The best story of the transfer season you never heard about

It is possibly the "best" story of the transfer season you did not hear of but one that reminds us of the game and not the financial balance sheet. With many offers on the table for him, Marc Janko turned aside a substantial pay increase and chose to stay in beautiful Salzburg with Red Bull.

The prolific striker has plunked in thirty goals in the first half of the Austrian Bundesliga campaign and well on his way to winning the Golden Shoe. In making the decision to extend his contract through 2013 the Austrian international said:

"I feel this is a decisive moment in my career.

"I need continuity and an environment in which I feel comfortable, where I can perform at my best. That is why I decided to extend my contract, despite several really good offers from other countries.

"My mission in Salzburg is not yet finished.

"I'm convinced we are in a good place at the moment and we have a bright future ahead of us. The club have always been on my side, throughout the bad times as well as good, and now it's time to give something back."

a look at the team and Austrian Bundesliga

With seven members of Karel Brückner's squad in the Austrian Bundesliga I thought it best to provide you a quick review of matches involving internationals.

Possibly the best place to start is Red Bull Salzburg's match-up against Austria Wien yesterday as Red Bull possesses six present members of Austrian team on their roster; René Aufhauser, Christoph Leitgeb, Ronald Gercaliu and Marc Janko. With Red Bull Salzburg possessing a narrow three point lead on the defending champions Rapid Wien and five points above Austria Wien, this match was critically important. However Salzburg make a powerful statement and crushed Austria Wein 5-1, on the strength of three strikes from the goal-scoring machine Marc Janko (4', 12', 54') with Robin Nelisse and Karel Piták rounding out the scoring and Milenko Aćimović adding the lone goal for Austria Wien.

Defending league champions Rapid Wien possess strike-force Erwin Hoffer and Stefan Maierhofer in the lineup as well as U-21 Andreas Dober and holding pace with Red Bull Salzburg, only three points behind. Not to be outdone with Red Bull Salzburg's play, they easily defeated SC Rheindorf Altach 5-1, on two goals by Stefan Maierhofer and a superb hat-trick by former Hajduk Split-man, Nikica Jelavic.