Pick Szeged extend contracts with three key players

Pick Szeged announced that three key players have prolonged their contracts. Two Hungarian internationals from the fourth ranked team of the London Olympics Szabolcs Zubai and Attila Vadkerti and the young national player Gábor Ancsin signed deals in accordance with Juan Carlos Pastor who will take over Szeged from next season.

Only two month ago news were spreading quickly about the contract of the new coach, who signed with Pick Szeged and starts his job next season. Now it seems that he has already started to build his new team.

“We communicate with Juan Carlos Pastor regularly and he asked us to keep these players in the squad. We supported this idea because we appreciate the performances of these players. We made a 3+2 years contract with Zubai, a 3 years long contract with Vadkerti and Ancsin signed 2+1 years,” explained Richárd Mezei, the managing director of Pick.

Left winger Vadkerti is the most loyal member of the squad since he has never played in another club during his career. He started in Pick Szeged 13 years ago and maybe he will finish his career on the banks of the river Tisza.

"I am happy to this prolonged contract and maybe I will retire once my time in Szeged is over. I was loyal to this team in all of my life and this is not usual in professional sport. I will be proud of this later when I become old and I hope the fans will recall me as the most loyal Pick player.” said Vadkerti.

He is the captain of the team since 2011, he won the Hungarian Championship and he is two times Hungarian Cup winner. As a national player his best result is the 4th place at the Olympic Games in London, and he was also the member of the 8th placed team at the World Championship in Spain in January, moreover he has an 8th place at the EHF EURO 2012.

He scored 111 goals in the EHF Champions League, and he stands at the 8th place on the CL top scorers’ list of Pick Szeged. During his career in Szeged he scored 715 goals in the Hungarian Championship. Thanks to his new contract he has 3 years to increase this number and climb up on the top scorers’ list of Szeged.

It won’t be easy because he has a serious competitor in the person of Szabolcs Zubai. With his 106 goals in the premium European club competition he hits the 10th place on Szeged’s CL top scorers’ list. In the national league he scored 295 goals.

He is one of the favourite players of the supporters, thanks to his acrobatic and spectacular playing style and his fighting spirit. The city is proud of him and he is also attached to the club and the city.

“I was thinking about my future and that is why I decided to prolong my contract. I feel good in Szeged, and also in the team, moreover the conditions are excellent. Nowadays the safe background is really important in professional sport and we have this background in Szeged. I am looking forward to the next period because I haven’t abandoned my dream to become Hungarian champion or Hungarian Cup winner with my loving club,” explained Zubai.

The young right back of the Hungarian national team, Gábor Ancsin spends his second season in Szeged. The 202 cm tall player came home from Germany where he played in Friesenheim. He was lent there by Rhein-Neckar Löwen. After his homecoming he debuted in VELUX EHF Champions Legaue in 2011 with Pick. He was the member of the 8th placed team at the World Championship in Spain.

"Playing in Pick Szeged week by week is honour for me, my relationship with the players is very good, I can improve my skills here, not to mention the fantastic audience and the beautiful city,” explained Ancsin.

With these new contracts Pick Szeged took a big step towards next season’s final squad but there will be still some changes and new players may arrive. The managing director says that they expect to finish the negotiations and have the final squad for 2013/2014 at the end of April.