Thursday evening around 9:30 p.m., the leaders of Reims could rejoice. They had just settled the last details of a bitter negotiation with their counterparts of Lazio Rome and could finally celebrate the arrival of Valon Berisha. Kosovar was their priority in the quest for an experienced midfielder.
To understand this relief, you have to go back in time. Reims has, in fact, targeted the 27-year-old player for two and a half years, soon after his rise in the elite. “The problem is that this season, he played at Red Bull Salzburg which made an epic in the European Cup (semi-finalist in 2018 against Marseille) and came to light, especially against Dortmund. Its price increased and it was no longer within our standards, ”notes Mathieu Lacour, director general of the Stade de Reims.
📝 Valon Berisha
📍 Midfielder
👣 Right-handed
🇽🇰 International kosovar
🔍 https://t.co/UT1Vx9UbPz pic.twitter.com/nC9fmGxipc
Regardless, the recruitment cell continues to follow the player, whether with Lazio or Düsseldorf, where he has been loaned this season, but also in the Kosovo selection. With the entourage, contact has never been broken and at the heart of April 2020, during confinement, Zoom meetings to present the project and explain the important place that the player will have, multiply. Convinced, Berisha gives the green light in mid-May. “Pol-Edouard Caillot, our recruiting director, stayed in regular contact and phoned him after each Bundesliga meeting. We wanted to confirm to him what we said about his being our priority in the midfield, ”explains Mathieu Lacour.
Wednesday night, player was stuck in Kosovo
At the end of May, negotiations with the Roman club begin. Faced with Igli Taré, the Albanian sports director of Lazio, reputed to be hard in business, Reims played an elbow. After passing through Düsseldorf, the purchase option is 7.5 million euros. Outside of Champagne standings. The business finally ended on Thursday, during an evening that looked like the last hours of the transfer window. A transfer for 4.5 million euros, plus bonuses linked to individual and collective performances to reach 6 million. And in particular a classification in the first six of L1.
This last day has not been easy. Valon Berisha, who was expected Wednesday evening, was only able to take off from Kosovo Thursday during the day for questions related to the coronavirus crisis. The country is not in fact part of the European Union. “There is always a tension when you bring in a player. Whether at the time of the medical visit or during the last negotiations with the club. We had some friction on a few details, ”says Lacour. And more than two years after thinking about it, the dream has come true.
