AEK Athens have submitted an official offer to Hapoel Be'er Sheva for Kings Kangwa, the Zambian international midfielder who powered the club to last season's Israeli championship. Word of the formal bid emerged in Israel on Sunday evening, with two separate reports confirming that negotiations between the clubs are now live. The Greek side's proposal, both agreed, is the most substantial yet received for the 27-year-old.
The numbers do not yet add up to a deal. AEK's current offer is understood to exceed €2.5 million, while Be'er Sheva value their player of the season at more than €4 million. One assessment in Israel holds that a bid in the region of €3 million could bring owner Alona Barkat's club to the table — but as matters stand, the offer falls short of her demands.
On personal terms, the gap is easier to bridge. AEK are prepared to pay Kangwa around €700,000 a year, according to one report — more than double the roughly €300,000 he currently earns in the Negev. It is the kind of salary jump that tends to concentrate a player's mind once clubs start talking.
Kangwa arrived in Be'er Sheva in the summer of 2024 from Red Star Belgrade, where he had won a Serbian title and tasted Champions League football, for a fee reported at under €1 million. The investment has been repaid many times over. He scored 14 goals and set up 8 more in his first season, then followed with 12 goals and 9 assists in the championship campaign that came after, form that earned him the league's player-of-the-season award. He has 46 caps for Zambia.
AEK's approach is not the first of the summer. Levski Sofia are reported to have offered €2 million for the midfielder earlier in the window, a bid Be'er Sheva turned aside without ceremony. It now looks like the opening move in a market that has steadily warmed since.
In Greece, expectations run higher still. On the podcast Trivela Boys, Kangwa was described as the closest available match for Orbelin Pineda, the playmaker AEK are seeking to replace, with one analyst estimating the eventual fee would land "in the region of €8 million." That figure belongs to Greek media speculation rather than anything either club has put on paper, and it sits well above what has been reported in Israel.
A regulatory clock is ticking underneath the negotiation. Under Article 30.05 of UEFA's Champions League regulations, a player fielded in the qualifying rounds may represent another club in UEFA competition only from the league phase onwards. Be'er Sheva open their qualifying campaign against Vikingur on Tuesday, and if Kangwa plays, he would be cup-tied for the rest of the qualifying and play-off phase, unable to line up for AEK against his old club should the two sides meet in the play-off round, as one Israeli report noted on Sunday evening. An unused substitute is not caught by the rule; only minutes on the pitch trigger it.
The timing sharpens everything. Be'er Sheva open their Champions League qualifying campaign this week, and Kangwa is expected to be central to it, giving the champions every sporting reason to hold firm, and giving their most coveted player a European shop window in which the price may yet climb.
By Monday morning the endgame appeared to be forming, though the picture remained contested. One Israeli report said AEK were expected to improve their offer to roughly €3.8 million and that the deal could be completed within a day, adding that a transfer sealed before Tuesday's qualifier would spare Kangwa the cup-tie. A second outlet quoted sources at Be'er Sheva insisting negotiations were "not close right now," and reported figures for both the fee and the player's personal terms that differ from the first account.
Those around the player left little doubt about his own preference. "This is his time to move," his circle was quoted as saying. "Everyone understands this is the offer — we need to let him go." Unless the clubs converge before kick-off in Reykjavik, the champions' player of the season will simply play on.
