25 players taken to AEK training camp in Poland, Ponce close to signing
 

With the UEFA Champions League beginning in early August, AEK Athens are stepping up pre-season preparations, naming the roster for the first summer training camp in Poland.

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Newly installed head coach Marinos Ouzounidis summoned these following 25 players to the pre-season training camp in Kielce, Poland which starts on Monday:

Goalkeepers: Vasilis Barkas, Panagiotis Tsintotas, Serafeim Giannikoglou, Panagiotis Ginis.

Defenders: Rodrigo Galo, Michalis Bakakis, Dmytro Chygrynskiy, Uros Cosic, Vasilis Lampropoulos, Helder Lopes, Niklas Hult, Marios Oikonomou, Giorgos Giannoutsos.

Midfielders: Andre Simoes, Konstantinos Galanopoulos, Astrit Ajdarevic, Erik Moran, Viktor Klonaridis, Petros Mantalos, Anastasios Bakasetas, Christos Giousis, Giannis-Fivos Botos.

Forwards: Giorgos Giakoumakis, Marko Livaja, Christos Almpanis.

AEK will stay in Poland until July 14. In the opening weeks of August, the Kitrinomavri will compete in the Champions League third qualifying round, with the opponent to be determined in a few weeks’ time.
 

TZANETOPOULOS TO BE SENT ON LOAN TO APOLLON SMYRNIS

On the transfer front, 23-year old defender Adam Tzanetopoulos is set to be sent on loan to Super League minnows Apollon Smyrnis, although AEK do see potential in the centre-back and regard him as a prospect for the future. However, after Marios Oikonomou signed on Thursday, there is no place for Tzanetopoulos in the AEK squad this season.
 

PONCE DEAL EDGING CLOSER, QUESTION MARKS OVER KONE

As previously reported on AGONAsport, the Enosis are edging closer to signing Argentine forward Ezequiel Ponce on a loan deal from AS Roma. According to reports in the media, there is a slight delay in the transfer, but 21-year old Ponce is expected to travel to Athens in the near future before joining the team in Poland. Ponce will provide a direct replacement for popular striker Sergio Araujo, who recently penned a five-year contract with Las Palmas in Spain.

Experienced midfielder Panagiotis Kone, a 2017/2018 Super League winner with AEK as a loanee, is still under contract at parent club Udinese, but both Kone and AEK are eager to continue cooperating together. Nevertheless, Udinese appear in no hurry to reach an agreement with Kone considering the termination of his contract, using up vital time which AEK simply do not have. If a solution isn’t found, AEK will have no other option than to search for other players.
 

Alongside attempting to secure the services of Ponce and Kone, the club’s management are on the lookout for a winger, aiming to compensate for the loss of the influential Lazaros Christodoulopoulos to Olympiacos. AEK are doing their best to keep their activity under wraps, but they are keen to get a transfer over the line while the team train in Poland.
 

by Shaun Nicolaides

Image Source: sdna.gr

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