Zenit has not bought players from the best leagues for a long time. Even Spartak has more
Anatoly Romanov September 14, 2023, 16:00 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The champion has only two players with experience of playing in the top 5. When else should you fight him for the title, if not now?
Unexpectedly, Zenit apparently will not buy anyone in this summer transfer window to replace Malcom. Negotiations were carried out with several players, even the names of footballers from the main European championships were named, however, the St. Petersburg club never signed the “Big Star”. It is still difficult to name Wilson Isidore as Malcolm’s replacement, despite the Frenchman taking the No.10.
Zenit is associated with big and expensive transfers, but here’s a surprising fact: the St. Petersburg club has not signed newcomers from Europe’s top 5 leagues since January 2020, when it acquired central defender Dejan Lovren from Liverpool for 12 million euros. Since Malcolm’s own purchase from Barcelona for €40 million in July 2019, this is generally the only transfer of a player from Europe’s top five leagues to Zenit.
Why did the Russian champion sign Isidor?
Zenit took Loko’s runaway star. Why did Semak need Izidor?
Thus, in the last seven transfer windows, the Russian champion has not spent a single euro on newcomers from the championships of England, Spain, Italy, Germany or France. Zenit concentrated on other markets. Players were found in Brazil, Portugal (Stanislav Kritsyuk, Wendel), Kazakhstan (Nuraly Alip) and Serbia (Strahinja Erakovic). That is, in those countries where the level of football is approximately the same as in the RPL, or weaker. In addition, they signed newcomers from Russian clubs. However, Zenit continued to dominate our championship and win one gold after another.
In the current squad of Sergei Semak’s team there is not a single (!) footballer who comes to Zenit from the top 5 leagues. Only Douglas Santos arrived from Germany to Saint Petersburg, but his Hamburg team was in the second Bundesliga. Only the Brazilian captain and newcomer Isidore, who has five appearances (more precisely, five substitute appearances) in the French Ligue 1 with Monaco, have experience in the main championships.
It is interesting to compare the last seven transfer windows of Zenit and its competitors in terms of player acquisitions from Europe’s top leagues. During this time, Spartak signed Victor Moses from Chelsea (5 million euros after a loan of 300 thousand euros, according to Transfermarkt), Keith Balde from Cagliari (free agent), Theo Bongonda from Cádiz (7 million euros) and Srdjan Babic of Almeria. (5 million euros). And this is without taking into account the most notable transfer: Quincy Promes, who returned, although not from the Major Leagues (he was bought from Ajax for 8.5 million euros), but still after a time playing for Sevilla.
Srdjan Babic
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
Since the summer of 2020, Lokomotiv has acquired Pablo and François Camano from Bordeaux from five major championships (for €2.5 million and €5.5 million respectively), Tina Yedvaya from Bayer (€4 million) and, in fact, to Isidoro del Monaco himself. (3.5 million euros).
Over the last seven transfer windows, Dinamo took Diego Laxalt from Milan (€3.5 million) and Fabián Balbuena from West Ham (free agent) from the top leagues.
CSKA in this sense was more like Zenit: since the summer of 2020, the military team has only taken two players from the main European championships on short-term loans: Yusuf Yazici (from Lille) and Jean-Philippe Gbamin (from Everton) .
Even Krasnodar, which until this fall was hardly perceived as a real competitor to Zenit in the fight for gold medals, found newcomers in the higher leagues. The Bulls bought John Córdoba from Hertha (20 million euros) and Lucas Olaza (2 million euros), who was relegated from the league with Valladolid last season and did not stay to play in the Second Division.
Overall, Zenit seems to be staying away from the larger market. The only sale of the blue and white in the top 5 leagues in Europe in the last three windows was the transfer of Lovren himself to Lyon in January 2023 for 2 million euros. Before that, Serdar’s transfer to Bayer took place in the winter of 2022 Azmun for 2.5 million euros, when the Iranian did not leave the club without another option, signing a contract with the Germans six months before it expired. his contract with Saint Petersburg. Although there was demand for Brazilians in the main European championships, it is enough to remember the failed agreement with PSG for Malcom.
Today, Zenit probably won’t scare anyone with its lineup. At the very least, competitors from Moscow. When else to fight with Semak’s team for the title, if not this season?
