Alan Dzagoev has found a new club after the summer transfer window closed. The 33-year-old former Russian national team midfielder was in free agent status as he left Rubin this summer, but he remained without a team for so long that suspicions arose that he could end his career. However, Dzagoev is still hungry for football and decided to try himself in a new role: that of a foreign player. Alan had never performed abroad before. Now the Greek championship will open on its own.
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“Championship” reported in early September about Dzagoev’s negotiations with “Lamia”. Coach Leonidas Vokolos wanted to see the Russian legionnaire in the team. The transfer story dragged on for a bit, but in the end the player and the club reached an agreement and Alan signed a one-year contract.
Last season, Dzagoev helped Rubin get promoted from the First League to the RPL. The midfielder played 20 games (15 as a starter), in which he scored three goals and gave two assists. However, the Kazan club, returning to the elite, did not offer Alan a new contract.
In June, the BUSINESS Online website reported that the club’s management did not want to leave Dzagoev in the team due to his injury history. According to the source, the midfielder suffered muscle injuries that forced him to miss training. However, Alan himself denied this information. According to him, he only missed training two days before the game, since he also worked individually. Coach Rashid Rakhimov accepted this and was ready to keep Dzagoev at Rubin, and the former sports director of the Kazan club, Eduard Safonov, informed the player about the non-renewal of the contract.
Alan Dzagoev
former Rubin midfielder:
“In fact, as far as I know, Rakhimov wanted to leave me. We talked to him, he told me to my face that he wanted to leave me. He said he would discuss this with management. But the management never said yes or no to me. Sometime in July, Safonov called me and told me that the board of directors had decided not to renew the contract. I say, “Okay.” This is the official version. “We shook hands and went our separate ways.”
During the summer transfer market, Dzagoev had options both in Russia and abroad. There was news about his negotiations with Turkish Antalyaspor and Paris NN. In addition, “Alania”, which now leads the First League, also expressed its desire to see a native of North Ossetia in the team. Meanwhile, Alan kept fit by training at CSKA’s base, where he spent almost 15 years of his career before moving to Rubin. The management of the army team offered Dzagoev a position in the club, but he himself wanted to continue his career as a football player.
What is Lamia, for which the new Russian legionnaire will play? Last season, this team struggled to survive and managed to solve the problem at the end of the season, finishing in 12th place. Lamia was only two or three points ahead of Ionikos and Levadiakos, who were relegated from the elite. This season, the blue and white are in ninth position after six games: one victory, three draws and two losses. According to Transfermarkt, the total value of the Lamia club’s squad is only 10.88 million euros, 10th in the league.
Coach Vokolos, who initiated the signing of Dzagoev, is 53 years old. As a footballer he played as a defender, at the peak of his career he played seven matches for the Greek national team and 90 times for Panathinaikos.
As a coach, he managed the youth teams of Greece and helped in the first national team, then somehow received the position of technical director of Sparta Prague, and in recent years he has worked with non-major Greek teams. Vokolos has no great achievements. But Lamia, founded in 1964, has nothing special to boast about: in the elite, the team rose to seventh place and reached the semi-finals three times in the Greek Cup.
Leonidas Vokolos
Photo: Nikos Makris/Getty Images
In “Lamia”, Dzagoev will meet an old friend: Zoran Tosic! Maybe the Serbian also spoke well of Alan. The 36-year-old midfielder, who has been playing for the blue and white since January 2023, is the oldest player on the team. Tosic usually comes on as a substitute. This season he participated in five games (one as a starter) and did not perform any effective action.
Dzagoev will have someone to talk to in Russian in Lamia. Former defender of Rostov, Orenburg and the Belarusian national team Alexander Pavlovets plays in this team, as well as Moldovan goalkeeper Alexei Koshelev, who played for Kuban. By the way, the latter is among the 5 most expensive players of Lamia according to Transfermarkt with an estimated cost of 400,000 euros, and the most valuable footballer of the Greek club is the Brazilian defender Sidclay (1.2 million euros), who played in Dynamo Kiev and PAOK. Lamia’s leading scorer this season, Spanish forward Carlitos (300 thousand euros), 33 years old, scored two goals and gave two assists in six games. It is curious that in his career there was … the St. Petersburg Petrotrest. 11 years ago, Carlitos entered our First League for one season.
By the way, Dzagoev is the fourth Russian legionnaire in the Greek championship. Former Russian national team goalkeeper Yuri Lodygin plays for Panathinaikos. It is true that he is only the second goalkeeper in his team and this season he played all the games as a reserve. Another of our “collections”, Magomed Ozdoev, has been playing for PAOK since July 2023. The midfielder has not scored in 10 games (five from the first minutes). And Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov, on loan from Krasnodar, has been at Aris since September. The Russian winger played three games (two as a starter) and has still not scored a goal or assist.
In the UEFA rankings, the Greek championship is in 19th place, slightly ahead of the championships of Croatia, Poland, Sweden, Romania and Cyprus. Dzagoev chose a league that was far from the best to continue his career. But not weak either.
