Football
Top foreign players are returning to Russia. Transfer window highlights
Matthias Normann / Photo: © FC Dynamo
The example of Matthias Normann can be infectious. And the leaders made timely acquisitions.
Football Russia decently plays according to the general rules even when not all of these rules are observed in relation to it, therefore the window of transfers to our clubs was closed on September 8 according to the plan. Although it would be possible to leave it “in the ventilation mode” at the entrance ajar and further.
The situation in which our sanctioned club football has been living for half a year is unique. The experience of Iran and North Korea is useless for us in this sense, because we are a historical part of football Europe, we mainly trade with it, send the main flows of football workforce to and from it. And we adapt to continue to live in interaction with her, although this interaction is very limited on her part. The first transfer period in the new conditions allows us to formulate several well-established trends.
The flight of foreigners from Russia stopped
In the spring, in the midst of a parade of contract suspensions, it was commonplace to speculate that Russian legionnaires had fled. That their outflow will only intensify, and by the beginning of the new (that is, the current) season, there will be almost no one left here. This did not happen. There are no more breaks and suspensions of contracts as a mass phenomenon. The most notable suspensions of the summer are with the Rostov striker Ali Sow, who moved to Turkey, as well as the shameful escape from Dynamo Varelawho did everything so that even the “white-and-blue” fans began to write his name with a small letter as a common noun for duplicity and stupidity.
Transfers of foreigners to the exit, of course, have not ended, but now they are formalized at least with respectable leases, like Dynamo’s Moro: if Bologna uses the opportunity to buy him out, Dynamo will earn good money. And Lokomotiv on Beka-Beka not only made money and not just good ones, but already received a part of the excellent revenue from Nice.
Norman as an example of “parallel import”
Foreign acquisitions of our clubs are not a fantasy and not even an entry into the markets of Mongolia and Eritrea, as predicted recently. Foreign transfers still occupy a significant share in the labor force balance. Players from South America and the friendly Balkans are really ready to come to us, but not only.
The transfer of Mathias Normann to Dynamo can become the very foothold with which we will rock the international market of players. Barcelona have economic levers, while we have more serious, Archimedean ones. After all, with the full understanding that Western Europe no longer trusts us with its players, we lured the midfielder of the Norwegian national team to Moscow using the “parallel import” method.
How did this become possible and what is our chance? Of course, Normann’s positive personal experience at Rostov played a role. He does not need to form his opinion about our reality from the messages of the media distant from here. He knows perfectly well how life is here and how professionally the life of football players in Russia is organized. He was selflessly loved here, carefully treated and waited.
And then earned a curious factor of football egocentrism. In the most seemingly collective sport, each individual athlete is so alone, so passionate about his own career first of all (especially if severe injuries reminded him of a short-lived football youth), that he can make decisions in the “let the whole world wait” mode. Indeed, it is time to get rid of the hackneyed “football is out of politics”. It should be replaced by a new motto: “my personal career in football is out of politics.”
Norman’s example can work first of all for those who went to the exit in the first wave. If they have not yet found happiness in their temporary shelters, it is time to think about returning to Russia. For example, in the next winter window. After all, next winter in Russia will be especially warm.
Krasnodar returns its players
The same process of returning, by the way, albeit softened by the friendly or neutral origin of the players, was in full swing this summer in Krasnodar. For this club in the spring, perhaps, the organized and massive escape of legionnaires hit hardest of all.
And in the summer, the bulls gave us a wonderful new term – “renewal of the contract”, which, after the “suspension”, looks like a welcome return to normality. And now Cayo, Ramirez and Cordoba are playing again at the most picturesque stadium in the country.
This is a great example of how suspension works backwards. And if those who previously paused their Russian careers have already returned safely and continue to play as if nothing had happened, it means that the road home is open for everyone else. If it were not for the factor of the winter World Cup, before which some legionnaires are afraid to cut themselves off from the national teams, much more foreign players would have survived and returned to Russia.
Loud crashes and quiet good luck Dynamo
The White-Blues could become the main venue for the summer market, the All-Russian Football Fair-2022. Queen Elizabeth never got to see Arsen Zakharian playing for Chelsea, a move that could have been a pivotal move for our football for years and spawned a whole gallery of warm, nostalgic images of the Dynamo tour to Britain in 1945.
The deal for midfielder Kartsev did not work out either, although the Dynamo team has already released an unparalleled video in its accuracy, simplicity and talent based on the great pop miniature with Kamil Larin in the main and only role.
But (and, perhaps, as compensation for the disruption of the last transition), the captain of the Israeli national team Das, the author of as many as 13 assists in the last season for Vitesse, as well as the South Americans Fernandez and Marichal, joined Dynamo, and in the last hours, already against the backdrop of satiety and contentment after Norman – Cameroonian forward Ngamale. The latest deal, taking into account the redemption of Christopher Martins by Spartak, allowed the Young Boys club to receive considerable sums from Russia this summer. And for us – to outline a possible conditionally friendly trade route to the very center of the generally unfriendly football Europe. All successful transactions for the Dynamo players were made, as expected, in a healthy market silence.
Case of Begich
With all the activity of Dynamo on the international market, in the last hours of the last market day, the entire market fell silent and fascinatedly watched how Ural was doing its business. The gem team, which struggles every year for its place in the Premier League, is keen to stay this time as well. Moreover, before the eyes of Grigory Ivanov, the dramas of his friends and associates in last year’s performances for the expansion of the league are unfolding: both Rubin and Ufa survive in the First League with great tension, so far without a chance of a quick return.
“Ural” did everything not to keep them company there next year. Following a change in coach, the Bumblebees have painstakingly pollinated several blooming talents, up to 34-year-old Filipenko, to bolster their squad and keep up with the departing Premier League train.
But one of the transfers is puzzling. Silvie Begich ended up in Ural after he suspended his contract with Rubin in March. This is something special: the foreigner took advantage of the FIFA-sanctioned opportunity to stay in Russia, simply by changing clubs. On the one hand, it nullifies the suspension as a weapon against our football. On the other hand, in difficult times it divides our clubs if such deals are not agreed upon and beneficial for both clubs, like the same deal between Dynamo and Rostov regarding Norman.
Best Beginners – Early Beginners
The start of the season shows that clubs that do not delay with newcomers until the last days and hours of the summer window feel the best. Zenit and CSKA, the clubs that now lead the table, were the first to complete their transfers. Some of their recruits, like Rodrigo and Moises, have already established themselves in the squad and are making a difference on the pitch. Some, like Mantuan or Victor Mendez, are still in rotation and on a substitution.
But it is important that the coaches received these players in advance, looked at them enough in training and now accompany the natural process of their adaptation in the squad.
When you take on newcomers shortly after the opening of the window, you show that you have worked on them well in advance and clearly. So for those clubs that are destined to succeed in the game next fall, such work is already underway, and we will have to learn about its progress at the beginning of the next winter transfer window.
Source: Sportbox
Thomas Astudillo is a sports journalist and author who writes for Sportish. He has a deep love and knowledge of sports, and is known for his engaging and informative writing on the latest sports news and events.