What looked like a relatively quiet window as recently as a week ago could be getting even busier, it seems. A report from Sweden’s Expressen, something of a national tabloid, suggests that Hammarby IF have their sights set on Georgi Minoungou as a transfer target.
Hammarby have come into a bit of money after their record sale of 18-year-old central midfielder Adrian Lahdo to Serie A side Como for roughly $14 million earlier this month. Over the last two years, they've netted more than $30 million. Now it looks like they may be interested in reinvesting some of that transfer kitty into strengthening their attack in the form of Minoungou. Hammarby currently only have three players listed as wingers on the roster, so it’s certainly an area that could use bolstering.
Last season Minoungou put up 2 goals and 4 assists in 858 minutes across all competitions with the Sounders, then followed that with a bit of a breakout with the Burkina Faso national team. First Minoungou scored a brace against Benin in a November friendly. He built on that performance with a strong showing at the Africa Cup of Nations, including scoring again when he put away the equalizer as Burkina Faso went on to win their opening match of the tournament against Equatorial Guinea.
The 23-year-old is poised for a big year in Seattle, but if a deal can be made his big year could include a transfer to a team that finished last season as runners-up in the Swedish Allsvenskan for the second year in a row. Transfermarkt lists Minoungou’s market value as about $950k, but with a contract that runs through 2028 the Sounders will likely require a bit more than that to make his transfer a reality. To make a deal happen Hammarby may need to approach the club record fee of roughly $2.25 million they paid for forward Veton Berisha in July 2022.
It may have been simply a coincidence, but Minoungou didn’t participate in the friendly between the Sounders and Hammarby on Thursday, February 5 or the friendly against Metalist 1925 after. The transfer window in Sweden is open until March 25.
