Line-up replacements: coaching appointments and high-profile transfers to the RPL

The offseason in the top league of the Russian football championship — RPL — can already be called intense: four teams have changed head coaches, clubs are actively selling players. Some of the transfers have already taken place, some have just been announced, and other transfers have already been disrupted. Izvestia reports on the most high-profile events of recent weeks.

Milind Daku will not be in St. Petersburg.

The Albanian striker's negotiations with Zenit were in the final stages, but the deal fell through at the last moment. In St. Petersburg, they said that the club had failed to reach an agreement with the player and his representative. But perhaps the transfer was disrupted for political reasons.

Valery Karpin became the head of Dynamo Moscow

Dynamo Moscow has officially announced the appointment of Valery Karpin as head coach. The contract with the 56-year-old specialist was signed until the summer of 2028, while he will continue to lead the Russian national team. The RFU approved the combination, but it was noted that the contract with the club provides for Karpin's priority to work in the national team.

Fabio Celestini is the new coach of CSKA

CSKA has relied on a European specialist: 49-year-old Fabio Celestini, who previously worked with Basel (Swiss champion - 2024/25), signed a 2+1 contract.

A few days ago, the Swiss newspaper Blick reported that the coach could face imprisonment if he spends the money earned at CSKA in Switzerland or Spain, since CSKA is under EU sanctions.

The club has already denied this information. Kirill Breido, CSKA's director of communications, called these rumors "full of idiotic jumps": "European sports publications do not have sports, as well as fact-checking."

An ambitious young coach at Paris NN

After Viktor Goncharenko's dismissal, the Nizhny Novgorod club appointed 37-year-old Alexei Shpilevsky as its new head coach. The contract is signed for three years.

Shpilevsky is a graduate of German football, worked in the Red Bull system, coached Kazakhstan's Kairat, as well as Aris (Cyprus), with whom he won the national championship and the Super Cup in 2023. This is his first experience of working in Russia.

Alexander Storozhuk became the head of Akhmat

Akhmat announced the appointment of Alexander Storozhuk as the head coach of the team. The 43-year-old Russian specialist's contract with the Grozny club is for three years.

Prior to Akhmat, the coach had been in charge of Arsenal Tula since January 2023. Previously, he worked in Krasnodar's system, and from July 2022 to January 2023, he headed the Bulls' main team.

Storozhuk has already started work and has begun to strengthen the squad. At the moment, Akhmat is actively signing new players: the Grozny team has already completed five full-fledged transfers. If you do not take into account the lease, not a single RPL team has made more "entrance" deals (Krasnodar also has five).

Four new Akhmat players played for other Premier League teams last season. Egash Kasintura, Abakar Gadzhiev (both from Dynamo Makhachkala), Maxim Sidorov and Brian Mansilla (both from Orenburg) joined the squad.

Maxim Osipenko — from Rostov to Dynamo

The 31-year-old defender moved for €2.9 million, signing a contract until 2028. Dynamo's first transfer under Karpin has become the most expensive summer transfer to the RPL so far.

According to insider Ivan Karpov, the defender will earn €1.6 million per season, but his salary may rise to €2 million if certain conditions are met. In addition, the contract stipulates bonuses for effective actions — 750 thousand rubles per ball or assist.

Nair Tiknizyan — from Lokomotiv to Red Star

The Armenian midfielder joined the Serbian club for €1.7 million. Also, according to Ivan Karpov, Lokomotiv will receive 10% of the amount of the next sale, and the salary of the 26-year-old football player will amount to 700,000 euros per year.

Following the results of the 2024/25 season, Crvena Zvezda qualified for the second qualifying round of the Champions League and will begin its journey to the general stage at the end of July.

Nikolay Komlichenko — from Rostov to Lokomotiv

The 29-year-old striker has signed a three-year contract with the Railwaymen. He scored 35 goals in 130 games for Rostov, and scored 14 goals in all competitions last season.

Interestingly, Lokomotiv and Rostov literally exchanged forwards. Timur Suleymanov, who played for the Moscow club, became the first acquisition of the Rostov team this offseason.

Former Khimki players are at Lokomotiv

Zelimkhan Bakayev has already joined Mikhail Galaktionov's team, signing a two-year contract. The player spent last season in Khimki on loan from Zenit and scored nine goals (6+3) in all tournaments.

Lokomotiv also announced the transfer of Alexander Rudenko (three-year contract), who also played for Khimki.

The third player following the same route (Khimki — > Lokomotiv) may still be Lukas Vera. Talks about the transfer of the midfielder began in May, and now the parties have made progress in negotiations. The player will receive €1.5 million for the transfer and will sign a three-year contract. The salary will be 5.5 million rubles per month (Ivan Karpov).

Anton Zabolotny — to Spartak

Having spent a successful season at Khimki, the 34-year-old striker is close to joining Spartak. The captain of the red and white team, Roman Zobnin, has already stated that he expects Zabolotny to join the team.

Ivan Karpov reported last week that the parties had agreed on a 1+1 contract, and Zabolotny would earn 600,000 euros per year. However, now there is news about the interest of the red-whites in forward Ivan Sergeev ("SE"). If the transfer takes place, Spartak will refuse to sign Zabolotny.

Gerson on his way to Zenit

The purchase of Gerson, who plays for Flamengo at the World Cup, has been discussed for a long time. But there is still no official information about the Brazilian. Earlier, Flamengo denied rumors about negotiations with Zenit. Last week, Alexander Medvedev personally announced that Gerson's transition had not failed.

If the deal goes through, the transfer amount will be €25 million.

There is less than a month left before the start of the new RPL season, almost half of the offseason is over. All that remains is to wait for July 19th, and then we can see whose decisions turn out to be correct.