Wendel
Age: 23
Position: Central Midfielder
Transfer: Sporting to Zenit
Fee: €20.3 million
12 games into the 2020/21 RPL season, Zenit St Petersburg suddenly find themselves in a challenging situation. Into his third season in charge of Zenit, manager Sergei Semak is beginning to come under quite some pressure after just one win in four games. Two losses out of two in the opening rounds of their European campaign is simply not good enough for Zenit, who after dominating domestically for two years, are looking toward the continent for more success.
Key to how this pivotal month turns out for Zenit could be how new signing Wendel is integrated into the side. The Brazilian is a central midfielder and has already performed to a decent level in his early few Champions League games. Clearly, he was signed for the UCL games, adding some star quality and pedigree into Zenit’s midfield – akin to that of Malcom, Barrios, Rakitskiy and Lovren of late.
Early signs of Wendel’s quality are positive in spite of the results, and he should help the small issue of creativity in Zenit’s spine in European games.
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Ze Luis
Age: 29
Position: Striker
Transfer: Porto to Loko
Fee: €7 million
2020/21 is expected to be a season of transition for Lokomotiv Moscow. The first full season in charge for recently appointed young Serbian manager Marko Nikolic, the 41 year-old has big shoes to follow in the shape of legendary Railroaders manager Yuri Semin. So far, however, Nikolic has done arguably as good a job as he could possibly do with the tools at his disposal. Two of those noteworthy tools missing being the sale of Aleksei Miranchuk to Atalanta of Serie A and the long-term injury to key midfield man Dimitri Barinov.
Miranchuk’s departure has prompted a change in formation by Loko to a more classic 4-4-2 by Nikolic. With Luka Djordjevic now loaned out to Arsenal Tula after an injury-plagued 2019/20 and Eder not impressing, it was common knowledge Lokomotiv needed another forward. In a classic example of bringing in a familiar face, Lokomotiv, just prior to the transfer window closing brought in Ze Luis, formerly of Muscovite rivals Spartak.
The 29 year-old Cape Verdean forward notched ten goals and two assists in 31 games for Os Dragoes last season. However, he has gathered a reputation as being a talented, however, inconsistent player throughout his career. Ze Luis has two assists already for Loko in his four games so far, including one against Bayern Munich in a valiant 2-1 home loss. Can the Cape Verdean striker now find some consistency in the peak of his career and help Lokomotiv find a strong goal-scoring option?
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Chidera Ejuke
Age: 22
Position: Winger
Transfer: SC Heerenveen to CSKA
Fee: €11.5 million
Viktor Goncharenko is now in his fourth full season in charge of the Red-Blues. With the 43 year-old Belarusian’s contract expiring at the campaign’s end, performances across all competitions could determine whether Goncharenko stays beyond this season. CSKA’s backers and sponsors have certainly given him the financial clout to achieve strong performances, splashing out a total of €30 million on new signings.
Arguably, the most exciting arrival at VEB Arena is Chidera Ejuke. The 22 year-old Nigerian winger had a breakout season with Dutch Eredivisie club Heerenveen last year, grabbing nine goals and four assists. Impressed by these figures, CSKA reportedly parted with €11.5 million to bring Ejuke to the club.
Ejuke has already shown glimpses of his potential in his nine games for CSKA so far, including scoring a well-taken goal in the latest Main-Moscow Derby with Spartak. There is the occasional element of frustration at a lack of end product at times when watching Ejuke. Nevertheless, these are things that could well be put down to his age and could well improve substantially over time. Ejuke’s main strengths are his dribbling at pace, close control and the ability to take on & beat opponents.
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Bruno Fuchs
Age: 21
Position: Central Defender
Transfer: SC Internacional to CSKA
Fee: €8 million
Following the retirement of CSKA’s veteran defensive line comprised of Sergei Ignashevich and the Berezutsky twins Aleksei & Vasili in the summer of 2018, CSKA have been battling to find replacements ever since. All three players were impressive performers for many a season in central defence. It could be argued that of all the players tried since the retirement of these three aforementioned players, only Igor Diveev has looked of a good enough and consistent enough level to fill their boots.
