Following Krasnodar’s victory in the first round of the RPL Winter Cup, their goalkeeper Matvey Safonov admitted that he would not move to the English top division team. This is how Nikita Khaikin, 27, acted in the last transfer window, replacing the Norwegian Bode Glimt with Bristol City (17th in the tournament among 24 teams).
“Do I want to try myself in the championship? I don’t want to be in the championship. Where I want? I want to go home, to be honest. I’m already a little tired”, quotes Safonov “Championship”.
On the one hand, the ambitions of Russian footballers who are not ready to change the RPL for the sake of the second European leagues or even the basement teams of the elite divisions are encouraging, but on the other hand, the question arises: Are our players good and skilled enough to wish themselves a better fate?
We will try to answer it as simply as possible: we will take the transfer cost of the five most expensive Russian RPL players and select teams in Europe where position competitors are cheaper. Obviously, this is not a very serious criterion, since young footballers with long-term contracts are a priori more expensive than retirees with agreements about to expire, however, the value of a footballer can be determined by him. So as Saturday entertainment, such a fantasy has a right to life.
MATVEY SAFONOV, goalkeeper “Krasnodar”
price category: 15 million euros
Clubs (most expensive competitor, value): Bayern (Neuer, 12m), Tottenham (Lloris, 7m), Inter (Onana, 14m), Juventus (Szczesny, 13m), Napoli (Meret, 13m)
The Krasnodar graduate should not really trade for the second European leagues and even the teams from the second half of the standings. Like once Igor Akinfeev, and now Safonov is cited highly by the most serious European standards. He could easily play for a major club that doesn’t have a goal-line superstar like Thibaut Courtois at Real Madrid or Alisson at Liverpool.
For example, Safonov is valued more than the famous, but who is already preparing for retirement and who received a serious injury that required surgical intervention, Manuel Neuer. Instead, the Munich team took the more experienced Jan Sommer, but this is not a signing for the future. Also in the match, Tottenham’s goalkeeper is champion and world championship silver medalist Hugo Lloris, and in Italy Safonov could have earned a place in the hearts of almost any great.
ARSEN ZAKHARYANattacking midfielder “Dynamo”
Price category: 15 million
Clubs (competitors): Brighton (Buonanotte, 9m), Fiorentina (Barack, 12m), Borussia M (Wolf, 4m)
Dynamo talent would have fewer attractive options, of course, and the best clubs are excluded at the moment. It is that Chelsea in the next attack will send to Moscow between one and a half and two tens of millions. But Arsen himself, with all due respect to him, has no business in London yet.
But he would be quite capable of compensating Fiorentina fans for the stress of Alexander Kokorin’s trip, playing for Borussia Mönchengladbach or establishing himself in the Brighton base. These teams do not usually participate in European competitions, but are respected middle-class teams in their championships, from which footballers regularly follow to the top. As a springboard, they would be a perfect fit for Zakharyan.
DALER KUZYAEVcentral midfielder “Zenit”
price category: 10 million
Clubs (competitors): Rayo Vallecano (Ciss, 4m), Udinese (Roberto Pereira, 6.5m), Hoffenheim (Eggstein, 8m)
The most difficult thing is to find something decent for Daler Kuzyaev, since the cost of 10 million for a good central midfielder is not God knows what amount of money. There are players of such value in almost any more or less decent team. It is significant that a few years ago, after the expiration of the contract with Zenit, Daler failed to sign an agreement in Europe.
Perhaps their top are the teams in the middle of the table in Italy and Germany like Udinese and Hoffenheim. In which, by the way, I do not see anything shameful. Dozens of great players have gone through these clubs. For example, in the “town” a very cool Angelino side plays, rented by Leipzig, and in Udine Rodrigo Bekao plays, who is expected at Inter and Atalanta in the summer.
Dmitry BarinovLokomotiv defensive midfielder
price category: 9 million
Clubs (competitors): Villarreal (Coquelin, 5m), Lazio (Cataldi, 7m), Wolfsburg (Franjic, 6.5m)
It should be noted that opornik Barinov, even with a lower cost, has much more options. Still, there are always far fewer good midfielders with a wide defensive range on the market.
For example, in a very strong Villarreal, the old veterans Francis Coquelin (31 years old) and Etienne Capu (34) are in charge of the area in front of the penalty area, Danilo Cataldi, who did not justify the advances distributed, is dusting off at Lazio, and in Wolfsburg, a 23-year-old Croatian Bartol Franjic (he arrived in the summer from Dinamo Zagreb). By the way, Villarreal made a notable noise in the Champions League last spring, and Lazio are in the top three in Serie A.
Alexander SobolevForward “Spartacus”
price category: 9 million
Clubs (competitors): Brighton (Welbeck, 8m), Valencia (Hard, 7m), Torino (Sanabria, 7m)
It wouldn’t be easy for the Spartak player to prove himself in Europe, but he would certainly help Valencia back to the top half of the table or make a great group with Alexei Miranchuk and Nikola Vlašić in Torino. Or maybe he is more suitable for the powerful English football, in which he, as part of Brighton, could collect even more tickets than in the RPL?
