Transfers of Sunday, 3 August 2003
Source: Papa Shamo (Sweden)/Nikos Bakolukas (greece)
Geek Side, PanathinAIKos sold Derek Boateng to Swedish club AIK Solna for 500.000 euro.
The 20-year-old Ghanaian midfielder was out of Panathinaikos coach Intzhak Shum's plans and Pana wanted to loan the player to Kalithea in order to create a non-EU player space for acquiring Croat Giovanni Rosso. However, Derek Boateng refused and also for Panathinaikos it is too late to capture a new player since the summer 2003 transfer window closed in Greece on 31 July. Boateng signed a three-year contract with AIK Solna worth 350.000 euro per year.
At the press conference AIK's English coach, Richard Money (pictuerd with Boateng) said: " I can't believe that we could get Derek and I believe he is going to be the best player in the league. I've seen videos of him against Real Madrid and Manchester United and this is a really, really big catch for us". This is because he was near a contract with Middlesbrough.
Latest and confirmed reports put the transfer sum for Derek Boateng at 4.6 million Swedish crowns (USD 560,000 or € 500,000) and according to AIK's Managing Director, Sanny Aslund, Derek Boateng is going to be one of the best paid players in the Swedish league (Allsvenskan). He gets the number 6 jersey.
Latest report on story in Aftonbladet:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sport/story/0,2789,339525,00.html
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sport/story/0,2789,339518,00.html
In one of the reports, they have the story when during the Under 20 World Cup in Argentina, Maradona said Derek will become one of the future stars.