Partizan allure Payer

FK Partizan have put their sights on Rapid star Helge Payer, it has been reported.The Austrian sports press claims today (Fri) that the 30-year-old has become a target of the tradition-rich Serb league champions.Payer kept goal for Rapid for many seasons before coach Peter Pacult surprisingly decided 35-year-old Raimund Hedl would be his preferred goalkeeper this season.Sports experts said Payer – who has performed 20 times for the Austrian national team since 2003 – was unlikely to leave the Green-Whites since he runs a youth keepers’ academy near Vienna and is to become a dad in a few weeks.Rapid entered the UEFA Europa League group stage for the second time in two seasons by beating English Premier League club Aston Villa 3-2 last night. Last week’s first leg, which was played in Vienna, ended 1-1.The 32-time league champions came in last of four teams in the competition in the previous season.Rapid – who are interested in FC Toulouse’s Danish striker Sören Larsen – are up against LASK Linz in the fifth round of the current Austrian Bundesliga season on Sunday.The Austrian Bundesliga table after five rounds:SV Ried, 12 pointsWacker Innsbruck, 10Rapid Vienna, 9Austria Vienna, 8Kapfenberg, 8Sturm Graz, 7Magna Wiener Neustadt, 7Red Bull Salzburg, 4LASK Linz, 0SV Mattersburg, 0