Smolov told how the transfer of Zakharyan to Real Sociedad will help Russian football

Dynamo striker Fyodor Smolov believes that the transfer of the pupil of the “white and blue” Arsen Zakharyan to the Spanish “Real Sociedad” will be useful for all Russian football.

On Sunday, Zakharyan did not get into Dynamo’s application for the home match of the 4th round of the RPL against Baltika (2: 0) and watched the game from the stands. The head coach of the Blue and Whites, Marcel Lichka, said on Match TV before the match that Zakharyan could already be called a Real Sociedad player. Dynamo CEO Pavel Pivovarov said that the 20-year-old midfielder will fly to Spain on Sunday and undergo a medical examination.

– How would you rate Zakharyan’s transfer?

— I hope that the transfer will take place. This will be a plus not only for Dynamo, but for the entire Russian football. I hope that this will give us an impetus for European clubs to take Russian players from the Russian Championship and they will leave.

– Will Dynamo be difficult without Zakharyan?

“Of course, it will be difficult, because Arsene was one of the leading players, but the transfer window is not yet closed and there is time to try to replace him,” Match TV quoted Smolov as saying.

Zakharyan has been playing for the Dynamo main team since the end of 2020, played 89 matches for it, scored 19 goals and gave 25 assists. He has 7 matches for the Russian national team.

Russian clubs and teams have been suspended from participation in international competitions since February 2022 due to the situation in Ukraine.

Watch live broadcasts of MIR RPL matches on the Match TV and MATCH PREMIER channels, as well as on matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.