CSKA
POSITION OF THINGS CSKA - champion, and that says a lot. But going on a campaign for new gold with the same composition means a lot of risk. Competition in the new championship is likely to escalate, and even in the “old” CSKA there was no substitute bench. Despite the confident facial expressions of the leaders of CSKA, the team clearly shows a shortage in many lines. To the least extent this concerns the goalkeeper, where the figure of Igor Akinfeev looks absolutely impregnable. In 2005, Vladimir Gabulov and Veniamin Mandrykin took away from Akinfeev only one of the 30 games of the championship, in 2006 - a little more, and only because of the removal of the latter in the match with Spartak. Does goalkeepers like this, each older than Akinfeev, like this? The situation with field players looks different. The almost complete absence of an equivalent substitution basis protects against conflicts due to someone not taking the field (and even then not completely - remember Olica), but puts the team in a difficult position in case of injuries (Jo, Gusev, Odia, Ignashevich, Dudu) and disqualifications.
VACANCIES There are in all lines, except goalkeeper. The team most urgently needs another defender and striker - Olic, it seems, can no longer be held.
Rumors Once again there were speculations about a possible alliance between CSKA and Bulgarian striker Valery Bozhinov. After Bozhinov became the youngest footballer to play in Italian Serie A in 2002, in incomplete 16 years, a lot has changed in his fate. Valery moved from Lecce to Fiorentina, and from there to Juventus, but so far he could not become a base player in Turin. Accordingly, rumors of new options for his employment appear regularly. And almost invariably CSKA with Spartak appear in them. Perhaps, true, these conversations are just a tribute to the long tradition of gossiping annually about buying a Bulgarian?
TRANSACTIONS At the moment, only the “re-signing" of army leader Daniel Carvalho is considered a reliable fact. In light of the negotiations between his father / agent and Bordeaux and the rumors about the Brazilian moving to Barcelona, this news is very positive.
OPTIONS Due to the fact that the Brazilian army has an excellent promotion in the form of invitations to the national team, any of them is able to arouse the interest of clubs from the "Big European Five". And only the departure of Dudu, due to the presence of Rakhimich and Aldonin in this position, will not leave a gaping hole in the composition of CSKA. But Dudu, given his brilliant performance at the end of the season, would not want to lose. So the preservation of all leaders is a priority for the army offseason. Task number 2 - to purchase a striker. And whether he will be a Bulgarian at the same time is completely irrelevant.
"Spartacus"
STATEMENT OF THINGS Silver medals are not at all what Spartak dreamed about at the beginning of the year. Hence the obvious conclusion: the composition will be strengthened. Even let the second team of Russia noticeably surpass the first one even along the length of the bench. Spartak has had a lot of matches this season, in which each of the substituting players turned out to be a player of some national team. And in the national team of Russia, Guus Hiddink even called Spartak understudies.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES Muscovites have already parted with an experienced Romanian defender Andrian Jenchi, about the same fate will befall the Lithuanian Ignas Deduru. Given the uneven game of Stranzl, Spartak will surely need a new central defender. Another undoubted vacancy is in the line of attack, because in the near future Mikhailo Pyanovich and Fernando Cavenaghi will cease to be Spartacists. The lack of stability on the left edge of the midfield (Cherchesov and Shavlo didn’t close this zone in Spartak during the season) is an argument in favor of thinking about this position. And the productive mistakes of the main goalkeeper of the red and white Wojciech Kovalevsky in a number of matches of the second half of last season are the basis for strengthening the goalkeeper position. In addition, his successor Alexei Zuev is about to move to KAMAZ.
HEARINGS They are innumerable. According to reports of varying degrees of reliability, they were about to go to Spartak: the players of Lokomotiv - Sennikov, Evseev, Sychev and almost Bilyaletdinov himself; Croatian "demobilization" Olic; Goalkeeper Torpedo and the Russian national team Borodin; Ajax's young talent Ryan Babel; Rubin leader Dominguez; Hamburg leader van der Warth; Saturn leader Eremenko; left-flank midfielder of the Vienna “Rapida” Ivanschitz; left-flank midfielder Benfica Karjak; Ghanaian striker Udinese Gyan; Zenit scorer Kerzhakov; African-Turkmen-Frenchman Odemwindgie playing for Lille; Italian veteran striker Pipo Inzaghi. It is quite obvious that a dozen more arbitrary players can be added to this list - and the degree of its coincidence with the list of football players that are actually under development will not change at all.
