Spartak forward Alexander Sobolev has been suspended from training with the main team amid ongoing rumors about a move to Zenit. Although last week Spartak CEO Oleg Malyshev stated that the forward remains at the club and can be useful to it. The forward was included in the roster for the season, he played 67 minutes in the opening RPL match in Orenburg, but was of no use.
Spartak currently has no worthy replacement for Sobolev. The 32-year-old Jose Willian, bought from Betis, arrived with so much excess weight that he will need a long time to get in shape. Shamar Nicholson, who returned from loan, played for the Jamaican national team at the America's Cup and is also not ready to play yet. There is also young Pavel Meleshin, who returned from loan from Dynamo Minsk.
It is worth recalling that this is not the first time Sobolev has been suspended from training with the first team. Last fall, the then head coach Guillermo Abascal decided to take such a measure. Sobolev had almost open conflicts with him, neglecting discipline requirements and sometimes making remarks that are unacceptable in the relationship between a player and a coach. Only then there was no talk of a transfer to Zenit.
Now they talk and write so much about this that it seems that the transfer will happen any day now. For some reason, the champion and winner of the Russian Cup needed a powerful forward in the anniversary season, capable of closing crosses from the flank and increasing tension in someone else’s penalty area. There is, of course, the top scorer of the RPL last season, Mateo Cassierra, but he is a striker of a slightly different type. More precisely, more diverse. At Zenit, forwards who played in a similar style to Sobolev have proven themselves in different ways.
Pavel Pogrebnyak shone in Dick Advocaat's team, which won the first gold medal in Russian history in the national championship and the UEFA Cup. He was, however, terribly unlucky: due to a yellow card received in the semi-final match against Bayern, he missed the UEFA Cup final in Manchester, and due to an injury, Euro 2008. Although this did not prevent Pavel from continuing his career in the Bundesliga, and Zenit from earning 4.5 million euros from his sale. At that time, very decent money.
In the summer of 2010, almost simultaneously with Sergei Semak, Aleksandr Bukharov moved from Rubin to Zenit. He earned good money in St. Petersburg, but mostly sat on the bench. He is best remembered for his drunken brawl at Pulkovo Airport, which ended with a report being drawn up on an administrative offense. Zenit got the forward off the hook.
Artem Dzyuba's seven seasons at the St. Petersburg club have not yet been erased from the fans' memories. At Spartak, from where he moved to Zenit, he was called a traitor. Dzyuba was Hulk's backup and played a key role in Sergei Semak's attack. Although he parted ways with him, to put it mildly, inappropriately.
Even Spartak veterans do not call Sobolev a traitor. He is not a product of the club, and everyone understands perfectly well that even after a good salary in the “red-white” club, the “blue-white-blue” will pay more. With all his appearance and all his actions in recent weeks, Sobolev shows a passionate desire to be at Zenit.
But that doesn't mean anything. During the last season, Wendel and Claudino demonstrated a passionate desire to leave Zenit, but no one let them go. All the conflicts and squabbles remained within the club, and the Brazilian legionnaires made a huge contribution to the hard-won championship and victory in the Russian Cup.
There is no unity in the ranks of the Zenit board on the issue of acquiring the Spartak forward. So far, the clubs have not reached an agreement on the price, and most importantly, on the payment of the agent's fee. The agent of the still Spartak forward, Pavel Andreev, is doing everything in his power to ensure that there are no problems with the latter. After the excellent performance of Zenit's new recruit Maxim Glushenkov, another client of Andreev, in the opening games, the latter's rating in the eyes of the Zenit management has noticeably increased.
In addition to Semak, who is on the club's board, the director of the youth football development department, Maksim Pogorelov, is actively lobbying for the purchase of Sobolev. He has been working in the football business for a long time, although he was briefly distracted by the media, and, as sources say, he has a long-standing and good relationship with Andreev. There are also opponents of the Spartak player's transfer on the board.
Zenit's communications director Zhanna Dembo understands all the risks associated with such a transfer. This is not the return of Vladimir Bystrov or even Artem Dzyuba to spite the «arrogant neighbor.» Explaining to Zenit fans why we needed Sobolev so much is much more difficult than presenting the return of the prodigal Bystrov. And even this task had to be solved by Luciano Spalletti.
However, Zenit is a club where everything is decided not by the board, but by the «ordinary fan» Alexey Miller. His position remains a secret. Perhaps he will listen to the opinion of Semak, whom he has always supported, perhaps he will take into account the arguments of the Voice of St. Petersburg Football Gennady Orlov, who sharply criticized Zenit's interest in the Spartak forward. And is a «pillar» really necessary in modern football? Here, the Spaniards managed without him at Euro 2024 — and became champions.
Sobolev's desire to move to Zenit is understandable. The decision of Spartak's management to get rid of problems at an early stage, especially given the recent statement by team captain Roman Zobnin, is also understandable. As are the efforts of Pavel Andreev. But it is difficult to predict what the management and coaching staff of Zenit will do. For now, like the Spaniards at Euro 20224, they are crushing their opponents in the RPL, demonstrating impressive play. And Sobolev, who still needs to be integrated into the team's play, does not seem like such a necessary reinforcement.