Monday, 9 January was the day Crvena zvezda trained for the first time in 2017. The players and coaches gathered again in snowy Belgrade to start the preparations for the business half of the season.
Head Coach Miodrag Božović welcomed 33 players for training. There were some absentees: John Jairo Ruiz and Guélor Kanga are away on international duty with Costa Rica and Gabon, respectively, while Mitchell Donald, Thomas Phibel, Adam Mitchell and David Babunski are running late due to transport problems caused by poor weather.
“We are back in training after a month-long break. We will travel to Koper (Slovenia) for the base camp before we fly out to Cyprus. I believe there is enough time for us to prepare well. Our goals have remained unchanged – we want to win the Double”, Božović said.
Miodrag Božović was asked to comment on the media transfer speculation.
“Srđan Vujaklija, Nemanja Milić and Milan Senić are already with us. Romanian midfielder Constantin Budescu is close to joining. I normally don’t mention the names of players I’m looking to sign, but I will make an exception this time. Planić and Frimpong are on the radar, as well as Vojvodina’s Dejan Meleg. The money is tight, so we will have to wait and see if we’d be able to go for these players. We need a central defender, a right back and a striker.”
“We will also speak to the players who are looking to leave. I read in the papers that David Babunski wants to leave. Damir Kahriman also wants to play at this stage in his career. Thomas Phibel is also likely to depart. More will be known in the coming days.”
Božović is said to be happy that a number of youngsters will be at the training camp as it’s a great chance for them to gain experience and moce closer to challenging for a place in the first team. Nikolić, Ilić, Vučićević, Adžić, Račić and Romanić will travel to Slovenia on 11 January.
Crevena zvezda squad will then fly out to Cyprus in 27 January for the second phase of preparations.