“We must reconsider our attitude towards athletes”: Oreshchuk on the consequences of COVID-19 for Russian football and the future of Kokorin

“We will roll back to the zero years”

- I would like to start with the most relevant. What do you think, when will the football season in Russia resume?

- Not earlier than June. And the audience in the stands, most likely, will not be. You can’t risk people's health, even if the coronavirus pandemic is in decline by then. But the season has to finish the game. Firstly, no one has canceled sponsorship contracts. Secondly, UEFA strongly recommended the completion of national championships in order to identify the participants of the European competitions. And thirdly, players need to get money for something.

- Does it make any sense to conduct matches without fans?

- Football without fans is about nothing. But in this situation, this is the lesser of evils. And quarantined people will become more fun. It is no coincidence that in Germany they are going to resume the season almost on May 9. 

- How do you think, how seriously will the coronavirus pandemic affect Russian football?

- Very seriously. The budgets of many clubs will turn out to be greatly cut, funding will decrease. I'm afraid we will roll back to the zero years. But we will also return to adequate salaries, commissions. Football players will again want to leave for Europe. The crisis will serve as a good impetus. Indeed, today many Russian players do not deserve the money they receive. They provide them with the necessary passport.

- That is, the salaries of Russian players should fall?

- If we talk about public funding in general, we must reconsider the attitude towards athletes and, for example, the same doctors. After all, they earn a penny. Why is a soccer player who hits the ball every other time receives € 500-600 thousand per year? Moreover, without medicine there will be nothing. It is no coincidence that one Spanish virologist said: “Guys, what do you want from us? You pay crazy money to Lionel Messi. So let him find the vaccine against COVID-19. "

- Should the state significantly reduce funding for professional sports?

- If it completely abandons it, football in the country will simply die. You need to properly distribute finances. Start with the fact that we still do not know how to make money on our own. 

- Are Russian managers able to learn this?

- Firstly, they must realize: when buying a football player, you must bet on his subsequent sale in order to at least repay what was spent. Or you can take a free agent for two to three years, which will help give a result. There is no other way.

“We bought one chocolate bar and divided it into five”

- What do you think, in such a situation, our players will boldly go to Europe?

- Of course. After all, no one will pay them such money as now. They will get what they deserve and begin to look to the West. At the moment, our players earn exorbitantly much. For example, in the clubs of the second five of the Bundesliga, the average net salary of players is € 400 thousand per year. We get such money 75% of the Premier League. So why should they go somewhere? Now they will reconsider their attitude. Guys, go abroad and earn money there. And here, in Russia, learn to play football. Our championship should be a springboard, not a haven.  

- The flow of players from Russia to Europe can be compared with the one that was in the 90s?

- Now in the country there are not so many cool players. Those people who hit the ball will receive their money, but they are few. And if you take the 90s, there for each team of the Higher League were real masters, even for the most modest. Now I do not know half of the Premier League. But if you take the payroll, then the guys got ridiculous money.

- But after all, now many talented young Russians are playing in the RPL ...

- It causes optimism. Let them go to Europe and come back mature craftsmen. No need to ride the first or second leagues. In the same Dynamo double there are a lot of promising players who can break into the main team. In the 90s, the country was a failure. Schools did not work. But now we have excellent academies, players appear.

- What is the main problem of modern young football players?

“They have it all.” They are spoiled by clubs, agents. I will not give names, but some guys from duplicates are given apartments. I hope sobering will come now. I remember myself in the CSKA double. The five of us lived in the same room with Dmitry Khokhlov, Vladislav Radimov in a room teeming with cockroaches. For us, for happiness it was to get to training with the base, to eat at the base. And if they were in the application for the match, we were given 100-200 marks (as Oreshchuk explained, then the amount of payments in the club was then calculated in German marks, and issued in rubles, they are equivalent to 98 thousand - 196 thousand rubles at the average rate for 1993-1994. - RT ). At the same time, the salary was 150! About premium in a double speech was out of the question. What can I say, we bought one chocolate bar and divided it into five. That was our dinner. The form was washed by hand.

- But life has changed a lot since then ...

“These difficulties hardened us.” We made ourselves. Now, children are brought to classes on expensive cars. What will they strive for then? Play PFL? They don’t need it, because dad will easily give 100 thousand rubles a month, and there they will earn 30-50 thousand. In the FNL, salaries are 100-150 thousand. I repeat, coronavirus is a disaster, but perhaps it will open people's eyes. If you invite a high-class legionnaire, pay him a large salary. But only to Russians who do not hit the ball once. They can set a small salary, but high bonuses for achieving results. Hang the carrots and let them reach for it.

- How much does the limit on legionnaires help young Russians?

- The fact of the matter is that the problem is in the limit. Always said: the limit is evil. No restrictions are needed. If you play well, you will enter the field without them. You just need to bring high-quality foreign players for a high salary, for example, € 500 thousand a year.

- Returning to the consequences of the pandemic, how serious a blow will be dealt to domestic top clubs? 

- The gap between them and the rest of the RPL teams will only widen. But I do not think that the same Gazprom, VTB, Lukoil or Russian Railways will leave the budgets of the clubs under control at the same level. Anyway, some kind of optimization will happen.

- Will Spartak be hit harder than the rest? After all, it is sponsored by an oil company.

- If you had eight billion in your account, and it became six and a half, will you feel much poorer? At the same time, there are ambitions, you like football, and you need to spend 150-200 million on the club. Therefore, if the top clubs have to shrink, it’s not critical.

- In recent years, the level of legionnaires in the RPL has dropped significantly. Now will foreigners go to Russia even lower?

