PERHAPS there was envy, certainly there was awe, certainly too there was excitement, but could there have been that much surprise?
Bulgarian-language newspapers fell over themselves to compete in the boldness of their headlines reporting that 18-year-old football wonder Valeri Bojinov was being transferred from one Italian first-division football club, Lecce, to another, Florentina, for the record sum of 13 million euro.
"Cyclone Valeri Bojinov Strikes," howled Bulgarska Armiya newspaper, while mass circulation daily Trud shrilled, "Florence Crazy About Bojinov".
In the past few months, there have been reports that various clubs had their eye on purchasing Bojinov, who has made a name for himself as one of the best goal-scorers in the Italian league.
Among those said to have been considering bidding were the UK's Chelsea, as well as Roma, and, of course, Barcelona.
The deal commits Bojinov to playing for Florentina for four and a half years, for an annual salary of 800 000 euro. He was expected to debut with his new team on February 2, when Florentina was due to take the field at Florence's Artemio Franchi stadium against Palermo.
Online sports newspaper Goal.com described the transfer as a surprise, given that the highly-rated Bulgarian had been "heavily linked" in the preceding week to a move either to Chelsea or to Palermo.
However, shortly after the news of the transfer broke, Bojinov appeared to hint that there could be substance to media reports that he might move on again, to Juventus.
In an interview published by Bulgarian-language daily Standart on February 2, asked to comment on the Juventus reports, Bojinov was quoted as saying: "If they wrote that, then, it might be true. The media in Italy never make up stories. I will be very happy to play for Juventus". It seems it may have to be left for further developments to see whether the story is true, in the event that Bojinov has a subtly ironic sense of humour not easily conveyed in quotations ("The media in Italy never make up stories"…)
Either way, the youngster was excited.
Standart quoted him as saying, "I am very happy. Florentina is a club with traditions, while Florence is a wonderful town. This is a step forward in my career".
He confided, "I could hardly fall asleep. I couldn't go to sleep all night. I was so much excited. This is a great event in my life."
The transfer, Bulgarian newspapers were quick to point out, also puts him ahead of veteran Bulgarian football star and current national coach Hristo Stoichkov, previously holder of a transfer sum record, who moved from Italy's Parma to Spain's Barcelona for $8 million in 1996.

· Meanwhile, the news was more grave for another of Bulgaria's young sporting greats, Albena Denkova.
She and her partner, Maxim Staviski, had to drop out of the 2005 figure skating championships in Turin on January 28 after she became ill with bronchial problems.

· There was a further moment of glory for Maria Grozdeva, the icon of achievement for Bulgaria in Olympic shooting, when she was named as the Best Sportsperson of 2004 at a ceremony at the National Palace of Culture, hosted by the leadership of Levski Sports Club.
· For exponents of skiing, there was more to look forward to when it was announced on January 31 that a 30 million euro winter ski centre is to be built in the north-western part of the Rila Mountains. The ski centre will have 14 alpine skiing runs with a capacity for 4600 skiers, and will be located between the village of Panichishte, the Rila Lakes, and Peak Kabul.
The centre will be capable of hosting competitions "of the highest level", according to those behind the project. Bulgaria currently is preparing to launch an official bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, it latest of several bids for the winter Games.
Construction of the centre is expected to start in 2006 and take about five years to complete.