pash

One more friendly announced, this time vs NEC Nijmegen (Lyratzis's home last season). This will be on the 26th.

SDNA quoting a rumor that says we want Pedro Chirivella from Nantes: https://www.transfermarkt.us/pedro-chirivella/profil/spieler/242273 Tick, tock PAOK. It's almost July!

Grosidis the next to leave the B team, also going to Volos. Good luck to him. Here's the announcement video for Kenny:

Isn't it strange that our friendlies get easier as the preseason develops?

Another rumor today, for this li'l guy from Standard Liege. https://www.transfermarkt.us/ibe-hautekiet/profil/spieler/565016 He's also linked (probably primarily) with Gent: Apparently Turkish media is claiming that we are linked with Ounahi, who played on loan at Panathinaikos last season (but is a Marseille player). A quick look at twitter shows rumors for teams in England, though. https://www.transfermarkt.us/azzedine-ounahi/profil/spieler/593482 Jonjoe Kenny has arrived in Thessaloniki so should be announced today/tomorrow. Marios Sinanai has officially confirmed the team's letting him walk. He split minutes with Tsaousis last season at LB for the B team. I think he's heading to NFC Volos.

Ummm sir he scored a whole two goals!

Looks like we offered Brandon Thomas a contract (at Lucescu's request, I'd imagine) for one more season (probably the club's preference), while he wants two years. Allegedly he has offers for those two years from a few Turkish clubs. I bet he'll sign with us again, but I guess we'll see.

I guess the good news from yesterday's draw (2nd qualifying round for CL) is that we cannot be drawn against Rangers if they lose, because they are playing Panathinaikos. That's a good one to skip.

Some reports that Jonjoe Kenny has finally agreed to sign with us. Much more important signing than the LB who probably doesn't want to come here imo. Let's see if he really does show up for medicals soon.

Is this meaningful? It was my impression that the issues were for permitting and red tape, not funding.

Tissoudali next, with a reported sale price of 1.7mm. I believe we paid a bit over 2mm? Money poorly spent.

Ended up signing for Panaitolikos, so just goes to show you how good our "news" sources are.

Some rumors of Stuttgart wanting (and then denying they wanted) Konstantelias, but now new stories of Benfica and Porto wanting him. I'll believe it when I see it tbh

Ozdoyev may have his suitor after all: https://inpaok.com/865977/symfonise-me-kotsaelispor-o-ozntoef/ This team just won promotion to the Turkish Superlig. No word on price (or if they've even been in contact with PAOK yet) but I'm guessing we'd have to release him as his contract automatically renewed. Also saw, in passing, that we may want our flowery friend from Levadiakos as our next RB, which I am very doubtful of. https://www.transfermarkt.com/triantafyllos-tsapras/profil/spieler/623561

Hopefully they offer us something for him... Seeing that Smyrlis from our B team (LW) put a goodbye post up on Instagram. His contract was up in two weeks so will be leaving as a free agent, to Panserraikos. I count ten other B team players with lapsing contracts, and I doubt any of them will be extended. Maybe most notable out of that group is Tsaousis.

I'd love to be surprised.

Interesting that we've heard nothing about Greek players (but not surprising). Didn't we fail to sign Hatzidiakos last season? I thought for some reason he had made a permanent move to Copenhagen but that's apparently just a loan with an option to buy. He'd fill in a big gap in our team nicely, IMO. And for strikers...perhaps Fountas from OFI? I don't even know how they managed to get him to begin with, but surely he'd be better than some slob from second division Spain.

So I guess our new assistant/deputy technical director will essentially be doing what Boto said we should do a few years ago. Since Lucescu will not accept any of those kids, what does this mean for this guy's job? Will he be shown the door in the next 6-12 months? https://inpaok.com/865791/o-rolos-tou-panagioti-tsikna-ston-paok/ Or is there some small possibility that this was actually discussed with Razvan and he's actually open to it? Can I hope?

Bulgaria (who is missing their best player in my boy Despodov) were always going to be the easier opponent in this week's games. But it's good to see how easily our guys are cutting through them. Tragic defense.

Tuned in right after halftime, so I missed whatever boredom happened in the first half. Liking what I see, though. For those looking for links - Alfa TV is the actual carrier here, and their live stream isn't geographically locked.

First news I've seen about Ozdoyev in a while. https://inpaok.com/865706/tourkika-senaria-gia-ozntoef/ For me, it's very important for the team to show that they're serious about getting both better and younger by offloading players like Ozdoyev. It's not that I dislike the guy. It's that he's 32 and would be, at best, a rotational-level player for a team that hopes to contend for the championship and go deep in Europe. At this stage in his career, he's not gonna reach new heights of excellence. Anyway, as for that other guy I mentioned the other day from Cagliari - the Turks seem to think we want him too: https://inpaok.com/865698/o-paok-bike-stin-ypothesi-tou-makoubou/ -edit- late edit to share the news that Taison said no to the offer, with the team expected to offer him even more to sit on the bench (oh who are we kidding, he'll be a starter for five more years)...

Yeah but those initial reports were just fan-sites, as far as I can see. I will note, though, that the player has zero reason to move quickly, even if the team wants him to. The only leverage they would have is to overpay so badly that no other suitors could compete. Anyway, seems Tissoudali will be sold, only question is the 1.7mm we're asking for vs the 1.2mm we're being offered. Probably will meet in the middle. A shame, he is quite good. Imagine if we had actually used him. Someone really dropped the ball on scouting him if he came to Greece "with an offer in hand" from the Saudis. And also inexcusable for our coach to not play him for such arbitrary reasons ("he does not yet know what I want"). For Meite, the contract is the main sticking point (as always) - he wants 1.6mm and we want to pay 1.2mm. InPAOK says we'll look elsewhere if we can't come to an agreement, as if this isn't a repeat of last year's absolute joke of a decision making process.

Very much enjoyed waking up this morning to an instagram post by PAOK Today saying the Greg Taylor signing was a done deal, followed immediately by a post saying it wasn't a done deal. Such hard hitting journalism. For anyone who hasn't bothered reading this stuff - he apparently has an infant and is iffy on leaving the country, either with or without his family. Celtic apparently also have an offer out to him. I think it's virtually guaranteed that he will re-sign with Celtic for less money, given the facts and circumstances.

He's a big boy, don't lose sleep over it! Greeks tend to avoid strength training; maybe this will inspire him to go the Ronaldo route instead.

Funny how that happens. This is geolocked but if you have a VPN, novasports does have them. Wild that nobody else seems to. https://www.novasports.gr/web-tv/sport/podosfairo/event/fifa-world-cup/video/14240069/ellada-slovakia-4-1-highlights/