It has long been no secret that Ried’s offensive player Belmin Beganovic, who celebrates his 20th birthday on September 9th, has aroused the interest of other clubs. The 19-year-old is probably the fastest player in Austria’s two professional leagues. The transfer window closes in around two weeks, at the end of August. As the OÖN learned, a transfer of Beganovic could be on the horizon in the coming days. This is also indicated by the fact that Beganovic, who has scored 6 goals in 35 competitive matches for SV Ried, apparently did not travel to the away game against Floridsdorfer AC. “Yes, there is concrete interest and negotiations with a club,” confirmed Wolfgang Fiala, Sport Director of SV Guntamatic Ried, when asked by the OÖNachrichten.
Beganovic moved from USK St. Michael im Lungau to AKA Ried U15 in the summer of 2018. So far this season, the 19-year-old has only played in two of four games. He played 21 minutes against Horn and 25 minutes in the cup against Röthis.
There are said to be, or have been, interested parties from both Austria and abroad. However, the contract will probably go to champions and cup winners Sturm Graz. The amount of a possible transfer fee could be around double the current market value of the fast attacking player. According to transfermarkt.at, this is 250,000 euros. This means that a sale of Beganovic could bring up to half a million euros into the club’s coffers. Beganovic would be the second Ried player to move to Graz this summer. Before the start of the season, Ried sold the 18-year-old defender Arjan Malic to Sturm Graz for more than half a million euros.
If the “deal” goes through, Ried would record transfer proceeds of around one million euros this summer from the sale of players from their own youth team. This is more than unusual for a second division club. This income within a “transfer window” would also probably be a new record in Ried’s club history. If the sale of Beganovic goes through, which is more likely, then a deal could be concluded early next week. When asked whether they would sign another player in the event of a possible transfer of the 19-year-old, Fiala replied in an interview with OÖN: “Yes, there are plans to sign someone else. We have of course been monitoring the market very closely in recent weeks.”
