A Summer Transfer Window That Saw It All | OneFootball

It’s Thursday, May 30th. A mere 24 hours have passed since the single biggest European achievement this club has ever witnessed. There is a euphoria around the country that hasn’t been seen for a football triumph since Euro 2004. Olympiacos fans across the globe are celebrating the club’s first ever European trophy. In the back of everyone’s mind though, there is an uneasy feeling. It’s the white elephant in the room that nobody really wants to talk about. What’s going to happen with the contract extensions of team captain Kostas Fortounis, electrifying winger Daniel Podence and starting goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis? Will loanees David Carmo and Andre Horta become permanent stays in Piraeus? We were aware that these questions would take months to be answered, but this past summer’s transfer window had been unlike any other.

The Departures

It’s not everyday a Greek football club wins a European trophy. Actually, the Piraeus club is the only Greek team to ever do so! I’m going to be a little obnoxious here and repeat that every so often because let’s face it, it’s a pretty big deal! Having said that, the administration knew that they had a daunting task at hand to mold the team roster for the 2024-25 season. A lot of fans forget that a good part of this team was actually pieced together during the winter transfer window.

Historically, winter transfer windows haven’t been kind to Olympiacos. For every Fernando Belluschi or Sergi Canós that arrives in January, you’ll often wind up with half a dozen Emre Mor or Colin Kazim-Richards situations. This past January, however, eight players joined the club. Notably, Gelson Martins and Chiquinho were transferred over to the Thrylos while David Carmo and André Horta were the loaned from Porto and Brago, respectively. Although Martins continued his uphill battle with staying healthy on the pitch, Chiquinho, Carmo and Horta all proved to be instrumental in coach Jose Luis Mendilibar’s plans. While the €500k sent to Benfica for Chiquinho might be one of the club’s greatest heists, there were questions marks surrounding the future of his fellow Portuguese midfielder, Horta. This brings us to our first departure.

Andre Horta

The talented midfielder jelled nicely with the squad upon arrival to Greece. His two goals against AEK Athens on Matchday 9 of the Greek Superleague Playoffs put a dagger on the Kitrinomavroi’s odds of repeating as Greek Champions. Mendilibar often had Horta as his 12th man and the 27-year old excelled. In what seemed like a soap opera over the summer, Horta was apparently flying to Greece on a plane, ready to sign but ultimately, remained at Braga. Braga appointing Carlos Carvalhal as their new bench-boss probably cemented Horta’s stay in Portugal as Carvalhal was the man who brought Horta to Greece in January.

Mady Camara

After joining Olympiacos before the 2018-19 season, Camara immediately clicked with the club and his performances began peaking. Unfortunately, Mady didn’t seem happy in Piraeus and after an underwhelming loan spell with Roma, he returned to Greece and quickly fell out of favor again. The Guinean international was adamant he wanted to play in a higher-level league but oddly settled to go play for rival PAOK FC.

Omar Richards

Richards’ first season was a tragedy in England. After moving over from German giants Bayern Munich for an estimated €8.5 million, the left back didn’t play a single game for Nottingham Forest due to injuries. His loan spell at Olympiacos was hardly anything to write home about either. He gave some much-needed rest to Francisco Ortega (rest that poor Oleg Reabciuk could have used at some point in his stint in Piraeus but I digress…). He’ll be moving on to Rio Ave being the first player to complete the Marinakis Soccer Trilogy.

Sotiris Alexandropoulos

When the 21-year old Greek midfielder joined the club in the summer of 2023, many expected him to be a part of the club’s Greek core of the future. He started the season strong, but was relegated to a bench role with coach Mendilibar. He provided us with two memorable goals against Genk in Belgium in the Europa League qualifiers and Panathinaikos at Leoforo in the Greek Cup round of 16. A good character who jelled in the locker room but, in the end, was never in Mendilibar’s plans.

