Extension of the contract with Abaskal, Galatasaray's interest in Zakharyan and Dzyuba's debut: how RPL clubs spend their off-season

An important event for Spartak

Spartak completed the maximum program in winter.

He not only strengthened the defensive line with Alexis Duarte and Tomas Tavares, but also signed a new agreement with head coach Guillermo Abascal.

The contract was extended until the summer of 2025 on new terms.

According to media reports, the Spaniard's salary has almost doubled to €1.5 million a year.

Plus, there are bonuses for various achievements.

“We are glad that we have extended the agreement with Guillermo and his staff.

This is what both sides were striving for, so the talks were held in a constructive manner.

We will continue to work together for the benefit of our club, ”the official website of the red-whites quotes the words of the general director Evgeny Melezhikov.

In turn, the specialist thanked the management for their trust and called Spartak one big family.

Surely, the fans were pleased with what happened.

The Spaniard quickly earned their love with dedication, sincerity, and most importantly, good results.

In the RPL, the team scored 36 points and is second only to Zenit in the table.

She continues to perform in the Russian Cup, in the quarterfinals of which she will meet with Lokomotiv.

In addition, in February, they managed to win the RPL Winter Cup.

It is not surprising that even the former owner of the club, Leonid Fedun, who invited him to Russia, was happy for the mentor.

“He risked taking on Spartak at such a difficult time.

But the risk paid off.

He skillfully manages the team.

Guys love and support Guillermo.

We have a young and very ambitious coach and team.

If there is a little luck, then there will be titles, ”the entrepreneur expressed hope.

The desire to sit down at the negotiating table may also be explained by the attention from other teams.

So, in January it was reported about the interest of the Spanish Sevilla.

Abascal's agent David Sobrado called this information fake and assured that his client would not leave the red-and-whites in winter.

Preparing Lokomotiv for the derby

And Artyom Dzyuba is doing everything to take part in the cup matches with Spartak and upset the former team.

At the end of last week, he arrived at the training camp of Lokomotiv in the UAE, and a couple of days later he made his debut in a friendly match with Ural.

The newcomer took the place of the only center forward in the 4-3-3 arrangement and spent the entire first half on the field.

From the flanks, he was supported by other recruits Sergey Pinyaev and Maxim Glushenkov.

The first pancake came out rather lumpy.

The striker practically did not cling to the balls and, in general, looked rather heavy.

He almost did not go into pressure and, at the beginning of other people's attacks, blocked the defensive midfielder, allowing the defenders to make the first pass.

Clearly, there was a lack of teamwork with partners.

As a result, Dzyuba did not create a single moment, and the railway workers also missed.

But with the departure of Artyom, they made a comeback in the second half.

And the main character was just Pinyaev.

To begin with, he assisted Maxim Nenakhov, and then distinguished himself.

In the second test match with Fursan Spain, Dzyuba looked better, but the opponent's level was also lower.

This time, Mikhail Galaktionov opted for the 4-2-2 formation, and Artyom was paired with Francois Camano.

He established a good interaction with the Guinean, as well as Pinyaev, who was located on the left side.

The forward, in his favorite manner, moved to the flanks and played great in accompaniment.

But it didn’t work out to score points again, although in one of the episodes the veteran jumped out to a rendezvous with the goalkeeper, but let the ball go too far away from him.

In another, he performed a wonderful pass on Kamano, but his line shot was miraculously blocked by a defender.

But the arrival of Dzyuba had a positive effect on Ivan Ignatiev.

Feeling the increase in competition, he, having just replaced Dziuba at half-time, scored a double.

Moreover, the pupil of Krasnodar scored one of the balls with his heel.

Meanwhile, Artyom's agent Leonid Goldman told Match TV about the options that the client had in the winter.

According to him, the striker could leave for good conditions in China, the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, but the priority was to return to Russia.

Unsuccessful trip of "Zenith" to Iran

Zenit, unlike other domestic teams, completed the preparation program for the resumption of the season with an unusual match.

Petersburgers went to Iran to visit the five-time champion of the country "Sepahan".

The cooperation agreement between the clubs was signed back in 2021.

At the same time, a meeting was planned.

As a result, it took place only now.

The confrontation aroused great interest in Isfahan - 40 thousand tickets were sold for a friendly game, they were distributed free of charge.

As a result, the wards of Sergei Semak suffered a debut defeat in 2023.

Before that, they won five victories with three draws.

In Iran, everything went wrong for them from the very beginning.

Already in the fourth minute Mohammad Ghorbani opened the score to the delight of local football fans.

And shortly before the break, when the teams were already preparing to go to the locker rooms, Mohammad Daneshgar doubled the advantage of the hosts.

