Personnel problems of "Zenith"

The current champion of the country "Zenith" at the first control camp in the UAE faced serious staffing problems.

Artyom Dziuba and Andrey Lunev, who tested positive for coronavirus, remain at home.

According to the head coach of the team, Sergei Semak, both feel fine. 

Several more people dropped out due to minor injuries.

For this reason, two footballers of the farm club, 18-year-old defender Sabu Sazonov and 21-year-old striker Mikhail Pogorelov, were urgently summoned to Dubai.

Both made their debuts in the first squad in test matches.

Petersburgers have already played four of them and won all of them (Riga - 4: 0, Soligorsk Shakhtar - 2: 0, Pakhtakor - 3: 0 and Ural - 3: 2).  

True, due to personnel problems, the coaching staff often had to experiment.

So, Daniil Krugovoy in one of the meetings played on the edge of midfield.

To top it all off, Serdar Azmun got an ankle injury in the game with Yekaterinburg. 

“Unpleasant episode.

We hope that a difficult injury and fracture will be avoided.

It is now clear that this is the ankle ligament.

We will be able to tell how serious the damage is in the coming days, ”the club's official website quotes Semak as saying.  

According to the well-known journalist Gennady Orlov, the Iranian may leave the team in the near future.

Allegedly, the player's representatives are already negotiating with other clubs.

Leon Musaev is also close to leaving, as he does not get enough playing practice at Zenit.

In Kazan "Rubin" they have already confirmed that they have practically agreed on the purchase of a midfielder.    

Alexey Berezutsky's new work 

Loses football players and CSKA.

So, Croatian midfielder Kristian Bistrovic on loan for six months moved to the Turkish "Kasimpasha".

Striker Adolfo Gaich is close to signing a lease agreement with Italian Benevento, which is located in the middle of the Serie A standings. 

However, the Moscow club is working on amplification options.

According to media reports, experienced Turkish striker Jenk Tosun may come to replace Gaich in the near future.

At the moment, the forward plays for Everton, but practically does not get playing time.

He has seven matches in all tournaments this season and only one goal. 

Also, the agreement with the army team can be signed by the defensive midfielder of the French "Nice" Danilo.

According to the portal Transfermarkt, the cost of the footballer is € 6.5 million, and his contract with the current club expires in 2023.

But the Brazilian, like Tosun, rarely enters the field.

In his case, this is due to injuries.

However, the French media report that the Russian club may pay € 10 million for the player. 

But CSKA has already made one important "transfer".

Alexei Berezutsky, contrary to rumors, did not leave the army camp, but moved to another position.

The former defender of the Russian national team joined the coaching staff of Viktor Goncharenko. 

“Time passed, he took a break to analyze the work done, to understand what is closer to him than he wants to do in the future.

That's all.

Now he has decided.

We are glad that he is with us.

He goes to the coaching staff.

I am sure this will only benefit the team, and Viktor Mikhailovich is very happy with this decision, ”the CSKA press service quotes the club's general director Roman Babaev. 

As for the results of the test matches, the red and blue in Campoamor defeated the national team of free agents - 7: 0 and the Spanish "Murcia" - 5: 0.

Nikola Vlasic and Ilya Shkurin scored two goals each. 

Kokorin's farewell to the fans 

But "Spartak" so far does without games.

The first match at the training camp in Dubai, the red and white will play only on January 30.

Their rival will be the Uzbek Pakhtakor.

Despite this, the metropolitan team remains in the spotlight.

So, last week the team was visited by the well-known journalist and blogger Yevgeny Savin and the reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The latter intrigued subscribers by posting a post with the words about preparing for the debut in sports number one. 

As a result, the fighter, along with his training partners, played with the red and white footballers.

For example, Zelimkhan Bakaev and Oston Urunov were on the same team with Khabib.

They were opposed by Savin, Georgy Dzhikia, Ayaz Guliyev and former Spartak midfielder Jano Ananidze.

As a result, Nurmagomedov's team turned out to be stronger.

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Publication from Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov)

Later, the athlete had dinner with Bakaev.

The rest of the footballers one day got out to the restaurant of the world famous chef Nusret Goekce.  

Like other top Russian clubs, the red and white are still losing players.

Alexander Kokorin signed a contract with Fiorentina on Tuesday.

Before leaving, he thanked the fans.

“First of all, I want to say thank you for being warmly welcomed to the team, despite the fact that I played all the time in competing clubs.

There was no negative - thanks for that.

Six months in the team became a new experience for me.

Everything was good and positive.

The only moment is injuries, that's all.

There are only claims to yourself.

It could have been much better, but it is as it is.

Thank you all, see you on the football fields! "

- said Kokorin in a video posted on Twitter by Spartak. 

In the near future, goalkeeper Alexander Selikhov, who does not receive game practice, may also leave the team.

The goalkeeper said that if the situation does not change by May, he will leave Spartak.

It was reported last week that it is close to returning to the Quincy Promes club, but the deal is far from complete.

In turn, the Italian press wrote about the interest of the red and whites in the Napoli defender Kevin Malk, but he moved to Fiorentina and will become Kokorin's partner.    