CSKA needed a strong second central defender to partner Diveev and have invested €8 million to bring SC Internacional’s Bruno Fuchs to the VEB Arena. Fuchs arrives in Russia with pedigree given his capping for his native Brazil at Under 23 and Under 20’s level. Regrettably, however, we have so far only seen Fuchs in one game for CSKA. That game was CSKA’s 3-1 away victory over Akhmat Grozny where Fuchs came on as a late substitute.
Injuries have prevented Fuchs from having an impact so far in the RPL, the defender being ruled out until mid-November with a torn tendon injury. It will be fascinating when fully fit if Fuchs can strike up a strong partnership with Igor Diveev like many at CSKA anticipate.
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Bakityar Zaynutdinov
Age: 22
Position: Left Fullback/Winger
Transfer: Rostov to CSKA
Fee: €2 million
Out of CSKA’s summer arrivals, it is fair to say that Bakityar Zaynutdinov was not the one that arrived with most fanfare following his €2 million arrivals from fellow RPL club Rostov. The likes of Adolfo Gaich and the aforementioned Ejuke and Fuchs gathered more attention from RPL followers and Red-Blues fans alike.
However, it is fair to say 22 year-old Kazakh Zaynutdinov has so far been one of the players to really emerge so far this season with his performances. A switch in formation by CSKA manager Viktor Goncharenko from a 3-5-2 to a 4-2-3-1 formation helped Zaynutdinov to get frequent football at CSKA since arriving. In addition to his good overall performances so far, Zaynutdinov has displayed his versatility, filling in both at left winger and left full-back.
Another bonus for CSKA when it comes to Zaynutdinov is because of his status as a Kazakh national, he does not count as a foreign player under the EUEA agreement that Russian clubs abide by. RPL clubs are of course restricted to just eight non-Russian players in their squad.
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Pontus Almqvist
Age: 21
Position: Winger/Forward
Transfer: IFK Norrkoping to Rostov
Fee: €3.75 million
One of the most active RPL clubs across all the transfer window has been Rostov. Incomings and outgoings have been frequent all window at the Southern club. Noteworthy departures included Aleksei Ionov and Evgeniy Chernov who departed to Krasnodar for a combined €6.5 million. The most prominent departure, however, was Uzbek striker Eldor Shomurodov, who left the club to sign for Italian Serie A outfit Genoa for a fee of €7.5 million.
Having gained a large windfall from those aforementioned sales, Rostov have brought in several replacements, the most expensive of all being Pontus Almqvist from IFK Norrkoping. Signed for a fee of €3.75 million, 21 year-old Almqvist is a Sweden Under 21 international and arrives at Rostov on the back of a breakthrough season in the 2019 Swedish Allsvenskan. Almqvist noted five goals in 20 matches for Norrkoping whilst sharing playing time both as a right-winger and a centre forward.
It was common knowledge that Rostov needed reinforcements following the sale of Ionov, a winger and Shomurodov, a striker. It will be fascinating to see how Rostov integrates Almqvist into their squad, whether he can live up to the billing and what vacated position he will eventually fill.
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Armin Gigovic
Age: 18
Position: Defensive Midfielder/Central Midfielder
Transfer: Helsingborgs IF to Rostov
Fee: €1.5 million
Almqvist’s arrival turned out not to be the only foray into the Scandinavian market for Rostov with the money they generated from the sale of Shomurodov. On the very same day as the signing of Almqvist, Rostov also announced that they had signed compatriot Armin Gigovic from fellow Swedish Allsvenskan club Helsingborgs IF for a fee of €1.5 million.
Gigovic, a regular at Under 19’s level for Sweden, who as recently as October, received his first cap at Under 21’s level is a different player to Almqvist. Gigovic recently debuted for seven minutes as a late substitute in Rostov’s 2-0 home loss against Khimki.
Where Gigovic will eventually play is open to much speculation. Recently, Rostov’s star defensive midfielder Mathias Normann declared that he is looking to move on from the club after nearly two years at Rostov. There is, therefore, every chance that Gigovic is a direct replacement for Normann and it will be interesting to see if he sees substantial playing time post-New Year if Normann does indeed leave Rostov as planned. Until then, he is expected to take more of a backup role to Daniil Glebov and Kento Hashimoto in a more advanced central midfield role.
