"In winter, there was a probing interest of Getafe in Bosella"

The players of Pari Nizhny Novgorod started the current season unsuccessfully with the new head coach Alexey Shpilevsky. After six rounds, they are in the penultimate, 15th, place in the championship, in the direct relegation zone, with five defeats and one win. Recently, a double trip to Moscow ended with two defeats for them — 0:3 from Dynamo in the championship and 0:4 in the Russian Cup from Spartak.

In an interview with Izvestia, the sports director of Paris NN, Alexander Udaltsov, shared his opinion on the team's results and performance, spoke about his interest in its leader, Uruguayan midfielder Juan Bosella, and also explained when the club would start playing home matches in Nizhny Novgorod again. Due to repairs at the stadium, the team played in Kazan, Grozny and Saransk. Udaltsov also commented on talks about the imminent tightening of the limit on foreign players and the introduction of a salary cap in the RPL.

— What is happening at the start of this season?

— Now we have the same results as last year.

— Then you scored six points in the first five rounds, now you have three.

— But if we look at how we played against our current opponents in the first five rounds, then we played about the same way. We lost to Dynamo Moscow 1:3 last season, and now we are 0:3. We lost to Krasnodar 0:3 at home last season and now. They lost to Lokomotiv at home (1:3 last season, 2:3 this year. — Izvestia), lost away to Rostov (0:4 last season, 0:1 this year.— Izvestia). Only Dynamo Makhachkala had a different result at home — they drew 0-0 then, and now they won 2-0. In general, so far everything is the same. It's clear that newbies still fit into the game. There are problems — we don't deny it. We will work, there is no other recipe.

— How would you rate the quality of the game? Is it better than before?

— You can evaluate it in different ways, but it is clear that we are trying to change something. And change it drastically. We understand that this is a rather difficult story. Not only for us, but look at Dynamo Moscow, where certain changes are taking place with the arrival of Karpin. And they also don't have as many points as they would like. It is clear that our level of players is slightly lower. But in any case, changes are difficult, especially when new players arrive. Matvey Fedorov, a young guy who came to us from Dynamo, made his debut in the match with Dynamo. Vadim Pigas was in the starting lineup for the first time. We are gradually strengthening and hope to take on more players.

— How many and for what positions?

— We are negotiating, but I would not like to give a specific date, because it is always a difficult story. But there is a desire to strengthen positions that, in our understanding, need to be strengthened.

— Do you see in the game "Paris NN" the kind of pressure that is considered Alexey Shpilevsky's style?

— There are changes. It is clear that hardly anyone can just mindlessly press for the entire 90 minutes. But we have good exits from the middle block. We manage to come out of defense well, and we try to act well in the middle. All these moments are hard, but we have them. Maybe they don't work out that fast, but we have something to build on.

— Do you believe that the result of last season, when the team was eliminated after the transition matches, but remained in the RPL due to the bankruptcy of Khimki, will not be repeated?

— It is clear that you always want to score points. But it's very difficult to play against Dynamo, especially at their stadium. They're a good team that punished us right away when they had the opportunity. We got a rebound, and immediately the score was 1-0 in favor of the opponent. As long as we had the strength, we created some moments. But, of course, Dynamo had more chances, so their victory was fair.

— Are you planning to terminate contracts with any of the current players of your team?

— We talked to the guys about this topic. After all, we have an application limit — there can only be 21 people per season. And Paris NN does not have a second team. Therefore, we plan to part ways with some players. A few people will leave. There are positions where there is more competition. The guys know that. And we are open to them and their agents, having begun negotiations on the topic of separation.

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— Are you planning to leave Alexander Troshechkin and Vladislav Karapuzov?

— Sasha was injured, he only recently started training. We are negotiating with him and Vlad about their future. At the moment, they are not included in our application. Naturally, this worries us as a club, so we are in dialogue with the guys on this topic.

— Over the past year, there have been periodic rumors about interest in Juan Bosella from Europe and from Russian top clubs. What is the probability of his departure this season?

— There were no proposals that would suit us. So this is our team's player.

— At what price are you ready to let him go?

— I would not like to name the numbers. Of course, we are flexible in this regard. In Russia, we will always sell more expensive on the domestic market than in Europe. It is clear that if there is any decent proposal, we will consider it. But there is nothing concrete yet. In winter, there was probing interest from Getafe, but not in the numbers that we were satisfied with. Although it is clear that we were ready to let Juan go, because playing in La Liga is the dream of any football player, especially a Spanish speaker.

— The Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Mikhail Degtyarev recently announced an imminent tightening of the limit on foreign players in the RPL — the number of foreigners who can be on the field at the same time should be reduced to five people. How do you see it?

— We have a fairly correct balance of Russian and foreign players in our team. You can see that young football players are joining Paris NN. Maxim Shnaptsev has been called up to the Russian youth national team, and Andrey Ivlev is playing three consecutive matches in the starting lineup. Matvey Fedorov, who turned 17 just a few days before the game, came on as a substitute against Dynamo. We have good players, the club's academy and the youth team are working well. There is a supply of Russian players, plus a Forest came from the side (Daniil Lesovoy. — Izvestia), Grulya (Vyacheslav Grulev. — Izvestia). Belarusian Vadim Pigas is not a foreigner on the field. So we are ready for the limit. We have foreigners, but there is a demand for them, so if anything happens, we can part with them without financial losses.

— And what was the reaction to the statements of the Minister of Sports about the introduction of a salary cap in our championship?

— I do not know the nuances of what figures we are talking about. All this is still under discussion. When there are specifics, then it will be possible to talk about it. If the salary cap appears in the RPL, it will be a problem for the big clubs, not for us. We don't have such big salaries (smiles). They're quite modest — we're in the middle of the league in terms of salaries. So there won't be any problems with the ceiling.

— If the 5+6 limit is introduced, will the race for Russian football players get tougher? Will the price of stories like this summer, when Krylia Sovetov beat Paris NN in the fight for Vadim Rakov, increase?

— Well, the Rakov Krylia was leased without the right of redemption. So this is a Lokomotiv player. With the tightening of the limit, prices for Russian football players will definitely increase. And I think big clubs like Lokomotiv will be less willing to give Russian players on loan. The same Rakov will return there in a year, and it's not a fact that with the new limit he will be given away so actively to someone.

— How did Krylia beat you in the race for Rakov?

— It's better to ask Rakov himself about this. We had an interest, we talked with his agent and Lokomotiv. But the guy chose to go to Samara, and we respect that choice.

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— Did the financial issue play a role there?

"I don't think so. I do not know exactly how much Krylia was offered to him, but give or take, Samara and I offered the same thing.

— After Rakov started the season in Samara, bringing several points to Krylia through individual actions, including a 2-0 victory over Paris NN, does it feel like the outcome of the fight for him could affect the balance of power in the race for survival?

— I don't think everything can depend so much on one player. I am happy for Vadim that he has a good start to the season. But even if he continues to play well, I would not reduce all the results of the teams to just one person.

— Due to Rosatom's activities and stadium repairs, Paris NN has been playing home matches outside Nizhny Novgorod all summer. Do you have any idea when you will finally return to your arena?

— We had a commission on Monday. Our lawn has been removed, and it will need renovation. Taking into account all these works, we will be able to play at home either on October 1 against Spartak in the Cup, or on October 17 in the championship against Akron.

— Is there no chance to play in Nizhny Novgorod in September?

- no. The field has been seriously damaged, so it is necessary to carry out certain works that depend on the weather. Of course, we want to get home faster. If the weather is favorable, it will happen faster. If not, then the deadline is October 17th.