SAINT PETERSBURG, July 9, Dmitry Edigarev. Former defender CSKA and the Russian national team Mario Fernandez is currently not at the disposal of Zenit, for this reason it is not worth talking about his functionality in comparison with the players of the blue-white-blue, said the head coach of the St. Petersburg football club Sergey Semak.
Earlier, a source said that Fernandez will sign a three-year contract with the St. Petersburg «Zenith». Under the terms of the agreement, a Brazilian with a Russian passport will earn 6 million euros.
«You might as well ask about (Lionel) Messi or Cristiano (Ronaldo). So far, Mario is not in the team. When there are players, we will talk about the functionality of each player in the team. I do not discuss the quality of players from other clubs,» — Semak told reporters, answering a question about how to explain the need to sign a contract with Fernandez, given that the team in his position has Vyacheslav Karavaev and Alexei Sutormin.
Friendly Matches. ClubsJuly 09, 2023 • Starts at 19:35End (L) /2023/07/f288d4c5b4d2c2217df4794dfaa5cc60.png» />FenerbahçeTurkey
91' • (P)91' • (P)91' • (P)91' • (P)
91' • (M)91' • (M)91' • (L)
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Fernandez played for CSKA for 10 years, in May 2022 he left the club, with a valid contract. The football player announced that he was suspending his career. The Brazilian noted that if he returned to Russia, he would play only for the army. In December 2022, the 32-year-old Fernandes resumed his career and began playing for the Brazilian Internacional on loan, in April he left the team for personal reasons. Fernandez has Russian citizenship, he played 33 matches in the Russian national team, reached the quarterfinals of the home world championship with the national team.