Bought and sold: the main results of the winter transfer campaign in RPL

On February 20, the winter transfer window closes. Now the clubs of the Russian Premier League (RPL) can sign only free agents. But for the most part, the teams have already completed their squads as best they can, and are now ready to resume the season in a week's time. The main results of the transfer campaign, the latest news and how the RPL clubs are approaching the second part of the season - in the Izvestia article.

Welcome

At the time of writing this article, the total transfer balance of all 16 RPL clubs amounted to €16.02 million. Almost €70 million (€69.47 million) was spent on the purchase of new players, while the total profit from sales amounted to €53.45 million.

The champion in the category "the most splurged club" will hardly surprise you - it is Zenit. And everything is clear with the "vice-champion" - it's Spartak. The lion's share of RPL transfer spending this winter belongs to these two principal rivals: €62.9 million out of €69.47 million spent.

The club from the Northern Capital made the most expensive purchase this winter, taking 24-year-old Brazilian winger Luis Enrique from Botafogo for €33 million. Obviously, a purchase on the level of Malcom, whom Zenit acquired from Barcelona for €41.5 million in 2019. And Enrique is clearly expected to play at a level close to Malcom's peak in St. Petersburg.

With the second and, so far, the last transfer "to the entrance" Zenitov finally closed the problematic issue with the position of right-back. To replace the injured Vyacheslav Karavaev and Sergei Volkov and to help the non-core Gustavo Mantuan came 20-year-old Serbian Ognjen Mimovic, whom Zenit rented from Turkish Fenerbahce until the end of the season. Perhaps, for the winter - the best solution, so as not to overpay for other potential candidates. And in the summer they will calmly decide the issue after assessing the condition of the same Karavaev and Volkov.

The power of coaches: how the RPL Winter Cup came to an end

Stankovic's suspension, Semak's departure to the stands and Zenit's defeat of Spartak

"Spartak seem to have made the loudest noise on the RPL transfer market this winter. They spent their €29.9 million on three newcomers: 28-year-old former CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Ilya Pomazun (€1.2 million), who replaced 30-year-old Aleksandr Selikhov, who left following the termination of his contract, as well as 23-year-old Argentine ex-River Plate winger Pablo Solari (€10 million) and 27-year-old Trinidad and Tobago center forward Levi Garcia, bought from Greek side AEKK for €18.7 million. Garcia's transfer was the second most expensive in the league this winter.

CSKA are the third most expensive team in the RPL. The Army Men acquired only one player - 25-year-old Brazilian center forward Alerrandro from RB Bragantino. The Red-Blues paid €4.2 million for him.

Adding these three sums of Zenit, Spartak and CSKA, we get €67.1 million. It turns out that the other 13 clubs spent the winter transfer campaign very modestly, spending a total of €2.37 million. Not only that, almost half of this balance was paid by... "Akron. Togliatti acquired 27-year-old Bosnian midfielder Ifet Jakovac from Serbian club Bačka Topola for €1 million, as well as 28-year-old Romanian defender Ionutz Nedelciara from Italian club Palermo for €130,000.

It is worth noting three top clubs that have not yet acquired a single player as a foundation: Krasnodar, Lokomotiv Moscow and Dynamo Moscow (although there is a nuance with the latter, and more about it below). Rostov, Rubin and Khimki are also without newcomers.

All the best!

Zenit are first in player sales again. The reigning Russian champion contributed an impressive €36 million out of €53.45 million to the "common piggy bank of the league clubs" by today's standards.

The 24-year-old French forward Wilson Izidor, who had previously been on loan from Sunderland, was bought from Zenit for €6 million. In addition to Izidor, two Brazilians, one of whom has a Russian passport, left the club. The 26-year-old winger Arthur, who did not settle in Zenit, returned to his homeland, to Botafogo, adding €10 million to the balance sheet of the Blue and White Blues. To some extent, the money for Arthur became a kind of cashback for Zenit from the purchase of Henrique, who previously played for Botafogo.

