And the fight for survival.
Eldor Shomurodov broke through RPL simultaneously with Alexander Sobolev. They had a top scorer match in the 2019/20 championship (how long ago). Victory then went to forward Krylia, who moved to Spartak. But the Uzbek player moved up to the Italian league and, after a successful season with Genoa, ended up at Roma. The rest of the current season, the footballer will spend on loan in Spezia, and this development of events is a plus for Eldor.
He went to Roma to fight for leader status
8 goals in the debut season for the Serie A club is a very good indicator. Especially if we are talking about a team that hangs in the middle of the standings. The Uzbek striker became the Griffins’ second goalscorer in the 2020/21 championship. The player was deservedly signed by Roma – and the amount of compensation for Genoa second average2 times higher than what the Genoese themselves paid to Rostov.
Shomurodov was well aware that in Roma the competition would be several times higher – expectations were confirmed when the club bosses signed Tammy Abraham. After the match against Fiorentina in August 2021, the Roman coach, Jose Mourinho, remarked:
It’s not easy to leave someone on the bench, but Shomurodov is able to play on the left or act in tandem with Abraham. At the moment none of them are in the same form as the players who have been in the preseason since day one, so I decided to use Pellegrini under the striker.
Shomu is very dangerous in the open spaces, Tammy is more of a pole player, so even if he wasn’t tired I would still make that substitution in a few minutes.
In the competition between Eldor and Abraham, the Portuguese coach would have preferred the latter, but at least the Uzbek player had match practice. In insignificant matches, he came on the field from the first minutes, so he scored three goals and four assists at the end of the previous Serie A season. Later it became impossible to fight for a place in the base.
Competing with the best strikers proved unrealistic
In the summer, the “giallorossi” immediately hired two solid free agent performers, one of which was of the highest order. It was difficult for Eldor to stand up to Abraham alone – now he had to share time on the pitch with Paulo Dybala, as well as Andrea Belotti.
With their arrival, there is almost no way to integrate Shomurodov into the main team. Tammy took over as point forward, and Belotti came off the bench. Paulo (and El Shaarawy) have moved away under the striker: no one will certainly keep a master of this level on the bench, as well as creating an artificial competition.
The Uzbekistan footballer has only been on the field in six Serie A matches in the current league, in another 13 he was on the bench – and did not score with effective plays. It was clear to everyone that it was better for Eldor to find a new team: he lost the competition, last summer there were even rumors that the Portuguese coach was dissatisfied with the striker’s work during the training camp.
Already at the end of January, we began to write that Turin, Lille, Bayer and Valladolid showed interest in Shomurodov. Subsequently, La Spezia joined the negotiations: in the end, they took the striker on loan. Mourinho explained the decision to part ways with the player as follows:
Eldor is a great guy to play with, but he hasn’t had many opportunities here. He needs this loan, he deserves to play more. Eldor is leaving us now, but perhaps in six months he will be back. At this stage, it is important for him to practice playing.
A repetition of the Miranchuk story
The selection of players for Shomurodov’s position at Roma turned out to be stronger than Eldor himself – he lost the competition to them. Also, Abraham is much better suited to defensive football than Jose, Dybala sets up the creative action in the final third. Uzbek is no match for them in one or the other.
Spezia is a team that meets the level of a 27-year-old footballer and can satisfy his playing time requests. The situation is very similar to the story of Alexei Miranchuk in the Italian league: the Russian also entered a top club for the first time, in an extremely competitive environment. Hopes were also initially pinned on him, which he could not justify in Gasperini’s strict system. But in Turin, the midfielder received freedom of action, and coach Ivan Yurich treats him with delight:
“I just feel love for Miranchuk, he’s a special guy who needs freedom to prove himself. He scores often and today he also showed himself well in defence. We are happy that he plays for us. Miranchuk has seriously changed in terms of physics and dynamics. He had a fantastic first half and was very intelligent in the second. Alexei has taken important steps and has become stronger this season”, noted the specialist after the victory over Fiorentina.
Perhaps Shomurodov needs a similar environment and trust. And Spice can give him everything he needs. The team’s top scorer, Mbala Nzola, is injured and will not return to action until the second half of February. The rest are not even close to the pace of the main attacker, but Eldor is able to hold on. The important thing is to get the team out of the situation on the verge of the relegation zone.