During the break, the guests completely changed the roster.

Including Malcolm, Vilmar Barrios and Ivan Sergeev entered the field.

But this did not help at least close the gap.

The guests had many dangerous moments, but failed to print Nima Mirzazada.

Also, the club, according to the media, can make one of the most high-profile internal RPL deals in recent years.

As previously reported, he had difficulty renewing his summer contract with Daler Kuzyaev.

Allegedly, he intends to try his hand in Europe.

According to media reports, if an agreement with the midfielder fails, the blue-white-blue are ready to consider buying Dmitry Barinov from Lokomotiv.

In winter, Besiktas showed serious interest in the midfielder, but it did not come to a transfer, because the Muscovites were not satisfied with the offer of the Istanbulites.

Interest in Zakharyan in Turkey

It seems that not only Barinov could go to Turkey in the winter, but also another football player of the Russian national team - Arsen Zakharyan, who never ended up in Chelsea.

Two sources immediately confirmed that another giant from Istanbul, Galatasaray, tried to sign an agreement with him.

According to Fotomac, the 22-time national champion has begun work on acquiring young Dynamo talent.

But the source of the "Championship" assured that the deal will not take place.

Representatives of the club came to the blue and white with an offer to buy, but the player himself refused to move to Turkey.

At the same time, Dmitry Gafin, a member of the board of directors of Muscovites, did not hide the fact that interest in Zakharyan remains high.

“I won’t name clubs and leagues… A lot of clubs are interested: both giants and medium ones.

Which is not surprising, because Arsen is on the radar of many scouting services, ”Sport24 quotes Gafin.

Meanwhile, CSKA does not leave attempts to strengthen the line of attack until the resumption of the season.

Insider Ivan Karpov said that the army team made an offer to rent until the end of the season to two legionnaires at once.

One of them is Hatayspor winger Ayoub El-Kaabi.

The city of Hatay was seriously damaged during the earthquake in Turkey, and the club was forced to withdraw from the national championship.

Muscovites are allegedly ready to pay the Moroccan, who is able to play on both flanks of the attack, as well as on the edge, €600,000 a month until the summer.

Then a contract can be signed with him on improved terms.

However, Dziuba's former team Adana Demirspor intervened in the negotiations, also wanting to take on a football player who scored eight goals in 21 matches of the current Super League.

The second candidate is Kwadwo Dua, who plays for Nuremberg from the Second Bundesliga.

The Swiss has also shown good performance this season, scoring six times.

It is ready to be leased with an option to buy for €1 million.

And Match TV spoke about CSKA's interest in Alexei Sutormin.

It is noted that Vladimir Fedotov, who is well acquainted with the universal performer of joint work in Orenburg, really wanted to see him in the team.

But in St. Petersburg they refused to let the midfielder go.

At the same time, two Russian leaders of the army team at once do not mind trying their hand in Europe.

So, Oleg Eremin, Igor Diveev's agent, admitted that his client dreams of the Premier League.

And Fedor Chalov, who has already played in Switzerland, stressed that in theory he is ready to move to Turkey if there are no worthy offers from the top 5 championships of the Old World.

Salary debts in Rostov

In turn, "Krasnodar" in the summer may lose one of the brightest legionnaires.

Last year, the southerners bought Olakunle Olusegun from Botev for € 1.2 million. The fast technical winger immediately came to court and scored five goals and gave two assists in 15 matches of the RPL and the Russian Cup.

However, according to media reports, the management is ready to consider proposals for its sale and bail out about € 6-8 million. The desire to make money on the African did not arise from scratch - a number of French teams allegedly show interest in him.

But from the camp of another club from the South of Russia, much more disturbing news comes.

It is noted that the players of "Rostov", which ranks third in the table of the national championship, have not received a salary for several months.

According to the R-Sport source, the last salary was accrued back in October.

The low activity on the transfer market can also testify to the financial difficulties of the yellow-blues: in the winter they did not take a single newcomer, although they did not lose anyone.

Khimki, which made a personnel revolution, became the complete opposite of them.

The outsider camp left a number of leaders, among whom were mostly Russians.

Almost a dozen foreigners came to replace them.

The campaign seems to have ended with the signing of contracts on the same day with three players at once.

Janiou Bikel pays the most attention to himself.

The midfielder of the Guinea-Bissau national team managed to play in the elite divisions of the championships of the Netherlands and Bulgaria, the American MLS and Series B. Right-back Lev Skvortsov became the champion of Kazakhstan and regularly received calls to the youth national team of the country.

But the 18-year-old central defender Stefan Melentevich from Serbia is more likely to be taken into perspective.