MOSCOW, June 19 Russian goalkeeper Matvey Safonov said that is not going to sit on the bench at the French football club PSG.
PSG announced on June 14 the transfer of the 25-year-old goalkeeper. Safonov signed a five-year contract. The main goalkeeper of the French champion is Italian national team goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
«Who said that I am coming as number two? Luis Campos (strategic adviser to PSG — editor's note) did not say that I am number two. I know very well that the main goalkeeper at the moment is I’m not the main goalkeeper forever. I’m going to prove, I want to play. Even if they told me that they take me as number two, it doesn’t matter to me what they say. I don’t position myself as number two. I’m not ready. sit on the bench. If I suddenly start the season on the bench, then it will definitely be difficult for the first number. I’m going to constantly strain the first number if it’s not me,” Safonov said in an interview with journalist Nobel Arustamyan, a video of which was published on his YouTube channel. .
“Until today, I have not lost a single competition,” the goalkeeper continued. “I got into the Krasnodar starting team — I played. I got into the national team, sat in one match, and already played in the second. I played in Russia all the time, I was not number two. I don’t know how to sit as a substitute. It’s all a prejudice that a goalkeeper from Russia cannot become one of the best. It’s clear that no one knows me. Perhaps they don’t have a plan. that I will come and play right away. But even so, it may work out.”
Safonov’s debut for the main team of Krasnodar took place in August 2017. In total, he played 175 matches for the club, keeping a clean sheet in 53 of them. He has 14 games for the Russian national team.