Prijovic ready to fly to Saudi Arabia, Berg considered as replacement
Instead of meeting with PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis, Serbian striker Aleksandar Prijovic flew back to Belgrade, from where he will travel to Saudi Arabia for his official presentation as an Al Ittihad player.
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Earlier this week, reports suggested that Prijovic would travel to Thessaloniki for a crunch meeting with Savvidis, but it never happened. Instead, Prijovic, 28, decided to fly back to the Serbian capital of Belgrade, and in the next couple of days, he will travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to be officially unveiled as a player of Al Ittihad. The Saudis have met the transfer clause of 10 million euros from PAOK, and during negotiations in Dubai, they struck an agreement with Prijovic.
On Wednesday, the communications officer of Al Ittihad revealed that Prijovic will be presented as a player of the Saudi Arabian club in the next 48 hours, meaning the move will become official before the end of the week. According to media sources, Al Ittihad will pay the release clause in four separate installments of 2.5 million over the course of the next three months.
BERG IN LINE TO REPLACE PRIJOVIC
With Prijovic all but gone, PAOK are lining up replacements, and former Panathinaikos hitman Marcus Berg is the favourite to replace him.
In Greece, Berg was lethal with the Greens, striking a huge 95 goals and providing 28 assists in 151 appearances in all competitions. In July 2017, Berg left Panathinaikos to join Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, where he has continued scoring goals for fun. The 32-year old striker represented Sweden at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Berg’s contract expires in the summer, but instead of waiting until the off-season, PAOK are eager to sign him now. It’s worth remembering that if PAOK, or any other Greek club for that matter, sign Berg, an additional fee will have to be paid to Panathinaikos.
His family are known to love Greece, and given Berg’s knowledge of the Super League, PAOK see him as an ideal option. In the 2018/2019 season, Berg has played in 11 UAE Gulf League matches, tallying 10 goals and one assist. Berg helped Al Ain reach the FIFA World Club Cup final with two goals in four games.
