This season, Brazilian Malcom (No. 10) will no longer play against Rostov. Photo: RIA Novosti
The condition of both rivals is far from ideal. The Blues-Whites-Blues now need to learn to live without the best player and goalscorer in the LPR last season, Brazilian Malcolm, whose transfer to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal has been officially confirmed. Moreover, Malcolm may not be the only loss in Zenith’s South American regiment. Rumors about the upcoming transfers of Brazilians Wendel and Claudinho do not diminish. Although both are in the location of the club, and Claudinho even scored a goal in the recent cup match against Akhmat Grozny (2:0).
Rostov has problems of a different nature. The club on the banks of the Don cannot declare its newcomers to the championship. We are talking about four players: Mohammad Mohebi, Alexei Ionov, Roman Akbashev and Evgeny Chernov. The reason for this is politics and bureaucracy. The International Football Federation (FIFA) has banned Rostov from registering newcomers due to debt to Swedish side Norrköping, from which the Russian club acquired Pontus Almqvist. But it is not at all about Rostov’s dishonesty: in Sweden they could not withdraw money for the player and transferred him back.
While the trial is ongoing, the Rostovites are forced to play with available resources. It turns out well: Valery Karpin’s team has already won two victories. In the first round of the championship, “Rostov” faced “Fakel” (2: 1), and in the Cup defeated “Rubin” – 1: 0.
At the time of writing, the issue remained unresolved. There was no confidence that the newcomers from Rostov would play against Zenit. Karpin, of course, was outraged: “The interaction with FIFA should not be with the clubs, but with the RFU, but as I understand it, there are no movements. No one cares.”
It should be noted that last season the rivals in Rostov separated without scoring a single goal. But in St. Petersburg, Zenit was stronger. In addition, the goal and assist were noticed by the aforementioned Malcolm.
The amount of Malcolm’s transfer to Saudi Al-Hilal amounted to a record €60 million for the LPR.
There are also intrigues in other matches on the tour. For example, fans of the capital’s “Dynamo” are probably waiting with hope and anxiety for their team’s guest match against Samara’s “Wings of Soviets”. Under the leadership of the new coach of the Czech Marcel Lichka, the “blue and white” started with two defeats: in the championship of Krasnodar (1: 3) and Paris NN in the Cup. The main time of the cup match ended in a 1: 1 draw, and in the penalty shootout, established according to the regulations, the Volga team was stronger – 4: 3. It’s time to improve.
Lokomotiv is also expecting a difficult journey, which will have to fight with the local Fakel in Voronezh. Last season, the “railwaymen” left there with nothing (0: 2). And points are needed, given that in the first round “Loko” played a draw with Kazan “Rubin” – 2: 2.
“Spartak” – the only Moscow club will play in the second round of the LPR at home. For the first time since 1998, the rival of the “red-white” will be Kaliningrad “Baltika”. The start of “Baltika” in the championship did not work: in the first round, the pupils of Sergei Ignashevich lost to “Sochi” – 0: 2. It will not be easy to improve in Moscow, but the “red-and-whites”, as a rule, play alone and give to the opponent. Surely Baltika will have opportunities.
All to the East
Brazilian striker “Zenith” Malcom has officially moved to Saudi Arabia’s “Al-Hilal”. The transfer amount amounted to a record €60 million for the Russian Premier League (RPL). The player’s contract is for four years, until the end of the 2026/27 season.
Talks about Malcolm’s possible departure from Zenit have been going on for several months. At first there was talk of interest from Italy, England and Spain, but recently rumors about moving to Saudi Arabia have intensified. As a result, the Brazilian chose the option with the Middle East, which is not surprising: in Al-Hilal he will earn about 18 million euros, while in the St. Petersburg camp this figure was three times lower. Of course, in terms of play, Zenit will lose a lot without Malcolm, but the club made a lot of money in this transfer, and the striker will have the opportunity to prove himself in new realities.
This tempOrada Baja is one of the busiest in recent years. And basically all high-profile transfers are done by Saudi teams. If before local clubs invited only stars of the age, such as the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nasr) and the Frenchman Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad), now relatively young players who have shown themselves in Europe also go to Saudi Arabia. For example, in the same Al-Hilal, Malcom will play with such famous players as the Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, the Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly and the Portuguese Ruben Neves. In total, for these three peRehoda “blue and white” paid about 107 million euros.
By the way, previously Al-Hilal intended to sign Ronaldo, but at that time the Portuguese was not interested in leaving Manchester United. A little later, the president of the Saudi club, Fahad bin Nafhel, confirmed that Cristiano could go to his team, but the agreement fell through not so much because of the player’s position, but because of the ban on registering newcomers. Having not invited Ronaldo, Al-Hilal began negotiating with the entourage of Argentine Lionel Messi, but Messi eventually chose American Inter Miami. That’s the kind of company Malcolm could be in.
Interestingly, Malcolm’s transfer was the most expensive for the Saudi championship. At the same time, the Brazilian ranks ninth in terms of salary. The full list is as follows: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nasr, €200 million per year), Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad, €100 million), France’s N’Kante (Al-Ittihad, €100 million), Kalidou Coulibaly (Al-Hilal, €35 million), Croatia’s Marcelo Brozović (Al-Nasr, €24.5 million), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Al-Hilal, €20 million), Brazil’s Roberto Firmino (Al-Ahly, €18 million), Malcom (Al-Hilal, €18 million), Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal, €18 million), Portugal’s Jota Neves (Al-Ittihad, €11.5 million), Senegal’s Edouard Mendy (Al-Ahly, €11 million) and Argentina’s Ever Banega (Al-Shabab, €10.5 million).
Russian Cup
The country’s next Cup draw began this week. Like last season, there are two keys to the tournament: the “RPL route” and the “regions route”. The table for clubs of the elite division foresees a group stage. The teams were divided into four quartets based on the results of their performance in the RPL 2022/2023.
From the results of the first round, we observe the great victory of CSKA over Orenburg, who a week ago faced Spartak on equal terms. The CSKA team “threw” six unanswered goals to the opponent. In the same group under the letter “A” “Sochi” was stronger than “Fakel” – 3: 1.
In the remaining quartets, the matches ended as follows. Group “B”: “Lokomotiv” – “Ural” – 2:1, “Rostov” – “Fakel” – 2:1. Group “C”: “Krylia Sovetov” – “Baltika” – 2:3, “Zenith” – “Akhmat” – 2:0. Group “D”: “Pari NN” – “Dynamo” – 1:1 (4:3). The match “Krasnodar” – “Spartak” ended after the signing of this issue of “RG” in printed form.
Where we’ll see it
July 29, Saturday, “Match! Premier”
14.00 Krylia Sovetov vs Dynamo. Live broadcast.17.00 “Ural” – “Pari NN”. Live broadcast.19.30 “Rostov” – “Zenith”. Live streaming.
July 30, Sunday, “Match TV”
19.55 “Krasnodar” – “Sochi”. Live streaming.
“Party! Premier”
14.00 “Rubin” – “Orenburg”. Live stream.17.00 Fakel vs Lokomotiv. Live broadcast.19.00 “Akhmat” – CSKA. Live streaming.
July 31, Monday, “Match! Premier”
19.00 “Spartak” – “Baltika”. Live streaming.
