Two of Bulgaria’s most promising footballers will have a chance to show their quality at Liverpool.
Under-21 international Nikolai Mihailov joined the English giant on a three-year deal with the option of a further two-year extension and U-19 winger Mihail Alexandrov is set to sign a contract. The players recently turned 19 and 18, respectively.
Mihailov is a third generation goalkeeper. His father Borislav holds the record for most international caps for Bulgaria (102), while grandfather Bisser Mihailov played more than 370 games, including five for the national team, between 1961 and 1974. Levski Sofia is the native club of this goalkeeping dynasty. There is also an English connection as Borislav Mihailov played for Reading between 1995-1997. He is now president of the Bulgarian Football Union.
The young Mihailov was a member of the Levski squad that competed in last season’s Champions League group stage, but he made terrible mistakes in the home game against Werder Bremen and lost his second choice status. Later he was ejected from the squad because of a series of off-field incidents. Nevertheless Nikolai kept his place as a first choice keeper for the U-21 team.
Alexandrov is a lightweight and skilful right-winger from CSKA Sofia, and an Under-19 international. Last season Misho was included three times in the CSKA first team while he is a regular member of the youth team (players born since 1988).
The Bulgarian deal is perfect for Liverpool, because these two players had not signed professional contracts with Levski and CSKA. They will cost about 500 000 euro in total according to FIFA regulations. The bosses of Levski and CSKA do not know whether to laugh or cry. The amounts they will get for the players will only cover 10 years of their training and development. Agent Lachezar Tanev transferred his two young clients thanks to his contacts in Spain and with Liverpool’s manager Rafa Benitez in particular.
Rafael Benitez is not only bidding to break club’s transfer record with the 26.5 million pounds sterling signing of Spanish striker Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid, but he is also accumulating strong youth back-up. In the past few days, the arrivals of youngsters Dani Pacheco, Alex Kacaniklic, Marvin Purie, Mikel San Jose, Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon have all been confirmed. All these boys will play for the Liverpool Reserve team under Rafa’s close control.
