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01. 06. 11. - 19:00

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01. 06. 11. - 19:00

Rapid fan Prager joins Green-Whites

Rapid Vienna keep revamping their squad.

The team – who won the league 32 times, more often than any other club – said today (Weds) that former LASK Linz star Thomas Prager will join them from Swiss side FC Luzern (Lucerne) on loan for one year. The 25-year-old midfielder is expected to fill the gap left by Yasin Pehlivan who announced yesterday he will play for Turkish side Gaziantepspor from next season.

Prager was regularly called up for the national team before he was surprisingly not considered for the Austrian Euro2008 squad. Pehlivan failed to re-enter Rapid’s starting eleven after breaking both his arms in a fistfight outside a disco in the city centre of Vienna half a year ago.

Prager said he was looking forward to playing under new Rapid manager Peter Schöttel. "I’ve been a Rapid supporter since I was a teenager," he revealed today, while Schöttel incorrectly claimed that Prager was part of the 23-member Austrian team for the European Football Championship 2008.

The Green-Whites also announced that winger Veli Kavlak will leave the club. The 22-year-old Rapid Player of the Year 2006 and 2010 decided to try himself at Turkish top-flight side Besiktas. Rapid defender Tanju Kayhan, 21, was also transferred to the Istanbul-based club where ex-Sturm Graz ace Ekrem Dag is a regular member of the starting line-up. Kavlak, Kayhan and Dag were all born in Austria to families with roots in Turkey.

Rapid recently decided to extend the contract of midfielder Stefan Kulovits who could play for his country’s colours for a second time after an appearance in 2005 against Germany this Friday. ORF 1 will screen the Euro2012 qualification clash live (kickoff: 8.30pm). Around 50,000 fans will support their teams at the sold-out Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna. Germany are seen as favourites to win the match against their old rivals.

Austria Vienna’s Julian Baumgartlinger said yesterday "Austria will try to trip the Germans up." The midfielder is being linked with a transfer to a club in the German Bundesliga. His Austria Vienna and national team colleague Zlatko Junuzovic could also play for a club in Germany’s top-flight league from next season, according to reports.

Italian club FC Bologna – where ex-Rapid defender György Garics gets a lot of match time as right-back – are reportedly interested in Sturm Graz stars Roman Kienast and Manuel Weber. The Austrians celebrated Sturm’s third league title in history earlier this month. Sturm extended the contract of striker Mario Haas by another year. Samir Muratovic – who scored a string of essential goals in the final weeks of the last season when Sturm sailed to glory – is also tipped to stay. The club made clear it had no plans to sign a large number of new players for the 2011/2012 season.

Meanwhile, Spanish sport newspapers claim that Villarreal CF are interested in procuring the services of Werder Bremen’s Marko Arnautovic. The striker – who has been criticised for his behaviour on and off the pitch – has not been considered by Austrian national team coach Dietmar Constantini for the clash with Germany later this week.

Austrian Times

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