Every club has one time or another, made one or even more transfers that would eventually turn sour and the player would not live up to the hype that would have probably surrounded him before sealing the switch. For Chelsea, one of those transfers is Russian star Yuri Zhirkov who was signed from Russian Premier League side CSKA Moscow back in the summer transfer window of 2009.
Russian national team veteran Yuri Zhirkov has been a worthy servant for his country for the better part of the last two decades. The 37-year-old Russian international plays his club football in the colours of defending champions Zenit St. Petersburg in the top flight of club football in Russia. Yuri Zhirkov was at Dynamo Moscow in the same Russian Premier League before he left to sign for Zenit St. Petersburg in 2016. Yuri Zhirkov had been at Anzhi Makhachkala FC of Russia until 2013 when he signed for Dynamo Moscow. The ex-Chelsea player was a Dynamo Moscow player for three years from 2013 to 2016. Yuri Zhirkov is a utility player who can function well either as a left-back or as a left winger. He has been playing for the Russian national team for 16 years and counting since his debut in 2005. Since his first game for his country, Yuri Zhirkov has scored two times in century of games. His Russia debut came during the defeat to Italy in the Italian city of Cagliari. Zhirkov and Russia were on the receiving end of a 2-0 friendly defeat at the hands of the Italians.
Many Chelsea fans have been wondering why a certain player in the person of Yuri Zhirkov failed to live up to expectations at Stamford Bridge despite joining the club as an interesting and exciting player. Following his move from Russian side CSKA Moscow to Chelsea, he was looking like a player who would take the Premier League by storm given the caliber of player he already was during his stay in Russia.
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”
