News about Ante Palaversa

In the searing heat of the Algarve back in July, Jimmy Thelin drilled his Aberdeen players both physically and mentally in an intense pre-season training camp. Double sessions became the norm. There were to be no passengers. Nobody missed a session, despite the exhausting 30-degree temperatures. Every player was asked to buy in to Thelin's methods. In the evenings, once training had finished and they had eaten dinner, players were discouraged from locking themselves away in the solitude of their hotel rooms.

There are no shortage of eye-catching statistics which serve to illustrate the seismic impact Jimmy Thelin has had on Aberdeen since taking charge this summer. The ten consecutive victories the Swede has presided over in all competitions is now the second-longest winning run in the club's 121-year history. Defeat League Two Spartans in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final this weekend and the Dons will move within four games of equalling the record set in 1970-71, with the run of eight straight league wins at the outset of 2015-16 also now coming under threat.

JACK GAUGHAN: The start of the Under-21 European Championships is a moment when scouts from around the world come to work in uncovering a gem. The transfer window is heating up, and several players will have the opportunity to stand in the spotlight across four organizations, with some familiar and some not so familiar names appearing in action. England is based in Germany, Czech Republic, and Israel, but a lot of attention will be paid to Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands as a result.

BY NICK HARRIS, a highly rated 18-year-old defensive midfielder from Croatia, when Manchester City acquired him on the final day of the 2019 January transfer window for a fee paid by the BBC and others of about £7 million. He was the captain of the Croatia Under 19s and was described as a potential long-term replacement to Fernandinho at the Etihad, but he was not allowed to stay on loan at Hajduk Split, where he was an academy product. Palaversa spent 2019-20 on loan at Oostende, Belgium, the following season on loan at Getafe in Spain, and then 2021-22 on loan at Kortrijk in Belgium. He joined Troyes in France on a permanent basis in the summer of 2022 for a fee that was believed to be negligible or nothing. Last year, he was one of four players to transfer from City to Troyes. Luka Ilic moved last summer, while Marlos Moreno and Erik Palmer-Brown went into the 2022 January window. They had collectively spent more than 18 years at City, and no one had ever played a single minute for the club.