Nantes sign young Croatian

EHF Cup participants HBC Nantes have signed a new player, Croatian Stefan Vujić.

The right-handed back court player, 21, usually plays centre back and has been a long term target of Nantes’ head coach Thierry Anti. Anti tried to recruit Vujić two years ago, and place him in the HBC Nantes under-21 squad, but the transfer was not completed.

Vujić, who is moving from RK Poreč, in Croatia, will start playing with his new team in February and has signed a deal for two and a half seasons, ending in June 2015. He is currently the top scorer in the Croatian league, with 136 goals.

Nantes, who will host the inaugural EHF Cup Finals in May, have already secured the services of Tunisian right wing, Aymen Toumi, for the start of next season.

Stafen Vujić was very enthusiastic on Wednesday, when he trained for the first time with his new teammates. Vujić told the HBC Nantes' official website: "Michele Skatar (Nantes' right back) told me a lot of good things about Nantes.

“I know it's a great ambitious team, with a lot of good players, such as Alberto Entrerrios and Jorge Maqueda.”

When asked about what he offers to the team, Vujić said:

“I can bring my offensive explosiveness to the team, but I think I can defend pretty well too. I'm excited"

HBC Nantes will open their Group Phase account against CS Ştiinţa Municipal Dedeman Bacău on 10 Frebruary. The other two teams in Group D are Germany's SC Magdeburg and Turkish club Besiktas JK.