Belko Transfer: MŠK Žilina GK Joins Viking FK | Nike League News

Slovak football goalkeeper Ľubomír Belko transferred from MŠK Žilina to the reigning Norwegian champion Viking FK. On Monday, he signed a contract with the club from Stavanger until 2029.

Twenty-three-year-old Belko spent six seasons in the Žilina A-team. He has 122 league starts, 29 clean sheets, 170 conceded goals and several individual awards, including the award for the best league goalkeeper 2022/2023.

Hard parting

“It’s difficult for me because I’m finishing here. I’m finishing at home. I’ll always remember in a good way how I grew up here as a footballer and as a person. To have so many intercepted matches at my age is an excellent number. I believe that with this step I will progress and advance in my career,” he said for the Žilina club website.

He considers the move to Norway a new challenge. “I’m glad that it was done, it’s the next step in my career. I will continue to work on myself to spread the good name of MŠK Žilina abroad. I nodded to the Vikings’ offer as I needed a new impulse for myself. B

I’m in my sixth season with the A-Team,and this move felt like a reasonable step forward. I believe that I will catch regularly and will not have the last word in Norway,” said Belko, who was the captain of the slovakian under-21 national team at last year’s home European Championship.

A logical step for everyone

According to MŠK sports manager Karol Belaník, Belko’s transfer was a good and logical step for everyone: “We both felt that the moment had come in Ľuba’s career when we needed to take another step forward. We dealt with the transfer for a longer time – at first it looked like nothing would come of it. We suggested the conditions under wich we would accept this transfer.

Based on further negotiations and also because of Ľub, who was very interested in this transfer, we reached a mutual compromise and accepted the conditions of the Norwegian club. He is leaving for the champion,a historically famous team that counts on him for the position of the goalkeeping unit.

´Belo´ has all the prerequisites to establish itself there. It will depend solely on him whether the Viking will be the next intermediate step in his career. He is a top goalkeeper, our protege and at the same time a person with a very human character.”

The most expensive goalkeeper transfer

The interested clubs did not specify the amount of the severance fee, according to the transfermarkt.com portal, the transfer amount is 1 million euros. Norwegian media reported that it could rise to 1.5 million. Transfermarkt estimates Belko’s market value at 2 million.

For Žilina,this is the most expensive goalkeeper transfer in the history of MŠK. “Not even Dúbravka, Mucha or Kuciak could come close to the value of this transfer with the transfer amounts at that time. Of course, there are other bonuses that, when fulfilled, can be a significant amount.

In addition, we have set percentages from further sales. Already after the summer EURO U21, we expected that offers might come, but paradoxically, nothing concrete came then. The Norwegians have spoken only now. from the beginning, however, we had a mutual promise that we would negotiate in case of an captivating offer. And even humanly we would not be able to block this possibility for him now.

He deserved it for the work he did here. And the timing was also optimal – we felt from him that he wanted to move on. Not because of money or pressure. Football-wise, he simply deserved this move and was ready for it,” explained Belaník.

Žilina with young goalkeepers

The sports manager of Žilina also commented on the current situation with the goalkeepers in the club after the departure of Belek: “We currently have three young goalkeepers in his position – Jakub Badžgoň, Jakub Jokl and Tamás Tarcsi.

Badžgoň already has league starts, he should start catching regularly.Of course, we admit that performance drops may occur, it’s natural. Though, we believe they have the potential to rise to the challenge.

Simultaneously occurring, we are still considering the fact that, if necessary, we would supplement them with a more experienced goalkeeper. However, Ľubo also once started as a young man, and we believe that this trio will also follow in his footsteps.”

“Belko is a goalkeeper with good physical parameters, a strong mentality and high potential. We are very happy to have him and we believe he will fit well into the players’ cabin and the way we want to play,” said the Norwegian club’s sporting director Erik Nevland to the Viking website.