pash

A few sites are reporting we may be making an offer to Konstantinos Thimianis, who is about to become a free agent. He scored four goals for them last season. https://www.transfermarkt.us/konstantinos-thymianis/profil/spieler/481680 https://www.sport24.gr/football/paok-metagrafes-sto-cheri-toy-dikefaloy-i-oloklirosi-tis-metagrafis-toy-thymiani.10323434.html Not sure that I buy that the team specifically wants to buy Greek players, but I would much rather they take a chance on these guys than scrubs like Nasberg. I would note, however, that I looked through most of Panserraikos' play-off lineups and didn't see him there. Makes me wonder... Anyway, here's a highlights video. He seems to play both CB and DM, judging by the highlights.

Looks like we now know who every team that will be competing this summer is. Not going to copy and paste it because it's simply too much info (and it doesn't really change the above convo)... The worst draw we could get, still would be vs Steaua (FCSB). There are some other teams that could be problematic for us, if they were not already high up there in coefficient points, but Steaua seems to be the only one to avoid coming out out of the first qualifying round. We will get our draw for the second qualifying round on the 19th, and then apparently it'll take a full month to learn who our third round opponents will be, should we progress to that point. That's probably because of the Euro 2024 tournament, which is starting in about three weeks. Here are the links to what I was eyeballing: https://kassiesa.net/uefa/seedcl2024.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024–25_UEFA_Champions_League_qualifying_phase_and_play-off_round#Second_qualifying_round

Be still my beating heart, we have so many rumors! Attacking midfielder from Russia, Anton Miranchuk: https://www.transfermarkt.us/anton-miranchuk/profil/spieler/255451 - he is an upcoming free agent. Another random name is Marcel Hartel, who plays CM for St Pauli: https://www.transfermarkt.us/marcel-hartel/profil/spieler/189073 - I think we should hire him just based on what I've heard about that club tbh https://www.instagram.com/p/C7WCm0boHod/ Anyway, Miranchuk would really only make sense if we sell Konstantelias. Unless Lucescu would plan to play one of those attacking midfielders as left wingers. As for Hartel, I could see it. We could potentially be losing three midfielders, after all.

It could be, but I would sure hate to retain a player and realize he hit his peak last year. I forgot to add to my list of players - Filipe Soares (who had a pretty bad loan spell) and Marios Tsaousis are also scheduled to return. Soares played only eight times (and got one assist), so I doubt Famalicao will activate any purchase clause they had. Tsaousis fared a bit better with 23 appearances, a few assists, and a goal. I'd imagine both will be loaned out again.

I doubt this is true. But it would be in line with our recent history of buying out-of-form former AEK strikers. https://inpaok.com/822630/kroatika-mme-o-paok-ekane-prosfora-se-livagia/

That foul on Konstantelias in the Aris game will apparently sideline him for at least a month. Not great, both for his preseason and for our attempts to get maximum value for him in the transfer market.

Sites are reiterating Red Bull Salzburg's interest in Konstantelias. Come on guys drop 20 million on him, do it, make a splash, you know you want to. Asteras also interested in extending their loan for Lyratzis for another season. We don't really need three RBs, and his contract with us is through June of 2026, so I could see that happening. InPAOK is saying Lucescu wants to keep all three of Kedziora, Meite, and Schwab. I should note that Kedziora is a free agent from Dinamo Kyiv next month (our loan took him through to the end of his original contract), so he and Schwab would be cheap. I am not sure that means we should re-sign them, though - I feel the team could find upgrades for all three players, even though I do like them all. Perhaps this will cause a rift that leads to Razvan leaving again, hahahaaaaaa

Couldn't find the recording of the interview itself, but perhaps this gives a taste of what's to come? Might imply we'll pass on Schwab, for example. https://inpaok.com/822585/to-plano-kai-i-proika-tou-2019/

But can we afford him?!

