"Küh" praises Austrian

Klagenfurt’s new player “had an offer from Barcelona”

(Bild: GEPA)

Austria Klagenfurt have two new faces at the start of training. One of them has already received praise from WAC coach Kühbauer. One coach even resigned because of the other. "Hinti" and Owusu (who costs almost nothing!) are eligible to play. But the search continues on the transfer market. 

When coach Pacult takes to the Sportpark artificial turf on Tuesday, two new faces will also be present at the start of training: Keanan Bennetts and Steven Juncaj, both wingers.

Claudio Trevisan, head of sport at the "Kärntner Krone", takes a look at Austria Klagenfurt in this article.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com, Krone KREATIV)

"The lad can do something"
Bennetts, who has English, German and Nigerian citizenship, is the more interesting man. Trained at Tottenham, collected 47 Bundesliga minutes at Gladbach and has been without a club since the summer, the 25-year-old went on trial at WAC in the fall. Wolfsberg coach Didi Kühbauer praised him: "The lad can do something!" The transfer only fell through because there was no need for him in the left wing position.

Keanan Bennetts (left) already played for the WAC

(Bild: Pessentheiner Florian/f. pessentheiner)

Like Irving and Karweina
And because Bennetts has the same manager as Karweina and Irving, he ended up in Klagenfurt with a contract until the end of the season.

Father has shares in several clubs
The US-American Juncaj, who until recently played for NS Mura in Slovenia's 1st division, terminated his contract there and has now arrived on a free transfer. The good thing: financially, the deal is no risk at all for Violett. Especially as his father George, an international entrepreneur, is said to be working with Austrias main company SEH. Before that, he had bought shares in NS Mura, ND Gorica (both Slo) and HNK Rijeka (Kro), is the owner of Michigan Stars (USA) - and once claimed in a press conference: "As a child, Steven was one of the first Americans to receive an offer from Barcelona."

A coach resigned because of Steven Juncaj.

(Bild: zvg)

"That's why I resigned"
Steven Juncaj's former coach Zeljko Sopic didn't have much fun with him at Rijeka in '23/24. "He didn't have enough quality and shouldn't have been part of the squad according to any criteria. I understand when you use private capital. But they wanted him to play, so I resigned," Sopic told Croatian media.

That's why Owusu costs next to nothing
Of course, Martin Hinteregger and Denzel Owusu, who are now eligible to play, are also in training today - thanks to a manager deal, the salary of the latter is almost completely saved. No test pilots are expected. A striker - most likely on loan - is still being sought.