The transfer of the Croatian to Maccabi Tel Aviv is expected to end next week • Israel Today has learned: The Yellows have agreed to give up his services for a million euros, but Real Madrid withdrew at the last minute
Zizi. Real gave up
Photo:
GettyImages
Croatian Ante Žižić (23, 2.08 m) closed his terms with Maccabi Tel Aviv and is scheduled to land in Israel next Wednesday ahead of the start of training in early September.
Zizic, who has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers from the NBA for the past three years, has closed for two years, during which he is expected to earn about $ 700,000 in the first year, and $ 1.1 million the following season. Žižić actually comes in the place of Tariq Black, and together with Othello Hunter will be one of the leading highs in Yad Eliyahu.
Zizic arrived at Maccabi Tel Aviv in the summer of 2013 with another Croatian, Dragan Bender, to join the Yellows' academy. The two arrived following the professional manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Nikola Vujicic, who replaced Gur Shelef in June 2013. .
Maccabi wanted to sign the young Zizic for five years and even brought his older brother Andrea to the team's four historic months in the spring of 2014, but the young Zizic preferred to return to Zagreb. A professional at the club in those years claims that the Yellows were not particularly impressed with the young Žižić and preferred to stay only with Bender.
That young Žižić developed well in the Cibona Zagreb uniform, and after becoming the outstanding player in the Adriatic League - was selected in the 23rd selection by the Boston Celtics in the 2015 draft. David Blatt recruited him to Droshafka.
Real gave up, Maccabi won
In the summer of 2017 Boston preferred to move Zizic in a triple trade to Cleveland (got some one, Kyrie Irving), where he made 113 appearances in three seasons. 2019 was his best season, playing an average of 18 and a half minutes per game in 59 appearances (in 25 of which he started in the top five). The averages? 8 points and 5.4 rebounds. His best game was in January 2019, where he scored 23 points against Denver and Jokic.
Maccabi Tel Aviv signed Zizic already in the middle of last season, and in fact closed with him in principle during the current summer. But then Real Madrid woke up and examined the possibility of his transfer to it. Real even offered a million euros for him and a higher contract for the player (2.1 million euros). Two years).
Maccabi Tel Aviv, which is in financial trouble this summer, also agreed to the deal for other reasons, but the announcement by star Pekondo Campasso about a possible transfer to the NBA at the end of October (for 6 million euros) caused the Spaniards to recalculate a route.
According to the daily "Marca", Real offered Campaso to give up his salary during the summer months (offsetting the transfer fee), which would have saved the team 1.3 million euros and helped finance the Zizic deal. Campasso refused, and Briel withdrew from his purchase deal.