The rebuild is now a squad you can read
Pantelis Hatzidiakos signed until 2029 (7) (11). Then Taha Ali spoke about his first days (6). Then the UEFA squad list for the Dinamo Kiev tie dropped with 47 names on it (8). That is not a coincidence, it is a club wiring itself together in real time. And the most telling detail came from the training ground Monday morning: Shoretire and Eloustodo on individual programs, Meite and Despodov in treatment (10). Four players already nursing something before a competitive ball has been kicked. That pattern matters more than any signing photo.
Hatzidiakos gets straight to the point
"I want to show on the pitch what I can do with PAOK" (12). No poetry, no promises. A 2029 contract says LiSi and the board see a long-term piece, not a stopgap. Hatzidiakos arrives from AZ Alkmaar with experience and the kind of no-fuss profile that settles a back line quietly (7). With Jorge Sánchez gone to Atlas and Joan Sastre heading to APOEL, the right side of defence needed a face. It now has one.
The question is fitness, not quality. PAOK's treatment room already has two names in it before pre-season is done (10). If Hatzidiakos stays healthy, he starts. If he does not, the depth chart gets thin fast.
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The squad list tells you who LiSi trusts right now
Forty-seven names on the UEFA list (8). Konstantelias is there. Zivkovic, Taison, Pelkas, the creative core you would expect. Ali makes the cut fresh off his arrival from Sweden. Santamaría, officially announced this week after his Valencia release, is listed too. The register reads like a manager laying down his first real marker.
But look at who is on individual programs. Shoretire and Eloustodo are not injured yet, but they are not fully integrated either (10). Meite and Despodov are in treatment. A squad in transition always has these fault lines. The Dinamo Kiev tie will expose whether they are cracks or just creaks.
Ali, for his part, sounds settled. He name-checked Jeremejeff as a key help in his first days (6). Small thing, but new signings who find a bridge player adapt faster. Ali might need to be ready sooner than planned if the injury list grows.
What to watch
Training resumes Monday (10). The fitness updates on Meite and Despodov will shape everything, because the Dinamo Kiev squad is already named and those names cannot be swapped. If LiSi is missing two attacking options when the European campaign opens, the Konstantelias dependency gets sharper. That is the thread to pull through the week.
