Red Star confirm Loizou as Balov arrives

For the past week, Marakana has looked more like a trading floor than a football ground. Phones ring, agents come and go from the offices, and one unveiling follows another on the club’s channels. In the middle of that buzz, a young man from Cyprus stood in front of the red and white crest, pulled a scarf across his chest and smiled as if he had already played his first derby. Loizos Loizou is now a Red Star player.

The Serbian champions are not hiding their ambition. After a few seasons in which the domestic scene was almost a formality, the board decided to turn the summer window into a serious offensive. Loizou is the first visible move, but not the last. Before the ink on his contract had even dried, word leaked from the club that a deal for Kristian Balov, the Bulgaria international expected to strengthen the midfield, had also been agreed.

What do Loizou and Balov bring?

Loizou is the kind of player you do not notice at first glance, only once the match gets going. The Cyprus international, with 47 caps for his country, came through the OFI Nicosia academy and arrives from Hapoel Tel Aviv. Red Star had to trigger a clause in his contract and pay the Israelis three million euros in compensation, which is no small figure by domestic standards. He signed for three years, with an option for one more, and chose the number 75 shirt.

Balov is a story in himself. The Bulgarian midfielder agreed to a four year contract and reserved the number 8 shirt, which in football numerology usually means the club sees him as the engine of the team. Bringing two regional internationals through the door in the same window suggests Red Star are not filling out the bench, but adding competition for the starting eleven. Dejan Stankovic, who is in charge of building the squad for the 2026/27 season, gets a depth that previous benches did not always have.

Why now?

The timing is no accident. A club playing qualifiers for the elite competition needs a squad ready by late summer, not one assembled on the move. So the business is being done in good time, while rivals on the market are still negotiating. Loizou’s transfer was officially announced on June 10, and the speed of it all shows the board had a clear plan rather than a last minute scramble.

Of course, paperwork and shirt numbers are one thing, and football on the pitch quite another. Loizou and Balov still have to prove they are worth every euro spent, and not in friendlies but in the moments when Marakana demands a goal in stoppage time. A short bench is no longer an excuse, and by September it will be clear whether this was a smart window or simply a loud one.

Do you think Loizou and Balov will walk straight into the starting eleven, or will they have to wait on the bench until they settle in?