Image: (LASK)
It’s a meaningful transfer: With the signing of Valon Berisha, LASK is all set to attack – and that doesn’t just apply to the position of the attacking midfielder on the pitch. With the commitment of the 30-year-old, the hierarchy at Linz will also be reassessed. Because Berisha is one thing above all: a real leader.
If you ask former companions, you always hear the same words: A “Mentality monster” with a lot of temperament on the field. But above all, an absolute leader off the pitch. No sign of one “I-AG”who only cares about her own needs and looks for the quickest way home after training. But a veteran who is also there for those who have not yet found a second home in the club’s region – from now on, Linz and Upper Austria. Knowing that a team can only be at the top if all players are well integrated. Berisha is communicative and speaks six languages. Standing sentences are not part of his repertoire. Appropriate: Before the LASK team’s departure for Turkey yesterday, Berisha personally introduced himself to each of his 22 teammates. There was a hug with captain Robert Zulj – after all, the duo won the championship title and cup victory with Red Bull Salzburg in 2014.
By 7.6 million to Lazio
Berisha, who has signed a contract until the summer of 2026, is moving to LASK on a free transfer. In 2018, Lazio put 7.6 million euros on the table to get him out of Salzburg. An anecdote from back then: Others might have said goodbye via SMS or WhatsApp. Berisha got into the car in Salzburg and drove to Bramberg in deepest Pinzgau, two hours away, to personally say goodbye to his teammates who were sweating in the training camp there.
In Italy, Berisha experienced more suffering than joy. After an injury, despite the high transfer fee and a long-term contract in the huge squad of the top Italian club, he was quickly out of the window – and was sent by his club to Germany (Fortuna Düsseldorf), Australia (Melbourne City) and France (Stade Reims). awarded. Immediately after his contract with the French was terminated, he injured himself again. Luckily for LASK because there is said to have already been an agreement with another club. Instead there was a pause. Most recently, the well-known Salzburg sports therapist Franz Leberbauer got him back in top shape.
Berisha scored perhaps the most important goal of his career in the national team: in 2016, in a 1-1 draw against Finland, he scored the very first competitive goal in Kosovo’s history.
Played for two countries
There is no everyday story behind it either. Berisha’s parents moved to Scandinavia from Kosovo in the early 1990s. Valon Berisha was born in Sweden, played football in Norway from the age of seven – and later made 20 international appearances there. So how should you make the right decision? For the country in which the parents were born? Or for the country in which you grew up and to which you owe so much? The family council made a Solomonic verdict. Valon plays for Kosovo, his younger brother Veton, who was under contract with Rapid for two years, for Norway.
Rene Renner is missing in Turkey
The signing of Berisha is a sign of farewell for two LASK professionals: Not only was there no room for Peter Michorl on the plane to the training camp in Turkey yesterday, but also for Husein Balic. The winger played 189 minutes in the fall with the number 14 on his back – Berisha will wear this number in the spring. Michorl and Balic’s contracts expire in the summer.
Rene Renner and Ibrahim Mustapha involuntarily miss the training camp: Renner’s knee continues to cause problems. In the autumn, the 30-year-old long-time runner was only on the ball in eight of the 17 Bundesliga games. Mustapha is not yet fit enough after the ankle injury he sustained in the Europa League against Liverpool. Ebrima Darboe is preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations with the Gambia national team.
Elias Havel and goalkeeper Lukas Jungwirth will only travel to Turkey on Thursday: beforehand they will attend their appointments with the armed forces. This means they will miss the first test of the training camp on Wednesday against the German second division team Rostock. On Sunday, the Romanian table leader FCSB Bucharest is the opponent, one day before the trip home, LASK will play against Poznan, third in Poland’s first division, on January 18th. Three LASK amateur players are getting a taste of the professional squad: goalkeeper Clemens Steinbauer, defender Patrik Peric and midfielder Yanis Eisschill.
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Source: Nachrichten
