The 30-year old Kyrgiakos joined AEK from Enitracht Frankfurt in 2008 and played only 20 games for AEK without ever finding the net. He has 49 Greek caps to his name and will bring huge experience to the Liverpool squad. Livepool are in dire need of denfensive reinforcements following injuried to Skrtel and Agger. They had to resort to Spanish youngster Ayala for the last 20 mins of their opening league game against Tottenham. “Sotiri”, as he was known to AEK fans, will bring in much needed stability to Liverpool at the back.

Kyrgiakos announced on his personal website that he had agreed a move to the Merseyside giants. But neither AEK or Liverpool have come out with an official confirmation regarding the same. But it is widely regarded that the move will be made public in a couple of days if the Liverpool owners agree to release the money needed to complete the signing.

Kyrgiakos’ personal website read -

‘I would like to inform the fans of AEK that on Monday night I received an offer from Liverpool, an offer which I have accepted,’ he said.

‘I understand this has come at the worst possible time ahead of the crucial games for qualification to the Europa League, but the fact that I will play for Liverpool is like a qualification in itself for me.’I have taken my final decision which was accepted by the president and the coach.’

Although Araujo has no senior Argentinian caps, he made 16 appearances for Argentina at U-20 level. It is his first stint with an European club. He will slot straight into the squad for AEK’s first game against Olympiakos on the first matchday.

AEK are expected to be without first team regulars - Djebbour, Makos, Kyrgiakos and Majstorovic. Mallorca have struggled this season with any new signings and are expected to line up with German Lux in goal.  Josemi, Nunes, Ramis and Ayoze in defence. Mario and Marti will sit and protect the defence giving license to the likes of Victor, Tuni, Castro and Tejera to float in attacking positions. Mallorca are also without Dudu Aouate and Pierre Webo who are away for international duty with Israel and Cameroon respectively.

EDIT:

Mallorca overpowered AEK and ran out comfortable 3-1 winners in the friendly. New signing Leonardo opened the scoring in the 23rd minute and AEK carried a 1-0 lead going into the lemon break. But a spirited second half display by the Spanish outfit saw them demolish AEK defence and their morale. Goals from Marti, Aduriz and Victor in the second half proved to be daggers in AEK hearts as they lost their last competitive game before the Europa cup campaign which begins on 20th August.

AEK Athens: Saja, Claudio, Leonardo, Manolas Juanfran, Yahaya, Gentsoglou, Iordache, Georges, Manduca, White.

RCD Mallorca: Lux, Josemi, Nunes, Ramis, Ayoze, Mario, Martí, Varela, Castro Trejo, Aduriz.
Also played Crespí, Tuni, Tejera, Victor Casadesús, Corrales, Alberto, Javi Castilian

Goals: 1-0, 22 minutes: Leonardo, 1-1, 49 minutes: Martí, 1-2: 64 minutes, Aduriz, 1-3: 90 minutes, Victor.

Greek champions Olympiacos have made massive strides in the transfer market. They’ve signed Swedish international Olof Mellberg for 2.5 million euros from Italian giants Juventus and have also secured the signature of English starlet Matt Derbyshire on a permanent deal from Blackburn Rovers. Another coup has been Enzo Maresca from Sevilla and the return from loan of Raul Bravo and Cristian Ledesma.

Panathanikos have been very strong in the market too signing former Liverpool and Marseille striker Djibril Cisse and Liverpool winger Sebastien Leto. They have also signed Kostas Katsouranis from Benfica and Cedric Kante from Nice.

That leaves us with a very vital question. Have AEK signed enough big name players to compete with the top teams in the Super League ?

AEK started their recuritment drive on June 10 with the signing of Aris fullback Nikolaos Karabelas on a free transfer. He signed a four year deal after having played under Bajevic at Aris. On June 12, Pantelis Kafes signed a new deal with the club which saw him made the club captain - as good as a new signing. Then, another 18 year old defender Kostas Manolas joined AEK for €50K. On 17th June, AEK completed the signing of Romanian midfielder Ilie Iordrche from Pandurii.

