Dinamo brings in Prevljak from Istra 1961 for €800,000
Bosnian-Herzegovinian striker Smail Prevljak signs a two-year contract with Dinamo, while Monsef Bakrar leaves for Egyptian Al Ahly. Zagreb has brought in two new strikers in a short period.
Bosnian-Herzegovinian striker Smail Prevljak signs a two-year contract with Dinamo, while Monsef Bakrar leaves for Egyptian Al Ahly. Zagreb has brought in two new strikers in a short period.
GNK Dinamo Zagreb is bringing in 31-year-old Bosnian-Herzegovinian striker Smail Prevljak from Istra 1961 in Pula, with a transfer fee of €800,000, HRT reports. Prevljak signs a two-year contract with the Maksimir club, with an option to extend for another year.
According to HRT, the agreement between Dinamo and Istra 1961 was not straightforward. Dinamo initially offered the Pula club half a million euros in compensation, while Istra demanded one million euros. In the end, a compromise was reached at €800,000. According to the same source, Prevljak had already agreed personal terms with Dinamo earlier, so the transfer was a matter of agreement between the two clubs.
Prevljak is Dinamo's second attacking reinforcement in a short time. A few days ago, the Maksimir club brought in 22-year-old Slovenian striker Aleks Stojaković from Lokomotiva Zagreb, for whom they paid €750,000 in compensation. Both additions arrived to bolster the attacking line around Dino Beljo, who remains the main striker for the Croatian champions.
The reason for Dinamo's increased interest in attacking positions lies in the imminent departure of Algerian Monsef Bakrar. According to Index.hr Sport, Bakrar is on his way out of Maksimir and is expected to soon officially become a player of Egypt's Al Ahly. Index reports that the transfer should be worth around €3.5 million, while HRT reports a minimum of €3 million. Bakrar did not play in the first European competition match, and one explanation, according to Index.hr Sport, lies in a clause in his contract that would require Dinamo to pay a $100,000 bonus to former club New York City FC if the Algerian striker plays his tenth European match for Zagreb. Last season in the Europa League, he made nine appearances, so the management deemed it pointless to activate the bonus given the certainty of his departure. Signing the contract with Al Ahly is expected next week.
Alongside Dinamo transfers, other Croatian players are also on the move. According to information from Portuguese CNN journalist Bruno Andrade, as reported by Index.hr Sport, Croatian national team center-back Josip Šutalo is high on the wish list of Lisbon's Benfica. Everything depends on the sale of defender António Silva to English club Bournemouth, from which Benfica expects around €20 million, according to A Bola. Only after that sale do they plan to bring in a new defender, and Šutalo is one of the main candidates, but no official offer has yet been made to Ajax. Midfielder Robert Ljubičić, meanwhile, has moved to Austrian club LASK on loan from Athens' AEK, with an option to buy. According to Transfermarkt's valuation, Ljubičić's market value is €3 million.
Activity on the transfer market in Croatia is taking place within the transfer window, which runs until September 7, 2026. Dinamo has already made several moves in attack during this summer window, and given European commitments and Bakrar's departure, further reinforcements are not ruled out. Prevljak's experience in the SuperSport HNL and familiarity with the domestic league could be key reasons why the Maksimir management decided on him as a reinforcement.
