Anorthosis sign Garcia
Cypriot Europa League representatives Anorthosis Famagusta have made another impressive signing after agreeing terms with Maccabi Tel Aviv for the loan deal of Spanish playmaker Gonzalo Garcia.
The 29-year-old is well remembered in Cyprus after he helped AEK Larnaca through to the group stages of the Europa League in the 2011-2012 season. His performances also caught the eye of APOEL who tried unsuccessfully to sign him.
Yesterday, media reports suggested that a deal for Garcia’s return to Larnaca had already been agreed between Anorthosis and Maccabi. The Spaniard will be coach Christakis Kassianos’ final summer signing. Kassianos will now focus on their second qualifying round tie in the Europa League against Gefle of Sweden next week.
Garcia arrived at AEK in the summer of 2011 and quickly became a fan favourite after scoring a hat-trick in his debut as the Larnaca club thrashed Floriana of Malta 8-0 away.
The talented midfielder continued to play a leading role going on to score further goals against Mlade Boleslav and Maccabi Haifa.
Despite missing half the domestic season with injury, he still managed to score eight times in 17 appearances for Ton Caanen’s AEK.
Garcia is set to become the 12th signing for Anorthosis this the summer and the fourth to arrive from the Israeli league following the arrivals of Hapoel’s Savo Pavicevic, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Roberto Colautti and Beitar Jerusalem’s Amit Ben Shushan.
A product of the Real Madrid youth academy, Garcia only played for the reserve side and started his professional career in the Spanish lower divisions. In 2005, he decided to try his luck abroad and was signed up by Dutch second division side Apeldoorn. In his first season, he finished as one of the division top scorers with 16 goals and it wasn’t long before he moved up to the Eredivisie where he played for Heerenveen, Heracles, and Groningen.
In 2011, he moved to Cyprus where he shone at AEK and was sold to Maccabi last season where he made 27 appearances as the Tel-Aviv club secured the league title.
During his younger years, Garcia featured for the Spanish under-17 side where he played alongside Andres Iniesta, Jose Antonio Reyes and Fernando Torres.
Karipides Apollon-bound
Cyprus Cup winners Apollon Limassol are close to securing a major coup after reportedly agreeing personal terms with want-away APOEL defender Christos Karipides.
Greek defender Karipides had been one of APOEL’s key players as they secured their 22nd league title last season but seems to have fallen out of favour with new coach Paulo Sergio who arrived at the beginning of the summer.
After failing to agree on a reduction of his salary, the two finally parted ways yesterday clearing the way for Apollon who, like APOEL, will also be in action next month in Europe.
Apollon boss Christakis Christoforou has been relatively quiet in the transfer market this summer unlike the league’s other big clubs. His signings so far include Albanian keeper Isli Hidi from rivals AEL, Romanian defender Ovidiu Dananae, Canadian forward Daniel Haber and Racing Santander midfielder Marcos Gullon.
Karipides, who can also play as a sweeper, will link up with fellow defenders Bojan Markovski, new signing Dananae and Cypriot international duo Angelis Charalambous and George Merkis.
Karipides started his career in his native Greece where he played for PAOK, Kavala and Kerkyra before switching to the Scottish Premier League in 2005 to join Hearts.
In his first season, he helped the club secure the Scottish Cup after wins over Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle and Hibernian were finished off in the final with a 4-2 win on penalties against unlikely finalists Gretna.
In 2009, he secured a move to Nicosia where he joined Omonia making 72 appearances – clinching a league title and two Cyprus Cups.
Last summer, he made a controversial move across town to join bitter rivals APOEL where he made 18 appearances as Ivan Jovanovic’s side won the league title.
Apollon will begin their European campaign in the playoff round of the Europa League in mid-August. Unlike their rivals AEL, Apollon have never reached the group stage of a major competition and will face a tough task when the draw takes place with the likes Tottenham, Fiorentina, Udinese and Stuttgart lurking in the seeded pot.
Despite the task at hand, Apollon official Fanourios Constantinou believes the club can look back on a successful season as they begin preparations for Europe. Christoforou’s Apollon defeated Limassol rivals AEL 2-1 in the Cyprus Cup final last season to save their season after finishing sixth in the league title race. “Last year was a successful one primarily because we won the Cup”, commented Constantinou. “Things are once again going well. We have our fans by our side and we believe this coming season will be even better than the last.”
