In the summer of 2022, Austria Vienna brought the then U-21 national player Marko Raguz from LASK to Vienna for a reported 1.3 million euros. The offensive player had previously impressed the “athletes” both in international competitions and in the domestic ADMIRAL Bundesliga.
Injury stops talent
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However, Raguz was already suffering from pubic bone inflammation at the time of the transfer, and this turned out to be more serious than hoped.
“At the time, we thought we were getting a bargain. If you look at it from the outside, you could say that was nonsense. The fact was that we had all the medical reports at the time of the transfer and believed that things would soon be back to normal. Unfortunately, things turned out differently,” said Jürgen Werner, the sporting director of Wiener Austria, in mid-August.
Due to the injury, Raguz has not been able to play a single competitive game for Austria in the last two seasons.
In total, the 26-year-old missed 178 competitive matches and admitted to “Sky” that he had considered ending his career: “At the beginning of the year and at the end of last year, it was very, very hard. There was a time when I was really wondering whether the whole thing still made sense.”
But now Marko Raguz’s ordeal seems to be over for the time being. He has already made three appearances for the Young Violets in the Regionalliga Ost and thus completed his first competitive minutes in violet. The Upper Austrian native was also recently allowed to play for the professional team for the first time in a test match against SKN St. Pölten.
Competitive debut is imminent
“It is extremely pleasing that he was finally able to make his debut and that everything went very well. You can see his qualities in training, but you still have to be cautious. Marko has to keep going like this now. It has been a totally positive story since I have been here and I am optimistic that we are on the right track,” head coach Stephan Helm told “ViolaTV”.
Helm also predicts that the eight-time U-21 team player will soon be playing time with the pros: “I think he is already in a good enough shape to play minutes. The qualities he has, especially in the penalty area, to pass and hold on to balls, are as they have always been. But we must always keep in mind that we have to introduce him slowly. We are doing this in close consultation with the medical department, which has done a very good job, and with him himself, of course.”
Now there is hope that Raguz, who once joined the “Veilchen” as a royal transfer, will still be able to prove his potential and talent, more than two years late.
These ex-stars are currently in Austria’s lower house
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