Hapoel Tel Aviv are looking back toward Belgrade for their next piece of transfer business, just weeks after selling their prize academy winger there in a club-record deal. ONE reports that the Tel Aviv club have opened an inquiry for Red Star Belgrade winger Douglas Owusu as they search for a replacement for the departed Loizos Loizou.
According to the report, Hapoel's professional staff have already made initial contact over Owusu, whom they view as "a fast player with high individual ability" and rate highly enough to have identified him as a direct alternative to Loizou in the squad.
The obstacle, ONE says, is money. Red Star are said to be demanding roughly €2.2 million for the winger — a figure well beyond what Hapoel have earmarked for the position, leaving the deal, in the outlet's words, "far from simple" at this stage of the window.
Hapoel are not ruling it out entirely, though. Per the report, the club could revisit the move later in the transfer window if Red Star's valuation comes down, rather than walking away from the target outright.
The interest comes with an obvious backstory. Loizou, the Cypriot winger who came through Hapoel's system, completed his own move to Red Star this summer in a transfer reported at up to €3.8 million — the biggest sale in the Tel Aviv club's history — after signing a four-year contract in Belgrade.
Owusu, an 18-year-old winger who holds both Ghanaian and Serbian citizenship, only joined Red Star himself in January 2026 from fellow Serbian side Radnik Surdulica, and went on to win the Serbian Super Liga title in his first months at the club.
For now, the story is an early-stage inquiry rather than an active negotiation, and any move would hinge on Red Star softening their financial demands as Hapoel continue reshaping their attack for the season ahead.
