But he prefers to stick with the “soldiers”.
Fedor Chalov suddenly got the opportunity to leave for Europe: according to the latest reports, two of the best clubs in the Turkish championship are claiming him at once. This is a great reward for a breakthrough in the season that has ended: Fedor turned from a crisis striker into the leader of the attack of the “army team” and fully adopted the ideas of the new coach.
The transformation has begun in Switzerland
Suffice it to recall the trajectory along which the career of the 25-year-old forward developed. Chalov entered the Red-Blue base at the age of 18 and scored 6 goals in 15 games RPL in the 2016/17 season. After two seasons gone to grind, the player holds the best Scudetto of his career and becomes the top scorer of the 2018/19 championship (15 goals in 30 games).
Further – rumors of interest from Crystal Palace, an unsuccessful transfer, the emergence of problems with the implementation, stagnation. Leaving for Basel on loan in the 2021/22 season, Fedor for CSKA was already a rotation player, it became absolutely clear that the talented striker urgently needed to do something with his career.
And it cannot be said that the second half of the season in Switzerland was a breakthrough for Fedor, but at least he got involved in the offensive game of Basel and managed to score 4 goals and even make 2 assists in 14 meetings. Closer to the off-season, rumors appeared that Chalov really did not want to return to Russia – the decisive role was played by the fact that “CSKA” desperately needed an attacking leader. The player himself spoke succinctly about the situation:
Well, Russian football is having a tough time right now. There are European competitions… That was worth staying for. But I understand that I need CSKA. Actually, I didn’t have any bad options.
I’m happy that Basel wanted me to stay, and this CSKA he decided to take me back. I think that now any Russian footballer is worth his weight in gold.
Pumped under Fedotov
Fedor at that moment really needed his club. IN CSKA a new coach arrived who was going to build a new system. At the same time, the team was in a semi-disassembled state: Fedotov was left without Fernandez and Dzagoev, Ejuke, Gbamen, Yazydzhi, Sigurdsson, Magnusson, Akhmetov, Biyol, Bistrovic. The group of artists in the attack had to be reassembled.
In such conditions, Chalov was needed, but just in case he overcomes his problems with psychology. And Fedotov coped with this task as well as possible. The 25-year-old striker immediately got into the starting clip and found a common thread with Carrascal and Medina – at that time it was the main combination on which the game was based in attack. In four games in a row, Fedor scored one goal, including “Zenith” on the road.
According to the results of the first part of the championship, he already had 10 goals and 2 assists. But the most interesting started in the spring. Then it became clear that Carrascal did not give the necessary sharpness in the last third, moreover, he periodically retired due to injuries to Zainutdinov, and a search for new combinations began. As a result, Moises moved into the centre-back trio: the exposed position on the left wing was closed by Medina, and without Jesus and with Carrascal a couple of bench insiders had to be reformed. Fedor coped perfectly with this position with Oblyakov – and scored 7 more goals on it, and returning to the top in the last round, scored a double.
At the moment, Chalov is again the head of the “army”. More stable, experienced, having passed a difficult stage in his career and ready for new challenges.
You must agree to move.
Insiders about the possibility of moving to Europe have appeared recently. We are talking about the Turkish championship: Fenerbahce and Galatasaray show interest in Chalov. By the way, it is noted that the striker himself is not going to move to Turkey – his contract is with him CSKA expires at the end of 2024 and the parties are ready to extend the agreement.
Unfortunately, another opportunity to get into the European championship is unlikely to arise – there are too many obstacles for such a development of events (from prejudices to problems with money transactions). In such conditions, Türkiye also seems like a winning option. So at least for Fedor there was an opportunity to get the attention of European breeders, more ways to move up to the top flight. Also, the Turkish league is of a rather high class, and the country’s champion and vice-champion show interest in it.
In Russia there is no such level of resistance, the legionnaire class is lower and it is unlikely that anyone will follow the talents from RPL.
CSKA you need a striker
But the position of the “soldiers” is understandable. In the face of Chalov, they found a solution to an acute problem with a striker who scored. Now they just need to sign a quality replacement to relieve Fedor – and if he goes on the transfer campaign, they will have to make changes.
In addition to the 25-year-old striker, Vladimir Fedotov has only Adolfo Gaich and Anton Zabolotny at his disposal. Both are unable to permanently close this position, nor are they able to maintain the level of performance set by Chalov. So the rossoblùs simply don’t have another striker in goal.
And there are simply no rumors about negotiations with candidates for the position of forward, except that Chidera Ejuke can return after the suspension of the contract and help in this.
Most likely, Chalov will remain in Russia. For “soldiers” this is definitely a plus. For the footballer himself, the moment is questionable: on the one hand he has finally weathered the storm and deserves to enjoy the peace in the status of absolute leader of the rossoblu. On the other hand, a career in Europe is gradually slipping away – the player is already 25 years old, in the current conditions it is possible to get into the top 5 European leagues only through Turkey, Belgium and other less status leagues, but with access to European competitions. The bank of stories about failed transitions and unfulfilled potential is being replenished.
