Dinamo Zagreb spend in new year sales
Monday, January 5, 2009
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NK Dinamo Zagreb are again facing a spring without European football and, with HNK Hajduk Split breathing down their neck in Croatia, have spent more than €4m on Adrián Calello, Miroslav Slepička and Ilija Sivonjić.
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NK Dinamo Zagreb are again facing a spring without European football and, with HNK Hajduk Split breathing down their neck in Croatia, are splashing the cash during the transfer window.
Close call
Dinamo last earned continental competition in the new year in the 1969/70 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup with a quarter-final against FC Schalke 04, and for the second season running missed out on progress from the UEFA Cup group stage in their last fixture. Having finished respectively eleven, 20 and 25 points clear in the league for the last three seasons, this term they are just one ahead of Hajduk at the winter break.
Calello arrival
That is too close for comfort for ambitious Dinamo and club vice-president Zdravko Mamić and his brother Zoran, the sporting director, promptly took a trip to Argentina to pay CA Independiente €2.2m for 21-year-old holding midfielder Adrián Calello, who had reportedly been in the sights of FC Internazionale Milano and Atalanta BC, on a five-season contract. "We agreed terms with his club in 30 seconds," Zdravko Mamić said of the club's seventh South American squad member. "Calello knew a lot about Croatia and he is a very nice guy with excellent skills."
Czech international
Following Calello to the club are two forwards, reinforcing a strikeforce already averaging more than two goals per league game. The more high-profile is Miroslav Slepička, who made his senior Czech Republic debut in September and leaves AC Sparta Praha for a €1.5m fee. "I can't say I was tired of playing for Sparta, but signing for Dinamo is a big challenge for me," said the 27-year-old, under contract until 2012. "I feel more comfortable with Dinamo's style of play. I also looked to players like [Pedro] Morales and Sammir, the kind of players lacking in Prague."
Promising striker
The third piece of the jigsaw is promising NK Inter Zaprešić striker Ilija Sivonjić, who has agreed a five-and-a-half year deal after a €450,000 move. The 21-year-old former Croatian youth international has already accrued 85 top-flight appearances and 21 goals for Zaprešić and his previous club NK Kamen Ingrad.