Maccabi Haifa's championship celebrations (Photo: Yotam Ronen, Video Editing: Aviad Balili)
One of Barak Behar's biggest challenges at the start of Red Star Belgrade's work may come from the defensive squad. Young Strahinja Arakovic is wanted and offers are already on the table, veteran Aleksandar Dragovic is making noises of leaving and the Serbian champions could be left without their top two defenders.
Serbia naturally claimed yesterday that Behar would be happy to add Bogdan Planić, but today they added that the chances of that happening are not high. Planich receives a very high salary in Saudi Arabia and in order to return he will have to give up a lot of money, plus he has been absent for a very long time due to injury and signing him involves risk.
Dragovic is still making noises of leaving (Photo by Getty Images, Srdjan Stevanovic)
In the meantime, the fans' hope is that Behar will succeed in convincing Dragovic to stay. The veteran Austrian is very angry at the club's management for not allowing him to move to Italy last January and Drago told media in his homeland over the weekend: "It's time for a change, I want to leave Red Star. I played in Switzerland, Ukraine, Germany, England and Serbia. My dream now is to play in Serie A."
Dragovic, 32, has a contract for another season, but Serbia explained today that management would not get into conflicts with him and would allow him to leave if he insisted. Local media report that he has been offered a long-term contract with an exit clause for the big five leagues, adding: "Red Star fans believe in Behar's negotiating ability and Dragovic's heart to both make him stay."
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