I understand that it is difficult for anybody to see people, staff, material with which he has lived such moments leaving his life. It is difficult to accept the loss of those with which you enjoyed feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, dreaming. It is like losing something from deep inside. Missing a small part of himself. And it is painful.
However, no matter how painful is watching the best players leaving your team, it is also completely necessary in modern football. The organization of PAOK should not be... crying for losing Robert Mak and his 20 goals from the previous season, it is better to understand that this is the best way to change the level of the club.
I don't know how many people realized that, but the 3.5 million euros transfer of Robert Mak to Zenit is the second most expensive sale in the history of PAOK (!), after that of Adelino Vieirinha to Wolfsburg (3.5 millions + 1 bonus) in January 2012.
Still, that departure was actually painful. It was forced to happen. Under pressure. If PAOK had not sold the Portuguese winger, their best player, back then, they would not be able to survive until the end of season. Many players were ready to leave, the club's debt was extremely high. PAOK even had to terminate Pablo Contreras' contract to avoid paying his salary. A few months later, they also sold Kostas Stafylidis, another footballer who did not really have the time to become an important part of the squad, to Bayer Leverkusen.
The previous record was also sad. Christodoulopoulos, Salpingidis, Melissis, Venetidis, were all sold to greek clubs, back in the time when PAOK was kind of a training step for a career at the three big clubs of Athens!
PAOK were forced to sell players to survive back then. Nowadays, they are selling as an option. To build its reputation as... selling club and enter that small european club of teams which can complete deals with each other under the same terms.
Lucas, Noboa, Mak, even Olsen, were sold in less than a year, brining money back to the club, and they are the best advertisement for the reputation of PAOK, which should be hoping that they will have a successful career with their next teams. Their success will increase the selling price of the next players which will be leaving Greece. These are the rules of the market.
The 3.5 million euros for Robert Mak's sale should be the start of negotiations for the next side which will make enquiry for any footballer of PAOK. This is the right way for... companies, not be depended on the personal fortune and the will of their big-spending presidents, which could leave their positions any time. That's why the sale of the Slovak winger (who had decided to leave months ago) it is much bigger than it seems at first sight. Because it changes the way of the opinion of the others about the club. And it is very difficult to earn such reputation nowadays.
From any side you want to see it, Robert Mak's case is an excellent value for money. Zisis Vrizas bought the generally unknown Slovak winger for only... 300.000 euros, he worked hard, made a contribution and right now will enjoy the reward of his effort, by bringing to the club more than ten times the amount of money they had spent to sign him! The real meaning of a successful transfer! Since he was also interested in trying something better (according to him) and certainly more profitable, PAOK had really no other choice. Nothing good comes from keeping someone by force.
If someone wants to search with clear mind and details the company profile of Olympiakos in recent years, he will soon realize that the turning point for the Reds' incredible financial dominance was the transfer of Kostas Mitroglou to Fuhlam in January 2014. Those 15.2 million euros from the english club raised the demands of the club and helped them sell Andreas Samaris to Benfica for 10 millions and earn another 6.5 + 6.5 million euros from Kostas Manolas' transfer to AS Roma.
That kind of money, not included in the transfer budget previously, helped Olympiakos strengthen their squad, make better moves and grow bigger. Until then, Olympiakos of Vangelis Marinakis were signing players such as Leandro Greco and Francois Modesto. Since then, they have bought Roberto, Ideye, Kasami and Milivojevic among others, because they became able to spend 2, 3, 4 million euros "cash" and pay the other teams, in order to buy good footballers in perfect age.
The most safe way of changing level is not by the money of a rich owner, but by making the others change the way they are seeing you as a club. For that, Ivan, keep selling! Sell Robert Mak and Ergys Kace and any other player in the right price. You will only have to return to the market a part of the profit and increase the quality of the current squad. It seems kind of strange, but in the future such sales will help the club to approach, convince and sign footballers, which would had previously rejected immediately a transfer bid from PAOK.
Those who believe that PAOK became weaker after the sale of Robert Mak, are most likely wrong. PAOK became stronger with that move. They still have to realize what really happened...