The most expensive sale not only for Zenit, but also for the whole league was the 27-year-old attacking midfielder Claudinho, who was bored in Russia. The buyer was probably the most profitable for the St. Petersburg club at the present time: hardly anyone else, except for Qatar's Al-Sadd, was ready to give €20 million for the Brazilian. And this is despite the fact that 3.5 years ago Zenit bought Claudinho from Brazilian RB Bragantino for €12 million. It is clear that there were still costs for the player's salary, but the "net balance" - in favor of the Russian club (+8 million), which is already good.

There is a huge gap between the first Zenit and the second-third place among the clubs in terms of profit. Following the St. Petersburgers are the Muscovites: CSKA (€5.1 million) and Lokomotiv (€4 million).

The Army Men, in addition to Pomazun to Spartak for €1.2 million, sold 25-year-old Victor Mendes, who was on loan at the Samara club, to Chilean Colo-Colo for the same amount. And his peer, Brazilian defender Bruno Fuchs, was given to Atletico Mineiro for €2.7 million.

With Loko, everything is simple: the Railwaymen received their €4 million for the sale of just one player - 21-year-old Albanian left-back Mario Mitay to Saudi Arabia's Ittihad.

Among the teams in the bottom eight, the current league outsider, Orenburg, stood out with their "on the way out" activity. For the sale of two internationals, Orenburg received a decent €3.05 million. 25-year-old Argentine defender Matias Perez moved to Paraguay's Cerro Porteño for €1.8 million, while 23-year-old Iranian full-back Mohammad Ghorbani went to Al Wahda from the UAE for €1.25 million.

Who can run in the last carriage

In recent days, the main newsmakers on the RPL transfer market have expectedly been Zenit and Spartak.

As for the St. Petersburg side, although the problem with the right-back for the rest of the season has been solved (although for a long time there were rumors about Brazilian Wesley from Flamengo for an insane €30+ million), the main issue with a replacement for the departed Claudinho remains until the last moment. Nominally, Maxim Glushenkov can (and most likely will) play at the number ten position, but the team could still use an additional player in the middle line.

At the end of January, insiders began to appear about the possible transfer of 25-year-old Uruguayan midfielder of Braga Rodrigo Salazar to Zenit. Not only that, in early February it seemed that Salazar had not only one, but two feet in Zenit, which was supported by news about the allegedly successfully passed medical examination and even either accidentally or on purpose leaked by Zenit themselves the footage with Rodrigo's presence at the training session of the Blue and White Blues in the appropriate color outfit. And then the difficulties began, on the part of Braga. The Portuguese allegedly could not get guarantees of payment for the transfer, because of which the deal collapsed and the midfielder returned to Braga.

And then Spartak appeared on the horizon, which again switched to Salazar after the collapse of the deal for 23-year-old Serbian Ivan Ilic from Torino (guess which club, besides Spartak, was previously interested in Ilic? That's right, Zenit!). On the penultimate day of the transfer window "Championship" learned that the Red and Whites have made progress in negotiations on Salazar and are already discussing the size of his salary: Metaratings reported about the player's desire to receive €3m per year, excluding bonuses, while Spartak, in turn, are offering €2.5-2.7m.

"There is no objective to compete on the number of zeros in transfer sums"

Dmitry Gafin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dynamo Dmitry Gafin - on winter reinforcement, the situation with Bitello, election to the executive committee of the Russian Football Union and refereeing in the RPL

And what about Zenit? After probably missing Salazar and the failed transfer of 26-year-old Jedson Fernandes from Turkish Besiktas (whom, of course, Spartak also wanted to buy), two names in the Brazilian media began to appear in the context of a possible transfer to the St. Petersburg club. First Globo reported about the intention to pay Cruzeiro about €18 million for 28-year-old Matheus Pereira, and the next day - about Zenit's desire to pay €20+9 million for 27-year-old Flamengo captain Gerson after the Brazilians refused to part with the player for €18 million. Simultaneously, Central da Toca reported about Zenit's agreement with Cruzeiro on Pereira's transfer for €20 million including bonuses.... In short, a soap opera! But, probably, one of these two players will still reach St. Petersburg before the transfer window closes.

And while Spartak and Zenit were fighting for the same foreign midfielders, Dynamo Moscow slowly but surely approached the only one, but one of the high-profile domestic acquisitions - 25-year-old Rostov captain Danil Glebov. According to the latest information, the player had to pass a medical examination on February 19, and the cost of the transfer will be €7+1 million.