1 Barba, 2 Barba, 3 Barbarouses

Interesting.  Hope so.

Buying him or on a free transfer?

If he does, he could be in for some Europa League football.

 

 They have been slashing left right and friggen center for obvious reasons. Currently without any big financial backing mesthinks. Haven't heard much on it in a while.

I guess buying but no official release yet. 

But his youtube tape is flooded with greek comments suddenly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt6CN7UFNH0

The comments on that video are interesting.

"Join us to learn panatha ball!"

"chachachachachacha .. I hear what you guys;; good player someone who emfaniseis 10 last year he put 10 goals in category b of Russia and has grown in New Zealand .."

"Very good player! A must for Panathinaikos"

"children seems to me very good player who can play and the top and the edges and behind the striker. But above all are cheap"

Would love for him to be the next warzycha for Panatha..

I imagine that would be an absolute dream come true for him.

http://prasinanea.gr/categories/transfers/article1831240.ece

no real new news, just saying deal is close

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10815794

So apparently according to his dad it is a 90 percent done deal

90% down deals in Greece mean about 0.05% going to happen

Confirmed according to this: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport/109347/nz's-barbarouses-joins-panathinaikos

Good to see. Best wishes from Wellington!

 

good move, although not sure how much he will be worth if they want to keep him, may be a barrier

Depends on if he gets paid in Euros or Drachmas.

Second Phoenix player to end up at a club in the Greek Super Lge after Nick Ward - let's hope Kosta has a happier time :

Ward left thje Nix for Iraklis Thessaloniki in 2011, and returned without playing for them to the Nix after the side was relegated to the amateur divisions as a penalty for corrupt transfer practices. He wasn't paid a cent.

Football Kingz midfielder Andy Vlahos (one of their better signings) actually had a season at Panathinaikos in 1998-99, making a couple of appearances. He played for the Kingz 2001-2003 and then in the Belgian top flight for Cercle Brugge 2003-2005 and Melbourne Victory.

Football Kingz defender John Tambouras had played in the Greek top flight for Kalamata in 2000-2001 before he signed in NZ.

When you look at it, the Kingz had so many Greek Australian players bearing gifts...

A very corrupt league but Pana are a big club and probably a safer bet than many of the others...

Good stuff, hope he starts and scores a few. Seeing as its a loan are Alania still paying his wages? He might be getting paid in the mighty ruble instead of those crappy Euros

 

Difference is Kosta has talent.

So so happy for Costa. This deal seems a much better fit for him. Pan are a big big club witha proud history. The fact that Greece is in financial trouble means that they are less likely the club is to have the $$$ to attract really big name players = Costa could get some more game time. Which could also be Champions League/Uefa league.

Its hard to know who will be the most excited....Costa or his Dad

Lisa Ki?

 

Kosta's goal highlights on Youtube have now got nearly 45,000 hits. Which show how big a deal this for Pan fans. Also there are pages and pages of comments....most of its Greek to me but this one I could understand

" ohhhhhh ! "ti megalo talento !!!! ohhhhhhhh!!!   fabos!!!!

Anyone understand Greek care to see what the general feeling of the Youtube comments are. Maybe they think they are getting a kiwi Messi. 

Fantastic move for Kosta! Although Panathinaikos are not the side they were 10-15 years ago when they regularly competed in the UEFA Champions League group stages, they still are one of the best three teams in Greece and have another crack at European club competition again next season. Hopefully Bar-Bar will get some much needed and valuable match time in Athens which will only improve his game and benefit NZ. Good luck Kosta

Looking at reports on the net, I get the sense Panathinaikos are in deep trouble financially and are having to unload most of their foreign players - hence signing players like Kosta on loan they don't have to pay much in wages for. The entire board and the chairman resigned in March after they felt the club was no longer viable and the major shareholders have sold their shares. A last-ditch desperate attempt to save the club has seen shares sold to any supporters who will buy them. The club has 27 million euros of debt.

