Rakow Częstochowa Close In On Club-Record Deal

Polish side Rakow Częstochowa is closing in on a club-record sale as Croatian striker Ante Crna prepares to join Norwich City.

Reports in England suggest the club could be set for an £8.5 million windfall (€10 million), which the Canaries are preparing to pay, They’re believed to have been paid a similar sum by Celtic for Irish striker Adam Idah, and a report in the Pink Un suggests the numbers for the deal are ‘the same’.

That fee will almost double the club’s current record. Their official site claimed keeper Vladan Kovacevic was a record sale; he joined Sporting CP this summer for around €4.8 million (£4 million). The transfer website Transfermarkt has Kamil Piatkowski slightly ahead of that at €5 million (£4.1 million) when he moved to Salzburg in 2021. Either way, a deal for Crna will double those figures.

That’s a major profit on the 20-year-old, who is believed to have cost the club in the region of €1.3 million (£1.1 million) when he arrived from Croatia in September last year.

The striker has represented Croatia up to Under 21 level, appearing as recently as March against Portugal. He started playing for his country at Under 14 level, shortly after joining the youth ranks at Dinamo Zagreb. He didn’t make their first team, but appeared 18 times for their B team, scoring twice. That earned him a move Slaven Belupo in January 2022.

He spent three seasons with the Farmaceuti, appearing 56 times and scoring 11 goals.  That alerted Raków Częstochowa, known as the Medaliki, who secured his services on a five-year deal in September 2023. He’s been there for just under a year, netting eight times in 35 outings and playing six times in the Champions League.

So far this season, he has one goal and one assist from five outing, both coming as his side defeated Motor Lublin on the opening day of the Ekstraklasa season.

Site Opinion

This is a big fee for a relatively young and unproven striker. If Norwich are paying the same as they got for Idah, it’s a massive bonus for Raków, who will feel cash-rich ahead of the transfer window.

They might need to spend a bit of it, given there rather disappointing finish last season, but €10 million will go a long way in the Polish league. This is great business for them as they look to improve on their current position of sixth.