Vicente Iborra

The defensive midfielder joined Piraeus last summer and was to add much needed help in Olympiacos’ defensive aerial game. Iborra faced uncertainty and criticism to start the season. Come May, he showed leadership skills and was instrumental in Olympiacos’ overall performance in the Conference League. He was famously quoted as saying “I’d give up my four Europa League titles to win the Conference League with Olympiacos!”. The 36-year old returned to Levante for this upcoming season.

Youssef El-Arabi

The Moroccan striker leaves quite the legacy behind as the 5th leading scorer in the history of Olympiacos. He bagged 94 goals in 225 games while playing for the Erythrolefki. His biggest being the legendary goal to knock out Arsenal in the round of 32 of the 2019-20 Europa League. During his 5-year tenure, El Arabi showed his love for the club, the supporters and his teammates. He will be 38 in February and had already shown signs of slowing down. A consummate professional who will be missed not only for his on-field class but his locker room presence and leadership.

Pep Biel (departure on loan)

Biel was unlucky to join the club during the tumultuous 2022-23 season but he has done himself no favors with his play. At times indifferent, at times frustrated but at times effective. He’ll enjoy a loan spell across the Atlantic while Olympiacos tries to find a way to recoup the hefty €6M they splashed on him in the summer of 2022.

Kostas Fortounis

Let’s be realistic here, there’s no way I can summarize Kostas’ 10 years at the club in a couple of paragraphs. Six Greek Superleague championships, two Greek Cups, 94 goals and yes, one UEFA Conference League Championship. For a decade, the attacking midfielder has been synonymous with Olympiacos. There were great times, and there were times that Fortounis would undoubtedly want to forget. Fortounis leaves behind a legacy that will hardly be matched in the future. Gone are the days of long tenures à la Predrag Djordjevic. His 11 goals and 19 assists this past campaign represent one of his most productive seasons.

Daniel Podence

Podence has made no qualms about his love for Olympiacos. Since the winger left in January 2020, he had made it a point to show the world how much he wanted a reunion in Piraeus. That reunion came last September and after an overall successful season, Podence is gone, once again. We all got the feeling that the 28-year-old wanted to stay at Georgios Karaiskakis for the remained of his career but Saudi Arabia’s club Al Shabab had other plans; making him a lucrative offer. It’s goodbye… for now.

The Rest

The Arrivals

Unlike previous years where the club would have a boatload of incoming players, the summer of 2023 only saw 9 (+3 returns) to the squad. The Conference League triumph masked some of the issues the 2023-24 edition of Olympiacos had, but let’s be real, last year wasn’t exactly a success story in the domestic front. A 3rd place finish in the league and a heartbreaking loss to Panathinaikos in the Greek Cup round of 16 ensured that the Erythrolefki would wind up without any local hardware for the second straight season. The administration knew they had some pieces they wanted to hang on to.

Back In Piraeus

Giorgos Masouras looked like he was going to be sporting a Bochum FC jersey moving forward, however, the hard-working attacker decided to renew his contract in Piraeus. Masouras, who almost gets as criticized as much as Andreas Bouchalakis used to, is a consummate professional. Is he the most talented winger on the team? Nope. Are his skills eye-popping? Absolutely not. With Masouras what you see is what you get. A workhorse who will always give you his best.

Konstantinos Tzolakis took over the starting keeper spot in March after Alexandros Paschalakis had shaky performances in Greece and at home against Maccabi Tel Aviv. According to our sources, the player wanted to stay at Renti from the beginning as he feels that this is his best route to consistently improve. The 21-year old has gained his coach’s confidence and it looks like the starting spot for 2024-25 will be his to lose.

Much like Daniel Podence and Andre Horta, the David Carmo saga looked like it was heading for a heart-breaking ending. Then, on August 25th, Carmo signed a five-year contract with Nottingham Forest and was immediately loaned back to Olympiacos. His chemistry with fellow center-back, Panagiotis Retsos, proved to be the club’s best duo in that spot in years. We’ll be seeing them both again for, at least, one more season.

Marko Stamenic

At 22 years old, Stamenic has already appeared in 22 international caps with New Zealand and was a reliable midfielder for both Copenhagen and Red Star Belgrade. After signing with Nottingham Forest, he was immediately was loaned to Olympiacos. Although he did not impress during the summer friendlies, Stamenic can prove to be a valuable defensive midfielder option for Mendilibar – a position that the team has had a hard time filling for quite some time.

