By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
One of the most effective forwards in Europe seems ready to continue his career at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Pops-Mensah Bonsu had an excellent season with Besiktas, won the Turkish league, the Turkish Cup and Eurochallenge and these days he’s playing in the Olympic Games, representing Great Britain, the host nation.
His name was high on Unics Kazan’s and Galatasaray’s shoping list, but the transfer didn’t proceed due to financial reasons. However, Maccabi, one of the top Euroleague teams, lured easily Bonsu, as Arale Weisberg revealed in the newspaper “Israel Hayom”.
At the same time, Israelis will be paid 250,000 euros by Galata in order to release Milan Macvan, who will sign for the next two years with the Turks, the team that was “hunting” Bonsu until a few days ago. Those money will be used by Maccabi for the salary of Mensah Bonsu, to whom Uniks offered almost 1,2 million euros per season. The Israelis, though, still afraid that the Russians could upgrade their offer and turn the tables the last moment.