The rumors are true and Rijeka’s sporting director, Ivan Mance has spoken: “We can now officially we can say that Rijeka has completed the transfer of Andrej Kramarić to Leicester City,”
Andrej Kramarić will join England’s Leicester City in their second half of their Premier League campaign pending his work visa is approved.
Both Leicester and Rijeka have set new club records with the transfer, marking it as the highest transfer ever paid by Leicester City in their 131-year history and as the biggest transfer in Rijeka’s 68-year history.
Leicester City forked over nearly 13 million euros for the 23-year-old striker. Kramarić has scored 21 goals in 19 league matches this season so far.
“We are glad that the whole job is completed to mutual satisfaction and thanks to all who participated and helped to realize the biggest transfer in the club’s history,” Mance said today.
Chelsea was interested in the young striker this winter as well, but Leicester City was able to up the offer as well as guarantee that he will be a starter for the club.
It is unclear when Kramarić’s arrival at the club will be officially announced by Leicester, but he is expected to play once his visa is obtained.
But will Kramarić’s arrival be enough for the last-place club in the Premier League? Sure, Krama is leaps and bounds the most prolific scorer in the HNL at the moment, but the level of play between the two leagues is nearly incomparable. Krama has certainly proven himself as the best in Croatia, and has even proven he can step up and handle the pressure of Europa League play, but is up for the task Leicester has laid out for him?
Leicster is deep in the relegation zone and fears are arising that they will be putting extreme pressure on Kramarić to not only perform mediately in a league that he has yet to prove his quality in, but to act as the savior for the club.
To place the weight of survival on his shoulders may be tough for a young player new to this level of competition.
But Kramarić has proven to be a leader in his own respects and the expectations placed on him are not necessarily unjust, but memories of a similar situation with Bosko Balaban come to mind. Thankfully, Kramaric has been said to be a more well rounded player than Balaban and these memories should not hinder our hopes for his success.
In the mean time, Rijeka is currently searching for a viable replacement for their star player and have sparked interest in former Dinamo Zagreb striker, Fatos Beqiraj. Beqiraj, who most recently played with Chinese club Changchum Yatai FC, is currently a free agent and would be available for Rijeka if they choose.
Two words: Zdravko Mamic.
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Great question!
I think Eduardo’s success clouded their judgment.
@Ante
That’s sramota.
Don’t understand why Dinamo is so trigger happy with signing these South Americans and Crnci.
They’ve never made any real money on these types of players, nor were any of them major impact players to the team.
Rijeka and Hajduk have more Purgeri than Dinamo now. Hell Hajduk has even more Purgeri than dalmosi!
Rijeka just picked up Bekim Balaj from Albania. I’ve seen him score some impressive goals, and he’s a very similar player to Kramaric. Lets see how this pans out for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mot8DVkn9gE
You’re a team struggling to get outta relegation, what do you do!?? You buy Hrvat, that’s what you do!
And that’s exactly what Leicester and Cagliari did with the purchases of Kramaric and Duje Cop. Both players are the top two leading scorers of the HNL. There’s high expectations on both players, as they were brought in to get their clubs out of relegation.
The Cop deal was done Thursday night for €4m.
http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/bomba-iz-maksimira-duje-cop-odlazi-u–cagliari–zola-placa-dinamu-4-milijuna-eura-/1270652/
His goalscoring had nothing to do with Kek who by the way is overated. Kramaric is a goal scorer. Problem he is heading to a dead last team with no midfield and awful def. Hopefully the kid will do well and as allen said the team might be in last place but has had some good games this year.
@Armada
I heard Fatos Beciraj is coming to Rijeka as well.
I heard about Rebic as well, but his loan deal won’t allow him to leave Leipzig until the summer.
If they’re going after old HNL ‘stars’ they may as well go after Leon Benko again. He’s had a rough post-Rijeka career being owed money in China and now apparently playing on FK Sarajevo.
Hopefully that goalscoring was all Kramaric and had little to do with Kek. It seems like Kek knows how to get maximum efficiency from his strikers. I don’t want Kramaric to bust out at Leicester simply because they bought him solely a a of his stats without watching what it took to make him so successful.
@Poglavnik:
Funny
@Soul Champ:
Hopefully you are right.
I would be happy if all Croatian players avoided the EPL.
Time for him to rise to the challenge Tevez West Ham style.
Jelavic jump started at Everton and Krama is twice as dynamic.
He needs much less service as he can run into channels and score from all over.
He will play each minute of every game.
At 23 you can’t sit the bench.
They aren’t all that bad. I’ve seen Leciester outplay clubs like Liverpool and Tottenham this past month (not saying much I know). EPL is very competitive, particularly in the relegation battle. No team is really dominant this year. Look at Man City allowing two late goals to Burnley.
I’m still not a big fan of the move, but he’s still relatively young. Hopefully by 25-26 he makes the big jump to a major club.
Rebic isn’t coming to Rijeka.
Word is Zec is coming back. Kek looks to be giving him a 2nd chance.
Perfect timing that Zec is changing his tune …. just as Kramaric leaves the club for the EPL.
i hope ni’m wrong but i just don’t understand how this season a leicester will work out well for kramaric. to have success as a striker , you really need service.
if liecester is in last place, i’m guessing the problem is not just the striker but a lack of midfield
i heard chattter of rebic returnign to rijeka to replace kramaric
Ziva knows Kurac
Ziva, impressive, you seem to be the only one on this site that knows everything about soccer on and off the field concerning it.
im sure if he saves them from relegation… he will demand a pretty big buck in the summer
well wish him the best of luck… he’ll get his opportunity, the odds are stacked against him but lets see what he’s got
Balaban ‘a role of intermediary/agent. Dude collects his fee for this.
Oh! Misunderstanding on my part 🙂
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George Costanza’s favourite player, Bosko!
@ Armada87
What?
What dude?
What is Balaban’s role in all this anyway?
why would you want to associate yourself with a dude who completely stunk it up in the EPL the day you switch to the EPL?!
Yes!!! Another reason to watch the EPL 😀