Signing of the silver medalist of the 2018 World Cup
Over the past year, Lokomotiv has experienced a particularly acute shortage of quality center forwards.
Surely the main hopes of the railroad workers were associated with the two-time winner of the title of the best scorer of the RPL Fyodor Smolov, but the former football player of Krasnodar was never able to adapt to the new requirements.
In the first half of last season, he did not play very well and in 14 games he recorded only three goals and three assists, after which he went on loan to Celta.
In his absence, Eder became the only option in the forward position, but he did not succeed either.
In this regard, even in the winter at that time, the head coach of the team, Yuri Semin, demanded to acquire the Cameroonian Christian Bassogog, but the leadership did not go to meet him.
As a result, in the final part of the season, Alexey Miranchuk did not take on the role of leader and striker and even led Lokomotiv to silver medals.
But this only strengthened the opinion about the need to buy a quality forward.
Apparently, it should be Mario Mandzukic.
According to the well-known insider Nobel Arustamyan, the negotiations are nearing completion, and soon the Croat may be presented as the newcomer of the red-greens.
According to rumors, Mandzhukich's invitation will not come cheap.
And this is taking into account the fact that he will replenish the composition of railway workers in the status of a free agent.
It is reported that the salary of the silver medalist of the Russian world championship will be € 2.4 million per year, and € 3 million will be paid as a signature bonus. At the moment, agreement has not been reached only regarding the duration of the contract.
The parties can either immediately sign a contract for two years, or issue it according to the "1 + 1" scheme.
If we take exclusively the level of football skills as a basis, then Mandzhukich will immediately become not only a serious strengthening, but also one of the leaders of Lokomotiv.
During his illustrious career, he managed to play for Juventus, Atlético and Bayern, in which he won the Champions League.
The only question is the motivation and fitness of the 34-year-old Croat.
Recently, Claudio Marchisio and Andre Schürrle have already visited Russia, the purchase of which was a real failure for Zenit and Spartak, respectively.
In light of this, the signing of the well-known, but age-old legionnaires begins to cause serious concern.
In addition, in 2020, Mario moved to Qatar's Al-Duhail, but scored only one goal for him in seven games, and since March he has never entered the field at all.
The end of Kuzyaev's wanderings
Capital Lokomotiv is also considered as one of the possible places for Daler Kuzyaev's career to continue.
The other day there was information that the midfielder has reached an agreement in principle with the club and in the near future may join the red-greens.
An indirect confirmation of this was the presence of the footballer at the match between the railway youth teams and Rubin.
At the end of the 2019/20 season, Kuzyaev's contract with Zenit expired, after which he refused to sign a new agreement and announced his desire to try his hand in Europe.
However, so far negotiations with the clubs of the Old World have led nowhere.
The Spanish “Alaves”, the English “Watford” and “Southampton”, the French “Rennes” were interested in Daler's services, but no agreement was reached.
Now only one European team is mentioned, in which Kuzyaev can continue his career.
According to well-known journalist Sergei Yegorov, the midfielder is in contact with the Scottish Rangers and expects a response on Friday.
According to sources, Spartak and Zenit were also interested in Kuzyaev's services, but Muscovites subsequently decided to refuse to invite the midfielder, and St. Petersburg residents allegedly cannot satisfy his requests for salary.
Apparently, this is not a problem for Lokomotiv, which is ready to make Daler one of the club's highest paid players.
According to Metaratings, the midfielder's salary can be € 3 million per year, and he will receive another two to three million euros as a signing bonus.
Central midfielder for Zenit
Perhaps the reluctance to offer a large contract to Kuzyaev is based on the reigning Russian champion's intention to acquire a more attacking performer in the center of midfield.
Earlier it was reported about Zenit's interest in the Croatian legionnaire of CSKA Nikola Vlašić, and now it is noted that Julian Draxler got into the sphere of interests of Petersburgers.
The world champion has spent the last three and a half years with Paris Saint-Germain, but has not managed to become a player in the starting lineup.
Draxler lost the competition to Angel Di Maria and, judging by the current state of the Argentine, will not soon be able to count on getting into the base.
In this regard, the German is seriously considering the option of leaving for another championship, while the option with the RPL is not excluded.
According to sources, Draxler's services have already expressed interest in Zenit and Krasnodar.
At the same time, the Petersburgers have made much more significant progress in the negotiations.
Apparently, Julian's transfer can cost them much less than purchasing the same Malcolm.
According to Transfermarkt, the German's contract ends in 2021, so the amount of compensation may be below market.
At the moment, the footballer is estimated at € 24 million.
Right-back for Spartak
The ten-time champions of Russia are desperately trying to solve the problem with the right lateral.
According to sources, Nikolai Rasskazov refused to renew his contract with Spartak, and therefore stopped joining the main team.
In his absence, Roman Zobnin appears on the flank and does it more than successfully.
However, the station wagon himself wants to return to a more familiar position in the center of midfield.
According to rumors, this was personally recommended to him by the head coach of the Russian national team Stanislav Cherchesov.
Tedesco himself is also not averse to returning Zobnin to the middle lane, but for this Spartak needs to find a replacement for Rasskazov if he rejects the new offer that the club made the other day.
However, so far these searches have not been crowned with success.
Several right-backs have been named in the press over the past few weeks, but none of them has yet joined the red-and-white roster.
One of the most notorious was the story of the possible transfer of Serge Aurier.
The Cameroonian is known for his performances for Paris Saint-Germain and has played for Tottenham for the past three years.
Last season, he was the main one in his position and played 42 matches in all tournaments, but was unable to earn the trust of Jose Mourinho.
In the summer, the Spurs were strengthened by Matt Doherty, who ousted his colleague from the squad.
According to Football Insider, the Londoners themselves were ready to let the player go, but he refused to move to Moscow.
Thus, Orye became another right-back who, for various reasons, did not join Spartak.
Earlier, Muscovites could not agree on the transfer of Brandon Soppi from Rennes and Kenny Tete from Lyon (the latter moved to Fulham).
The next on the list of Shamil Gazizov are Elseid Husai from Napoli and Tomas Tavares from Benfica.
It is noted that the club has already begun negotiations.
However, the interests of Spartak are not limited to this.
A year ago, there was a lot of talk about the need to buy a high-quality holding midfielder, but then the club failed to come to an agreement with potential newcomers.
In particular, by Adrien Tamez, who at that time defended the colors of Nice.
However, the red and white decided to continue working in the French market and found a new transfer target.
She was Abdoulay Toure from Nantes.
At the same time, the president of the team, Wildemar Kita, has already announced that the teams are really discussing the transfer.
The player himself is supposedly ready to change his registration, but the "canaries" intend to bail out more than € 10 million for him.