Olympiacos have reached an agreement with Ludogorets for the permanent signing of Petar Stanic. The Greek club beat Coventry City to the €10M-rated midfielder's signature.
Olympiacos have overtaken Coventry City to bridge the gap in terms of transfer fees with Bulgarian outfit PFC Ludogorets Razgrad for Petar Stanic.
A report by Gazzetta reveals that Olympiacos have reached an agreement on transfer fees for the permanent signing of Petar Stanic from Ludogorets Razgrad this summer. The Piraeus-based side are set to pay The Eagles' asking price of 10 million euros as the Greek giants increased their offer from 8.5 million euros to facilitate a consensus between the two clubs.
An earlier update from Gazzetta covered by Roundtable claimed that Thrylos and Ludogorets were separated by a figure of 1.5 million euros for Stanic's transfer, who looks keen on exploring newer pastures around Europe after a stellar season with the Bulgarian side.
Olympiacos president Evangelos Marinakis was adamant from the start of the transfer saga to complete the signing, and his club faced competition from newly promoted Premier League Coventry City and undisclosed Scottish Premiership clubs. However, the Greeks have now put all rumours to rest by agreeing on a transfer fee for Stanic, and they will move to put pen to paper on the player's contract.
The details of the deal with Ludogorets Razgrad are yet to be disclosed by either party, and it remains to be seen whether the Red and Whites paid 2 million euros as part of bonuses to seal the deal.
Barring any shocking surprises, the 24-year-old is set to sign for Olympiacos; however, they will need to wrap up the official signing quickly to avoid any late hijack by Premier League sides. The player is a natural number ten, but he is versatile enough to feature in almost every attacking position, as he has done throughout his career till now, shared between Serbian and Bulgarian clubs.
Stanic will get the opportunity to play in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and possibly feature in Europe's top competition if they win the playoff. Future reports will reveal if there was any push from the player himself to give Olympiacos an upper hand in the saga, since the prospect of Champions League football and regular gametime will always take precedence over an unreliable starting role elsewhere, despite the glamour of the English top flight.
The Serbian international made 34 appearances for Ludogorets last season, scoring nine goals across all competitions. He has three caps with Serbia's U21 team, and two with the senior team.