March 2012: "It’s no secret that two of Greece’s biggest footballing sides are in deep financial trouble and face an uphill struggle to meet criteria set by UEFA, in order to continue participating in European competition. Panathinaikos especially, face the prospect of dropping off the domestic map altogether, with no direct solution to their debt problems being available and the team looking at relegation to the fourth division next season, squarely in the face. Both Panathinaikos and AEK Athens, face grave difficulties in covering outstanding contract payments until the end of the season and beyond it, while also run the risk of losing most of their playing staff for nothing, if a series of settlements is not reached. Their current plight is being talked up by many as the start of an avalanche of crippling financial issues throughout the Superleague, which threatens to flatten Greek football, as the economic crisis driving the Greek economy into the ground, is now choking the life out of the country’s most popular sport."

They did manage to survive by selling shares to supporters but there's not sufficient investment to buy quality players and they're losing the ones they have:

March: "The club’s players are growing increasingly frustrated with developments, refusing to sign a financial settlement agreement this week which would mean they would have to wait until July and August to receive unpaid bonuses owed from 2011. The players, led by Jean-Alain Boumsong, Yiorgos Karagounis and Kostas Katsouranis have demanded meetings with the shareholders to solve the issue by the end of the season."

Players started suing the club for unpaid wages in April:

http://eu.greekreporter.com/2012/04/14/swedish-player-sues-panathinaikos-fc-over-unpaid-wages/

 

Swedish Player Sues Panathinaikos FC Over Unpaid Wages

Swedish football player Mattias Bjärsmyr has enlisted the help of lawyers to take action against cash-strapped Super League team Panathinaikos for unpaid wages.

Athens sports daily newspaper SportDay said Bjärsmyr became the first active player in the club’s history to seek legal action for unpaid wages. The move was made by his lawyer Martin Dahlin, who on behalf of his client is claiming 870,000 euros.

Bjärsmyr signed a four-year contract in July 2009 worth 1.6 million euros.

Panathinaikos have deep financial problems and an emergency shareholders meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday to seek a way out of a reported 27 million euro debt.

While the club has continued to enjoy success in recent years, financial problems have forced them to offload a number of key players.

Wow, Big Pete. I heard some stuff about Greek football clubs being in trouble but did not realise it was that bad. Kosta might well have jumped into a huge mess. At least he will get game time...as the club has no big name players left, but it could be in 4th Div.

That's interesting about Panathanaikos being in the shit, but even so I sense that this will be a decent move for Kosta. Most likely it'll mean that he gets more game time, and if worst comes to absolute worst the shit will hit the fan and his loan will be recalled. Win-win from his perspective imo.

The fire sale of Panathinaikos's remaining few stars seems to be underway with French international centreback Jean- Alain Boumsong being released with a year left on his contract since the club can no longer afford to pay him. Linked yesterday with a move to West Ham which may not be good news for Winston Reid:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2167782/Transfer-latest-West-Ham-option-Jean-Alain-Boumsong.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

"the 6ft 3ins centre-back did a decent job with Juventus and Lyon before moving to Greek club Panathinaikos where he has become a cult favourite. However, due to the Greek financial crisis he is now available on a free transfer and West Ham will be among his options as he eyes a return to England. They are struggling to nail down targets with Sporting Gijon's Alberto Botia and Spurs' William Gallas among their alternatives."

Agree this situation benefits Kosta, who would never have ended up there otherwise, but only so long as they don't go totally belly-up and get relegated to the amateur leagues...

Will be good for him to have a major club like Pana on his CV for the future, though it's disappointing his Russian employers don't see him as good enough for the Russian Premier League, which has overtaken leagues like Greece now and seems to have a lot of investors enabling the star signings that used to go to Greece etc. 

Pana en route to Ucl after beating Motherwell in scotland

Yeah, that win pretty much secured European football in the first half of the season for them. Getting to the Champions League will probably be a step too far as they'll get a much tougher opponent in the play-off round and they've lost a lot of players over the last few weeks because of the general financial shambles over there.

