Former Lokomotiv Moscow chief executive Ilya Gerkus has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur had expressed an interest in signing Artem Dzyuba during the January transfer window. The north London side were reported to be looking for a new striker after the long-term hamstring injury for Harry Kane but ultimately, they were unable to pursue anyone.

Speaking to a Russian outlet, Gerkus has now revealed that manager Jose Mourinho was keen on landing the services of Dzyuba from Zenit St. Petersburg but the deal failed to materialise as the Russian outfit declined to sanction his departure, he told: “I know his agent, the man who did this.I know what Mourinho wanted Dzyuba. I know this for sure. Mourinho knows who Dzyuba is. He worked at the World Cup in Russia as a commentator on Russia Today and discussed, among other things, the Russian team. Continue reading “Former Lokomotiv Moscow chief reveals Tottenham’s interest in Russian star” →

 

The Russian football league has been thrown into more doubt with multiple cases of coronavirus being discovered in recent days. The potential for a restart has been hit by players of clubs like Dynamo Moscow and FC Rostov testing positive for the virus. Now, FC Orenburg have also been able to test positive with at least one case so far. Russian league president Sergei Pryadkin has said that a couple of Orenburg players have displayed signs of the virus during the routine testing process. Without revealing the names of the individuals have been affected,Pryadkin said that the individuals have been placed in isolation.

A total of six players and a couple of staff members have tested positive in theOrenburg club. All these members were able to test negative in the latest match. The upcoming game against Krasnodar has been put into doubt as a result of the latest revelation. Even though the game will not have a major thing riding on forOrenburg, it is key forKrasnodar since they are fighting for Champions League qualification. The Russian league recently went into a three-month long down as a result of the country experiencing a significant bout in the number of cases. In recent weeks, however, the cases have started subsiding. Russia has also been able to benefit from mortality compared to other countries.
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The Premier League is used to players coming from various parts of the world to carve a niche for themselves. Yuri Zhirkov was one mysterious player from theFar East that popped up in the English topflight for the Blues. He moved from CSKA Moscow in 2009 for over 18 million pounds – a big deal then.

It remains unknown if it was Carlo Ancelotti or Roman Abrahimovich who sanctioned the transfer deal but Zhirkov was wearing the Blues jersey. It is likely that the Russian club owner saw him in action in Moscow and wanted him to play for his club and Ancelotti followed through. However, Zhirkov failed to make the expected impact at Stamford Bridge.
Continue reading “WAS YURI ZHIRKOV A FLOP AT CHELSEA?” →

The Russian Premier League have had a major setback in the attempts to revive the season, asDynamo Moscow have had a defender test positive for the coronavirus. Roman Evgeniev is the latest player to contract the virus and he is one of the two staff members who has tested positive from the club. The other member is the goalkeeping coach.Evgeniev may be a defender, but he has already contributed one assist to the team in his 12 matches. The assist almost helped Dynamo Moscow get something out of the game against FC Sochi, who picked up a 3-2 victory.

Dynamo Moscow were in the sixth place in the table before the Russian Premier League came to a halt because of the coronavirus hiatus. The team has picked up a decent record of eight victories and eight defeats during this period. Zenit St Petersburg remain at the top of the table with 15 wins and they have only suffered losses. There has been a gulf in class between the two teams this season with the Zenit St Petersburg getting a 5-0 victory on aggregate in the last two meetings with Dynamo Moscow. The number of cases in the country has increased tremendously with Russia now sitting in the top three positions after having contracted almost 300,000 cases. However, the death rate remains very low with less than 3000 deaths.
Continue reading “Another Dynamo Moscow player tests positive for coronavirus” →

Zenit St Petersburg have been able to come to an agreement with all the players about a wage cut. Under the terms of the agreement, the players have decided to take a 50% pay cut for the months of April and May. The director-general of the club revealed that such a measure had to be taken in order to prevent the club’s finances from collapsing. The Russian league is certainly not one of the richest in the world, but Zenit do have a substantial wage bill. The players, though, had done extremely well up until now, as Zenit were able to go top of the table after 22 games in the campaign.

However, the rapid spread of coronavirus forced the Russian Premier League to suspend football on March 17. It was initially expected that the suspension would last until April 10. However, Russia has become one of the nations with a fast spread and this is likely to force the season into an indefinite postponement. For the official records, football has been postponed until May 31. The clubs are expected to undergo a severe drop in finances with TV money expected to dry up. Since most of the wages were being taken care of by the TV money, this situation became untenable before players agreed to take the wage cut.
Continue reading “Zenit St Petersburg Announce 50% wage cut due to Coronavirus” →

Zenit Saint-Petersburg striker Artem Dzyuba has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur were in the running to land his signature during the winter transfer window. The Russia international has been with Zenit for the past four-and-a-half seasons but it appears that he was on the radar of Spurs, who were eyeing a new striker with the injury for Harry Kane.

Speaking to a Russian outlet, Dzyuba revealed that he has been in contract discussions with Zenit for a while. The marksman added that he has the dream of playing in England but that was not meant to be after Zenit turned down the advances from Spurs in the recent transfer window, he told: “There has been a conversation about the new contract for a long time.
Continue reading “Artem Dzyuba reveals Tottenham Hotspur’s interest in signing him” →

Russia international Aleksandr Golovin has said that he has comfortably settled at AS Monaco and he is looking forward to putting a strong performance against Paris Saint-Germain this weekend. The Principality outfit have struggled for consistency for the second season on the bounce and they are presently just three points ahead of the drop zone after the opening 14 games.

As a result, they face a stiff challenge against Les Parisiens, who are comfortably at the top of the standings but Golovin is up for the test, he told: “It’s a very important match for us. Of course PSG are a very strong opponent, but we approach this match with the will to win it. We need to win, that’s our goal, we will fight to the end. Today I feel like this is home. I have to help my team to the maximum, to be at my best; we still have all our chances in this season and we will do everything to reach our goal.”
Continue reading “Aleksandr Golovin prepared for Monaco’s clash versus PSG” →