Reward after a difficult stage in your career.
Artem Dziuba is in Lokomotiv for one more season – now it’s official! The contract includes the option of an extension for another year – and that’s a pretty deliberate decision. On the one hand, the striker, for whom this season has been the toughest, certainly deserved a new deal. On the other hand, there are too many variables that can radically change the state of affairs and Artem’s attitude towards the team.
Respond to haters my style
It has been said many times: Dziuba shows the best football when under tremendous pressure. In the 2017/18 season, the striker fell out of favor with the then Zenit head coach Roberto Mancini, he spent an anonymous autumn and was loaned to Arsenal Tula. Career decline followed by 6 goals and 3 assists in 10 games RPLcall to the national team for world Cup-2018 and the status of leader of the national team.
The situation that has developed this season is precisely from this work. Artyom’s last year at Zenit was quite controversial: he became the team’s top scorer, scoring 11 league goals, but at the same time was a regular substitute and was considered a rotation player. With the transfer of Serdar Azmun to Bayer, it became clear that changes were coming in the strike group, the Azmun-Dziuba link would give way to other performers.
In the summer – departure from Zenit, search for a team abroad, contract with Adana Demirspor. The forward tried to squeeze out more favorable terms of the contract, so it was reported that it was not possible to agree even with such clubs as Fenerbahce and Besiktas.
As a result – 4 matches in “Adana Demirspor” and the only goal – in the debut match. Artem has not received match training since October, in the winter transfer window he tried to negotiate with Pari NN, even with Torpedo – neither of them started signing the 34-year-old forward. Under another wave of criticism and talk about the end of his career, Artem came to Lokomotiv.
The result is a hat-trick for Rostov from Karpin, a brace for Nizhny Novgorod (the most iconic goals). Also a brace against Khimki and a goal against Krasnodar. In 9 matches, Artem has already scored 8 goals and four assists – although they said it would take a long time to get into shape, it would be even more difficult for him due to a lack of game practice at that age.
He helped Loko in the most difficult period
In the situation of Lokomotiv and Artem, everything turned out perfectly: Artem needed a team that would allow him to prove his worth after the failure in Turkey. The “railwaymen” needed a leader and an experienced finisher, which would become the basis for a new backbone.
Indeed, the Muscovites left for the winter break disassembled. Recently, they dropped out of the German course, on which they spent a lot of money, changed the composition of the board: new managers came (Yuri Nagornykh – to the post of chairman of the board) and head coach (Mikhail Galaktionov from Pari NN). At the same time, new players were needed and they decided to focus on the Russian market. So Sergey Pinyaev and Maxim Glushenkov from Krylia, Ilya Lantratov from Khimki, Herman Conti from Benfica, Igor Smolnikov and Dzyuba became Lokomotiv players.
The selection of Loko players in the forward group has changed a lot and in the shortest possible time it was necessary to establish interaction and deal with the microclimate in the locker room. At first, Artyom, Pinyaev and Glushenkov became that solid foundation from which Galaktionov was able to build. The players found a common thread and in the first spring rounds they started regularly from the beginning: they put Camano on the right wing. And when the team felt the ground underfoot, the coach began to rotate the team: Miranchuk and Zhemaletdinov went to Glushenkov’s place, Maxim himself could move to Kamano’s position. Ivan Ignatiev also had a chance, Anton could be on the wing, and Wilson Isidore, who recovered from an injury (now comes out as a left winger), scored in four games in a row.
And it was possible to move on to building a new team, including thanks to the qualities of Dzyuba at the start, it was he who provided the team with goals and allowed Galaktion to think about the next step without fear for the present.
The one year contract is the best option
The relationship between the Railroaders and the 34-year-old centre-forward will enter a new phase next season and there are too many variables that can affect its quality.
The achievements of the “red-green” are now perceived so brightly in contrast to the failure of the autumn, but then Galaktionov will have to face a completely new test for himself. If earlier it was necessary to pull the metropolitan capital out of the well (and there is only an uphill road here), now we need to determine the direction of development, choose locations for strengthening and players. In other words, the main stage of construction will begin.
Dzyuba again successfully passed a difficult stage in his career – he helped Loko get into the top 10, got into the attack group. And it would be nice to sign a contract for a longer period. But you need to take into account Artem’s character. A triumphant return to Zenit and several years as a star ended with a farewell-yes, after which Artem refuses to shake hands with Semak after the match (as before he turned in his direction). Any action by the coaching staff that the attacker may not like has the potential for a new quarrel and final separation. Do you need it for a team that has yet to get back to the top 5 and start fighting for medals?
To protect himself in the event of a negative scenario, a one-year contract for Dziuba is a great option. No one shall be forcibly detained. And if Artyom still doesn’t give free rein to his inner demons, you can activate the extension feature for another season.
