Prague, Sept 1 (CTK) – Czech football striker Vaclav Kadlec, 24, moved from Danish Midtjylland to Sparta Praha, with which he signed a four-year contract yesterday, and he has become the most expensive player of the top Czech league.
Sparta director general Adam Kotalik did not release the price that the club paid to Midtjylland, but he confirmed that this is the biggest transfer to the Czech league.
“It is a signal for both fans and players that we want to succeed and become the league’s champion once again,” Kotalik said.
Sparta has been the runner-up of the top Czech league in five of the six past seasons. It was the league champion only in 2013/14.
“I am extremely happy… The negotiations were hard because the Danes wanted me to stay. But they also knew of my wish to return home, which probably helped as well,” Kadlec said.
His agent Pavel Paska said Midtjylland refused Sparta’s offer five times.
Kotalik said the price Sparta paid for Kadlec was about three times higher than the price of its most expensive player until now.
According to the Danish paper Ekstra Bladet, Sparta paid 2.7 million euros, an equivalent of 73 million crowns, for Kadlec. Midtjylland recently bought the player from German Eintracht Frankfurt, allegedly for an equivalent of 48 million crowns.
Until now, the highest price for a player joining the Czech league was allegedly over 30 million crowns. Sparta paid this sum for Szilard Nemeth and Slavia Praha for Gino van Kessel.
Kadlec plays for the Czech national team. He played the Czech league with Sparta in 2008-2013. In 2013, Frankfurt paid 82 million crowns for him.
Earlier this week, midfielder Tomas Rosicky, 35, joined Sparta. Rosicky, the captain of the Czech national team, left Arsenal after ten years.
Three months ago, defender Michal Kadlec, 31, signed a three-year contract with Sparta when his engagement in Turkish Fenerbahce Istanbul expired. Despite the same name, Michal Kadlec, who also plays for the national team, is no relative of Vaclav Kadlec.
($1=24.286 crowns)
kva/sr/rtj
