Castillo set for Ukraine
Mexico striker Nery Castillo is set to join Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk. Castillo, 23, traveled to Ukraine yesterday. Greek media reported that Shakhtar offered 16 million euros to break Castillo’s contract with Greek champion Olympiakos which ends in 2010. The reports said Castillo was due to sign a four-year contract with an annual salary of over 2 million euros. Olympiakos has not made any comments on the reports. Castillo scored four goals to help Mexico finish third in the Copa America which ended earlier this month. Brazil won the tournament, which was held in Venezuela. After returning to Greece, Castillo said he had failed to successfully renegotiate his contract with Olympiakos, where he has played for seven years. «It was my wish to stay at Olympiakos… but I did not hear what I expected to hear from them,» Castillo said last week, confirming transfer interest from Shakhtar and England’s Manchester City. Castillo helped Olympiakos clinch its 10th league title in 11 seasons, scoring 12 goals. Archrival Panathinaikos, seeking to rebuild and challenge Olympiakos for domestic supremacy after being largely overshadowed by the Piraeus club over the past decade, yesterday announced that it had acquired Nigerian central defender Joseph Enakarhire on a one-year loan from Dynamo Moscow, which holds the player’s contractual rights. The African has shown lots of promise but his full playing maturity has yet to be seen. Enakarhire, 24, spent last season with French club Bordeaux, also on loan from the Russian club, after a season with Dynamo Moscow. The Russian team signed the African on a five-year deal in 2005, but Enakarhire has struggled to find a regular starting place. He played nine games with Dynamo Moscow and 16 last season with Bordeaux. The African defender, recruited by Panathinaikos’s new Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro, had helped Sporting Lisbon reach the UEFA Cup final in the 2004-05 season, when Peseiro was in charge. Enakarhire, who represented Nigeria at the 2004 African Nations Cup, made his international debut two years earlier in a friendly game against Jamaica. (AP/Kathimerini)
