CSKA Moscow became the champion of the VTB United League in 2024. In the final, the military team defeated UNICS Kazan, which last season fought for victory with Lokomotiv-Kuban. Velimir Perasovich’s team is fighting for victory in the final for the second year in a row and once raised the Belov Cup over its heads, but the Krasnodar club was left without medals in the 2023/2024 season. The red-green team will be unrecognizable in the new season. “Championship” will tell you why.
I would like to start by saying that the team has changed a lot. In the playoffs of the United League, Lokomotiv-Kuban beat Parma 3-0, but then lost to Unics in seven games (3-4). This apparently broke the Krasnodar team, which lost to Zenit St. Petersburg with a score of 1-3 in the fight for bronze medals. Immediately after the defeat, personnel changes began. First came the good news: Carvel Anderson signed a two-year contract with the Club, and then the management decided to keep Patrick Miller in the team. One of the important transfers is that of BJ Johnson. The striker has proven his worth at Parma, in a club that was one of the discoveries of last season. The American will defend the colors of the Krasnodar team in the near future.
But then came the period of farewells. Lokomotiv-Kuban announced the departure of Maurice Ndour, and literally a day later, Devon Akun-Purcell moved to UNICS. The forward spent two seasons in Krasnodar, becoming one of the leaders, and at the same time moved to the camp of the team that knocked Loko out of the playoffs twice in a row. Moreover, all this time it was unclear whether Alexander Sekulic would remain the head coach. But the news did not end there: two of the club’s graduates, Alexander Shcherbenev and Zakhar Vedishchev, will continue their careers at Zenit and Yenisei, respectively.
UNICS stole Akun-Purcell:
Transfer bomb. UNICS stole the lead from a direct competitor
Today, like a bolt from the blue, another piece of news came regarding the departure of one of the club’s leaders. Loko took the opportunity to end the collaboration with Jaylen Burford early. The defender spent three seasons with the red-greens, accurately inscribing his name in the team’s history and forever remaining one of the most beloved players by Krasnodar fans. Burford is an incredibly charismatic player, known as a professional to the core, but most importantly, he is a wonderful person.
Jaylen Barford
Photo by: VTB United League
The team said goodbye to someone who literally carried many games on his shoulders. But everything comes to an end, the story of the Golden State Warriors with the departure of Klay Thompson will not lie… And Okaro White? There is still no news about whether the forward will continue at Loko. White is likely to leave the Club, as the team management is seriously interested in Jakinan Gant and Okaro’s contract expires this summer. Of the foreign players who played for Loko in the 2023/2024 season, only Miller and Anderson will remain. Both arrived just before the start of the playoffs. It turns out that none of those who were with the team all year remained.
Krasnodar extended the contracts of Kirill Temirov and Kirill Elatontsev, who became the best young player of the United League in the 2023/2024 season. By the way, both are Loko students. The latest signing so far is Daniil Kosko, who played for Minsk last season. The team is changing before our eyes. The off-season continues, each team wants to get something from the market. Uralmash and Parma have strengthened their forces and can put pressure on the championship leaders. UNICS, although they lost Nenad Dimitrievich, remains a formidable force in the league. Zenit signed Vorontsevich, retained coach Javier Pascual and added Alex Poythress, already known to St. Petersburg fans.
Interesting off-season for Zenit:
Who said summer is boring? Zenit keep pace with their competitors in the transfer market
Only CSKA has managed without any major signings so far. This is understandable; the club’s president Andrei Vatutin immediately after winning the joint league said that the military team wants to keep the championship squad. The team is coping with the task successfully. It will be interesting to watch Loko. The team still has its pupils – Vladislav Yemchenko, Elatontsev and Temirov, and most likely they will soon announce a contract extension with the club’s captain Dmitry Uzinsky. Although Miller and Anderson fit perfectly into the team’s playing pattern at the end of the season, they were part of an already built system. Perhaps that will change when these two become the cornerstones of the team next season. However, everything will depend on the coach and they are in no hurry to renew Sekulic’s contract.
Alexander Sekulic
Photo by: BC Zenit
Lokomotiv-Kuban President Andrei Vedishchev said that there is no final decision yet and everything is under discussion. The main question is: will the coach be able to lead the team as needed, based on the club’s development strategy? The team has changed a lot and perhaps some new foreign player will come to replace those who have left, so the team needs to clearly identify the direction vector, which is what the club president says. It will be interesting to see how this whole idea turns out with the new Loko. On the one hand, this is right – you can’t stay still in one place, especially when for two seasons in a row this core team failed to achieve the main thing – victory in the United League, but on the other hand, it is always difficult to start building something new with other leaders.
Loko is not going through a restructuring, but in its current state it is definitely impossible to call the team one of the leaders of the next season. The club has undergone too many changes in the off-season. Let’s see how the club’s management has come up with what turns out. At the same time, no one has yet cancelled any high-profile signings that could turn everything upside down. The next season will be extremely exciting and interesting from all points of view.
