reads

"Enough words, it’s football time! With these words the President of Olympiakos Vangelis Marinakis ended the season of transfers and... set the beginning of the gaming season. "We are expecting now the players to show their worth on the field" he said. "And you go to bed early so you can give your best out on the field!" advises from the coaching bench his recently entrusted players Ernesto Valverde. That’s true. Whoever bought players, bought them. The time has come to fight. And in the fight this year Olympiakos will participate with its head high up. The team has undergone a complete metamorphosis. From the beginning of the summer until now the club went through more than one concussion and its faith at times really resembled a true odyssey. But as the Greeks like to say "Everything is good when it ends good."

And in the case of the white-reds the end is much more than good. The club started the new 2010-2011 season with a new president, new coach, a whole army of new players and a dozen dreams. After Stoltidis, Papadopoulos, Zhevlakov, Lua-Lua, Panagopoulos, Pantos, Leonardo, Domi, Kovach and Galeti left the team the management of the club decided not to play games and to "load" the team with a real "war projectiles". By the beginning of the competitive season they managed to dress up with the white-red shirts, 12 of the celebrities of international football. With the colors of the team this year will play: the Spaniard Albert Riera, a former Liverpool player with a contract for 3 +1 years worth two million euros, the former Ajax player, Dennis Romedal with a two-years contract for 800,000 euros, François Modesto, former Monaco player with a contract for two years for 550,000 euros, Jose Holebas, a former player of Munich 1860 with a contract for two years worth 300,000 euros euros, the 34 years old player of Viyareal Ariel Ibagaza with a contract for two years for 900,000 euros, the 20 years old Ballast Magieri former Ferentsvarosh player with a contract for 3 years, the 24 years old Dennis Apshtayn from Iraklis, Kevin Miralas from Sent Etienne, Christian Nemeth from Liverpool, Marco Pandelich from Ajax with a two-years contract for 1,600,000 euros, and also the stars David Fuste and Moyzes Urtado.

The thirst for titles is great and everyone is going for the best. "I had many offers from abroad and from Greece... I have lived in your country for one year and I like the way you perceive football and how people accept it. I've come to Olympiakos for titles. I want to win titles, this is the main reason why I came", said the Hungarian Christian Nemeth. The Serb Marko Pandelich proudly declares that he is not an "ordinary" player: " I have come from the stands to play... I know that great players such as Kovacevic, Ivic, Djordjevic wore the Olympiakos T-shirt... I'll be happy if I manage to do something like this... I know that you expect this from me. I will do whatever I can to live up to your expectations. Most important, however is for the team to be winning. I came here to win back the titles and Olympiakos to go back to the Champions League".

Extremely highly ambitious to win titles and do his best is also Moyzes Urtado, the latest addition to Olympiakos. The Spanish football player who came into the ranks of the white-reds from Espanyol says before the Greek media that this was also his mother's blessing. She has sent of her 29-years-old son, saying: "Go and win prizes as you have never won in your life". The Spaniard is not at all worried about his adaptation in Greece. "I am leaving Spain for the first time, but my country is similar to Greece in terms of mentality, I have found a good environment here and I do not think it will be difficult for me to adapt". In the Spanish "empire" of Ibagaza, Raul Bravo, Fuste, Riera he believes he will feel home. If you add to this the fact that Urtado also knows well their Spanish coach Valverde, we are left to do nothing else but to wish the team success. Happy with his roster is also Valverde, who claims that it is now even better than the previous one, when under his wing the team won the double.

To the strong Spanish "accent" of the white-reds, Panathinaikos responds with... a French one. The champion of the country still did not undergo great changes. Nikos Nioplias is convinced that his players have already... proven themselves. So during the season 2010-2011 he relies on the support of his old entourage, only by filling some holes which appeared after the leaving of Dimitris Salpingidis, Nasif Morris and Filipos Darlas. One of the best transfers that the club of the greens made was that of Sydney Govu, the former Lyon player. With a three-years contract for 1.7 million euros they managed to dress up the French national team player in green. Govu will support his fellow countryman Djibril Cisse by strengthening the lines of the offense on Panathinaikos. Sydney can be proud of his successful career in Lyon, titles and good performance in the Champions League. He has won seven consecutive championships in France and a total of 16 titles in his career. In the French national team he has scored 49 appearances and 10 goals. The hopes that the team associates with this player are great. The club even "closed their eyes" even for the darker side of Govu for whom rumors suggest that alcohol, nightlife and fast cars are his favorite activities.

From Lyon the greens took also Jean Alain Boumsong. The Frenchman will compete with the green shirt with a contract for 3 +1 years worth 1.1 million euros. Panathinaikos bought also the young George Yoanidis from Iraklis and Danny Fernandez from Bochum.

Tags: AEK Panathinaikos Olympiakos transfers season 2010 2011 sport football
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