“GALATASARAI” DIRECTED AT ZAKHARYAN
All indications are that the transfer of talented 19-year-old Arsen Zakharyan to Chelsea will not take place in the near future, but the midfielder appears to have already tuned in to leaving Moscow. The media actively write that Istanbul will be his new destination.
It all started a week ago, when the Turkish GezenDokuz reported that Galatasaray had agreed a transfer with Dinamo for 11 million euros plus a 2 million bonus. Another foreign publication, Fotomac, confirmed this information. And although the “Championship” denied, they say, the footballer himself is not interested in moving to Turkey, many heard in the words of agent Pavel Andreev “at the moment Arsen is in Dynamo” a hint of the temporary nature of this situation.
It soon became known that the well-known agent George Hardy, who actively and successfully works with Turkish clubs, is involved in the transfer. He managed to bring Samuel Eto’o, Samir Nasri, Mario Gómez and other stars to this championship.
THE INTERVIEW THAT DID NOT HAPPEN
There is also information to the contrary. Allegedly, the Istanbulites have not yet started negotiations with Dynamo, and they are ready to release the player only if a clause is activated in the contract – for 15 million (in the summer the amount will increase to 25 million). The footballer himself asks for 2-2.5 million. At the same time, the same publication GezenDokuz assures that the following phrase belongs to Zakharyan himself: “I really want to go to Galatasaray. I hope the transfer goes through. Negotiations between the clubs are ongoing.”
The latter is hard to believe. It’s definitely not in Arsene’s style to make such comments, especially before the fact of the transition. And where would the Turkish journalists catch the player? No wonder the press service quickly denied the very fact of such an interview.
In general, there is enough diverse data, and who to believe is a mystery. But one thing can be said for sure: Galatasaray’s interest in the midfielder of the Russian national team is of a substantial nature (and a clearly paid filler with a comment is an example of this), which means that the probability of a transition is not It is as small as it may seem at first glance.
ONLY KUDRYASHOV BECAME HIS OWN
Should Zakharyan change Russian football, albeit temporarily deprived of the European cups, for Turkish football, the 12th ranking of UEFA (two teams each in the Champions League and Conference League and one in the Europa League)? Let’s go to history.
In total, 19 footballers with a Russian passport played in the Turkish championship: Fedor Kudryashov (103 league games), Roman Neustaedter (71), Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov (31), Mukhsin Mukhamadiev (29), Dmitry Khlestov, Andrey Krivov (24 each), Sergei Agashkov (23), Magomed Ozdoev (20), Oleg Salenko (18), Yuri Matveev (15), Vyacheslav Kamoltsev (13), Vladimir Beschastnykh, ZaurSadaev (12 each), Vitaly Dyakov (11), Vyacheslav Melnikov (10), Ilshat Faizulin (5), Artem Dzyuba (4), Arsen Khubulov (3) and Yuri Lodygin (2).
Even a cursory look at this list shows that:
a) almost none of the Russians got their own in Turkey, only Kudryashov and the German with Russian roots Neustadter played enough for a couple of full seasons;
b) nobody’s career went uphill after that. The latest most striking example – the Majesty of him Dziuba, the top scorer of the Russian national team and the superstar of the RPL, came on the field only four times in six months in the Turkish Super League and played 165 minutes in total.
TURKEY FOR PENSIONERS AND FOREIGNERS
However, it is worth recognizing that there have never been young talents of this magnitude from Russia in Turkey. Mostly they go to the south for work, often at the end of their careers (Kudryashov, Neustadter, Dzyuba, Beschastnykh, Khlestov), or those who did not find a stable place in a good RPL team. And almost no one is late: more than half of the players (11 of 19) played in total less than half the games in a season.
Among the recent examples of young players, Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov, who was on loan at Giresunspor in the 2021/22 season, comes to mind. But this story is not like ours either, because the winger inexplicably lost his strength after having a coronavirus, completely flew out of Krasnodar and came to Turkey to gain strength. And, by the way, it didn’t matter: 3+3 in 31 games. Upon his return, the “bulls” sent him to Israel.
So, if Zakharyan manages to prove himself in Turkey, and then he also goes to conquer Europe, then this will be the most unusual case in the history of football relations between our countries. Does it make sense to take such risks if, as they say in Dynamo, there is already enough interest in Arsene from abroad?
