Stipe Perica completed his transfer from Watford to Maccabi after passing his medical and signing a one-year-deal at the club with an option to extend by a further season. The 26-year-old Croatian striker (193cm), joins Maccabi from Watford after an agreement for his transfer was reached with the Premiership club.
Perica, told the club’s official website: “I am happy to be here and join the biggest club in Israel. I would like to wish my new teammates good luck in their match in Kazakhstan and hope to see all the fans in the stadium really soon”.
Maccabi’s Head of Football Department, Barak Itzhaki, added: “Perica is a striker with presence and abilities that perfectly match the profile we were looking for. We are certain Stipe will be a significant addition to Maccabi Tel Aviv’s attack and wish him good luck”.
Born in Zadar, Perica began his playing career at the Youth Academy of his boyhood club where he made his senior debut in September 2012 and scored during that season in the Croatian league 8 goals in 20 appearances.
After becoming the youngest player to represent and score for his country during the FIFA U-20 World Cup which took place in Turkey, Perica was bought in the summer of 2013 by Chelsea who loaned him out to NAC Breda. The Croatian striker scored 9 goals in 35 appearances for the Dutch side where he played until January 2015 before joining Udinese on loan. Having scored 3 goals in 20 appearances for Udinese, Perica made his transfer to the Italian side permanent and added a further 7 goals in 49 appearances until 2018.
The following season Perica spent on loan with Frosinone before switching to Turkey for another loan spell at Kasimpasa and Belgian outfit Mouscron for which he scored 7 goals in 15 appearances during the 2019/20 season. Last season, Perica scored a goal in 16 appearances for Watford in the Championship and helped the Hornets return to the Premier League.
Perica made 16 international appearances for Croatia’s young national teams scoring 9 goals between 2013-2016.
