Panathinaikos stole a church by signing Cerin and he changed the whole direction of the midfielders

It was acquired in the first days of July, completely “quietly” and without many people knowing about it. It was the third summer transfer from Panathinaikos to Lodingin, Ganea and the first outside of the Super League.

The first “hit” in the non-Greek market, where the reporters covering the “Cloverleaf” report searched the Internet (and not only) for information about an unknown Slovenian boy named Adam Cerin, who in 2019 – in Aged 19 – forced Nürnberg to pay around €1.2m to sign him from Domzale.

There he could not assert himself because his adaptation was too difficult. He found himself very young at one of the most extraordinary clubs in Germany, where nobody shows patience for development, but he managed to revive his career with his two-year loan at Rijeka.

The Croatian lacked the money to activate his purchase option from Nuremberg, which had increased to 800,000 euros, and the young Slovenian returned to Germany.

In mid-June, during the first round of talks between Panathinaikos and Benjamin Verbic’s advisor, Amir Ruznic, the latter offered the Greens a takeover of Cerin. Ivan Jovanovic began gathering information about the 23-year-old, reviewed everything and gave the “OK” for the takeover on June 25.

Not as the first choice of the rotation in the first phase, but as a backup solution to increase depth in the squad and particularly at the ‘8’ and ‘6’ positions, with Cherin earmarked to replace Ramon Lundqvist, the only acquisition the last season in which he did not rest and returned to Groningen after his loan expired.

However, the most interesting part has to do with what Panathinaikos paid to acquire Cerin. The German reporters, who were the first to mention the advanced negotiations between the two clubs, had reported that the deal, valued at around €700,000-800,000, would be completed. In other words, they charged an amount based on the clause that Rijeka had to buy him too, but they didn’t do it a few weeks earlier.

Nuremberg initially demanded 1 million euros

The Germans initially demanded about 1 million euros from Panathinaikos to limit their losses from the investment they made in 2019, but the Greens, after tough two-day negotiations, lowered the final amount, less than half.

Panathinaikos paid €450,000 to acquire Cerin, leaving them with no resale percentage (although this was a checkmate), but they added a number of participation and scoring bonuses. And the 23-year-old Slovenian’s four-year contract was just over 200,000 euros on an annual basis.

That’s about the negotiation. Because Cerin surprised everyone positively on the pitch in the following weeks and showed early on that he is the definition of a “bass” transfer.

And if, as the saying goes, a good day can already be seen in the morning, the 23-year-old midfielder suddenly showed his very serious and professional profile.

When Panathinaikos arrived in Valchze-Kosen, Austria on July 5, the first day of his preparation, he asked to train at full intensity with the rest of the group, despite having to travel 4 hours by car from Ljubljana to the City in the Austrian Alps, arriving at team hotel one hour before afternoon training.

For Cerin, the whole direction of midfielders has changed

Over time, Cherin became an important part of the lineup, very quickly elevating his status in the team and becoming very important. With a presence in the top positions of all basic statistical categories.

To the point where Jovanovic led to the decision to change his ultimate transfer target for the two central midfielders Panathinaikos were looking for at the end of the window.

And instead of a more experienced and experienced player who will play a “leading role”, he chose the options of young Enis Csokai and Alexi Trouillet, so as not to “cut” the development path of Cerin, which was already there. play with the face of a 30-year-old.

A terrible relocation investment for the present and the future, at 1/10th of the money Panathinaikos raised from the sale of Sotiris Alexandropoulos to Sporting a month and a half later (€4.5m, plus 30% resale percentage).

And with the image Cerin already has on the field as an excellent complement to “Professor” Ruben Perez in the “Cloverleaf” midfield, it could be said that Panathinaikos stole a church, from the moment he just had to pay 450,000 euros for a player who in a few years (and if he continues like this) will add a lot of zeros to his acquisition value.