Pana virtually unrecognizable from last season - seven new signings (all lesser-known, cheaper players like Kosta) and lost all their stars except for key French defender Boumsong and Greek international Katsouranis.

v Motherwell last week:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18964891

Panathinaikos had arrived in some disarray, with Greece captain Giorgios Karagounis missing the trip after rejecting a new contract with the club that flirted with bankruptsy last season.

International colleague Kostas Katsouranis was also absent from midfield, being left on the bench after his exertions for Greece at Euro 2012.

But the Athens side were still full of quality and gave competitive debuts to two of their seven summer signings, Venezuela defender Jose Manuel Velazquez and on-loan Wolfsburg forward Ibrahim Sissoko.

In contrast, hard-up Motherwell have lost several experienced players from their squad and and only added former Bradford City midfielder Simon Ramsden.

Panathinaikos

• 27 Karnezis
• 04 Boumsong
• 24 Vyntra
• 31 Spyropoulos
• 44 Velasquez
• 06 Vitolo
• 17 Zeca Booked
• 22 Marinos (Katsouranis - 67' )
• 03 Sissoko
• 09 Toche (Mavrias - 75' )
• 10 Christodoulopoulos (Fornaroli - 85' )

Substitutes

• 25 Kotsolis
• 16 Seitaridis
• 34 Fourlanos
• 07 Mavrias
• 29 Katsouranis
• 14 Fornaroli
• 28 Petropoulos

First chance to make his debut tomorrow morning in the return leg of the Champion League qualifier against Motherwell.

PAO won the return leg 3-0 to secure European football for at least the first half of the season. Kosta didn't feature at all.

He's gona fit right into that team, atleast with the last name column anyway!

MALAGA V PANATHINAIKOS LIVE ON  ESPN THIS MORNING 6.30AM !!!!

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFIER FIRST LEG

(REPLAY ESPN FRIDAY MORNING 1AM)

Team lineups will be listed here:

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2013/matches/live/day=-2/session=2/match=2009475/index.html

Didn't seem to be starting or on the bench, although the teams were only on TV for a second and there were a huge amount of letters

You're right Frankie, he wasn't involved in this morning's game. Malaga won 2-0, will be hard to overturn that in Athens.

Yeah Malaga should really be a better side just looking at the squads and respective leagues

I assume they still get to play in Europa league if they dont qualify?

Yep, loss in this round of qualifying takes you directly to Europa League group stage.

KOSTA ON TWITTER FOR LATEST NEWS:

Kosta in Panathinaikos debut the other week 12 August in Cyprus friendly:

George Mastropavlos‏@g_mastropavlos

Here is @KostaBarb7 yesterday,wearing #Panathinaikos shirt for the first time (friendly game with Anorthosis in Cyprus) pic.twitter.com/OmzCtxSc

 

Good on him! He'll be pleased with number 21 I would think :)

WOO HOO !!!!

NEWS FLASH: KOSTA STARTS IN PANA'S FIRST GAME OF GREEK SEASON

FIRST NEW ZEALANDER TO PLAY IN GREEK SUPER LEAGUE !!!

Game played Sunday (NZT) with 1-0 away win to Panathinaikos v Levadiakos

http://www.soccerfame.com/match/318263/levadiakos/panathinaikos

Kosta played full game. Line-up:

 

27 O. Karnezis   2 G. Seitaridis 67' 24 L. Vyntra 34' 5 Andre Pinto   10 L. Christodoulopoulos 35' 22 S. Marinos 49' 23 A. Lagos   17 Zeca   7 C. Mavrias   21 K. Barbarouses   29 A. Petropoulos 53' Coach:Jesualdo Ferreira

Video highlights (Kosta #21 upfront right):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9P1vx0Qxg4

NEXT GAME: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFIER SECOND LEG V. MALAGA, WEDNESDAY AM (NZT)