Hapoel Tel Aviv have reached an agreement with Red Star Belgrade over Ghanaian winger Douglas Owusu, ONE reports, in a move the Israeli club hopes will finally solve a problem it created for itself two months ago.
That problem has a name: Loizos Loizou. The Cypriot winger left Bloomfield Stadium for Red Star Belgrade in June in the biggest sale in Hapoel Tel Aviv's history, a deal reported at up to €3.8 million, and the club has been searching for a like-for-like successor on the right flank ever since. According to ONE, they believe they have found one at the very club that took Loizou off their hands.
Owusu, 20, is a right winger prized above all for his speed and directness. He is not a household name yet, but his rise has been rapid. He began his professional career at Asekem in the Ghanaian top flight before moving to Serbia in the summer of 2024, joining second-division side Radnik Surdulica.
At Radnik he was a driving force, racking up double-digit goal and assist numbers as the modest club won promotion to the Serbian Super Liga. That form earned him a move to Red Star Belgrade in January 2026, with reported interest from clubs including Norway's Bodø/Glimt and Czech side Viktoria Plzeň before Red Star won the race.
At Crvena zvezda, Owusu has continued to progress. ONE credits him with 13 appearances, two goals and an assist for the club so far, and he has already collected three trophies before his 21st birthday: the Serbian second-tier championship with Radnik, then the Serbian Super Liga title and the Serbian Cup with Red Star.
It is that combination — pace, end product and a habit of winning even as a squad player — that has caught Hapoel's eye. The club's football staff reportedly rate him highly and see him as a genuine game-changer who could give Ran Kozuch's side the kind of width and directness Loizou used to provide.
Neither club has confirmed the transfer publicly, and no fee has been disclosed. ONE's report describes an agreement between the two clubs rather than a signed contract, so the move should still be treated as a deal in progress rather than a done one.
If it does go through, Owusu would arrive in Tel Aviv with a resume well beyond his years — and with the unusual distinction of following the very player he is meant to replace, in reverse, along the Belgrade-to-Tel Aviv pipeline.
