What became of the top legionnaires? (3) – RB Salzburg, Part 3 of 3 » abseits.at
After we looked at some flops of the Austrian Bundesliga clubs in autumn and reported on what became of them after their career in Austria, in this series we shed light on the legionnaires who made the leap into the big football world via Austria and brought their clubs warm rain of money .
In the third part of our series, we take a look at the players who have only recently left Red Bull Salzburg and are looking for their way onto the big international football stage.
Erling Bride Haaland
20 million euros paid Borussia Dortmund in January 2020 for the services of Erling Haaland. The further development of the Norwegian has probably also been followed by people who have nothing to do with football at all. Haaland became a world star and is the most sought-after player when it comes to potential mega transfers. After 76 games, Haaland has an average of 1.00 goals per game for Dortmund. In the German Bundesliga, Haaland is even more accurate on average than he was in the Austrian. The 15-time national player breaks one record after the other and will probably not stay with BVB much longer.
Patson Daka
30 million euros Leicester City paid for the lightning-fast Zambian before the start of the season. However, the 23-year-old has not calculated himself for the foxes yet. In the Europa League he showed his class with a four-goal against Spartak Moscow, but in the league Daka was often a reserve player. Despite this, he had two goals and three assists in his first seven Premier League games. Daka joined the Red Bulls four years before his Premier League move from Zambian club Kafue Celtic – for just €250,000.
Duje Caleta car
19 million euros paid Olympique Marseille in the summer of 2018 to find Croatian centre-back Duje Caleta-Car. Since then, the 25-year-old has played 20 international matches for Croatia and is an undisputed regular for the French team. Caleta-Car’s contract in Marseille runs until the summer of 2023, but it is more likely that he will leave l’OM in the summer. Newcastle and West Ham are currently considered the most promising candidates for the defender’s commitment.
Enock Mwepu
13 million euros cost Zambian team player Enock Mwepu last summer when he moved from Salzburg to Brighton. So far he has made 14 competitive appearances for the Premier League club, scoring twice and providing five assists. The flexible midfielder is not yet part of the undisputed tribe. Overall, he has not been on the pitch for 800 minutes. With a contract until 2025, Mwepu still has time to acclimate to English football.
Marin Pongracic
Nine million euros VfL Wolfsburg paid exactly two years ago to free Marin Pongracic from his contract in Salzburg. The Croatian central defender, born in Germany, alternated between the starting XI and the bench at VfL and was loaned out to Borussia Dortmund at the start of the current season, where he met former sponsors Marco Rose and René Maric. After his first six months in Wolfsburg, even Bayern Munich were interested in signing the now 24-year-old.
Valon Berisha
7.6 million euros was worth Lazio Rome Valon Berisha in Summer 2018. The native Swede, who plays for the Kosovan national team, had problems with his knees and muscles in Rome and was never able to gain a foothold. 22 games were on the credit side after 1 ½ years and in spring 2020 Berisha could not convince in a loan deal with Fortuna Düsseldorf. He was then bought out of his Lazio contract in summer 2020: Stade Reims from the French Ligue 1 paid 4.5 million euros for the midfielder. In Reims, Berisha is currently only a backup player.
Mergim Berisha
Five million euros Fenerbahce Istanbul on the table shortly before the end of the expired summer transfer period for Mergim Berisha. The Kosovar-born Bavarian hasn’t really been able to convince in Istanbul so far. Five goals in 17 games are currently on Berisha’s calling card. Last summer, the 23-year-old was also an issue at VfB Stuttgart and PSV Eindhoven.