Dinamo pay record fee for Seitaridis
Monday, May 23, 2005
Article summary
FC Dinamo Moskva have continued to raid Portuguese football by paying a record €10m for Giourkas Seitaridis.
Article body
European champion
Dinamo have already recruited five Portuguese players, and on 12 May announced that Porto and Portugal pair Maniche and Costinha would arrive on 1 July having signed pre-contracts with the Muscovite club. Both players were ever-present as Portugal reached the final of UEFA EURO 2004™, only to lose 1-0 to a Greece side in which Seitaridis was a solid performer.
Transfer window
The 23-year-old has been capped 32 times by his country yet will not be considered a foreign player according to new Russian Premier-Liga regulations. Seitaridis joined Porto last summer to replace Paulo Ferreira, having won the Greek double in 2003/04 with Panathinaikos FC. He played 22 times as Porto finished runners-up to SL Benfica but will only be able to represent Dinamo when the transfer window opens in July.
Record deals
The previous record for a Russian signing was the €9.5m FC Spartak Moskva paid for Fernando Cavenaghi, although Seitaridis's mark will be smashed once Maniche's €16m deal officially goes through.