Tiknizjan Leaves Red Star for Olympiacos for Five Million
Left back joins Olympiacos for a fixed five million euros, plus bonuses and a cut of any future sale. Red Star signed Tiknizjan a year ago for 1.7 million.
Saturday, August 15, late evening. Less than twenty four hours after Red Star Belgrade crashed out of the third qualifying round of the Champions League, Belgrade and Piraeus had the last details ironed out on Nair Tiknizjan’s move to Olympiacos. The left back who was first choice on that flank last season leaves Marakana after only a year, and his exit is the club’s biggest outgoing deal of the summer by value.
The fixed fee is five million euros. Bonuses and a percentage of any future sale come on top, though reports differ on the exact figures. Some mention another million euros in bonuses plus 10 percent of the player’s next transfer, others put the bonuses as high as two million, which would push the total package to seven million euros. Tiknizjan signs a four year contract in Greece, with an option for a fifth season, and his annual salary at Olympiacos is estimated at around 1.1 million euros.
How much did Red Star make on Tiknizjan?
The math is simple, and it favors the Belgrade club. A year ago they signed him from Moscow’s Lokomotiv for 1.7 million euros. Twelve months later they are selling him for at least three times that amount, while keeping a stake in whatever happens with his contract in Piraeus down the line.
Between those two figures sit 54 appearances in a Red Star shirt, one goal and seven assists. A goal and a handful of assists rarely tell the whole story for a left back, but his consistency does: Tiknizjan was one of the few players whose spot in the starting eleven was barely ever in question. He played through the season in which the club won the domestic double, and through the European campaign that took Red Star to the round of 16 in the Europa League.
For a club that has lived off outgoing transfers in recent years, this is one of the rare cases where a player was bought to solve a single position, played a full season there, and left at a profit.
Why the Serbian passport mattered
It is a detail invisible from the stands but worth half a reinforcement in the club’s front office: Tiknizjan holds a Serbian passport, so he never counted against the foreign player quota in domestic competitions. In practice that freed up a roster spot for someone else, which is exactly why his departure is more than a straight swap of one name for another.
He was born in Saint Petersburg and came up through Russia’s youth selections, while at senior level he plays for Armenia. Olympiacos see him as a reinforcement for the left side, both as a full back and in a more advanced role down the flank, roughly the job he had at Marakana.
Ristic returns, then the playoff
Red Star had already lined up a replacement before the deal with the Greeks was finalized. Mihailo Ristic is back at left back, a player who has already played for the club and needs no time to adjust to the surroundings.
The rest of August will be the first real test for the new coaching staff. After the loss to Hapoel Beer Sheva and elimination from Champions League qualifying, Dejan Stankovic left the bench and Albert Riera took over. Ahead of him is the Europa League playoff against Viktoria Plzen, with a change on the left side of defense arriving in the same week the club fights for a group stage spot.
Five million euros for a player bought for 1.7 million is a deal no club turns down, especially in a summer that already cost Red Star a Champions League place and the revenue that comes with it. The open question is different: whether it suits Riera to change a man who played every match at the same position for a full year right before facing Plzen. The answer will come quickly, and it will come on the pitch.
