Russian national team footballer and CSKA alumnus Fedor Chalov has moved to Greek PAOK. The striker has signed a three-year contract. Sport tells you everything you need to know about the main transfer of the summer «on the way out» in our football.
Why does Fedor need this? He dreamed of Europe, he really missed the Champions League anthem — this is no secret. Is it possible to forget the great goal against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu? Here is how Fedor commented on the departure of Alexander Golovin to the French Monaco after the great 2018 World Cup in Russia:
«I don't envy Golovin, really. I want to play in Europe, that's a dream. But there's no envy. On the contrary, it's good that Sasha left. I have someone to ask for advice. I could imagine my entire career at CSKA. But I have ambitions. I want to get a taste of European football.» («Championship»)
After eight years with the adult CSKA, with which Chalov won the Russian Cup and Super Cup, the 26-year-old forward, who never became the champion of the country, decided to make a change. Now he will join the foreign landing of Russian footballers. In Greece, his compatriot Magomed Ozdoev will help him join the team. And he will immediately have the opportunity to compete in the Champions League qualification for a place in the group stage of the main club tournament of the Old World.
- Chalov's statistics in the 2023/24 season: 41 matches, 16 goals, five assists.
Does Chalov have experience playing in Europe? At the start of the 2021/22 season, the player was left out of the CSKA starting lineup, which was then headed by Alexei Berezutsky. Something needed to be changed urgently. For the sake of playing practice and playing in Europe, Chalov even agreed to a significant salary reduction — and so a six-month loan to Basel, the most recognizable club in Switzerland, happened in the winter. There, Chalov played 16 matches, scoring four goals and giving two assists.
At the end of the loan agreement, the player returned to the army team, where under Vladimir Fedotov he again became a starting player.
Who else was interested in the Russian? Over the years of playing for CSKA, there were countless rumors/insider reports about interest in Chalov. Chelsea and Marseille, Valencia and Lazio, Sevilla and Wolfsburg are just a few of the clubs that were linked with the possible future of the Russian forward. There was also a place among them for St. Petersburg Zenit, but it didn't work out for the same reason, the dream of Europe.
The closest Fedor came to leaving the «big five» in the league was in the summer of 2019. Then Chalov became the best scorer in the RPL (15 goals) and in the «goal + pass» rating (15 + 8). The English Premier League club Crystal Palace approached CSKA, raising their offer to 23 million pounds during negotiations. However, as reported by our and foreign media, the army team did not want to part with the player for less than 30 million euros (almost 28 million pounds), and Chalov remained in Russia. Later, the president of the «red-blues» Evgeny Giner will express the position that there is no need for Chalov to move from a team playing in European competitions to a club fighting for survival in the Premier League.
Is PAOK better than the Moscow club? I can't say. And is the Greek championship higher in level than our national championship? No. But PAOK is the current champion of the country, which made it to the Champions League qualification. Do you believe that CSKA will end up there in the years of the blanket ban on domestic sports? This means that Chalov, who has been sitting in his homeland for too long, gets an excellent chance not only to prove himself in the new league, but also, perhaps, to receive an invitation to a more prestigious club in the future.
«I follow the results of Russians in Europe, of course. I just watched the Europa League final — it's a pity that Lyokha Miranchuk didn't play, but he had a very good season. It seems to me that in all the matches where he played, he made effective actions, by the feel of it. Somewhere they didn't believe in him, they sent him on loan to Torino, he came back, everyone thought that he wouldn't play again, but he's having an amazing season. No, the legionnaires in the national team don't tease him… On the contrary, they call him, they say that he needs to go.» («Sovetsky Sport»)
Who will replace the CSKA striker? The Russian club managed to extend the agreement with its pupil in time (in March, Fedor flew to Moscow straight from training camp to sign a contract) and now they are letting Chalov go not as a free agent, but having received some money for the leading forward. Obviously, the club did not want to lose such a player, but after so many years of worthy «service» it was time to let the «army man» go and conquer new heights.
Moreover, CSKA prepared for this parting. And the other day they introduced a newcomer — Sekou Koita, a former Salzburg player (43 goals and 21 assists in 106 matches for the Austrians) and a forward for the Mali national team, will defend the red and blue colors until 2027. He is 24 years old and in the near future he must prove to both Marko Nikolic and the bosses of the Muscovites that after the departure of Chalov and Anton Zabolotny, the bet on him was made correctly.