- I would say that it collapsed. Now we can reach the bottom. It is no secret that many legionnaires make good money in the RPL, and if they cannot pay that much, they will have to sell players. The market is now not so “lively", so club leaders should optimize budgets as they should. In the next five years we will not see Malcolm level transfers.

- How much can prices for football players in general fall?

- In the coming year, they will collapse by about 30%, but then will level out. Transfers a la Neymar in PSG until we definitely do not see. But next year is easy. In Russia, the situation normalizes only after two to three years. Now clubs will focus more on free agents, rentals or exchanges. We will pull high salaries so far, but transfers are no longer there.

“Let's not talk about Dziuba. The man forgot who gave him a second chance "

- According to some experts, the crisis will lead to the fact that in the leading European championships they will begin to pay more attention to players from Eastern Europe ...

- That's right, because they are cheaper. But this is not about Russia, but about Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania. Russia is not a fact. We do not have so many players who could play in the top leagues. But they are on the way, I repeat, in the doubles now there are a large number of talented young guys. They will go a little later to conquer Europe.

- Recently, Alexander Kokorin said that he has an interest in Italy ...

- We are familiar with Sasha. This is a golden kid. Yes, he always has his own opinion, cockroaches in his head. If he really wants to leave, you need to do it now. And the demand for Kokorin was, is and will be. This is one of the most talented Russian football players of his generation. If he stays in the RPL - he wins in money, if he goes to Europe - he will receive a charge of motivation. It’s hard to say what choice Alexander will make. Plus, there are political games around him in which I'm not strong.

- Believe that he will choose Europe anyway? 

- I can’t decide for him. 29 years old - the age for departure is not critical, but this is the last chance for Kokorin to leave for a good European club. And so I think he can play in any team that takes third or fifth places in the top 5 leagues of the Old World.

- A lot of rumors appear about Artyom Dziuba's possible departure to Europe. Do you believe that in 31 years old there is an interest in him?

- Let's not talk about this footballer. I don’t want to say anything about him after he called all agents “evil” and said that he hadn’t received anything good from them in his life. The man forgot who gave him a second chance. Alexei Nikolaevich Safonov saved Dziube’s career when he was kicked out of Spartak after the story of Vladimir Bystrov’s wallet. I can’t call him a bad football player, I just don’t want to talk about his future. 

- Do you think Fyodor Smolov will remain in Spain, or will his departure from Vigo put an end to his European career?

- We do not know the whole truth about that story. But judging by an interview with the head coach of Celta Oscar Garcia, he was very upset by the departure of Smolov. Before that I was sure that everything was agreed. I do not believe that Fedya could take and leave like this. But after Garcia’s words, I’m afraid Fedor will not play with him for Celta.

- His actions on the field, he earned a full contract?

- And how much did he play? Six matches ... In fact, we still did not understand how he looked there. For me, Smolov is a good, solid footballer. Because he took a chance and went to Spain, he needs to shake hands. Yes, I could lose financially, but to leave at that age is an act. I want to wish him to stay at Celta.

- According to media reports, about another € 35 million can be paid for another Zenit striker Serdar Azmun. How much is this amount taking into account the crisis?

- For that kind of money, you need to pack it in a beautiful wrapper, tie a bow and arrange ceremonial farewells. Another thing is whether so much was offered for Azmuna. At the time, after all, the Dortmund Borussia wanted to acquire Serdar from Rubin for € 20 million, but Kazan refused, they decided that it was not enough. Now € 35 million is like 50 million before the pandemic.

- Will the crisis facilitate the departure to Italy for Alexei Miranchuk? Indeed, now Lokomotiv will surely die out of appetites ...

- To be honest, I do not really understand all the sides in this story. It is unclear whether Miranchuk himself wants to leave, whether the club wants to sell it. First of all, you need to ask Alexei's opinion. There is information that he earns € 2-2.5 million per year at Loko. At Juventus, his salary will not increase much. But if he wants to become an even more interesting football player, of course, he needs to leave for Europe. He will always have time to return to Russia. And so he will live abroad, touch the local football. After all, I myself spent nine years in Europe and did not want to return, although they offered me the best conditions. There are full stadiums in every match. You have fun. And in Russia you play with 50 fans in Saransk. For whom?

- Believe that the same Fedor Chalov will leave? You on Twitter spoke about his prospects rather harshly ...

- What can we talk about in the game that he is now showing? Fedya is a gifted cool striker, but he took a slightly different path. That agent was to blame for the fact that he could not find him and get a good salary ... Now he has found a good Base Soccer Agency. More than a year working with him. Where did they sell it? Yes, there were rumors about Crystal Palace, but these are only rumors. Chalov suffers from this. He himself is not happy that they talk so much about him.

- But even CSKA recognized that Crystal Palace last summer offered “very decent money” for Chalov ...

- If this is true, Fedor should have been sold. But I do not believe in it. RPL top scorer? Why then are so few footballers leaving Russia? Just the level of players we have left much to be desired. They are technically weak. 

- I can’t help but ask about Maximilian Philip, who accused Dmitry Khokhlov of being rude ...

- I was upset after reading this interview. Khokhlov really wanted the German to come and was very worried about him. They led and persuaded Maximilian for a very long time. Moreover, I was present in the locker room during the break of the match with Sochi, when everything happened. The coach then replaced Philip and told him something like this: “You should not do us a favor, going out into the field. If you don’t like it here, tell me, but we won’t let you play Dynamo like that. ” But everything was said as correctly as possible, there was no rudeness on the part of Khokhlov. He did not insult the football player, although emotions were present.