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As ten players arrive at Horsfall Stadium, another eight have left the club for transfer fees.
Winter signings Mikael Forssell, Carlton Cole, Ross Turnbull and Stephen Ward all left the club on the 1st of July along with many former youth players, but Bradford Park Avenue have begun making profits on their departures now.
The approximate amount of money made through transfer fees this summer is said to meet the £3,100,000 mark, allowing club chairman Dr John Dean to look forward to a healthy club stature in terms of finances for the upcoming season.
Joel Lynch, who joined the club last season on a free transfer has left the club for Birmingham City in an initial £220,000 move to the Midlands - with the fee expected to rise with due clauses in place by the two parties. The Welsh international had a good season at the back for Bradford PA alongside Kasjusz Piwowarczyk, making 34 appearances for Avenue in the 2017/18 season.
Since joining Avenue from Brighouse in 2016,
John Abubakar has gone from strength to strength with his ability as a right-winger. The wonderkid made 23 league appearances last season and had one of the highest assist tallies in League Two last season as he created 13 goals for Avenue last season. This incredible form shown at such a young age of 18 caught the eye of many, but it is Leeds United - renowned for its excellent upbringing of talented youngsters - who have bagged the winger for what is a bargain of £750,000.
After failing to properly settle in the United Kingdom,
Julien Vercauteren has ended his very short spell at the club by joining Ligue 2 team Tours FC for a fee of £210,000. Julien made ten appearances for Avenue last season after joining in January, but the Belgian winger failed to make a real impact for the club.
It was an emotional goodbye for
Nathaniel Oseni as the young Manchester City youth graduate is sold off to fellow League One team Leyton Orient for £150,000. Oseni joined the club at the beginning of Bradford Park Avenue's National League campaign in 2016/17. He was promoted with the club that season, making 41 league appearances. He became an icon last season with 26 appearances and helping the club push on for their third consecutive promotion into League One. Legendary striker Matthew Fletcher claims that the young defender 'will be missed at the club'.
It seems as though Adam Chabukiani is ridding himself of the eight players that joined the club in the winter as
Vladimir Kovac joins German Second Division team Karlsruhe SC for a fee of £275,000. Despite his talent and experience in the higher tiers of football, Kovac failed to have much of an impact on the team last season, making only two appearances for Avenue.
With his four goals against Bolton Wanderers ripe in the memory of Bradford Park Avenue fans,
Cedric Gondo has ended his spell at Horsfall Stadium with eight appearances and five goals to his name. After being released by ACF Fiorentina, Gondo was snapped up by Adam Chabukiani in January and the 6'2" giant certainly delivered when he was asked to.
Despite becoming a beloved part of the team after his arrival in January, fans are gutted as they see
Godsway Donyoh leave the club so soon after such a good performance since joining. Donyoh was snapped up after he was released from a four-year spell at Manchester City and scored nine goals and created seven goals in just twenty appearances. He joins Eredivisie outfit Excelsior for a fee of £500,000.
And finally, the most recent departure,
Oscar Gobern bagged the club their highest receiving fee of this transfer window as Charlton Athletic snapped up the box-to-box midfielder for a fee of £800,000. Gobern joined Avenue in January 2018 for free as Queens Park Rangers deemed him surplus to requirements, but evidently the player was way too good for League Two and League One and now finds himself in the Championship among other former Bradford PA players like Joel Lynch and John Abubakar.
Four youth team players have left on loan as well, those are:
Lewis Jennings (Darlington),
Shaun Barrow (Guiseley),
Miles Mason (Hednesford Town) and
John Payne (Oakham).
In the rumours department, many Championship clubs are snooping around Avenue's 16-year-old star
Gage Tracey, currently valued at around £30,000 by most clubs, but all bids so far have been rejected. In regards to first-team rumours, though, Sheffield Wednesday, Bournemouth and QPR are all looking at Avenue's star midfielder
Ben Blackmore. Charlton also look to take another Bradford PA player away in the form of Irish winger
Jack Hallahan meanwhile Bournemouth seem to be looking at Avenue's other midfielder,
Samir Nabi, who may not receive as much game time now with the arrival of Matty James and may look to find a way out of Horsfall Stadium.
But that may not be it for departures as local newspaper outlets have reported that Adam Chabukiani has accepted a bid for Polish centre-back
Kasjusz Piwowarczyk from an unknown Polish top-flight team. That will be a big loss to Avenue's infrastructure, with the defender entering his fourth year under Chabukiani having recently made his 156th appearance for the club in all competitions. According to coaches, he has exceeded his potential by a country mile, originally being thought decent for a National League North team, but the Pole is now a League One player.