DEALS One thing is known for certain - the Boyarintsev, Pavlenko, Jiranek and Kovacs “re-signed” the club. Judging by the subtle hints of the leadership of Spartak, the hunt for a high-level striker in this off-season will be more ambitious than ever. The trip of head coach Vladimir Fedotov for an internship in Europe may well be combined with watching a beginner in the natural conditions of his habitat.
OPTIONS Apparently, in addition to the insufficient playing level, all the expelled players in “Spartak” have one more complaint - the lack of a Russian passport; if Pianovich or Yenchi had it, they could be detained in the team for another season or two. Given the need to fit into the new limit of legionnaires, a large number of overseas purchases from Spartak can not be expected. The Moscow club is likely to bet on a couple of top football players - and the rest of the vacancies will be filled up by the pupils of the double, as promising as ever.
"Locomotive"
STATUS OF THINGS Third place for two years in a row is a sign of stability. But Lokomotiv is hardly satisfied with such stability: in a club that is accustomed to playing in the Champions League, they will again be left without the main European tournament. Without a serious strengthening, Lokomotiv wouldn’t be able to get there in the new season either.
VACANCIES The most acute vacancy is a defensive midfielder. One can hardly recognize the experiment on using Sergey Gurenko in this role to be very successful. The long-term leader of Loko, Dmitry Loskov, does not yet have a full replacement. It is quite possible that Lokomotiv will also purchase a couple of three forwards - just out of habit.
Rumors The main off-season rumor associated with Lokomotiv is the possibility of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov's departure. It is possible, however, that they are provoked only by the desire of a young talent to get a more serious contract from the club, following the example of Arshavin.
TRANSACTIONS The railway workers did at least one good deed this offseason - they signed a new three-year contract with Dmitry Sennikov, putting an end to the talk of his possible appearance in Spartak.
OPTIONS Until the club leaders decide on the head coach of the team (and everything goes to preserve Dolmatov), it is likely that talking about off-season acquisitions can only be done in abstract colors. Carpet purchases of past years did not work too well, and club managers will now probably be more cautious in populating the numbers of their superbase in Bakovka.
"Zenith"
STATUS OF THINGS Last year, the fourth place of Petersburgers does not meet the ambitions of the city, nor the ambitions of Gazprom. Not to mention, all the more, the almost limitless possibilities of the latter. The main direction for applying these opportunities was suggested by team leader Andrei Arshavin, by skillfully maintaining rumors about a transfer to Spartak, who had noticeably improved his contract. The team did not lose, because its “tenth number” is almost the main component of the struggle for the championship expected in the upcoming season.
VACANCIES Central defender of a new level - higher than what is now; still, Hagen, with all his mighty charisma, is slow. Obviously, the extreme forward will not interfere if the lawyer plans to adhere to the popular Dutch 4-3-3 scheme. Another vacancy could have arisen in the event of parting with the leaders of Zenit of previous years - midfielders Spivak and Gorshkov. But both will remain in the team for next season. Perhaps, however, more likely for political reasons than for gaming.
Rumors The favorite rumor of Zenit fans is about Tevez’s West Ham colleague and Argentina's national team, Javier Mascherano, but he will almost certainly move to Juve. Significantly more likely is the transition to Zenit leader of Rubin Alejandro Dominguez. An intermediate place on the scale of probability is Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.
TRANSACTIONS On the account, Zenit is the main of the already held offseason transfers, the purchase of the center forward of the Russian national team Pavel Pogrebnyak from Tomi. The loss of Alexander Kerzhakov also seems inevitable.
OPTIONS It is Zenit that is likely to crank out the biggest deals of the current offseason - Gazprom, according to SPORT Today, is ready to spend up to $ 50 million on staffing the team. In addition to money, Zenit has a well-known coach - the most recognizable outside of Russia from all the coaches of our championship. The latter can (and should) act as an argument in bidding at the off-season fair. In the end, the duo taken out by the Lawyer from South Korea is not at all the limit of what the magic of his name is capable of.
Alexey Bilyachenko