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Victor Moses
Age: 29
Position: Right Wingback/Right Winger
Transfer: Chelsea to Spartak
Fee: Season-Long Loan
The most noteworthy surprise of the RPL so far this season has been the campaign enjoyed by record champions Spartak under the management of young German-Italian coach Domenico Tedesco.
Despite Tedesco’s impressive start, many conceded Spartak needed a right-sided player to fit the manager’s preferred 3-5-2 system with last season’s first choice right wing back Nikolai Rasskazov out of favour under Tedesco & shipped off to Arsenal Tula on loan. Spartak duly signed a right wing-back for Tedesco’s system, and one with a strong reputation, Victor Moses.
Moses shot to prominence under Antonio Conte at Chelsea. In these two campaigns, he made a combined 78 appearances in all competitions, impressing throughout having previously struggled to get regular first-team football. Moses was famously converted from a right winger to a right wing-back by Conte, who like Tedesco, also favours a back-three. However, having fallen out of favour under both Maurizio Sarri and now Frank Lampard, Conte’s successors in West London Moses spent a large chunk of the 2018/19 and all of the 2019/20 campaigns out on loan. Firstly at Fenerbahce and most recently at Inter Milan.
Moses once again has had to leave Stamford Bridge in search for regular first-team football and his signing on a season-long loan with an option to buy at the campaign’s close could prove a stroke of genius by Spartak. The 38-capped Nigerian international has started well at Spartak, scoring the opening goal of their 3-2 away victory over Khimki. Could he prove the final piece of the jigsaw that delivers Spartak an 11th RPL title at the season’s end?
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Nikola Moro
Age: 22
Position: Central Midfielder
Transfer: Dinamo Zagreb to Dynamo Moscow
Fee: €8.5 million
This has been a season of many challenges so far for Dynamo. The Blue-Whites dismissed manager Kirill Novikov after two shock results, a 2-1 defeat to Locomotive Tbilisi in the Second Round of Qualifying for the Europa League and a 1-0 home loss to Khimki in the RPL. New manager Sandro Schwarz recently arrived as Novikov’s replacement and made an impressive start at his new club with Dynamo defeating high-flying Sochi 3-1 at home.
One man who could prove pivotal to Schwarz going forward at Dynamo is Croatian central midfielder, Nikola Moro. Signed earlier in the summer from Dinamo Zagreb in his homeland for a fee of €8.5 million, 22 year-old Moro is a classic deep-lying playmaker, signed to improve the Blue-Whites’ creativity in central midfield.
Moro missed Schwarz’s first game in charge presumably due to injury. However, with Dinamo looking more offensive in Schwarz’s first game, one suspects Dinamo’s new German manager cannot wait to incorporate the young Croatian into what is likely to be a central midfield three. Can Moro find the form he displayed in his homeland and help establish Dinamo as a possible title contender in future seasons?
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In-beom Hwang
Age: 23
Position: Central Midfielder
Transfer: Vancouver Whitecaps to Rubin Kazan
Fee: EUR 2.5 million
The final summer transfer on this list to watch comes courtesy of Rubin Kazan. After a slow start under new boss Leonid Slutsky who arrived in Tatarstan in December 2019, Rubin under Slutsky have started to impress in recent RPL matchdays with some good results. The most impressive of all being Rubin’s recent fully-deserved 2-1 away victory over defending champions Zenit.
One player central to Rubin’s recent upturn in form under Slutsky has been 23 year-old In-beom Hwang. The 23 year-old South Korean international was sold to Rubin on August 14th for a fee of €2.5 million by MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps. His sale was the second-highest transfer fee received by the Whitecaps in their history. Hwang was, of course, a designated player in MLS with Vancouver and noted three goals and three assists from a deeper central midfield role with the Whitecaps during the 2019 MLS season.
It has not taken Hwang long to hit the ground running at Rubin. In eight appearances already for the Tatar outfit, he has three goals & assists alongside consistently looking one of the club’s better performers. Hwang looks to be a perfect fit for Slutsky’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and acts as a midfielder who helps transition Rubin’s play from defence to attack.
The post Ten More RPL Signings to Watch appeared first on Russian Football News.
