First round of the new season of the Russian Premier League (RPL ) starts on July 20 with a match between the players of Lokomotiv Moscow and Akron Togliatti.
“Zenith” is preparing for gold in the year of the centenary, “Spartak” hopes for Stankovic. In recent years, a funny tradition of giving gold to St. Petersburg “Zenith” in advance has become popular. This is more relevant now than ever, as the Blaugrana are enjoying one of their strongest transfer windows in several years. At the moment, the current champion has been strengthened by the best assistant of last season, Maxim Glushenkov, as well as the full-backs of the Russian national team, Yuri Gorshkov and Sergei Volkov. According to media reports, negotiations on the transfer of the midfielder of the Italian Torino and the Serbian national team Ivan Ilic are in the final stage, and a high-profile transfer of Spartak Moscow forward Alexander Sobolev may also take place. If this happens, then it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to stop Zenit from winning another championship, and even the potential departure of midfielders Wendel and Claudinho is not capable of significantly changing the balance of power in the championship. The St. Petersburg team has a clear goal — to take gold in the year of the club's centenary. And I must admit, the preparations are going fruitfully and quite successfully.
By tradition, among those clubs that can challenge the St. Petersburg nomination are Spartak. This is rather done out of inertia and due to the absence of other, stronger figures. However, now the red-whites' hopes are further fueled by the personality of the new head coach — the legendary Dejan Stankovic. Whether the Serbian helmsman will be able to monetize his playing experience and charisma into the result is an open question, which does not cancel, but even emphasizes the fact that Spartak will be even more interesting to watch. So far, the Spartak players are behaving as modestly as possible in the transfer market, content only with the purchase of Brazilian striker Willian Jose (probably to replace Sobolev) and rumors about the arrival of the jet Argentinean Ezequiel Barco. Tomas Amaral still has more than a month ahead, and Stankovic, after a deep acquaintance with the team, will definitely require strengthening.
Strengthening the top clubs and rebuilding Lokomotiv The missed gold of the past season should not develop a complex in Krasnodar and Moscow Dynamo. On the contrary, the blurred ending may become a necessary injection of uncertainty and relief from long-standing fears. Moreover, both teams have not become significantly weaker. A logical question — what about the departure of goalkeeper Matvey Safonov to the French Paris Saint-Germain? Firstly, Stanislav Agkatsev is a talent who has been sitting in the reserves for a long time, and secondly, Sergey Galitsky's club has established itself as a major player in the European transfer market, which will give many advantages in the future. Dynamo, on the other hand, prematurely «sent into retirement» Anton Shunin and Sergey Parshivlyuk, and also let Fedor Smolov go to the same Krasnodar, taking Andrey Lunev, who had played abroad for a long time. Marcel Licka has a more pressing headache — how to get by at the start of the season without his Latin Americans, who got carried away at the America's Cup and left for the Olympics?
CSKA is of particular interest before the start of the championship. Finally, the club did not delay its strengthening and made quality transfers to almost every line: Danil Krugovoy, Rifat Zhemaletdinov and Sekou Koita are simply obliged to make a difference here and now. The transitions were vital to refresh the team, which is now led by Marko Nikolic. The Serb, who made a lot of noise with Lokomotiv, has long said that one day he will return to Russia. This happened, and now the coach is expected to at least fight for RPL medals.
If other top clubs have their own local problems that cannot be called large-scale, then Lokomotiv has a total restructuring on its agenda. A somewhat veiled policy of saving has led to the fact that Mikhail Galaktionov enters the new season without a number of leaders — Glushenkov, who left for Zenit, as well as newly minted free agents Artem Dzyuba, Anton Miranchuk and Rifat Zhemaletdinov. The head coach does not hide the fact that, like the team’s fans, he is waiting for reinforcements. “Of course, we want there to be even more quality in certain positions. And those guys whom we may be able to add over time will push the team forward,” hints Galaktionov. Otherwise, it will be difficult for Loko to hope not only for the top three, but even for the top eight.
Dark horses and league newcomers If we talk about dark horses, Rostov, led by the tireless Valery Karpin, as well as Samara Krylia Sovetov, whose main strength is their trust in head coach Igor Osinkin, can traditionally surprise. Grozny's Akhmat, which strengthened well in the summer to meet the needs of Magomed Adiev, and Kazan's Rubin, led by the experienced Rashid Rakhimov, should be vying for a place at the top of the table.
As for the newcomers to the league, they will have a hard time, although both Khimki and Dynamo Makhachkala have their own trump cards. The Moscow region team has a whole pool of experienced newcomers — Denis Glushakov, Artur Yusupov, Reziuan Mirzov, Anton Zabolotny, as well as one of the brightest RPL legionnaires of recent times, Lucas Vera, joined the team quite recently. Spanish coach Frank Artiga, who has once again replaced Andrei Talalaev, who left Khimki, is called upon to mold this material into a combat-ready team. Of course, the Makhachkala residents are not so rich as to assemble such a squad, but they have a very experienced manager, Shamil Gazizov, who has seen Russian football and knows everything about it. Whether this will be enough to maintain a residence permit in the top division, time will tell.
Akron, apart from its beautiful form and the title of the second private club in the RPL, has not been able to surprise with anything, so the Togliatti club risks becoming the main supplier of points.