Rapid Vienna signs Ercan Kara: The plan behind Arnautovic!

Rapid Vienna signs Ercan Kara: The plan behind Arnautovic!

Austrian football has a remarkable transfer to report on July 1, 2025: Ercan Kara is returning from Samsunspor to the domestic Bundesliga and signing a new two-year contract with Rapid Vienna until the summer of 2027. The 24-year-old, who previously played for Rapid among others in his career, is a well-known name on the green-white front. In his first phase at Rapid from January 2020 to January 2022, Kara scored 39 goals in 104 competitive games. His return in spring 2023 also had the potential, but after only scoring two goals in 17 Bundesliga games, a renewed commitment was not entirely foreseeable.

Markus Katzer, Rapid's sports director, praises Karra's commitment and fighting spirit and sees great potential in his return. Kara will wear the number 9 shirt and has decided to forego around 1 million euros net annual salary in order to play for Rapid. The transfer fee for Kara is estimated at around 400,000 euros, with Rapid and Samsunspor agreeing on this sum. Kara now expressed his emotional connection to the club and his strong desire to fit into the Rapid family.

A look into the career

Kara had a rather modest rookie playing time before moving to the Young Violets and then to Horn. He came to Rapid at the age of 24 and initially did not receive a high salary there. However, with the support of coach Kühbauer, he was able to develop into one of the best strikers in the league. After his move to Orlando City, a transfer for 800,000 euros took place in January 2022, followed by another move to Samsunspor, where he received a higher salary but was dissatisfied with just five goals from 34 appearances.

Meanwhile, Rapid is not staying idle. The club is also interested in Marko Arnautovic, which was confirmed by Katzer at a general meeting. Besiktas Istanbul, a financially strong competitor, has now withdrawn from the negotiations. Arnautovic is considered the preferred candidate and talks have been going on for two weeks. Rapid has also signed additional players Andrija Radulovic and Claude Mbuyi.

Transfer market and its dynamics

The transfer period in the first Bundesliga is dynamic. This season there were a total of 128 departures, which were transferred together for income of 300.5 million euros. In contrast, transfer spending amounts to around 259 million euros, which shows high activity in the market. Within the club, an average of 1.10 million euros is spent per entry.

Rapid Vienna is knocking on the door to return to its old strength. Ercan Kara is the first step towards a restart, and the connection with Arnautovic could add even more value to the team next season. Fans can look forward to seeing what other surprises the transfer market has in store.

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