AEK

Brazilian striker Leonardo from Levadiakos has decided to stay at Livadia, after AEK and the club were unable to reach an agreement for the highly rated player.

Levadiakos acknowledged the interest of AEK, through a statement released last week, but said that Leonardo is essential to their roster and will therefore see out his contract that expires in end-December 2009.

AEK in turn thanked Leonardo for his active interest in joining their club.

Manager Dusan Bajevic and his players are in Austria but their friendly game with Czech champions Slavia Prague was cancelled on Saturday due to a water-logged pitch. AEK will now play their first friendly game in Austria against Romanian cup winners Cluj.

In a radio interview the former midfielder of Panathinaikos, Ezequiel Gonzalez said he would like to work under Bajevic and he is willing to discuss a possible move to AEK.

‘Equi’ has returned to his native Argentina and has just finished the season in the Latin American country with the colours of Rosario Central.

Panathinaikos

Swedish central defender Mattias Bjaersmyr arrived in Athens on Tuesday and will be signing his contract with Panathinaikos after passing a medical test.

The Greek club and Sweden’s Goeteborg have reportedly reached an agreement on 450,000 euros, so Bjaersmyr will continue his career in Greece.

The Sweden Under-21 captain is expected to put his signature to a four-year contract that will earn him 400,000 euros per season.

“I am all ready to join the team,” he said upon his arrival at the Athens airport.

“My goal is to win titles and I want the fans to be with us,” said 23-year-old Bjaersmyr.

Asked about his two compatriots, Olof Mellberg of Olympiakos and Daniel Majstorovic of AEK he said: “I want to beat them both. Not just Mellberg but also Majstorovic.”

Bjaersmyr will on Wednesday join the rest of the squad who have flown to Austria for the second stage of their preparation for the new season.

Panathinaikos will play a friendly game against German second-division side Greuter Fuerth on Wednesday this week.

Olympiakos

Sevilla’s Enzo Maresca will join Olympiakos for the next three years, the Greek champions announced last week.

The Italian international midfielder will get 1.5 million euros per year while Sevilla received 1 million euros for letting the 29-year-old go.

“Olympiakos are a club everyone knows in Europe and has a monopoly in titles in Greece. It has got used to the winning mentality and this matches my own mentality,” said Maresca, who has already joined the rest of the squad in their pre-season training.

In a friendly game played in the Netherlands last week Olympiakos beat Dutch second-division side Zwolle 3-0.