Apollon’s friendly match against AEK made headlines, with Fanourios Konstantinou reporting on Cytavision that the Limassol team is close to signing a center back.

“Makis Papaioannou and Giannis Kyriakidis are at the offices trying to finalize the signing of the center back,” the “Blue” team’s press officer stated.

According to reports, the player in question is 25-year-old Emanuel Aivu, who plays as a center back and most recently played for Sturm Graz.

Here are the statements in detail:

On Ozbold: “Ozbold and Athanasiou followed a conservative training program as they were experiencing some tightness. Ozbold is trying to be ready for the first European match.”

On Emmanuel Aivu: “There’s no point in confirming anything at this time. We’ve also lost players due to media reports. A major effort was made to address a situation following the loss of Goldson. We’ve been working on signing this player for the past 12 days. He’s been offered a good deal, and we hope our efforts will bear fruit. Makis Papaioannou and Giannis Kyriakidis are at the offices trying to finalize the center back’s transfer.”

Regarding Goldson’s situation: “I haven’t spoken with him personally because he needs to stay calm. His agent told us that everything went as planned; we’re standing by him. We hope he’ll be with us as soon as possible.”

On Gary Rodrigues: “He’s in good shape; he’s following a special training program during the break. We hope he’ll help us in the rematch.”

*photo source: AP