Podolski's visit to Dynamo

Meanwhile, Dynamo completed their first training camp in Turkey, in which they played two matches with Polish teams.

First, the blue and white lost to Lech - 0: 2, and then beat Rakuv with a similar score thanks to goals from Vyacheslav Grulev and Nikolai Komlichenko.  

If Khabib Nurmagomedov came to visit Spartak, then the former striker of the German national team Lukas Podolski attended Dynamo's training.

The German played along with Sandro Schwartz's assistant Andrei Voronin at Cologne and did not miss the opportunity to meet them.

Also, the blue and white at the Regnum Hotel in Belek crossed with the famous actor Jason Statham.

The fact is that a new film by Guy Ritchie with an American in the lead role is being filmed there.

“But we are not involved in any of the episodes.

They don't bother us.

As far as I know, one of the scenes is filmed in the lobby of the hotel, but this does not affect our work at all ”, - quotes Schwartz“ Championship ”. 

The German also spoke about the club's plans for the next transfer window.

According to him, it is quite likely that Dynamo will not buy anyone.  

“The question is open.

If you take a new player, then only a high class.

There are two possible scenarios for the development of events.

First, we will not do anything in this regard.

Second, if we are convinced that the footballer is cool and suits us, we will consider the possibility of acquiring him, ”the specialist added.

The first transfer of Lokomotiv

But Lokomotiv, unlike other Russian top clubs, has already made one transfer.

The team was joined by the 29-year-old Bordeaux center-back Pablo.

For the Brazilian, the railroad workers, according to Transfermarkt, paid € 2.5 million. For the last three years, the footballer played in the French League 1. He also managed to play two matches in the national team of his country.  

“I can only say that this is a serious challenge.

I came to Lokomotiv to give all of myself, so that the team accomplishes its tasks and returns to the positions that it deserves, ”the official website of the railroad workers quoted Pablo as saying.  

The club continues to get rid of unnecessary performers.

So, the contract with Slobodan Raikovich was terminated.

As part of Loko, the Serb played only nine matches in all tournaments, in which the red-greens did not win a single victory.

The Uzbek midfielder Zhasurbek Zhaloliddinov, who did not spend a single minute for the capital's team, also left the club.  

Together with two players, the assistant sports director Andrei Losyuk left.

As reported, the agreement with the functionary was not renewed.

But the former director of the club academy Alexey Shchigolev, on the contrary, returned to Loko and took the same position as before.  

As for the results of the test matches, they please the fans so far.

Marko Nikolic's charges defeated Velez-Malaga - 4: 1 and won a strong-willed victory over the Swedish “Ostersund” - 3: 1.

It is curious that in the first match the red-greens were supposed to meet with Atletico Mancha-Real, but the club had to change the opponent in a hurry due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in the camp of the Spanish team.

Karpin's new jokes

Krasnodar's program at the first training camp in Dubai was also very rich.

On January 21, the southerners parted with the Polish Legia, and on the 27th, they won two victories in a day.

First, they beat Riga with a minimum score, and then defeated Shakhtar Salihorsk.

It is curious that midfielder Magomed-Shapi Suleimanov managed to get a red card in both matches.

Moreover, in the first game, he was removed already in the 23rd minute.

It was decided to replace Suleimanov with another player and continue the meeting in equal compositions.

“We are happy with how the first training camp went.

A lot of work has been done.

It was made in a good mood, the collection flew by like one day.

In the end, fatigue accumulated a bit.

We were a little afraid that we would not get the proper quality in friendly games, but our fears were not justified.

We achieved two victories with a fairly good game, ”Murad Musaev said in an interview with the club's YouTube channel.

His charges spent their free time at the training camp in different ways, but Ari decided to follow the example of his former Spartak partners and visited the restaurant of Nusret Goekce, where he tasted the famous “golden steak” of the Turkish cook.  

At the same time, the French media write that the naturalized Brazilian may soon have a new competitor.

Allegedly, Krasnodar is interested in the Reims striker Bulaye Dia.

The Frenchman has a strong season and with 12 goals is second in the Ligue 1 scorers' race, behind only Kylian Mbappa (14).

It is reported that Reims intends to bail out at least € 11 million for the player. 

Three matches at the training camp in Spain were played by another team from the south of Russia - "Rostov".

In all the yellow-blues won victories: Algeciras - 5: 1, Ostersund - 1: 0, Marbella - 3: 0.

The team's top scorer at the training camp was Dmitry Poloz with two balls.  

But head coach Valery Karpin was more often in the spotlight.

So, during one of the training sessions, the specialist in an interview with the journalist called the midfielder Khoren Bayramyan "zero", and later in a joking manner apologized to him on Instagram.

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Publication from Valeri Karpin (@vgkarpin)

Meanwhile, his wife Daria talked to subscribers and answered several questions about her husband.

In particular, she stressed that Kokorin, contrary to rumors, could not go to "Rostov". 

“Valery Georgievich himself laughed at this news, because it is completely untrue.

There was no transition of Kokorin, ”said Daria.