Now Alemannia Aachen is also getting started on the transfer market. A new man is on board for the center back position.
The competition is already going full throttle on the transfer market. Now it’s Alemannia Aachen’s turn. Center back Petros Bagalianis is coming to the imperial city from Greek first division club AE Larisa. In the current season, the 24-year-old has played in eleven competitive games for the promoted team, scoring one goal. Bagalianis has already arrived at Alemannia’s winter training camp and will start participating in team training there immediately.
Only the medical examinations are still pending. These will be carried out on Friday, January 9. Nevertheless, Aachen has already welcomed its new defender.
Bagalianis is listed at 1.88 meters tall and is expected to help stabilize Aachen’s defense. In 19 third division games, the Kaiserstädter have already conceded 34 goals – too many to be playing in the safe midfield. Instead, Alemannia is in 17th place in the table, the first relegation spot. “Petros is a center back who has already gained a lot of experience and has regularly played at a high level. With his robust style of play and his two-footedness, he brings qualities that will be useful to us in defense. We are very happy that he is now part of Alemannia and can complete parts of the winter training camp with us,” said Rachid Azzouzi, Alemannia’s sporting director.
Bagalianis learned to play soccer in the youth team of Aris Thessaloniki, for whom he made his debut in the Greek top flight in 2020. A year later, he moved to Olympiacos Piraeus, where he mainly played for the Greek top club’s second team and made 61 appearances in the country’s second-highest league. After a spell with Polish first division club Stal Mielec, the center back joined AE Larisa. With the traditional club, he won the Greek second division championship and the Greek second division Super Cup last season.
Bagalianis himself said: “I’ve heard a lot of good things about Alemannia Aachen – about the club, the fans, and the atmosphere at the Tivoli. The talks with the club officials were very convincing, and I’m very happy to now be part of this club. I want to help the team as soon as possible and do everything I can to ensure that we are successful together.”
The Aachen team has already gained confidence at the training camp. Alemannia took on Carl Zeiss Jena, a team from the Thuringian Northeast Regional League.
And lo and behold: Mersad Selimbegovic’s team secured a clear 3-0 victory. Niklas Castelle (35th minute), Lars Gindorf (64th minute), and Bentley Baxter Bahn (86th minute) scored the goals that secured a clear victory for the imperial city’s team.
However, the next test is likely to be of a different caliber. During their training camp in Turkey, Alemannia Aachen will also face second division team VfL Bochum, who have been in strong form recently. More specifically, the match will take place on Saturday, January 10, at 2 p.m. local time (12 p.m. German time). The venue is the Calista Luxury Resort Sports Center (Kadriye, Tat Golf Belek, 07525 Serik/Antalya).