“Zenit is a champion. Sixth year in a row. Although this season St. Petersburg seemed to have done everything possible to end their dominance in the RPL. This was the worst championship for the blue-white-sky blue under the command of Sergei Semak. And after Zenit won gold, I would rather criticize the leader of our football than applaud him: like in the story of Bayern’s championship last year.
It can be argued who became the “big cat” of Zenit. Blame the decline on the Brazilian team’s supposedly unmotivated leaders. Although SofaScore statistics say otherwise. Claudinho, Wendel and Douglas Santos are among the top 3 players in terms of number of accurate passes in the opposite third of the field. Claudinho is first in the league with the most scoring opportunities created, while Wendel is third. Among them is Maxim Glushenkov from Lokomotiv, whom everyone, on the contrary, praises for such statistics. In addition, Claudinho, along with Glushenkov, is the best in passing, and Wendel and Douglas Santos, as defenders, are in the top 10.
One can talk about Semak’s coaching qualities and wonder why Zenit played slowly in many games. However, one cannot but admit that Semak knows how to work with stars. This quality of his gave him very good results in the Russian Championship for five seasons, while St. Petersburg had the strongest players in the RPL in almost all positions.
However, in the last two years, Zenit itself has lowered its level to that of its competitors. Partly forced, due to circumstances. After February 2022, it is objectively more difficult to work in the transfer market. But to a large extent the current situation was a consequence of the mistakes of the St. Petersburg club with the newcomers. The culprit here is probably Semak himself, who gave the go-ahead or did not block the signing of the newcomers, whose arrival did not help the team grow.
Here we follow the events of the last round of the RPL:
Live
“Zenit is a champion! Incredible outcome of the RPL! LIVE
Since the summer of 2022, that is, during the last four transfer windows, Zenit has lost Malcom, Dejan Lovren, Daler Kuzyaev and Yuri Alberto. The St. Petersburg club found it difficult to retain these excellent players for several reasons. Consequently, it was necessary to replace them with newcomers of comparable class.
How did Zenit act in the transfer market in this situation? During two summer windows and two winter windows, the Saint Petersburg club invested 55.94 million euros, according to Transfermarkt, signing 19 players. The contract with Zenit was signed by goalkeepers Denis Adamov, Nikita Goylo, Ivan Quaresma, defenders Nino, Strahinja Erakovic, Mario Fernández, Rodrigao, Robert Renan, Nuraly Alip (bought on loan), midfielders Arthur, Pedro, Gustavo Mantuan, Do Queiroz, Zelimkhan Bakaev, Alexander Kovalenko, Ilzat Akhmetov, Yaroslav Mikhailov, forwards Mateo Cassierra, Wilson Isidore. In fact, a whole new team! Some stayed at Zenit for only six months, while others left during the same transfer period.
Zenit has the right to spend this money, no questions asked. From a single sale of Malcom, the St. Petersburg club received 60 million euros and, taking into account the income from the last Champions League of the 2021/2022 season, the amount of money obtained will ultimately exceed 100 million euros. Zenit, like all others, is governed by financial fair play. But the problem is the efficiency of the investment. This is where doubts have accumulated for the Russian champion.
Which of the above-mentioned newcomers is really the best for the RPL? Maybe Nino, judging by his first months at the Russian Championship. As for potential, without a doubt Pedro. But of course, a player who has just turned 18 will not always “make a difference” in our league, even if we are talking about a talented Brazilian. Otherwise, this footballer would have gone somewhere in Real Madrid without transit in the RPL, like, for example, Endrik. Pedro showed what nature had given him in the cup match against Spartak and will become, if he can, in a few years the “new Malcolm”.
In other cases, Zenit’s transfers could not produce any surprise effect on competitors. Even the best scorer of the current RPL season, Cassierra, two, only played half a season (the first part of this Russian championship). In the first year he scored only two goals, one of which was an own goal, and in the spring of 2024 the Colombian only impressed with a penta-trick against the unmotivated Akhmat.
What stood out about Zenit in Semak’s first four seasons was their near-perfect transfer record. In the first year of the young coach’s work, Yaroslav Rakitsky, Vilmar Barrios and Serdar Azmun arrived. In the second, Malcom, Douglas Santos, Vyacheslav Karavaev, Danil Krugovoy, Alexey Sutormin and Yordan Osorio, on loan. In third are Wendel, Lovren and Dmitry Chistyakov. In the fourth – Claudinho, Yuri Alberto, Ivan Sergeev, Arsen Adamov and Stanislav Kritsyuk. The number of errors in the transfer market was minimal, the level of the team increased.
Sergey Semak
Photo: fc-zenit.ru
Furthermore, large expenses were not always required. Only Malcolm, Yuri Alberto and Wendel were worth more than 15 million euros. And 15 million went to Barrios. The rest are cheaper. Zenit simply selected those who were really necessary for the team’s progress. Now it’s like he takes away anyone who comes near him.
A recent example is the transfer of Arthur for the same 15 million euros. It is clear that prices have increased slightly in recent years and in the current circumstances you have to pay extra to attract qualified foreign players to the RPL. It’s clear that Malcolm’s replacement needs time to adjust to Russia. Malcolm himself also took a long time to open up.
But Malcolm, Wendel, Claudinho, Douglas Santos, Barrios, it was immediately clear that they were football players who played the game. Influencing her at every moment. Arthur is more of an episodic player. He has the ability and high technical equipment to resolve an episode, like today in Rostov, in Krasnodar or Samara. However, he does not have the distance speed necessary for a top-class winger, he barely plays one-on-one and, instead of sharpening, often plays cross or behind. It is no longer about adaptation, but about opportunities. A Russian footballer with the same qualities could, with a little effort, get it two or three times cheaper.
Where else does a champion get so few points like in Russia?
In which other European leagues do the champions get as few points as in Russia?
Fernández is no longer the same, but that was clear from the beginning. Age, injuries, downtime in Brazil. Just compare his statistics in the current RPL season with Douglas Santos’ statistics. For example, assistant. On average, every 90 minutes of play, the left-back captain makes 18.6 accurate passes in the opposing third and 1.78 passes under attack. Mario has 15.1 assists and only 0.39 under attack.
No matter how difficult the circumstances are in the transfer market, even now it is possible to find quality reinforcements. The examples of Niño and Pedro demonstrate this. Erakovic also settled at Zenit. And Dinamo, for less money than the St. Petersburg club in history with Arthur, found Bitello for the position of attacking midfielder. Speed, dribbling, influence on the game: we see all this in the performance of the Brazilian Dinamo. In Krasnodar, only with his appearance on the field did the blue and white attack begin to dance.
Until now, Zenit retains the championship title. But if he does not change his approach to transfers, it is quite possible that he will repeat Bayern’s path over the past year. The RPL leader must improve the quality of the team so that others approach the best team in the country and not for the team itself to fall to their level.
