"The average salary of the main squad players is about 1 million rubles per month"

The Rodina football team is preparing for its first ever appearance in the Russian Premier League (RPL). Founded in 2015, the club was entered into professional competitions at the level of the Second League of the Russian Championship in 2019 and over the next seven years has made its way to the elite of our football. He's going to play there with the same squad he used to leave the First League. In an interview with Izvestia, Alexey Zinin, sports and operations director of Rodina, explained why the club is not actively conducting a transfer campaign and is in no hurry to increase spending on player salaries, and also told what kind of reinforcement is possible before the end of the summer.

— What result of Rodina's debut season in the RPL will you be satisfied with?

— I want to show the kind of football that the fans will like. And so that the results come with it. And I'm not even talking about a place in the table, but about individual matches won. Therefore, in the first season, our task will be to look around, look around, try on and get a feel for this league. Don't tear it up with some transfers and salaries. It's just to develop in a calm way with our players, whom we really trust. To lay the foundation so that in a year's time we can set some more serious tasks.

— Back in the spring, after joining the RPL, you emphasized that you wanted to play in the elite with the squad that got a ticket there for the club. And now you are behaving modestly in the transfer market. Can we say that Rodina is not going to sign any newcomers?

— If we hadn't played in the Russian Cup in its format for RPL teams, when there are exactly six group stage matches, then perhaps our club wouldn't have made any acquisitions. But now there are a lot of games in two tournaments, in each of which you have to perform well. Therefore, players will be added point-by-point. They will mostly be players from abroad.

— How will the club's budget change now in connection with joining the RPL?

— This is more a question for our financial structures. I can say for myself that our salary fund has not changed at all. Nothing has changed in this regard. Because all the guys in the team had valid contracts. We signed them back in the First League — with someone a year ago, with someone two years ago. With these contracts, we entered the RPL. And so far, nothing has changed with us.

— At the same time, when you join the RPL, you will receive an income item such as several hundred million rubles from a TV contract, which the league will pay you after the season, depending on your position. Can you use any of this money to strengthen the team?

— We can, but it's not necessary yet. Now that we're out, there's no point in talking about a general budget increase. I will only talk about the costly part, because the profitable part will be built in a different way - there are many nuances. And the cost has not changed at this stage. Right now, the key things are transfers, payroll, and player re—signings.

There is no need to re-sign players at this stage, as all the players have been signed in advance. There is no need to give large salaries, because our players are under contract, they have salaries that we gave in the First League — they are very moderate. We don't spend money on agency fees either, because there's no one to pay them now. And we didn't make transfers at this stage, because we are checking the optimal price-quality ratio. And, basically, we work as free agents. This does not mean that the club does not have money — the club simply has the opportunity not to spend it ahead of time and analyze the market.

Because you can sign a player for an incredible salary, but why do that and why create a huge gap between the players' salaries? We had a specific situation: our football player, whose salary is 900 thousand rubles a month, had an offer from another club. The player was thinking about the offer, and we worked out a replacement option just in case. So, the player we chose had a salary of 8 million rubles a month at another club, but we did not see a fundamental difference in level and qualities with our player.

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— 900 thousand rubles a month is the highest salary for Rodina football players?

— There are salaries significantly lower, there are slightly higher. Our leading players in the starting lineup have an average of about 1 million rubles, plus or minus.

— You said that the transfers will mostly be foreign. Is there a specific market expected? The Balkans, Latin America, Africa?

— The markets you have listed are the most realistic, but there are other regions from where players can be brought to Russia today. However, this is a very difficult process. You can negotiate with a football player about everything, resolve all issues with his club and agent, and on the day of signing the contract, the player will see or hear terrible things about Russia on his TV and refuse to transfer. Anyway, we'll get at least one legionnaire into each line, as the transfer window closes only in September, and time is not pressing on us.