In big money movements, highly regarded Greek medio Grigoris Makos joined AEK from Panionios for €860K. He was soon followed by young Serbian goalkeeper Milan Lukac for €300K. And just a couple of days ago, AEK have tied up a deal for Brazilian forward Leonardo who joined from Levadiakos for €800K. Leonardo, only 21 has a rich scoring record in the Greek league having scored 35 goals in 100-odd games. The signing of Leonardo implies that one of the Non-EU foreigners currently in the AEK squad will have to make way. As a result; one of Nathan Blake, Ismaelk Blanco, Seidu Yahaya, Milan Lukac and El Hadji Diouf will have to be sold or loaned out. It looks likely that Diouf would be loaned out for a season.

Its not been a buy-buy window for AEK. A host of players have also left the club in favour of greener pastures abroad. Italian goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino made his move to Chievo permanent after spending last season on loan with the Italian club. Edinho was sold to Spanish club Malaga after just one season with AEK. Vassilos Pliatsikas moved to Schalke for €400K while Cypriot Giorgios Tofas went back to his homeland after signing for Anorthosis. Giannis Fysekis, Olivier N’Siabamfumu and Jurgen Macho were released after AEK did not decide to renew their contracts. Agustin Pelletieri, who played 27 games for AEK last season went back to Lanus after his loan deal came to an end.

In the Europa League playoffs, AEK have been drawn against Romanian club FC Valsui. The first leg will be played away in Romania while the return leg will be played at home seven days later. The games will be played on the 20th and 27th of this month and AEK will be strong favorites going into the tie.

AEK also managed a 1-0 win against Panionios in the pre-season friendly played on the 5th of August. Algeria international Rafik Djebbourscored the winner in the 42nd minute. AEK have two more pre-season friendlies to play - against Boca Juniors and Mallorca.

Due to a fairly high club quotient of 25.633, AEK will start their Europa League campaign directly from the playoffs. The playoff will be a two-legged affair with the games being played on home and away basis on the 20th and 27th of August. The draw will be made in Nyon on 7th August where AEK will know their opponents . As soon as the draw is made, we’ll get you all the details that you’d need.

This year marks the debut of the Europa League. It replaces the much neglected UEFA Cup with the group stage of the newly formed league starting on 17th September.

AEK kick off their Greek League campaign on the 30th of this month. The first matchday sees them pitted against champions Olympiakos - a game which would be a difficult start to the season. But AEK have been practising hard over the close season with a host of friendlies lined up against quality opposition. AEK have already drawn games against CFR Cluj, Ankaragucu and Chernomorets Burgas. With games against Panionios, Boca Juniors and Mallorca coming up in quick succession, AEK, under the guidance of highly experienced manager Dusan Bajevic would be ready for the season when it starts.

Next we’ll focus on the big money dealings in an around the Greek League. And we’ll do a quick check if AEK are spending big enough as compared to its competitors !

 Stay tuned and check back soon!

Still, i do not see any chance for us to win the title and even second place is highly doubtful… except we will win vs Olympiakos…

Still, i think we can win today and it looks like the team will give a big fight on the field and i really hope they will… We deserved alot more this season than a 3rd place…

Olympiakos only drawed 1:1 vs Asteras Tripolis yesterday so this really is our chance. If we win today, we will only be 1 point behind Panathinaikos and everything is possible.

Time will tell, hope everything will go well!

Today’s match AEK vs Xanthi was called off due to snow in Athens.

Since my time is very limited these days i am looking for more AEK fans, who would like to share their opinions with others and post on this blog.  As you can see, our blog is not really up to date lately and that should change.

If you are interested in becoming an author on this blog, just leave a comment and we will talk about it.

Thank you very much in advance.