Yuri Zhirkov is a name that many Chelsea fans may not find familiar given the circumstances that surrounded the Russian’s time at Stamford Bridge. His failed career with the Blues coupled with his initial disinterest to sign for Chelsea are enough reasons for the Blues’ fans to either not cement his name in their memory or to forget him without a hurry.
The assistant manager of the Croatia men’s national Football team Ivica has revealed in a recent story he shared that his former teammate Yuri Zhirkov was not fascinated by Chelsea’s approach to sign him years ago. The list of Russian players who have moved to the Premier League is not a long one; neither is the one containing players of Russian descent who have left the Russian Premier League and have gone abroad.
Veteran Zenit St. Petersburg defender Yuri Zhirkov was initially reluctant to sign for Chelsea as it’s the case with a lot of Russian footballers who receive approach form foreign clubs. In the end, Yuri Zhirkov signed for Chelsea in the summer of 2009. Chelsea were said to have paid £18m ($29m) to sign him from his then Russian club CSKA Moscow. In an interview towards the end of last year, ex-Croatian international striker and former CSKA Moscow teammate revealed how Yuri Zhirkov was not excited about the Chelsea offer when the opposite was the case for his teammates who were happy that a big club like Chelsea want to sign him.
Veteran Russian defender Yuri Zhirkov is still going strong at the age of 37 in the colours of Zenit St. Petersburg in the Russian Premier League. He made his 17th appearance of the current season forZenit St. Petersburg during the recent league win over title rivals Spartak Moscow. Yuri Zhirkov became a Zenit St.
Dynamo Moscow have a difficult test this weekend when they take on PFC Sochi at the Lev YashinStadium. There has been a lot of inconsistency from both teams this season. However, the upcoming match is a great opportunity for Dynamo Moscow to lay down a marker for the campaign. The team are eighth in the standings after failing to meet expectations so far. The recent derby loss against CSKA Moscow is a major blow for Dynamo Moscow, who are keen to bounce back.PFC Sochi might have started the campaign in excellent fashion but they have been unable to retain the form for much longer.
Jurgen Klopp and Zeljko Buvac, who is the sporting director at Dynamo Moscow, have had a long working relationship which stretched to almost 2 decades. The pair worked with each other at the likes of Mainz 05, Borussia Dortmund, and more recently, at Liverpool. However, this partnership has recently come to an end. Zeljko Buvac recently left Liverpool in 2018 and the pair have been exchanging a lot of harsh words media since then.Buvac might have had more experience as the assistant manager to Jurgen Klopp, who experienced strong success at Dortmund and Liverpool, but he has recently taken over as the sporting director of Dynamo Moscow, who are a successful club in the Russian Premier league.
Transfer from one club to another is the life of professional footballers. Some of them may not pay as per the expectations of the supporters and then plays extremely well for the opponent when he joins the other club. Almost the same thing happened with Yuri Zhirkov who was a former defender of Chelsea some years ago. He made 49 appearances for the Famous club but couldn’t meet the expectations of the supporters.
He scored once and let others score on 11 occasions. As he was released by Chelsea, his career started moving around his homeland Russia. Clubs like Anzhi Makhachkala, Dinamo Moscow gave him the honor to represent their teams. Since 2016 he has been part of Zenit St. Petersburg. He represented his country in the World Cups of 2014 and 2018. He helped Russia to qualify for the 2008 UEFA EURO cup Semi-finals. He also won the FUTBOL’s Russian Footballer of the year. In front of the home crowd, his performance was actually astonishing as Russia was the host of the 2018 World Cup. Continue reading “Yuri Zhirkov from Dynamo Moscow of Russia”
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.
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.
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.