Noting the current roster here. Names in bold either have expiring contracts (and may be expected to retire ?). Names in italics are rumored to be sold. GKs: Kotarski Z Zivkovic Talichmanidis CBs: Koulierakis Kedziora Troost-Ekong Michailidis Nasberg Fullbacks Baba Rahman Vieirinha Sastre Jonny Otto Rafa Soares Midfielders Marcos Antonio Soualiho Meite Tsingaras Schwab Ozdoev Murg Konstantelias Forwards Taison Zivkovic Despodov Samatta Brandon Thomas (technically end of contract, but with one-year option remaining that will surely be picked up) Tzimas I would expect some B and K19 kids to get called up for the training camp. Here are some names that I am guessing are more likely. We probably will see some of the GKs (like Nader) show up as well. CBs: Panagiotou, Sinanaj Midfielders: Giaxis, Ninua, Andre Ricardo, Quagliata, Brandonjic (is he even on the team? Transfermarkt says he came back in January) Forwards: Hicham Kanis, Panidis Basically, we have a lot of holes to cover. For CBs, I bet Ekong and Nasberg will not be on the final roster, for example. Tsingaras has completely disappeared, so he's probably gone too. And, God willing, we'll find some saps to buy Samatta for a pack of cigarettes and a koulouri.

And that's all he wrote. Makes me sad, how Klaus' career went. He seems to have played all 90 minutes, and gotten a yellow. Not a lot of detail online, but found some game stats on transfermarkt: https://www.transfermarkt.us/spielbericht/index/spielbericht/4314392 -edit- or is the phrase, "that's all she wrote" ? I dunno I'm not, like, 80 years old ?

That makes so much sense - I completely missed the fact that they were both from Mallorca. Makes sense that they were on the same flight, then

A full 30 days off. A far cry from the bad old days. Hopefully we make this a tradition too? Saw in passing that Sastre and Brandon Thomas flew back home on the same flight, and had a little impromptu interview. Cool to see, not that I know a word of Spanish beyond "hola bebe, cuanto??"

Klaous announced his retirement about 45 minutes ago, sad times. -edit- looks like he'll end his career playing against our B team tomorrow, actually. God, that's poetic

Team wins 0-1, and are champions. Olympiakos coach is arguing with the ref, probably because it's simply in their DNA to expect deference from the officials.

I have honestly seen worse camerawork in actual professional games; this is great

Correct, we'll have to get through six games before we can enter the league stage. So really not that different from before, apart from the fact that our potential opponents are a bit less scary.

I'm not going to start copying and pasting what I see on wiki, but it looks like we are very likely to have a remarkably straightforward path to at least the play offs. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that Benfica is going through the League Path, and no Ajax in sight. We learn our opponents on 19 June. It would be just like us to get knocked out in that first tie, of course.

Best vid yet

We very specifically need a left winger, and that's even if we replace Konstantelias with someone like Pelkas, who is great on the wing. I'll eventually have a big speech about this in the transfers thread, but I think our CB depth is going to be pretty bad pretty soon: Ekong - might be sold Koulierakis - might be sold Kedziora - free agent Michailidis - out of his depth and clearly not as good as he was pre-injury (though who knows if that's mental/grief-related) Nasberg - not fit to be in our lineup, hopefully will be released this summer And that's it. There's a chance we go into qualifiers with only two of these guys still on the roster. That should worry us all. Hopefully Morichelli or Panagiotou will be able to make the move up. Or one of those other guys we have in the B team.

Completely unplayable, even

This is going to be an interesting summer for sure. Time to spend some money, Ivan...

Here's a vid from the tower, by our friends at PAOK Today. Because Greece is a third world country, it was filmed using a potato.

Unexpected my ass, I honestly thought we'd win it from the beginning ? This is going to be one to savor for a while. It really should not have gone down to the last game; we made this harder on ourselves than we should have. I really hope Lucescu doesn't suddenly get an unbelievable offer that makes him leave again. The team can definitely plug the holes that exist, replace some expiring contracts, and be even better next year. Also - what a job by Lucescu. He dragged them kicking and screaming to one of the most impressive seasons the club has ever had, with a team that was weirdly flawed from the beginning.

Guess the party will continue at the white tower