Costinha

The right-back was acquired for €2.5M Olympiacos after having a stellar season in Portugal. Costinha was named Primeira Liga’s top right-back for the 2023-24 season. The hope is that he’s able to properly integrate into the squad to give Rodinei much-needed rest during the season.

Dani Garcia

Garcia, 34, joined the Erythrolefki as a bench solution for Mendilibar. Having played his entire career in Spain, the central midfielder should see significant playing time as Olympiacos is looking at another 50+ game campaign.

Alexandros Anagnostopoulos

The Greek goalkeeper signed with Olympiakos as a depth move. With Tzolakis and Paschalakis ahead of him in the depth chart, Anagnostopoulos is an emergency situation. The 30-year old originally began his career in rival Panathinaikos’ youth system.

Lorenzo Pirola

Before the re-acquisition of David Carmo, there was a strong belief that the center-back could potentially be Panagiotis Retsos’ partner in the starting eleven this season. Pirola was a key player for Salernitana in his two-year stint for the Seria A team. The captain of the U-21 Italian squad is a natural leader and people from Italy who I spoke to believe the €3M price tag was a bargain for Olympiacos.

Kristoffer Velde

The acquisition of Kristoffer Velde was Olympiacos’ first attempt at life after Daniel Podence. A natural left winger, Velde has already shown signs of explosiveness that the Erythrolefki require from their flanks. The early knock on Velde is that he seems to stand out less the deeper the games go into. With the addition of Willian, Velde can be an interesting option for Mendilibar coming off the bench.

Roman Yaremchuk

After bagging 23 goals in 43 games for Belgian side Gent, Yaremchuk was transferred to Benfica for €17M in the summer of 2021. The Ukranian international returned to Belgium a year for Club Brugge and was eventually loaned to Valencia. Olympiacos spent €2M this past summer to bring him to Piraeus as a formidable backup for Ayoub El Kaabi. Yaremchuk has already made his mark with a game-winning 77th minute goal against Athens Kallithea in Matchday 2. The 48-time Greek champions are hoping there is a lot more from where that came from.

Sergio Oliveira

Oliveira, 32, was acquired from Galatasaray on the last day of the summer transfers. Having spent time in Porto, Roma, Galatasaray and PAOK over the past seven seasons, the experienced midfielder brings a level of creativity to the team. For those looking for a Horta alternative, this is as close as you will get to one. The biggest question mark is Oliveira’s health after playing just a little more than 500’ in the 2023-24 season. If he remains healthy, the Portuguese midfielder should be able to help the Erythrolefki, especially in Greece where smaller teams park the bus and play with a double-layered defence.

Willian

We saved the best (at least we hope it will turn out this way) for last. Chelsea legend, Willian, joined the red-and-white ranks on September 2nd in an additional attempt by the board to replace the production lost by the departures of Fortounis and Podence. Even at 36, the board is confident that the Brazilian can be an offensive catalyst. Last season, the left winger competed in 2056’ in the Premier league. One of Willian’s main traits is his ability to carry the ball, especially in the final third of the pitch. During the 2023-24 season, Willian had 384 carries (a carry is defined as a player moving with the ball for five meters or more in the attacking direction). These carries happened almost exclusively from the left side of the attack. His dribbling ability is another characteristic that should help Olympiacos unlock pesky defences. With a rejuvenated (and hopefully healthy) Gelson Martins, Willian gives Mentilibar another solution on the flanks.

After last year’s roller coaster season, we learned that not everything is won – or lost- in the summer. The administration began the summer transfer window trying to maintain the core that led them to a European championship while making the necessary additions Jose Luis Mendilibar felt his squad needed. The realistic goal for Olympiacos this season is to end a 2-year trophy drought in Greece. And who knows, possibly another rendez-vous in a UEFA competition final at the home of the legendary Ernesto Valverde. Hey.. we keep on dreaming.