Union Berlin linked with rising Tunisian midfield talent | OneFootball

Sky Switzerland reports that Union Berlin are interested in acquiring Tunisian midfielder Mohamed Belhadj Mahmoud of FC Lugano. The defensive midfielder just completed a surprisingly strong season for his Swiss outfit, scoring ten goals in 42 appearances across all competitions. Die Eisernen could potentially bring the 25-year-old to the Bundesliga for a transfer fee of around €5m.

It’s already been quite a busy summer for the German capital city’s Köpenick side. The FCU have signed three strikers in Oliver Burke, Andrej Ilic and Ilyas Ansah. Stuttgart attacking midfielder Woo-Yeong Jeong has also been acquired on a permanent basis. Despite the fact that Jeong, Ilic, and Ansah cost a combined €13m, Union are still in fiscally good shape following lucrative sales of Robin Gosens and Benedict Hollerbach.

Union were able to net another €1m inlay on Wednesday via the sale of transfer Ivan Prtajin to 2. Bundesliga outfit FC Kaiserslautern. The FCU administrative team were able to recoup the full amount they paid to procure the former SV Wehen Wiesbaden star last summer.

Prtajin proved a prolific scorer for Wiesbaden in the lower division, netting 15 goals in the 2022/23 3. Liga campaign and following that up with 13 tallies in the 2023/24 2. Bundesliga season. Unfortunately, the 29-year-old Croatian wasn’t able to hack it in the top division.

Prtajin logged just 158 minutes of Bundesliga action in two stars and three relief appearances last year. Head coach Steffen Baumgart didn’t use him at all after matchday 22.

“Ivan has shown every day that he is highly professional,” FCU managing director Horst Heldt noted in a club statement. “Even though he didn’t get the playing time he wanted with us, we would like to thank Ivan for his commitment and wish him all the best and every success in Kaiserslautern.”

“I would like to thank the fans and the club for my time here,” the player himself added. “Even though I would have liked to have played more, I learned a lot at Union. Now it’s time for a new and exciting chapter, which I am very much looking forward to.”

GGFN | Peter Weis