The Budapest side have brought in several new players over the winter transfer window
Videoton return to league action on Sunday with a 18:30pm kick off at the home of Honved. The Bozsik stadium is the venue in the 18th weekend of the OTP league season, with José Gomes hoping his side can start the process of closing the gap with the teams above. Honved went out of the Hungarian cup during the week, suffering a 2-0 defeat at Győri ETO, which also saw them end the game with just eight players, having had three players sent off. The match official showed red to Diarra, Ignjatovic and Lanzafame, while they also suffered an early sixth minute injury to Delczeg. The latter was released from hospital on Thursday and will not feature against Vidi at the weekend. Honved will be doubling their efforts to finish in the top three, which would secure them a place in Europe, especially after they went out of the cup. There is currently one point splitting the two sides in the league table. A win for Vidi on Sunday could see them leapfrog Debrecen into third place!
The Kispest side were busy in the winter transfer window. Manager Marco Rossi and International Director, Fabio Cordella, spent the majority of the winter break in search of new players. It was not surprising to see players arriving from their native Italy. The biggest name to join the Budapest club was the former youth international player, Davide Lanzafame, who was most recently with Grosseto, but also had an earlier spell with Juventus.
Italian U20 player Raffaele Albiciade, is a central defender, who has arrived on loan from Juventus. Honved also signed 22 year old Italian-Argentinian striker Leandro Martinez from Cremonese, who was also previously a youth international. Left back Nicola Canzian, previously with Atlanta, and Romanian central defender Claudiu Pascariu were further signings. Youth player Gergely Bobal, recently had a trial at Manchester City, and he has now moved up to the senior squad from the youth side.
Players leaving the club included Abass, who was perhaps the biggest name, while defender Andras Debreceni will also not play, due to a contract dispute with the club. Honved have a stronger squad after a very busy winter transfer period.
Author: David Rechnitzer