Spartak are still looking for a newcomer to the left-back position after the injury of Tomasz Tavares and the departure of Maciej Rybus. The Moscow Club continues to lead Olympiacos and Moldova player Oleg Ryabchuk. It seems that the transfer of the 25-year-old legionnaire is becoming more and more real, and this is an opportunity to review the history of the negotiations that received a scandalous tone and get to know better the potential newcomer of the rojiblanca. .
And here is a new candidate for center of defense for the rojiblancos:
Spartak found a replacement for Sánchez and Erakovic. Is a Bundesliga defender coming to Abascal?
For the first time, information about the negotiations between Spartak and Ryabchuk appeared a month ago. The Sport24Gr website reported that the Moscow club offered 3 million euros for the Moldovan legionnaire. Probably, this offer was doomed to failure, since even Transfermarkt estimates that Oleg is more expensive – at 4 million euros. The Greeks themselves bought the left-back in January 2021 from the Portuguese club Pacos de Ferreira for 2 million euros, but since then Ryabchuk has become a valuable piece for Olympiacos. Last season he made 45 appearances for the team in all competitions (based on 41), scoring one goal and providing six assists.
According to the source, the Greeks then demanded 5 million euros and Spartak faced competition in the fight for Ryabchuk from French clubs Lille and Nantes. After that, Sport24 said that the Muscovites had problems in the negotiation process. The Greeks increased their requests to 6 million euros, and Oleg himself allegedly did not want to go to Russia due to the negative attitude of close relatives from Ukraine to this option.
But, obviously, Ryabchuk did not say a resounding no, because the negotiations were not completed. At the end of July, Sporttime wrote: the left-back was kicked out of the Olympiacos squad, as he was not included in the plans of the new coach Diego Martinez. The Greek club itself filed a complaint with FIFA against Spartak for the fact that the Muscovites, bypassing the current regulations, had direct contact with the Moldovan footballer.
Spartak responded to this information. The head of the club’s press service Dmitry Zelenov, responding to a question about Ryabchuk, said about the “Championship”: “We do not comment on rumors and do not talk about specific names until the official signing. At the same time, we want to note that Spartak does not “He violated and does not violate established procedures when negotiating with potential newcomers. We behaved correctly and professionally. Everyone in the transfer market knows that.”
In general, the media linked Spartak and Ryabchuk so much that in early August it became clear that the deal was almost ready. Now, Gazzetta.gr has reported an increase in the offer from the rojiblancos. Olympiacos receives €6 million for the left-back and another €1 million in bonuses. And Oleg, according to the source, was promised a contract under the 2 + 1 scheme (why is it so short?) with a salary of 2 million euros per year.
Potential newcomer Guillermo Abascal has an interesting story. In fact, Ryabchuk is not a product of Moldovan football, but of Portuguese. And this was evident from the very first matches of the full-back of the Moldova national team. It can be seen that in technical and physical terms he was well prepared at the Porto, Belenenses and Sporting de Lisboa academies. Ryabchuk moved to Portugal with his family at the age of four and started playing football quite late.
“What are your childhood memories in Portugal? I understood everything very well. I remember going to kindergarten. I have a sister who is a year and a half older, I went to school with her and I remember that I adapted very easily. When I was little, I started making friends very early…
When I was a kid, I played a lot of sports and didn’t take soccer very seriously. At the age of 12-13 I liked soccer, taekwondo, swimming, athletics, hockey… At around 13 I decided that I just wanted to play soccer. Other sports no longer motivated me,” Oleg said in an interview for Moldfootball.com.
Oleg Ryabchuk in the Moldova national team
Photo: Harry Langer/Getty Images
Ryabchuk started his career in the youth team and in the Porto Farm Club. He played for the Dragons in the UEFA Youth League, in the second division of the Portuguese championship. But he didn’t grow up to the first team: he was sold to Pacos de Ferreira. From July 2019 to January 2021, Oleg spent a season and a half in Primeira: 37 games, two goals scored, two assists. He was already a certain level, a good springboard for takeoff. As a result, the left back flew to Greece. At Olympiacos he won his first trophies in adult soccer (two league titles) and gained experience playing in European competitions.
To date, Ryabchuk has already made 28 matches in qualifying for the Europa League and the Champions League. He scored against Antwerp, provided assists in matches with Fenerbahce and Cypriot Apollo (twice). Here is a video of Oleg’s goal against the Belgians in the LE group stage:
In the season that ended, Olympiacos played unsuccessfully in the Europa League. The team finished last in the group with Freiburg, Nantes and Qarabag. But Ryabchuk was definitely not the main culprit in the failure. He led the team in terms of tackles (13), fouls committed on himself (14) and martial arts wins (31, with a 67% success rate). In the Greek championship, Olympiacos also experienced a downturn – they gave the championship title to AEK, finishing only third.
Perhaps, for Spartak, Ryabchuk would be a promising acquisition. This is a mobile and intense player. Very sharp, resourceful and able to quickly activate the attack. Pretty good on the ball for RPL. And in defense, Abascal’s team will definitely not be weakened by Ryabchuk.
